As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Birkerts puts his point succinctly near the end of the book: ‘My core fear is that we are, as a culture, as a species … giving up on wisdom, the struggle for which has for millennia been central to the very idea of culture.’” - TGC
“The urge to fling reciprocal accusations is totally normal. Our impulse is to punch back and set ‘em straight. It’s 100% natural. And that’s the problem.” - IFWE
“Without a doubt, stress of all kinds affects our ability to make sound, wise decisions. It can distort our reality, hasten our decision, amplify our foolishness, or paralyze us.” - IFWE
“One of the clearest examples of this problematic yet ever increasing norm in our society came last week when a group of Roman Catholic High School students—who happened to be on a pro-life trip—became the objects of social bullying and bigotry—and, all under the faulty lens of social media manipulation and slander.” - Ref21
“God gave you one mouth and two ears,” the saying goes. But hardly a day passes without someone publicly complaining, ‘Why don’t people listen to each other anymore?’ We’ve lost the knack, or lost the will.” - WORLD
It is a commonly held belief among Christians that one of the most perplexing problems we experience is knowing what the will of God is for our lives. The reason for this is not hard to find. For one thing, we are most sensitive to this question in times of stress, when the stakes are high and our emotions are perturbed. We want a clear path to appear in front of us—we want to know what our heavenly Father would have us do. In these situations we turn to God and pray for guidance. But frequently we discover that the help does not come to us when and how we think it should, and we begin to wonder if there is some secret key to the will of God which we need to discover.
Everyone is familiar with what Gideon did when he wanted absolute assurance that he was not deluded, but that the Lord truly had told him to take on the Midianites—he laid a fleece out, not once but twice (Judg. 6:36-40).
CHAPTER III - THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD
BY REV. A. W. PITZER, D. D., LL. D., SALEM, VIRGINIA
When wisely managed, disillusionment is a beneficial misery. It qualifies as what the Puritans called “a severe mercy”—a torment that purifies the soul. Since disillusionment is emotionally painful, we naturally regard it as an enemy. But to be disillusioned is to be set free from illusion, and that is never bad. Disillusionment bursts an illusion much as a pin pops a balloon. The experience is jarring; but in the case of illusions, it is equally liberating.
Discussion