Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Examination is not a true test of knowledge

Can you give some specific examples of what you mean by a formal education being nearly useless? Without an education I couldn't read my Bible or write/type this message.

I *think* that JustaServant, is...confusing knowledge and wisdom just a wee bit.

We need a certain degree of formal education in order to be able to read more and perhaps, perhaps, turn it into wisdom. Formal education is (loosely speaking) useless after a certain degree of learning.

If that makes sense.

I'd rather be wise than intelligent if it were to be one or the other.
 
Earthly wisdom and knowledge should never lead to respect. It does not determine the value of a person.

Godly wisdom and knowledge should be accepted as council and God should be respected.
 
I *think* that JustaServant, is...confusing knowledge and wisdom just a wee bit.

We need a certain degree of formal education in order to be able to read more and perhaps, perhaps, turn it into wisdom. Formal education is (loosely speaking) useless after a certain degree of learning.

If that makes sense.

I'd rather be wise than intelligent if it were to be one or the other.
I think it makes great sense. I see so many posts by people who can't spell or even compose a decent sentence in English, spouting off about all the in's and out's of Biblical language structure.

What a farce.
 
That is a good pint there brother, and true. Nevertheless, earthly knowledge is touted to be respected. And of course it would because it leads away from God for the most part.
 
I think it makes great sense. I see so many posts by people who can't spell or even compose a decent sentence in English, spouting off about all the in's and out's of Biblical language structure.

What a farce.

The farce is the idea that someone needs to use proper grammar to discuss the Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. We have biblehub these days.
 
That is a good pint there brother, and true. Nevertheless, earthly knowledge is touted to be respected. And of course it would because it leads away from God for the most part.

Much more often than not, it does. This is because of WHY people want knowledge and WHAT they view knowledge as. They also end up with faulty knowledge as a result, normally.
 
That is a good pint there brother, and true. Nevertheless, earthly knowledge is touted to be respected. And of course it would because it leads away from God for the most part.
What I meant was that many people may not even be writing about the particular word under consideration, nor do they manage to put together a coherent thought so someone else can follow what they are saying.
 
I think it makes great sense. I see so many posts by people who can't spell or even compose a decent sentence in English, spouting off about all the in's and out's of Biblical language structure.

What a farce.
I almost fall into that category.
 
What I meant was that many people may not even be writing about the particular word under consideration, nor do they manage to put together a coherent thought so someone else can follow what they are saying.

That is when you point out the correction and ask for clarification. If you do not do that, God sees you allowing someone to remain in error. If this leads to pride it is even worse.

Edited reba
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That is when you point out the correction and ask for clarification. If you do not do that, God sees you allowing someone to remain in error. If this leads to pride it is even worse.

Speaking of error, he wasn't talking to you.
I kid you not... sometimes I honestly have no idea what some of these posts are intended to convey, the composition is so disjointed and haphazard.
 
I kid you not... sometimes I honestly have no idea what some of these posts are intended to convey, the composition is so disjointed and haphazard.

Ask for clarification. Sometimes it is our perspective that causes us to be unable to understand what someone else is saying. Sometimes our perspective is a result of false impressions acquired by being too trusting of our perceptions. This builds up over the course of a person's life, btw.
 
interesting thread and perspectives.
Regarding the OP...examinations may not be a true test of wisdom, but it is a test of knowledge. Big difference between knowledge and wisdom, it's good to have both.

That is the truth. Even in the spiritual gifts we see there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge.

Examinations are good in that they let you see where you are. It doesn't matter if you're tired, hungry, sick, whatever. You get your score and see where you stand on a comparative scale of accurateness.

Being sick or tired can be taken into account after scoring for a personal observation of how you do at your worst or so forth, but should not be used as a rationalization for doing poorly. You either know it or you don't.

When I was in junior high and high school, I was rebellious sort of course, but I was also an avid reader and interested in many things of my own accord. I would generally not do the assignments or homework, but almost always did well on the tests. Which made them both dislike me and respect to a degree at the same time. They had to pass me for I passed the tests. Even after I quit high school and one day decided to go get my GED, they pre tested me and I didn't need any prep classes or anything like that. I did well on the test.

