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Originally Posted by walkby
If wisdom leads someone to the truth or communicates the truth to them wouldn't it be correct to label said wisdom as the truth? (I guess I'm asking you this and maybe presenting a point that's right)
Notice that you said "the truth." Which truth, specifically is *the* truth here? Because this question is entirely different from a question of whether something is *true*.
Furthermore, even if it's true that wisdom leads *someone* to "the truth" it doesn't mean that the wisdom itself is actually true. People can incorrectly reach true conclusion from false hypotheses in many different ways. The truth of the conclusion doesn't inherently tell you about the truth of the hypothesis.
Wisdom is not truth. Wisdom may contain true observations about general human behaviors, but it doesn't stand as being true or false. Here's Proverbs 27:2:
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Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
an outsider, and not your own lips.
This is a good idea. It's often better not to boast about your own goodness, and live in a way that your goodness is so good that others want to talk about it. But there's no sense in which it is true that you should let someone else praise you. There are times when it is important to be able to speak for yourself (such as when you're in an interview).
So the value of the good idea is relative to particular contexts, which makes it harder to interpret them as being either true or false on their own. You can also find back-to-back couplets of wisdom that seem contradictory if you try to make them "true." For example, Proverbs 26:4-5:
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Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you yourself will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
So which is true? Should you answer a fool or not answer a fool? The answer is that neither is true. Sometimes you should answer a fool, and sometimes you shouldn't. Sometimes it's best to let the fool be foolish without stepping in and getting entangled in it, other times it's good to speak up and point out the follies of a fool. It depends on context, the character of the fool, your standing in whatever forum the fool is being foolish in...
But both can happen, and we can cite examples of it. These are not truths, but just good ideas based on valid observations of human behaviors.