Life Principles

[murray t turtle]

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I like that life principle--even though I have never seen that exact miracle.Peter got a coin from a fish's mouth, enough for tax for 2.Matthew 17 The Message Bible.Take it + give it to the taxman, that will be enough for both of us.
Mrs or Miss Goodrich did help me with my taxes, so there are lots of ways to be blessed...………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...CPA Goodrich had Psalm 118;17 on her wall/maybe she liked/preferred doors opened for her.

 

[navyelite]

A few things may happen by chance. But if you wait for the chance, good things will happen to you only when you are in your grave because things may take their time. When you are living your life by chance, you will be living in fear and anxiety.

 

[murray t turtle]

A few things may happen by chance. But if you wait for the chance, good things will happen to you only when you are in your grave because things may take their time. When you are living your life by chance, you will be living in fear and anxiety.

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Good points.
Proverbs 11; .........................................................Sell the corn[grain] .
Proverbs are principles for life\not an auto sell signal. MAR 11/ 2021

 

[expiated]

I recently heard The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Green, recommended as a publication full of lessons on the effective and practical application of power. As a result, I checked out the book from my local library. Fortunately, all the laws are listed right at the beginning of the book, because there is no way I'm going to read all 430+ pages.

Unlike the book’s promoter, I would describe the work as text brimming with instructions on how to be an awful, devious, manipulative, plotting, conniving, scheming, underhanded human being. I would never wish to succeed by using most of the tactics suggested within its pages. To me, they have no place (and are totally unnecessary) for someone who has faith and puts their trust in God.

However, I do still wish to take a look at each one of the laws in turn. So, to make this exercise worth my time, after reading each one, I’m going to think about what biblical principal I would apply in its place.

On Tuesday (March 16, 2021) I began utilizing Studylight.org/commentary.html as a resource to spice up the "charge" to get into the Word of God on a daily basis, and I think I will also use the website as a tool to aid this activity as well.

Law 1
Never Outshine The Master

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite—inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Personally, I prefer Matthew 10:16.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."

Adam Clarke sees the text this way…

There is a beauty in this saying which is seldom observed. The serpent is represented as prudent to excess, being full of cunning, Genesis 3:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3; and the dove is simple, even to stupidity, Hosea 7:11; but Jesus Christ corrects here the cunning of the serpent, by the simplicity of the dove; and the too great simplicity of the dove, by the cunning of the serpent.

I like Albert Barnes’ take on the verse even better…

As sheep in the midst of wolves - That is, I send you, inoffensive and harmless, into a cold, unfriendly, and cruel world. Your innocence will not be a protection.

Be wise as serpents… - Serpents have always been an emblem of wisdom and cunning, Genesis 3:1. The Egyptians used the serpent in their hieroglyphics as a symbol of wisdom. Probably the thing in which Christ directed his followers to imitate the serpent was in its caution in avoiding danger. No animal equals them in the rapidity and skill which they evince in escaping danger. So said Christ to his disciples, You need caution and wisdom in the midst of a world that will seek your lives. He directs them, also, to be harmless, not to provoke danger, not to do injury, and thus make their fellow-men justly enraged against them. Doves are, and always have been, a striking emblem of innocence. Most people would foolishly destroy a serpent, be it ever so harmless, yet few are so hardhearted as to kill a dove.

 

[expiated]

Law 2
Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to Use Enemies

Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

If you have no enemies, find a way to make them? What kind of idiotic advice is that? I'm more inclined to pay attention to Matthew 7:14 and Romans 12:20.

Matthew 7:14

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Albert Barnes:

Who come in sheep‘s clothing - The sheep is an emblem of innocence, sincerity, and harmlessness. To come in sheep‘s clothing is to assume the appearance of sanctity and innocence, when the heart is evil.

Ravening wolves - Rapacious; voraciously devouring; hungry even to rage. Applied to the false teachers, it means that they assumed the appearance of holiness in order that they might the more readily get the property of the people. They were full of extortion and excess.

Romans 12:20

But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

Adam Clarke Commentary:

If thine enemy hunger, feed him - Do not withhold from any man the offices of mercy and kindness; you have been God's enemy, and yet God fed, clothed, and preserved you alive: Do to your enemy as God has done to you. If your enemy be hungry, feed him; if he be thirsty, give him drink: so has God dealt with you. And has not a sense of his goodness and long-suffering towards you been a means of melting down your heart into penitential compunction, gratitude, and love towards him? How know you that a similar conduct towards your enemy may not have the same gracious influence on him towards you? Your kindness may be the means of begetting in him a sense of his guilt; and, from being your fell enemy, he may become your real friend!

This I believe to be the sense of this passage, which many have encumbered with difficulties of their own creating. The whole is a quotation from Proverbs 25:21, Proverbs 25:22, in the precise words of the Septuagint; and it is very likely that the latter clause of this verse, Thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, is a metaphor taken from smelting metals. The ore is put into the furnace, and fire put both under and over, that the metal may be liquefied, and, leaving the scoriae and dross, may fall down pure to the bottom of the furnace. This is beautifully expressed by one of our own poets, in reference to this explanation of this passage:

So artists melt the sullen ore of lead,
By heaping coals of fire upon its head.
In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,
And pure from dross the silver runs below.

