The Beginning of Wisdom

The beginning of wisdom

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” 
                                                       Psalm 111:10.
Mankind left to his own devices would have wiped himself out centuries ago. If it were left to survival of the fittest it would be the most vicious that dominated and would lead to the extinction of the human race,
Mankind needs a moral code to live by. I cannot believe primitive man suddenly sat down with representatives of every tribe and wrote a moral code. Which thinking logically would have had to happened. For if even one group refused to live by something as simple as do not kill while the others did. Those who did not believe in do not kill would potentially dominate the world. They would simply wipe out the others,
Mankind needs a moral code to survive.
Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.”
                                                                                                                                    Abba Hillel Silver.
God has placed in the hearts of all men what is right and wrong. It is only when men decide to turn away from what is right and wrong that problems occur.
That is what happened in World War two. Hitler and his henchmen convinced a country of very cultured people that some ethnic groups were sub human and not worthy of life. Thus the holocaust was permitted to happen.
Today men claiming to be followers of God are beheading, torturing and murdering people simply because they disagree with them. These men are not followers of God. They are as bad if not worse than the Nazis of world war two.
I firmly believe there is a need to turn to God. To turn to the teachings of Jesus who said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  
 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
Matthew 5:43-47 
Jesus who answered the question,
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                                             Matthew 22:37-40.
If we are following these teachings of Jesus we cannot go wrong. What Jesus said by any standards is the right thing to do.
I believe that if more people, from the leaders of our countries, to the leaders of the terrorist groups around the world, to the individual on the street, would follow the teaching of Love for God, ones fellow man and even ones enemy, our world would be a better place.
Please think about it.