Category: One Year Skeptic

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Old Testament

Today, Amos is shown visions of locusts and fire that the Lord was preparing for Israel. Fortunately for them, in both cases the Lord changed his mind when asked by Amos.

After that, we learn that Amos had traveled to Israel and was making public declarations that Jeroboam would die. Jeroboam, not surprisingly, was not fond of these ideas and told Amos to go back to Judah. Amos replied by saying that he just does what the Lord tells him to do.

The Lord then shows Amos a vision of ripe fruit to imply that Israel is ripe for punishment. The Lord then vows to punish Israel and describes that punishment. In addition to the normal language of punishment, we read this intriguing bit:

“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from border to border
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
Beautiful girls and strong young men
will grow faint in that day,
thirsting for the Lord’s word.

I find it interesting that this is given as a punishment when one of the primary sins of the people is neglecting the Lord for other gods.

Amos then receives a vision of God’s destroying punishment. That punishment includes another interesting bit that speaks to the prophet’s vision of his God’s universality:

“Are you Israelites more important to me
than the Ethiopians?” asks the Lord.
“I brought Israel out of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Crete
and led the Arameans out of Kir.

Israel, in both its blessings and punishments, is no more special than any other people. How different this is from the presentation of Israel as God’s especially chosen ones.

The book ends with a description of Israel’s promised restoration.

New Testament

The church in Philadelphia is praised for their obedience in spite of their small strength. Because of this, they will be protected in the terrible times to come (which, as is commonly the case, is described as soon). Those who make it victoriously through those times will becomes citizens of the new Jerusalem.

The church in Laodicea is lukewarm. This, declares the vision of Jesus, is worse than being either hot or cold. The people of the church are well off and complacent and do not realize their own misery. But if they let Jesus in, they still have a chance to join the side of victory.

That ends today’s reading the the letters to the churches.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s proverb encourages humility.

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Old Testament

Today we get a detailed description of the punishments that God brought upon his people for their sins. He seems to have an expectation that these punishments would make people turn to him. However, I am guessing these droughts, famines, blights, and plagues may very well have had the opposite effect and turned people toward worshiping other gods.

From God’s perspective, he is punishing sinful behavior. From the people’s point of view, Yahweh is failing to provide for them and so they turn to another god. Given Yahweh’s early history as a God of battle and rescue, it would not be unnatural for famines and droughts to make the people think that he is not so effective as a god of farming.

God’s response to this is to promise even more punishments and disasters. This shows that the God of Amos’ vision lacks a fundamental understanding of human psychology. If a god chooses to rule by fear, people will only obey him on the surface. They will never truly internalize respect for what that god considers to be right living.

Thus, as the Lord continues to emphasize his power and the punishment he will bring, he is not helping his case any. He might end up winning back some obedience for now, but he is not winning any hearts in the long term. The God of Amos calls for justice and righteous living, but seems to have missed the message of inner transformation that later prophets realized their God must call for to encourage deep change.

Today’s reading also contains a description of the day of judgment. It will be a dark and terrible day. Now, this may not seem surprising, but you should remember that Amos is the earliest recorded Hebrew prophet. Thus, when he says that people think the day of judgment is something to look forward to, he probably was reflecting the popular opinion.

New Testament

Today we read the message to the church in Thyatira. They receive some encouraging praise, but they  are tolerating one whom Jesus considers intolerable. They put up with the presence of Jezebel, a woman who encourages sexual sin and the eating of food offered to idols. She is specially picked out for punishment. Part of that punishment is the rather unjust striking of her children dead. Even if they are children of adultery, they should not be used as nothing more than tools to punish their mother.

The church in Sardis is told that they are dead and do not meet God’s requirements. But those few who have not sullied themselves will someday walk with Jesus.

That’s all the letters for today.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing strikes me as noteworthy today.