It is most evident, from the whole connection of the place and the apostle's use of it, that the heaping of the coals of fire upon the head of the enemy is intended to produce not an evil, but the most beneficial effect; and the following verse is an additional proof of this.

Albert Barnes

Therefore, if thine enemy hunger… - This verse is taken almost literally from Proverbs 25:21-22. Hunger and thirst here are put for want in general. If thine enemy is needy in any way, do him good, and supply his needs. This is, in spirit, the same as the command of the Lord Jesus Matthew 5:44, "Do good to them that hate you," etc.

In so doing - It does not mean that we are to do this "for the sake" of heaping coals of fire on him, but that this will be the result.

Thou shalt heap… - Coals of fire are doubtless emblematical of "pain." But the idea here is not that in so doing we shall call down divine vengeance on the man; but the apostle is speaking of the natural effect or result of showing him kindness. Burning coals heaped on a man‘s head would be expressive of intense agony. So the apostle says that the "effect" of doing good to an enemy would be to produce pain. But the pain will result from shame, remorse of conscience, a conviction of the evil of his conduct, and an apprehension of divine displeasure that may lead to repentance. To do this, is not only perfectly right, but it is desirable. If a man can be brought to reflection and true repentance, it should be done. In regard to this passage we may remark,

(1) That the way to promote "peace" is to do good even to enemies.

(2) the way to bring a man to repentance is to do him good. On this principle God is acting continually. He does good to all, even to the rebellious; and he designs that his goodness should lead people to repentance; Romans 2:4. People will resist wrath, anger, and power; but "goodness" they cannot resist; it finds its way to the heart; and the conscience does its work, and the sinner is overwhelmed at the remembrance of his crimes.

 

[expiated]

Law 3
Conceal Your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

This is the first law with which I am in agreement, though not in the same manner that it is expressed. Personally, my view is more along the lines of: Threaten no one!

If I'm going to come at you, I'm NOT going to tell you about it. How idiotic it would be of me to let you know ahead of time. No, I'm just going to wait until the time arrives, and simply do it! The result is that, without any warning, my "enemies" find themselves getting hit from out of nowhere.

I find this principal of being careful about what or how much you reveal to others in 2 Kings 20:12-19.

Hezekiah showed the Babylonian envoys ALL his treasure house through a spirit of folly and exultation. In this business God left Hezekiah to try him, that He might know all that was in his heart; and this trial proved that in his heart there was little else than pride and folly. Hezekiah was moved by ambition and vain glory, and also because he seemed to rejoice in the friendship of those who were infidels and enemies of God.

Hezekiah took honor to himself which he should have given entirely to God; and for his carnal confidence in that league which he now made with the king of Babylon, by which, it is probable, he thought his mountain to be so strong that it could not be removed, it was prophesied that "all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried off to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD."

 

[expiated]

Law 4
Always Say Less Than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinx-like. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

James 1:19-20

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Albert Barnes

That is, primarily, to hear God; to listen to the instructions of that truth by which we have been begotten, and brought into so near relation to him. At the same time, though this is the primary sense of the phrase here, it may be regarded as inculcating the general doctrine that we are to be more ready to hear than to speak; or that we are to be disposed to learn always, and from any source. Our appropriate condition is rather that of learners than instructors; and the attitude of mind which we should cultivate is that of a readiness to receive information from any quarter.

Proverbs 10:19

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

John Gill

Where a great deal is said, without care and forethought, there will not only be many weak things uttered, but much falsehood, and at least many idle things, which cannot be excused from sin; not but that much and long speaking may be to great profit and advantage, when it is with care and judgment, and founded on close meditation and study.

He who lays a restraint on his mouth, bridles his tongue; does not suffer his lips to utter anything rashly and inconsiderately; is sparing of his words and is careful of what he says, that it is true and proper to be spoken; and considers well the time when, place where, and persons to whom he speaks; and, all circumstances weighed, conducts accordingly: such a man is a wise, prudent, and understanding man.

Coffman

This thunders the message that one should avoid talking too much. One reading of the second clause here is: "He who controls his tongue acts wisely."

Proverbs 17:27

Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

 

[expiated]

LAW 5
SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION—GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

Abstain from every form of evil.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Abstain from all appearance of evil. Of doctrinal evil. Not only open error and heresy are to be avoided, but what has any show of it, or looks like it, or carries in it a suspicion of it, or may be an occasion thereof, or lead unto it; wherefore all new words and phrases of this kind should be shunned, and the form of sound words held fast; and so of all practical evil, not only from sin itself, and all sorts of sin, lesser or greater, as the Jews have a saying:

"Take care of a light as of a heavy commandment.”

This is to say, take care of committing a lesser, as a greater sin, and from the first motions of sin; but from every occasion of it, and what leads unto it, and has the appearance of it, or may be suspected of others to be sin, and so give offence, and be a matter of scandal.

