Thursday, June 14, 2007

WISDOM Part 1

We still need a good working definition of wisdom as it applies to what we are to specifically pray and BEG God for and what we use on a daily basis in our everyday lives.

The GREEK word for "wisdom" is sophia. We see it in the English word Philosophy, which means literally- "love"- (phileo); of "wisdom" (sophia"). Philosophy is the LOVE of Wisdom...hmmm, never knew that.

Back in "the Day- of Homer-(the Brave) and Socrates and those guys- wisdom was an attribute used of the person and not of the word itself. In other words it was not used as in saying wise words or doing wise deeds. According to Socrates and this had held true for some of the Biblical definitions I've seen too & one good working definition of Wisdom is:

1. "KNOWING" HOW LITTLE ONE KNEW.

Also the Stoics associated Wisdom- (Aristotles crew-see #2 below)) used another great working definition of wisdom as:

2 THE APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE. Example: a carpenter could be know as a great craftsman because of his skill and knowledge of his craft or art! Therefore: a Wise Carpenter. Nowadays we would be much more likely to use the term skilled.

So we Have ! How Little We Knew & How to Apply said Little Knowledge to our Craft!! Hence-
The 3 STOOGES; PARAMEDICS & NURSES!!. Just kidding! I would never slam the 3 Stooges that way! Of course how little we knew showed how advanced and enlightened we are in either a false sense of humility or in honestly realizing that Wisdom is an Eternal source of Seeking afterness!

Back to the Biblical -in the Septuagint- 5 Books of Old Testament)- WISDOM was personified and made individualistic as in Proverbs, and especially ABOUT someone special or in this case wisdom about GOD HIMSELF!

When Solomon prayed for wisdom (See prev. post) God gave it to Him and He became, according to the bible the wisest man on earth. Because He made such a wise choice according to scripture- Wisdom was to be sought more than any jewelry, pearls, gold etc. (see Proverbs) God granted his prayer and we are told to seek after and pray for wisdom in the New Testament as believers or converts.

We'll start with some New Testament Usage next but lets look at TITTS:
Taking It To The Streets.

What earthly good does any of this heavenly jargon do us?

1. Do we need to pray for wisdom today? If so- Why?- Does God still give it? or are we left to our own devices and abilities to find knowledge and wisdom ourselves?

Can't we just Google- or Wikipedia something and have most of what we need regarding information, or knowledge of a subject or topic? Aren't Moral choices ours--and ours alone as free will agents?

So- there-in- (always wanted to write that); there-in BEGS the question- (Remember we were to beg God for wisdom... do we need GOD'S input into our everyday lives? Is He interested in our details, small decisions, big decisions? Is He there at all, to even respond or answer our Prayer(s)?

Is there a correct way to axe? ASK--sorry: but actually that's Hebrew for ask. HE BONICKS!! I just came up with that! I'll be darned--Wisdom when I least expected it!!!

All of this is just designed to maybe get us thinking about any little sliver of this that may grab your attention. It is meant to stimulate more than elicit "CORRECT" or really any concrete answer. However discussion is highly encouraged and there is no right or wrong--MAYBE!

Enjoy and Blessings,

John

2 comments:

  1. I hate when people say axe instead of ask.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Drives me crazy! And they went to the same schools we did! and also R'a- Where the heck did the extra syllable come from on a dadgum consonant-r'a?

    ReplyDelete

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