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Wise Sayings for the Modern DayThe Watchtower—1957 | November 1
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himself who said: “Look! the fear of Jehovah—that is wisdom, and to turn away from bad is understanding.” (Job 28:28) The understanding person will not refuse a reproof and then ridicule: “The ridiculer you should strike, that the inexperienced one may become shrewd; and there should be a reproving of the understanding one, that he may discern knowledge.” (Prov. 19:25) A mere reproof, not a violent blow, is enough for an understanding person. In spite of all his wisdom, he may act indiscreetly or wrongly. For that reason he may from time to time need a reproof to bring him back to understanding. Encrusted in old age, King Solomon did not take heed to a mere reproof. Despite all the wisdom with which God had favored him, he turned to stupidity. Why? Because he left off understanding. How? He let his vision and his keen sense of his relationship to Jehovah God grow dull; he became like a beast. “Earthling man, although in honor, who does not understand, is indeed comparable with the beasts that have been destroyed.”—Ps. 49:20.
23. So Solomon lost understanding when he did what, and how can we appreciate the great wisdom from which he fell?
23 Solomon lost understanding when he abandoned his relationship with Jehovah and yoked himself with other gods, the gods of the many pagan wives whom he had married. “And Jehovah came to be incensed at Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Jehovah the God of Israel, the one appearing to him twice. And respecting this thing he commanded him not to go after other gods, but he had not kept that which Jehovah had commanded.” (1 Ki. 11:9, 10) The great wisdom from which Solomon fell to a death in God’s disfavor can be appreciated when we turn to the writings of Solomon that he composed under inspiration as one of Jehovah’s witnesses.
24. Why should we never ridicule the things of God, and why will we try to make knowledge, wisdom and understanding a part of ourselves?
24 Let us never ridicule the things of God. The life-giving knowledge of the true God will never be got that way. One who understands his creative tie with God and his total dependence upon him will find it easy to know him. “The ridiculer has sought to find wisdom, and there is none; but to the understanding one knowledge is an easy thing.” (Prov. 14:6) Seeing, then, how knowledge, wisdom and understanding must be kept together, and how needful all three are to life and right conduct, we will try to make them an inseparable part of ourselves. We will make them our relatives, members of our spiritual family. “Say to wisdom: ‘You are my sister,’ and may you call understanding itself ‘Kinswoman.’”—Prov. 7:4.
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Their Real ReligionThe Watchtower—1957 | November 1
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Their Real Religion
● In Tarbell’s Teachers’ Guide are some comments by Frank S. Mead about what the average professed Christian worships: “A famous Chinese gentleman stood in the New York Stock Exchange not so long ago. . . . He was so impressed with the furor and intensity of the Exchange that he cried, ‘Ah, this is their real religion! This is what they care about!’ Well, is it? Wouldn’t you say that we are worshiping Mars, the god of war, as much as we worship Jesus Christ? Every able-bodied boy in the country may be forced to give two years of his life to the art of war; how many give two years to Jesus Christ? Others worship Bacchus; they live to have a good time. Others worship the god of the machine, or the god of the cash register, or the god of athletics, or . . . How many more can you supply?”
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