How to present Proverbs to a skeptical audience

A student asked the following question. My attempt at an answer follows.

Q: You commented in class that proverbs are not to be viewed as absolute but general principles that would work most or majority of the time. I am think back then, that was the time where belief in god was a given. But in recent times, society has changed (e.g., compared to the 50s/60s in America). Today, messages are promoted in popular culture, media, that greed for gain is considered good (as long as nobody physically got hurt), slick maneuvers around legal loopholes for gain is considered smart, everything “shortcuts” as long as it is not illegal is fair game in the name of competition. To say the wisdom in proverbs will work most of the time, we possibly be faced with a skeptical audience, maybe even Christians, viewed as unconvincing and unrealistic. Is there anything you suggest we can do here to overcome this barrier in our time?

A: When I say that the proverbs in the book of Proverbs (and elsewhere in Scripture) should be viewed as general rather than absolute principles I am attempting to interpret them as they were meant to be interpreted and in a way that makes sense. In a day when people do not believe in God (and I'm not so sure that things were really all that much better in the past, whether in North America or elsewhere), it is difficult to convince them that any part of the Bible is authoritative for their lives. Claiming absolute authority or general reliability makes no difference at that point. For this reason, when dealing with unbelievers I would (in most cases) steer clear of the authority issue. Instead, I would introduce the Proverbs as a collection of wise sayings that Israel discovered were beneficial to people who wanted to know how to live "the good life", that is, the moral life, the life of shalom (although I don't think Israel's sages would that exact phraseology). I would also try to get them to see that even though it is ancient wisdom it still has much to say about life in the world today, much to say that is helpful to us as we consider how to live.

Part of its teaching challenges people (including non-Christians) to reconsider what is found in many modern proverbs. Is the "Just Do It!" lifestyle wise, helpful, moral, sustainable? It all depends what the "it" refers to. Is it true that we can anything we want "as long as nobody gets hurt"? What happens when we are constantly "upgrading" the hardware and infrastructure around us but not our own lives? Using the Proverbs to think through issues like these — if we are willing to do so — will give us a totally different outlook on life. It won't tell us what we should do in every instance — so it is not some kind of magic formula, oracle, or fortune — but it does inform us that our actions, relations, thoughts, etc. have consequences and what those consequences are likely to be. It also lets us know that the most important thing is to organize one's life by taking God into account. Real wisdom starts here. In this way I can get to the gospel, albeit in a roundabout way. And when working with non-Christians it is usually best to get to the gospel in such a way. After they agree with you that biblical wisdom literature really makes sense on a number of levels, they may be more able to accept that what it (and the rest of the Bible) says about God also makes sense.

A final note: it is clear that Proverbs has a lot to say about wealth and poverty. Overall it is positive toward wealth as long as it is acquired "wisely". However, it is extremely negative about wealth acquired by thievery or manipulation. If you prepare yourself well, you can remind people about Enron, pyramid schemes and other illegal ways of making money and showing how Proverbs responds to these ways of doing things and what it would suggest instead — good old fashioned hard work.

Hope that this helps.