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Old Testament

Today we start the Book of Amos. We’ll be sticking with this one for a few days. As usual, background,

Beginning with a series of oracles condemning Israel’s neighbors, Amos also threatens the northern kingdom with destruction, delivering three warnings of judgment followed by five vision of disaster. Ah epilogue, promising restoration and peace, was added by a Judean editor.

Sounds cheery. We also learn that

Amos was the first biblical prophet whose words scribes compiled in book form. He also introduced major themes that would thereafter become staples of Israelite prophecy. Active in about 750 BCE during the reign of Jeroboam II, Amos was an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah of Jerusalem.

On to today’s reading! The first half to two-thirds of today’s reading is declaration of the sins of various nations and the punishments they will receive. The sins are varied: defeating God’s people in battle, taking others as slaves or selling others into slavery, exiling people, breaking treaties, excessive violence in war, desecration of corpses, and disobeying the Lord’s instructions. The punishment is generally some combination of destruction or exile.

This catalog of sinful nations is followed by a detailing of the sins of Israel. Their sins are particularly worthy of punishment because they had a closer relationship with the Lord. This includes a declaration that the Lord never brings punishment without first announcing it to the prophets and a declaration that disaster comes to cities because the Lord plans it.

New Testament

In today’s reading, the glowing Jesus vision dictates letters to three of the seven churches.

The church in Ephesus is told that they have done much well: they have been patient but don’t tolerate evil. They, along with Jesus, hate the Nicolaitans, whoever they are (little is definitively known about them). However, they disappoint Jesus because they do not love each other or Jesus as much as they did in the beginning.

The church in Smyrna gets less praise and less advice. Instead, they are offered encouragement and sympathy to help them face their upcoming suffering.

The church in Pergamum is told that it is doing well, especially given that Pergamum is where Satan has his throne. This seems like a good candidate for a coded reference to current events. However, the church fails to live up the Jesus’ standard because they show some tolerance for heretics.

I am guessing that tomorrow we will read letters to more of the seven churches.

Psalms and Proverbs

Given the positive attitude toward physical punishment elsewhere in the psalms, I am guessing the implication of this proverb is that since words alone are not enough, sometimes physical punishment is necessary.

Words alone will not discipline a servant;
the words may be understood, but they are not heeded.

There is more hope for a fool

than for someone who speaks without thinking.

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Old Testament

Let’s see what Understanding The Bible has to say about the Book of Joel:

After comparing a plague of locusts then devastating Judah to Yahweh’s imminent day of wrath, Joel predicts an outpouring of the divine spirit on all humanity and proclaims judgment on foreign nations.

… Although it gives no conclusive evidence of the time it was written, the conditions it describes — locust invasions, drought, and crop failure — suggest that the prophet was active during the fifth century BCE, a period of severe economic hardship for the postexilic community of  Judah.

It sounds like things are going to be a bit confusing at time:

The second part of Joel presents some difficulties because in the manuscript text, many passages seem to be out of order.

Harris also tells us that this book, with it’s signs of the end times, cosmic battles, outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and claims of divine presence among the faithful, had a large influence on later writers such as the author of Acts.

Joel, the author, seems to live in a time when the lands were plagued by many types of locusts. He interprets these as a warning.

I have been reading Guns, Germs, and Steel so I find the crop descriptions fascinating. That book makes me realize how much farming and crops are technologies; they were developed fairly recently. By the time the Joel was written, many staples, including the difficult to domesticate apple, were being grown as the staples of the food supply in Judah. Yet so many things that we consider staples, such as all the foods developed in the new world and anything domesticated in the last couple thousand years, was not yet domesticated. How odd it would be to be transported to a world where the food was both so familiar and so different.

In any case, that is all rather beside the point. The point is that the locusts ate all of these crops. Also, there’s drought and fire. Joel takes these disasters as a sign that the day of the Lord is near.

The day of the Lord is near,
the day when destruction comes from the Almighty.

and later

Let everyone tremble in fear
because the day of the Lord is upon us.

