SKEPTICS may ask, why don’t people follow the advice of numerous proverbs and maxims of forethought available for centuries? Instead, they conclude that these apply only after some rightful venture has gone “horribly wrong.” When, for instance, a person gambles and loses all they have, including their house, why didn’t they remember the old Scottish proverb, “willful waste leads to woeful want?” But didn’t the gambler know this well-worn saying from earlier years? However, it wouldn’t have done much good. So, are the maxims of morality useless because people disregard them? For Christians and Jews, the Book of Proverbs is a great example. Yet, what about other religions and philosophers?

For example, German poet Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853) once wrote:

“HE is not dead who departs this life with high fame; dead is he, though living, whose brow is branded with infamy.”

Sounds very familiar to the Apostle Paul’s message:

“You were spiritually dead because of your sins and not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins” Colossians 2:13.