but one who rejects a rebuke goes astray.” NRSV
Do we need to experience something in order to learn from it? Or are we wise enough to learn from the experiences (and wisdom) of others around us?
I’ve heard a number (a great number) of people say that they have to learn things on their own; they can’t learn from the advice of others. I wonder, “Why not?” What is it about us that requires that we stub our own toes, learn our own lessons? Why aren’t we willing to listen to the wisdom of those who have already lived . . . and learned?
Obviously Solomon, in all his great wisdom, believed that one didn’t have to learn by experience but could also learn by instruction, by the advice given by someone else. He also believed by rejecting advice caused that person to go astray. I agree. I’m against this idea that we must learn on our own, that we must “experience” in order to gain wisdom. Wisdom comes through study and application of God’s Word, not through experience. Wisdom comes through the instruction of the Holy Spirit.
I was a home-schooling mom. And while I exposed my son to many topics (including evolution) in the structure of his schooling, I did not believe that he had to experience everything he studied. In fact, I believed that he should study such things within the context that they were sinful, rather than making his own “decision” about them. You see, the decision about those things’ righteousness or sinfulness has already been decided . . . by God. It was important that my son accept those decisions, rather than to decide himself.
It’s important that, rather than deciding for ourselves, we learn to agree with God. Thus, we don’t need to experience for ourselves; we simply need to accept what scripture says.
I think that believing we need to decide for ourselves, to experience for ourselves, comes directly out of a spirit of rebellion, of saying that God isn’t necessarily right and we have to determine for ourselves whether or not what He says we want to accept. Rather, we would do better to humble ourselves and accept what He says (and commands). That is the path to life.
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
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