He was as wrong about that as the New Testament authors were. Like with the NT books, it is difficult to make a case that Joel meant that the day of judgment was near in cosmic rather than human terms. If the day was only near in cosmic terms, why would one plague of locusts be a sign of it? The locusts would be no more noteworthy than any other natural disaster.

The locusts come in crowds, vast and unstoppable like an invading army. The Lord leads them in their destruction. Because Joel believes that this attack comes from the Lord, he tells the people to repent. Joel,  continuing the fine tradition started by Moses, advises that the people pray that God saves them so as to save God’s reputation:

Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!
Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.
Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say,
‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”

Reminding God that he will be mocked for killing off his people is, I suppose, a tried and true strategy.

In any case, Joel promises that if the people repent, the Lord will end their troubles and bless them. After this, the Lord will pour out his spirit upon his people. All will see prophetic visions and there will be wonders to behold. Those who call on the Lord will be saved and those who do not will be judged for harming his people.

As punishment, for taking the Israelites in slavery, God will give the people of these offending nations in slavery to the people of Judah. That, I think, is a rather questionable judgment for a so called good and moral God to give out.

Once the divine judgment has been given, the people of Judah will live in peace and prosperity forever, but the lands of their enemies will become desolate.

And that’s the end of that book.

New Testament

We start our last New Testament book today: the Book of the Revelation of John. Like Daniel, this is an apocalyptic work. According to Harris,

Revelation affirms Christianity’s original hope for an immediate transformation of the world and assures the faithful that God’s prearranged plan, including the destruction of evil and the advent of Christ’s universal reign, is about to be accomplished. The book presents an apokalysis (unveiling) of unseen realities, both in heaven as it is now and on earth as it will be in the future. Placing a government oppression and Christian suffering in a cosmic perspective, Revelation conveys its message of hope for believers in the cryptic language of metaphor and symbol.

… Although Revelation was not the last New Testament book written,  its position at the end of the canon is thematically appropriate. The first Christians believed that their generation would witness the end of the present wicked age and the beginning of God’s direct rule over the earth. Revelation expresses that apocalyptic hope more powerfully than any other Christian writing. … Although the Gospels and Paul’s letters contain strongly apocalyptic passages, Revelation is the only New Testament document composed entirely in the form of a literary apocalypse. 

… Although one tradition states that Revelation is the work of John the Apostle, son of Zebedee, and that he is the same person who wrote John’s Gospel, this assertion was questioned even in the early church. … 

 Eusebius suggests that another John, known as “the Elder,” who lived at Ephesus about 100 CE, may have been the author. A few critics accept this view, although the majority believe that we can know little about the writer except for his name and his assertion that he had been exiled to Patmos, a tiny Aegean island off the western coast of Asia Minor (western Turkey). 

… Writing about 180 CE, the churchman Irenaeus stated that Revelation was composed late in the reign of Domitian, who was emperor from 81 to 96 CE. Internal references to government hostilities toward Christians, policies then associated with Domitian’s administration, support Irenaeus’ assessment. Most scholars date the work about 95 or 96 CE. 

On to today’s reading! The author starts out by declaring that he, John, is sharing a message that was given to Jesus to show his servants. The author then declares that “the time is near”, continuing in the tradition of authors who thought the end times would be soon.

The letter opens with greetings to seven churches; the choice of seven is probably symbolic given the numbers prominence in the rest of today’s reading. After the greetings, John gives a brief bit of personal background on how he came to write this book.

As part of this background, John tells of a vision of seven lamp stands which surround “someone like the Son of Man” who holds seven stars and has a sword coming out of his mouth. This vision seems rather terrifying, and John, based on his falling at the vision’s feet, seems to agree. The vision reveals himself to be Jesus and explains that the lamps represent the seven churches and the stars represent their angels. The idea of groups of individuals having a protecting angel reminds me of Daniel with it’s vision of the archangel Michael defending the Israelites.

