Proverbs 3:29-35
29 Do not devise harm against your neighbor,
While he lives securely beside you.
30 Do not contend with a person for no reason,
If he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy a violent person,
And do not choose any of his ways.
32 For the devious are an abomination to the Lord;
But He is intimate with the upright.
33 The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked,
But He blesses the home of the righteous.
34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers,
Yet He gives grace to the needy.
35 The wise will inherit honor,
But fools increase dishonor.
Some may wonder why I would choose a quote from a Grecian logician to support my writing today, but to do that is to put Descartes before the horse.
Sorry, I'm having fun with puns today.
The reality is that Hippocrates lived almost 200 years after Christ, and would have had access to the writings of Solomon as the Septuagint had already translated the entirety of the Tanakh into Greek.
In fact, we know that the Hebrew scriptures were one of the sources that these ancient philosophers used in their study, so it is fair to say that they would have known about, and had access to, these scriptures when forming the above quotes.
And so, I use them, because even though they come from pantheonistic philosophers, they encapsulate the words of Solomon, and even the words of both Paul and Christ Himself.
We are to do all that we can to live at peace (Romans 12:18), and to do no harm (Matthew 7:12).
Imagine if we all could live up to the expectations of this scripture!
Can you imagine what the world would see in the Church if we, within the walls, could JUST live out this simple truth?
If we truly want to be different from the world, then we need to take it upon ourselves to live differently, to love the brethren, and to do all that we can to do no harm.
That is our calling to each other.
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