Wisdom is whole 'nother ballgame. Someone can be very wise and practically be illiterate. Conversely, one can have a PHD and at the same time, be an idiot as far as wisdom goes. I think the difference between them is like...book smarts and street smarts, along those lines.

I'm fairly intelligent, but in no way do I profess to be wise. I may be, but I do not think that one can judge their own wisdom. That's judged by others.

This is a wise post, Edward. imo.

Another thing an educated person may be lacking is common sense. I don't think that's quite the same as wisdom either.
My dh has said several times that an architect and a mechanical engineer who designs cars should both have to work as a builder and a mechanic respectively before they are licensed in their field.

Edit: needed to add a comma to correct a fragmented sentence. :shock
 
Last edited:
I think it makes great sense. I see so many posts by people who can't spell or even compose a decent sentence in English, spouting off about all the in's and out's of Biblical language structure.

What a farce.

It is true that, the better ones spelling and sentence structure is, the more seriously they are taken, BUT! should it really be that way? Regional dialects can affect ones sentence structure and and can not really be taken as a sign of intelligence or validity of ones view. Spelling too, the person writing may be very wise but not spell and write good. So it's really unfair to judge a post by structure, though we do this most naturally.

The flip side are the very intelligent people who are lacking in wisdom! We have a couple here. The book knowledge is high, wisdom low, or so it seems to me. These high knowledge/low wisdom types are dangerous because their vocal babble sounds very plausible and learned and so consequently respectable...But with no wisdom it could lead men unto death.
 
Ask for clarification. Sometimes it is our perspective that causes us to be unable to understand what someone else is saying. Sometimes our perspective is a result of false impressions acquired by being too trusting of our perceptions. This builds up over the course of a person's life, btw.
I think a large portion of the reason many people's posts leave you glassy-eyed is because they write their thoughts with the mistaken assumption that because THEY are thinking something, then others should automatically understand where they are coming from.
 
I think a large portion of the reason many people's posts leave you glassy-eyed is because they write their thoughts with the mistaken assumption that because THEY are thinking something, then others should automatically understand where they are coming from.
So true be nice if we could all remember that
 
It is true that, the better ones spelling and sentence structure is, the more seriously they are taken, BUT! should it really be that way? Regional dialects can affect ones sentence structure and and can not really be taken as a sign of intelligence or validity of ones view. Spelling too, the person writing may be very wise but not spell and write good. So it's really unfair to judge a post by structure, though we do this most naturally.

The flip side are the very intelligent people who are lacking in wisdom! We have a couple here. The book knowledge is high, wisdom low, or so it seems to me. These high knowledge/low wisdom types are dangerous because their vocal babble sounds very plausible and learned and so consequently respectable...But with no wisdom it could lead men unto death.
Book smarts with no wisdom is dead.
 
It is true that, the better ones spelling and sentence structure is, the more seriously they are taken, BUT! should it really be that way? Regional dialects can affect ones sentence structure and and can not really be taken as a sign of intelligence or validity of ones view. Spelling too, the person writing may be very wise but not spell and write good. So it's really unfair to judge a post by structure, though we do this most naturally.

The flip side are the very intelligent people who are lacking in wisdom! We have a couple here. The book knowledge is high, wisdom low, or so it seems to me. These high knowledge/low wisdom types are dangerous because their vocal babble sounds very plausible and learned and so consequently respectable...But with no wisdom it could lead men unto death.
You, in particular, I like..... because you (and I have seen this a lot in your posts) actually know how and when to use "affect" and "effect" correctly.
 
I think a large portion of the reason many people's posts leave you glassy-eyed is because they write their thoughts with the mistaken assumption that because THEY are thinking something, then others should automatically understand where they are coming from.

Yes that can happen. It goes both ways. That is why we need to strive for openness, honesty, and clarity. Human emotions play a large role in deterring these things and often lead to sin.
 
Back
Top