That’s all for today.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

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Old Testament

We finish Hosea today. Tomorrow, we’ll start zooming through the rest of the minor prophets.

The bulk of today’s reading rehashes the sin of Israel and the punishment that they will receive. If you ever need to show someone an example of an undeniably straightforward example of God’s violent tendencies, moodiness, and hatred, I recommend Hosea. Hosea’s God is quite adamant about making sure that the reader knows that it is God who is destroying his chosen people for their sins.  A choice example from today’s reading is:

Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away,
I will tear out your heart.
I will devour you like a hungry lioness
and mangle you like a wild animal.

Shortly after the above verses, violent death is linked with difficult birth. Although this relatively positive image of birth is swiftly followed by further declarations of death and violence, it ties into the following stanzas on Israel’s repentance and redemption. The book ends on that positive note.

New Testament

We have reached our last epistle, Jude. According to Understanding The Bible

Defending orthodoxy, Jude warns of impending judgment on false teachers.

The brevity is fitting for a book that’s only 25 verses long. Further description gives these additional details:

Although the author identifies himself as Jude (Judas), “servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James” — and presumably also a kinsman of Jesus — the text implies that the time of the apostles is long past and that their predictions are now coming true. Scholars generally agree that Jude is a pseudonymous work composed about 125 CE, perhaps in Rome.

We also get this bit of description which makes me think I am not going to be particularly fond of this letter,

In literary style, Jude represents a kind of rhetoric known as invective — an argument characterized by verbal abuse and insult. Rather than specify his opponents’ doctrinal errors or logically refute their arguments, the author merely calls them names.

There’s a way to convince people you are right: ignore their arguments and insult them! As should be obvious, invective has not lost its popularity. Jude also cites a number of Biblical sources along with scripture, leading to the implication that the author took them as authoritative.

The letter starts by warning the recipients against the ungodly people who have snuck into their churches. These people teach things the author believes to be false.

The author then goes on to “remind” people that Jesus rescued the Jews from Jesus. Thus, 5 verses in, the author of this epistle manages to show a tendency I find terribly annoying and more than a little bit insulting to Jewish believers: he equates God with Jesus in the context of the Old Testament. Such an approach ignores the original intention of the text as well as the rich history of the Jewish people. At least the author of Jude didn’t say that the Jews who were saved were those who believed in Jesus (as was said in one sermon that I was unfortunate enough to attend).

We then hear, for the first time that I can remember, that God has chained up the angels who defied him in prisons of darkness. That is followed by the more familiar example of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The author then goes on to declare that those who are spreading heretical teachings live immoral lives. In the midst of this attack we see an odd story about Michael and the devil arguing about Moses’ body. That’s another thing that doesn’t quite seem canon. In any case, as was promised by the introduction, the author of Jude skips engaging with the beliefs of the heretics and just attacks them as bad people. It reminds me of the attacks modern day Christians often make against their own unrealistic stereotype of atheists.

That rant takes up a good portion of this short epistle. It is followed by a reminder that these believers of ~1900 years ago were living in the last times. The believers must build each other up and show mercy to others. This is followed by a short prayer, and then we are done.

The best I can say about that letter is that at least it was short.

Psalms and Proverbs

Two proverbs praising the disciplining of children and yet another proverb pointing out the problematic nature of wicked leaders.

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Old Testament

Today’s reading contains a sentiment that I think would surprise some (but not all) modern day Christians. It is not a sentiment that is new to Hosea, but Hosea provides a good example.

Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.

Hosea’s God is not a good God, in any sense that we humans would recognize. He is a God who is responsible for both the good and the bad. He is a God of justice, but his justice is a particularly violent kind. Destructive not only of other people but of his own people.

This theme continues throughout this long poem of Israel’s sin and upcoming punishment. This God wants to love his people:

I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.

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Old Testament

Ack! I let my Kindle battery go dead, so I am reading this tethered to my desk.

