Steve Reeves

This quote from the Bible seems to suggest that to seek knowledge on your own is wrong. Disregarding this advice is what eventually led me to consider how arbitrary religious faith is, given the vast number of religions to choose from.

I was wondering if this sentiment is unique to Christianity, or if it is common for religions? I'm guessing the latter is true, but I'd like to be able to observe this for myself. If anyone knows where I can find some clear examples of this in supposed holy books, I would appreciate it. If anyone knows of a religion which honestly teaches the opposite of this I would like to hear of it (aside from atheism, which I don't consider a religion; rather a lack of one.)

Reena

Judaism, Islam. I don't know much about other religions.

However, I remember hearing something about the Bahai faith and how it includes learning and deciding, but I am not too sure.

David B

I think this is pretty much confined to Abrahamic religions - though no doubt you could find quotes in Buddhism, Hinduism etc that say both that faith is primary, and that it ain't.

David B

mikem

I don't think that this verse actually encourages the abandoning of rational thought, or sets up a conflict between faith and reason.This is very much a modern preoccupation that would have been meaningless back then. At the time there simply was no such division. In fact all the way through, appeals are made to the faculty of reason to adjudicate between right and wrong.

The Proverbs are a collection of moral and religious teaching given to Jewish youth in the post exilic period by professional sages. Their primary purpose is moral and ethical (see chp.1 verse 2 - 6). The knowledge spoken of in say 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge", it is moral and ethical insight that is in view.

This is the case with the text that you cite. It is an appeal to the pupil to be loyal to the religious tradition of the elders; to let it be their guide in moral and religious matters. There is no need for them to start from scratch as it were, and fashion their own moral and religious code.

If you are looking for a text that encourages the exercise of faith to the disadvantage of seeking knowledge through the exercise of reason I would recommend John 20:29.

Thomas II

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding"

Let's translate:

*TRUST IN THE LORD: What does that mean? It means trust in the words of the Bible, what the Bible says, since "the Lord" is an invisible character who does not talk or writes for himself...
So who wrote those words?
Some guy belonging to a ruling religious group.
So the guy is really saying "Just do what I say"

*WITH ALL YOUR HEART: means "without giving thought", "completely"

*AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING: Means , "don't trust yourself, your own thoughts".

In conclusion: What the GUY who wrote that sentence in Proverbs is REALLY saying is "Do what God told me to tell you to do, completely, blindly, and thoughtlessly, and trust in MY MIND not YOURS"...

Yeah,as if...