Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Teach me knowledge and good judgment,
    for I trust your commands.

• Psalm 119:66

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

• Hebrews 5:9

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

• 1 Kings 3:9

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

• James 1:5

“1. The true wisdom of man consists in the knowledge of God the creator and Redeemer.
“2. This knowledge is naturally implanted in us, and the end of it ought to be the worship of God rightly performed, or reverence for the Deity accompanied by fear and love.”
“3. But this seed is corrupted by ignorance, whence arises superstitious worship; and by wickedness, whence arise slavish dread and hatred of the Deity.
“4. It is also from another source that it is derived – namely, from the structure of the whole world, and from the Holy Scriptures.
“5. This structure teaches us what is the goodness, power, justice, and wisdom of God in creating all things in heaven and earth, and in preserving them by ordinary and extraordinary government, by which his Providence is more clearly made known. It teaches also what are our wants, that we may learn to place our confidence in the goodness, power, and wisdom of God, – to obey his commandments, – to flee to him in adversity, – and to offer thanksgiving to him for the gifts which we enjoy.”

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Aphorisms

John Calvin did not write these aphorisms.  They are a summarization of what he wrote in Institutes of the Christian Religion.  There are 100 aphorisms.  I will at least go for a few of them while I look through my library for another book.

I wrote the first five together, since they build on a theme.  If Calvin had written these aphorisms, maybe he would have used a noun rather than an indistinct pronoun… occasionally.

Calvin used an odd term here, “structure.”  There is structure in our universe.  There is structure in nature.  There is structure within our DNA.

The structure to which he is referring seems to be our knowledge of what justice is.  When we think something is unfair, we are basing that feeling of unfairness on something God placed in us when He breathed breath into Adam, and it has been passed down ever since.

And most of us seem to understand how our freedom, liberty, and rights interact with others.  Some people are socially awkward.  When that person is an introvert, they keep their distance, but to be extroverted and socially awkward, the person is a pest, and they do not understand why.  I know one person like that, and he might someday become a “real boy,” but facing the teen years, I doubt it.

And since all these first five aphorisms start with true wisdom, then the knowledge of God is the first step.  Loving one another follows.  And knowing what is bad, good, and the greater good, which might mean not getting the best for oneself.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.