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Proverbs 1:10 · World English Bible

Proverbs 1:10 Meaning My Son

My son, if sinners entice you, don’t consent.

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What does Proverbs 1:10 mean?

Every temptation is a voice inviting the mind to see attack as reasonable and guilt as deserved. The ones who entice are not people out in the world but the ego's own persuasions, always arguing that fear is justified and that someone should be blamed.

From the Christian Psychology reading below.

Proverbs 1:10 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY

Christian Psychology

Every temptation is a voice inviting the mind to see attack as reasonable and guilt as deserved. The ones who entice are not people out in the world but the ego's own persuasions, always arguing that fear is justified and that someone should be blamed. The whole of the mind's freedom rests on one small refusal, the choice not to agree, for consent is the only power these voices have.

To withhold that agreement is the miracle in its simplest form, a mind declining to believe in separation and quietly turning back toward love.

Sinners: the ego's persuasions within the mind, the tempting voices that argue fear is justified and blame deserved

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Christian Psychology lens

Live Proverbs 1:10 today

  1. When a post or headline today is clearly built to make you angry, let yourself feel the pull and then just do not reply. That small refusal is the whole thing.
  2. If a friend starts in on someone who is not in the room, you can stay warm without joining. Change the subject, or say something true and kind about the person instead.
  3. When you are tired and someone cuts you off, in traffic or in a meeting, catch the first thought that says they deserve something back. Let it pass without signing your name to it.

What am I being invited to be angry about, and do I have to accept?

The same truth in other traditions

Stoicism · Epictetus

It is not what happens that upsets you but your opinion about it. Withhold the opinion and the upset has nothing to stand on.

Buddhism

When an unskillful thought arises, you do not have to fight it. See what it is, decline to feed it, and watch it lose its hold.

Tao Te Ching 81

The one who truly knows does not argue. Where there is no contest, there is nothing for an enemy to grab.

Mid-century illustration of Jesus teaching the crowd on a hillside above the sea

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