Today’s reading consists of a poetic description of Israel’s sins. The priests and leaders get a large share of the blame, but all the people are implicated. As one would expect after yesterday’s reading, the main cause of the Lord’s displeasure is the adultery Israel has committed by worshiping idols instead of him. Corruption among the priests and leaders was also strongly implied. Because of this sin, God will tear Israel and Judah apart and wait for them to come crying back to him in a time of need.

New Testament

Another new book. This letter is only 13 verses long and is thought to be by the same author as 1 John. It is a warning against those who have broken away from the community. Thus, it seems, this will continue the dilution of Jesus’ command to love one another into a command to love those who agree with you.

After a short greeting, the author reminds the recipients to love one another. The believers are then warned against those who deny that Jesus came in a physical body. Those people, according to the author, have no relationship with God. Because, as we have already established, disagreeing with the Johannine community is the ultimate sin in the eyes of John the Elder.

After that, the short letter is closed.

In the New Living Translation, the authors made an interesting translation choice. Consider these three verses with alternate translations. The main translation is always first and the footnote alternate second.

Verse 1:1,

“I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children” OR “I am writing to the church God has chosen and its members”

Verse 1:5,

“I am writing to remind you, dear friends” OR “I urge you, lady”

Verse 1:13,

“Greetings from the children of your sister” OR “Greetings from the members of your sister church”

Clearly, this can be translated as a personal letter written to a woman or to a church community where the church is being referred to in feminine terms. What I find odd is the choice to choose the address an individual in the first and last verse and the community in the second. I suppose the chosen translation for the second verse works either way, but it does seem like the second is a more consistent choice.

In any case, that was 2 John. Doesn’t really add much to 1 John, in my opinion.

Psalms and Proverbs

This reminds me of those TV courts:

If a wise person takes a fool to court,
there will be ranting and ridicule but no satisfaction.

And this is a good proverb:

Fools vent their anger,
but the wise quietly hold it back.

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Old Testament

It’s time to jump back in time as we start the minor prophets. Today we start with Hosea.

Background info, from our usual source,

Active during the last turbulent years of the northern kingdom, Hosea is the only native prophet of Israel whose oracles have been preserved in book form. Providing a unique view of late Israelite society and religion, Hosea uses the metaphor of an unhappy marriage to illustrate Yahweh’s relationship with Israel. Comparing his people to an unfaithful mate, the prophet urges a national return to Yahweh’s loving embrace, a reaffirmation of the bond that alone can save Israel from disaster. The first part describes Hosea’s marriage; the second enumerate Israel’s crimes and punishments; and the third gives a brief epilogue promising future repentance and reconciliation.

Wikipedia adds the following bit of temporal context:

Hosea prophesied during a dark and melancholic era of Israel’s history, the period of the Northern Kingdom’s decline and fall in the 8th century BC.

In today’s reading, Hosea receives a message telling him to marry a prostitute. This marriage will  illustrate how Israel has turned to other gods. He marries Gomer, a prostitute, and the children she bears are given names that are also symbolic of Israel’s relationship with God.

• Jezreel is named after the valley where King Jehu committed murders. This child symbolizes the ending of Israel’s independence.
• Lo-ruhamah means “not loved”, and that little girl represents God’s lack of love for the people of Israel.
• Lo-ammi means “not my people”. This little boy represents how the people of Israel are no longer God’s people.

New Testament

In today’s reading, the author tells us that the children of God are those who accept that Jesus was the messiah. Only these people can win the battle against the world.

The author of John then describes the basis on which he believes:

And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. So we have these three witnesses— the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God.

The argument from internal testimony is problematic.

First, there is no way to verify that the testimony comes from God. A key factor in determining the reliability of a human testimony is being able to identify the source of the testimony. If the validity of a testimony depends on someone being who they say they are, then the fact that they claim to be that person will not, on its own, be sufficient to support that testimony.

It’s also worth nothing that human testimonies, even from verified sources, are not generally accepted in isolation. They must be corroborated by external evidence or independent testimonies. A testimony without corroborating evidence is generally considered lower quality or even unreliable.

