3/28/25 Word Count – 1,246 Reading Time – 6 minutes

As a component of wisdom knowledge is accumulated information gained through various inputs and experiences. There is no reason to believe that all knowledge is good information, useful information or even true information. It’s easy to accumulate useless, false and even harmful information, especially in our current time and culture. By acquiring deep and enduring knowledge of God and His statutes we have a means of determining the veracity and usefulness of the information we take in.

As with other computers, our minds/brains are subject to the “garbage in, garbage out” dynamic. The information we take in and the knowledge we accumulate form the attitudes and behaviors we exhibit. God’s truth provides a foundation of information through which we can filter incoming information to determine if it is beneficial or harmful. Jesus Christ provides us with a model of how God’s truth and statutes look and work in real time.

Regarding the idea of truth, the Merriam Webster dictionary offers this definition of “truth”; “the body of real things, events, and facts”. In our culture today there seems to be some confusion about what truth is. An ideology that has gained traction among certain segments of the population is that of individual truths. The idea is that we create our own truth, regardless of the facts. This, to me, is a dangerous ideology that leads to chaos and makes it impossible to have structure to build upon.

Because we have drifted (or run) away from an awareness of God and consequently lost regard for Him as the creator of everything, we have lost our anchor to the truth. As Christians we accept that God is the creator. As the creator of all things, He is also the creator of all truth. God has done a good job of explaining His truth in the Bible. In addition to the Bible, we can look to nature (God’s creation) to verify and further provide tangible evidence of His truth. It really doesn’t matter if we like it or not. Nor does it matter if it makes sense to us. God’s truth is the only truth. Anything other than God’s truth is fiction. That is why we should read the Bible and gain as much knowledge of God as we can in order to separate the garbage from the gold as we take in information.

But what about all the violence and destruction in the Bible? How should that inform us? Well, to begin with, in my opinion the Bible is a war story. There is this huge conflict between the forces of good and the forces of evil. It’s also a love story about God’s devotion to His chosen people, the Israelites and His protection of them in a strikingly evil world. War is an ugly, viscous and massively brutal thing. It’s quite a conundrum because war is the result of evil, but it takes war to eradicate evil from the planet. Chemotherapy can have some ugly, viscous and brutal aspects but it is necessary to endure the devastation to have hope of eradicating the cancerous cells that are ravaging our bodies. If we take a snapshot of someone in the midst of their chemotherapy and consider only the damage being done to their bodies and the discomfort they are enduring at that point in time, we get a different picture of what is happening to that person than if we what the cancer was doing to them prior to the treatment and  a successful outcome , the eradication of the cancer.

There are certainly episodes in God’s war on evil may not be to our liking as we compare them to the values and sensibilities we accept in the current culture.

 I haven’t found anywhere in the Bible where God apologizes for who He is nor for what He does. God is Who He is and does what He does. It is up to us to deal with it. And in dealing with it perhaps we will find the deeper truths that reveal the meaning of life, who we are, and what our purpose is. Additionally, for us to look at the reality of God’s war on evil and His methodologies for waging that war and determine the validity of God and the veracity of His word is to bring judgement on God and base our judgment on our miniscule perspective and flimsy, ignorant value systems. We have no right to judge God in any manner. In Exodus 3:14 God told Moses – “I am Who I am”.  God needs no justification from us or any other entity for His actions.

One last comment on God’s war on evil. As we observe the present condition of our world it’s evident that evil has not been eradicated. It is all around us constantly. From some perspectives it might even appear that we are losing the battle. I don’t think this is the case because we only see through the tiny knothole of our limited viewpoint. As much evil as there is in the world today, there is at least as much good, if not much more. The fact that there isn’t more evil in the world is thanks to God’s efforts. I would guess that God has evil in the exact position for His coup de gras, the final blow that will wipe evil from existence.

Gaining knowledge of God is not supposed to be easy. We, as humans, are residents of a harsh and difficult environment. As we gain knowledge, we use that knowledge to improve our lives, to overcome sickness, to add security and comfort to our lives, and to gain more knowledge for even greater good. But gaining knowledge comes with struggles. To do great things mankind has overcome great obstacles. And as we wrestle with the never-ending onslaught of difficulties, obstacles and setbacks, we build strength of character. And I believe it is the strength of our character that builds and bolsters our spirit.  And I further believe that it is through the strength of our spirit that we acquire the knowledge of God by the teaching of Jesus Christ and the insights of the Holy Spirit. And finally, I believe that it will be our spirit, having been filled and fortified with the knowledge of God that will endure after our material beings have succumbed to the abuse of the planet which will form the conduit to the majesty of God and enable us to continue on in our destiny.

I view all wisdom as good. I distinguish being wise from being smart, crafty, or sly by the intent of its application. If one uses their accumulated knowledge, insights, and experiences with good intent that is a spiritual matter and, to me, worthy of being considered wise. Conversely, using your understanding to the detriment of your fellow man or our planet, or in useless pursuits is, at best, cunning and at worst evil. This is also a spiritual matter. Knowledge, insight, understanding, and experience are tools. A hammer is a tool that we can use to build a house or bash a skull. How we choose to use the hammer is a spiritual choice that is dependent on an individual’s spiritual character. By using the Bible as our filter for the information we take in we are able to better determine how we choose to incorporate that information into our worldview and our daily actions. And ultimately, whether we are building wisdom or just information.