Truth Be Told: A Blog by Pastor Bill Alderson

  The beginning of wisdom is [KJV - wisdom is the principal thing] : Acquire wisdom [ chokmah – relates to prudence in secular affairs, skills in the arts, moral sensitivity, and experience in the ways of the Lord]; and with all your acquiring, get understanding [ biynah – comprehension, discernment of good & evil, can be acquired & increased]. Prize her [ salal – exalt] , and she will exalt [promote] you; She will honor you if you embrace her [show of affection] . “She will place on your head a garland of grace; She will present you with a crown of beauty .                       Proverbs 4:7-9 According to Vines Expository Dictionary, chokmah is the knowledge and the ability to make the right choices at the opportune time. The consistency of making the right choice is an indication of maturity and development. Biynah is the object of knowledge, in the sense of w...

  Existentialism, a family of philosophies that seeks to define the meaning and purpose of life without considering life after death, is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite their differences. Among the 19th-century figures now associated with existentialism are philosophers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche, who criticized rationalism and concerned themselves with the problem of meaning. Mid-20th-century philosophers, including Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, and others, championed the position in more recent times. Existentialist philosophy encompasses a range of perspectives, but it shares certain underlying concepts. Among these is the idea that personal freedom, individual responsibility, and deliberate choice are essential to the pursuit of self-discovery and to determining life's meaning. Although these varying philosophies have evolved over recent times, they hav...

  And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power [ dunamis – divine ability] is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong [able].                       2 Corinthians 12:9-10 In the previous chapter of this letter to Corinth, Paul gives an account of some of the major trials he experienced as the Apostle to the Gentiles, including imprisonments, beatings, shipwrecks, and many other dangers. He found out that God did not spare him from any suffering because of his calling, but the Lord used them to keep Paul from exalting himself. Paul discovered through many challenges that God’s strength and power were available to him when he acknowledged tha...

  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body .                           1 Corinthians 6:19-20   For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is the Lord's freedman [emancipated slave] ; likewise, he who was called while free [unconstrained, unfettered, independent] , is Christ's slave [ doulos ] . You were bought with a price; do not become slaves [ doulos ] of men. Brethren, each one is to remain [ meno – continue, abide] with God in that condition in which he was called .              1 Corinthians 7:22-24 The Bible has much to say about slaves and free men and their treatment since slavery throughout Old Testament time...