The author implies that strong feeling can be used to determine truth:

All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

However, strong feeling can only be used to determine subjective truths (opinions of beauty or taste or internal emotional state). Strong feeling has a terrible track record of distinguishing objective truths. To stick within the realm of religion, Muslims have strong emotional verification that the Quran is the true holy book. Christians have the same feeling about the OT and NT scriptures. Both of them cannot be right. Feelings, no matter how strong, cannot provide adequate justification for belief.

For more on the inadequacy of feelings for determining objective truths see this post introducing a series on logic and the many good books on the working of the brain such as Jonah Lehrer’s How We Decide.

Psalms and Proverbs

A medley of proverbs against flattery and sin and for caring for the poor and wisdom.

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Old Testament

Last day of Daniel. After this, we are going to start whizzing through the rest of the OT books.

Today we continue with the “explanation” of Daniel’s vision. I quote “explanation” because at this point it’s more like a telling of future events that used Danie’s vision as a starting point. Today’s continuation focuses on persecution and on a future king who claims greatness for himself. Of that king it is said

He will have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, or for the god loved by women, or for any other god

Notice the phrase I highlighted above. One thing that has been a persistent minor thread throughout our Old Testament readings is that many of the people who worshiped alternate gods were women. This persistence indicates the inadequacy of Yahweh to fulfill the needs of all his people and also underscores how much the temple culture excluded women.

After that, we read about more war and destruction.

At the end of time, the archangel Michael (the one who helped the messenger get through to Daniel and who guards Israel) will arise and those “whose name[s] [are] written in the book of the dead” will also be brought back from the dead.

The messenger then tells Daniel to keep this message secret until the end times. I suppose that is the author’s attempting to explain why this work did not appear until many years after it was set. This also adds strength to the implication that the author of Daniel believed that the end times were near (since the explanation had been revealed). As usual, I observe that the end times have sure been going on for a long time.

Amazingly, we actually get a concrete number on how long things will last:

From the time the daily sacrifice is stopped and the sacrilegious object that causes desecration is set up to be worshiped, there will be 1,290 days. And blessed are those who wait and remain until the end of the 1,335 days!

Well, the first part has been true for much longer than a thousand and some odd days, but that’s all we can really conclude since it is unclear what is meant by the “object that causes desecration”.

And that’s it. Tomorrow we start a new book.

New Testament

We finally get to the author’s much anticipated tests for determining truth. The tests prove to be uninspiring: a true prophet is one who holds certain positions on certain topics. The people belong to God are also those who listen to the author and his community. Anyone who does not agree with them has the spirit of deception rather than the spirit of truth. In short, the criteria that these believers are supposed to use for determining whether or not to believe someone is making sure they already agree with the opinions of the community.

At least the author of this book is consistent about his emphasis on the importance of loving one another.  This time around, he reinforces those ideas of love by emphasizing the vastness of God’s love.  The author also emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit and Jesus. I do have to say that anything positive this message of love might convey is pretty much washed out by the repeated assertions that this loving attitude only needs to apply to fellow believers.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s proverbs are all things we have heard before.

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Old Testament

Daniel’s vision, which I have already largely forgotten, is explained (sets of seven and anointed ones, I believe). It’s pretty much all politics. Kingdoms rise, fall, and meet in battle. Eventually there will be some prosecution involved. The details are not particularly interesting.

New Testament

A continuation of the discussion on righteousness and sin. The lack of righteous living or loving other believers shows that one does not belong to God. The author of this epistle seems to be carefully implying that having those two traits does not necessarily imply that one does belong to God. He also seems to be adding more weight to my earlier impression that he has watered down Jesus’ command to love others to the much weaker command to love other believers.

The discussion on love which follows further solidifies the author’s view on this point. Compassion and action are set out as necessary features of love.

Psalms and Proverbs

I like this proverb:

Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism
will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.