1 Timothy 3:2

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…

The word here used does not mean that, as a necessary qualification for office, a bishop should be "perfect," but that he should be a man against whom no charge of immorality, or of holding false doctrine, is alleged. His conduct should be irreproachable. Undoubtedly it means that if any charge could be brought against him implying moral obliquity, he is not fit for the office. He should be a man of irreproachable character for truth, honesty, chastity, and general uprightness.

This word has been distorted out of its true meaning, by saying it requires a bishop to be without sin. Sinless perfection is not required of Christians, nor of elders.

Rather, the Greek word from which this comes means "one who cannot be laid hold upon." This is to say, a man without a handle—one who has given evil men no occasion whatever to blame or censure him.

 

[expiated]

Law 6
COURT ATTENTION AT ALL COST

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

This Law is in direct opposition with the spirit of 1 Samuel 16:7

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

And Luke 14: 10

But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, "Friend, move up higher." Then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you.

Matthew 23:12

Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Adam Clarke Commentary

Whosoever shall exalt himself... - The way to arrive at the highest degree of dignity, in the sight of God, is by being willing to become the servant of all. Nothing is more hateful in his sight than pride; to bring it into everlasting contempt, God was manifest in the flesh. He who was in the likeness of God took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and humbled himself unto death. After this, can God look upon any proud man without abasing him? Spiritual lordship and domination, ecclesiastical luxury, pomp, and pride, must be an abhorrence in the sight of that God who gave the above advice to his followers.

Another lesson, which our blessed Lord teaches here, is, that no man is implicitly to receive the sayings, doctrines, and decisions of any man, or number of men, in the things which concern the interests of his immortal soul. Christ, his Spirit, and his word, are the only infallible teachers. Every man who wishes to save his soul must search the Scriptures, by prayer and faith. Reader, take counsel with the pious; hear the discourses of the wise and holy: but let the book of God ultimately fix thy creed.

1 Peter 5:6

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you...

Adam Clarke Commentary

Humble yourselves - Those who submit patiently to the dispensations of God's providence he lifts up; those who lift themselves up, God thrusts down.

If we humble not ourselves under God's grace, he will humble us under his judgments. Those who patiently submit to him, he exalts in due time; if his hand be mighty to depress, it is also mighty to exalt.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Humble yourselves therefore - Be willing to take a low place - a place such as becomes you. Do not arrogate to yourselves what does not belong to you; do not evince pride and haughtiness in your manner; do not exalt yourselves above others.

Under the mighty hand of God - This refers probably to the calamities which he had brought upon them, or was about to bring upon them; represented here, as often elsewhere, as the infliction of his hand - the hand being that by which we accomplish anything. When that hand was upon them they were not to be lifted up with pride and with a spirit of rebellion, but were to take a lowly place before him, and submit to him wish a calm mind, believing that he would exalt them in due time.

That he may exalt you in due time - When he shall see it to be a proper time.

Romans 8:31

If God be for us, who can be against us?

What adverse power can there possibly be stronger than God?

Luke 1:52

He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

He hath put down the mighty from their seats... As mighty kings and emperors from their thrones, as he often does, in the course of his providence; setting up one, and putting down another: or the mighty angels, from their seats of bliss and happiness in heaven; who rebelling against God, opposing the incarnation of Christ, taking it ill, that the human nature should be advanced above theirs, were cast down to hell; and are reserved in chains of darkness, to the judgment of the great day: or this may have respect to the putting down the monarchies and kingdoms of this world.

and exalted them of low degree; as David to the throne of Israel, from the sheepfold, and following the ewes great with young; and now his house and family, which were sunk very low, by raising of his seed, of a poor virgin in his family, unto Israel, a Savior Jesus; in whose days the poor had the Gospel preached, and received it: these were chosen and called: the great things of the Gospel were revealed to babes, and hid from the wise and prudent; and beggars were raised from the dunghill, to sit among princes, and to inherit the throne of glory: a method, which God in his infinite wisdom and grace has been pleased to take, more or less, in all ages of time.

(Personal Note: And don't forget how God both humbled and lifted up Moses, and how he promoted Joseph, and how he gave the leadership of His Church to common fishermen as opposed to the Sadducees and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, [with the exception of Paul, of course, whom He first had to humble].)

 

[expiated]

LAW 6
CREATE AN AIR OF MYSTERY

Never make it too clear what you are doing or about to do. Do not show all your cards. Mystery and uncertainty create anticipation - everyone will want to know what comes next. Use mystery to beguile, seduce, even frighten.

There is a website that lists the above as the sixth Law rather than what appears in the previous post. Did they authors change this in an earlier or later edition of the publication? (And isn't this an awful lot like Law 3, anyway?)

In any event, Scripture has a habit of creating an air of mystery "left and right." I've heard it said that the Bible does not hide things from believers. Rather, it hides things for them.

As the Messiah said...

"You search the Scriptures, poring over them hoping to gain eternal life. Everything you read points to me. Yet, you still refuse to come to me so I can give you the life you're looking for—eternal life!"

Or put another way...

"You search the Scriptures constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But, you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want!"

And what is the last book of the Bible, if not one big mystery?