A non-demoninational Christian organization for business and professional men, who desire to apply their faith in their vocations, home, churches, and community.
Looking for Answers?
Two Wise Teachers You Should Know
Many years ago there lived a man who had everything most people long for: wisdom, wealth, power, influence, accomplishments, and pleasures of every description. His name was Solomon.
Solomon ruled his nation as king for 40 peaceful and prosperous years. During that time, he established a strong military and oversaw many large projects including several walled cities, a temple for his people's worship, and a palace so large it would cover two football fields.
The wisest man of his day, Solomon was advisor to other monarchs and kings. They often traveled great distances for an audience with him, and he was rewarded handsomely for his wise counsel. Solomon's kingdom was a land bridge along the Mediterranean coast between Egypt and Asia; one which he exploited by controlling caravan routes and building a fleet of merchant ships. He became the wealthiest man on earth. So great was his wealth that "silver was as common as rocks" in his city, and the palace overflowed with items of gold.
Solomon had a harem of 300 concubines along with 700 wives of royal birth - marriages brokered for diplomatic reasons. A collector of animals, he was accomplished in both zoology and botany, as well as being a writer of thousands of proverbs and songs. His court musicians were at his beckoning call for entertainment, and sumptuous foods overflowed his table.
Yet, in spite of everything Solomon owned and accomplished, there was an element missing: none of it gave his existence ultimate meaning, something he sadly didn't discover until the end of his life. Unfortunately he died out of favor with the God who had blessed him with wisdom and wealth; and the kingdom he had helped to build fractured soon after his death.
Among Solomon's many writings are a book of Proverbs, and the book of Ecclesiastes in which he refers to himself as "the teacher." In these writings this man of knowledge and insight passes on the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime - some of which, ironically, he acquired the hard way: by making his own foolish mistakes.
Hundreds of years later, in that same country, a small-town carpenter would also come to be called "the teacher," dispensing a wisdom that would surpass even his distant relative, Solomon. Even at 12 years of age, he amazed the scholars of his day with his insights. By the time he appeared on the scene, the nation was well past its glory years and now occupied by the Roman Empire. His name was Jesus.
Unlike Solomon, Jesus' life would not be filled with the accomplishments one could find in history books. He never held any positions of power and he was anything but wealthy. There were no great building projects he could proudly point to and, as far as we know, he never wrote a proverb or a song. He didn't have a lot of wives; in fact, he wasn't married at all.
He spent three short years in the public eye, teaching and answering questions, healing illness and delivering from mental and spiritual bondage, loving the unlovable, and giving hope to the hopeless. Basically, he went around doing people good.
While there were those in leadership positions who sought him out for private consultations, most were not seekers of truth. Some simply wanted to be entertained, others felt threatened. In time, the threatened ones would arrange for a false arrest, a trial on trumped up charges, and a bloody execution - the greatest miscarriage of justice the world has ever witnessed.
Also unlike Solomon, Jesus' death did not end his legacy. Historical evidence shows that he rose from the dead; demonstrating what he had claimed about himself all along: he was the Son of God - the unique embodiment of Divine life in the limits of human flesh. Fortunately for us, his teaching was preserved by those followers who were closest to him.
For thousands of years, the wisdom of these two men has been preserved in writings carefully copied and passed on from generation to generation. If you would like to know what each had to say about a number of important topics, just move to the next page and make your selection.