Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction. [Proverbs 17:19] We do not live lives of peace, we men of earth. Always trouble is in our hearts; ever trouble looms in our lives; perpetually the world whispers of the destruction it can unleash against itself. “Here wealth is fleeting;…
One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor. [Proverbs 17:18] Slavery is among the panoply of Ultimate Evil in the American conception. To be a slave is a terrible fate; to be a slaver a sin with few peers; to endorse slavery as a system,…
Bad ADHD Studies Mislead ADHD Therapy For Adults For a variety of ‘reasons’, ADHD has become a hot topic not just in pediatrics but also in adult medical care. While the earlier debate about the causes and true frequency of ADHD in children continues, this study highlights some major flaws in the research on adult…
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. [Proverbs 17:17] Hardship is, to put it tautologically, the unpleasant part of life. It’s the part where you or I run headfirst into a brick wall, bounce off, and have to ask, ‘Will I climb over? Will I turn back?’ When…
Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense? [Proverbs 17:16] God, as it turns out, does have a sense of humor. Indeed, today’s verses is nearly a joke. The fool goes out on pretense of seeking wisdom- but the way in which he ‘seeks’ it…
He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord. [Proverbs 17:15] The word here translated ‘abomination’ is no weak thing. It is not ‘unpleasant,’ it is not ‘ugly,’ it is not ‘repellent.’ It isn’t even something as simple as ‘evil.’ ‘Abomination,’ תּוֹעֵבָה (to-ay-baw), tells…
“The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.” [Proverbs 17:14] Water is calm and placid, when contained. When let loose, though, when given a single small egress, water destroys; it rushes and tears and cuts through the land like a knife, riving apart any who stand…
“If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.” [Proverbs 17:13] The most disgusting characters in fiction, I find, are the traitors. Adulterers, turncoats, false friends, they induce a concentrated hatred and revulsion; they have in them something which mere murder, mere villainy, cannot match. Whether they are parents who…
Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly. [Proverbs 17:12] How pleasant is it to taunt an angry mama bear? 10 out of 10 corpses say: “Not very.” It’s definitively a Bad Idea. Yet the author of the proverb considers it the smaller risk, smaller…
An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him. [Proverbs 17:11] We sometimes wonder at the persistent evil of other men. We watch men act in ways that seem deliberately foolish, deliberately self-destructive, deliberately and causelessly malicious. We find ourselves wondering at the sheer impertinence of the wicked,…