Proverbs 13:16

Proverbs 13:16 "Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly."

Despite living in a day and age where global literacy is incredibly high and information is excessively abundant, knowledge seems underrated.  The knowledge of this proverb is not the same as mere information.  Information can be one's opinion or another's speculation while knowledge is factual.  Knowledge in this proverb is the possession of facts, of truth.  The knowledge of good and evil, for example, is the awareness of what is truly good and of what is truly evil.  The knowledge of good and evil is not the sense or feeling of what is good or evil.  There is certainty in knowledge.  It is the lack of conjecture or assumption.  Opinion is irrelevant to knowledge.  Guesswork is foreign to it.  Knowledge is without respect of persons.  It is factual and verifiable.

Our world is full of information that is much more the speculation of man than the confirmation of facts.  Social media post after post, blog after blog, vlog after vlog, news article after news article all share the thoughts and feelings of people but rarely do the trillions of words we read online contain verifiable facts.  Seemingly now more than ever, speculation is treated as factual.  Because of the influence of the internet and due to the lack of virtue in our society, factual information has become less valuable than speculation.  It is not uncommon at all to talk to someone and hear what they believe on any given issue from healthcare to politics is based entirely on "I read it on the Internet."  Despite the fact that anyone can post anything on the Internet, for some strange reason, the Internet gives information credibility.  That being said, I suppose this has been true about books over the course of time.  If someone writes a book or an article in a magazine, they portray a certain amount of credibility that makes their writing influential.  Regardless, information in a book, in an article or on a webpage is not necessarily the path to knowledge.  It provides knowledge ONLY when the information is verifiably factual and true.
 
A prudent person only deals with knowledge.  This virtuous man does not concern himself with an author's background, motive or prominence.  The prudent only concern themselves with the veracity of the author's words.  A prudent woman does not allow herself to be deceived into accepting any voice, no matter how trendy or popular it is, without proving that voice to be factual and truthful.  Because a prudent man by definition is forward-thinking, he is deeply aware of the future danger of believing something that may not be true.  A prudent person doesn't make important decisions on what someone thinks may happen or on what another senses is going to happen.  He makes decisions on what he knows, on verifiable information.  He only deals with knowledge.  Facts are the coins of the prudent.  Knowledge is the currency of the prudent.  Speculation isn't a payment that the prudent accept.  For an opinion to be accepted by the prudent, it must be converted to verifiable knowledge.

While the prudent deal only with knowledge, fools gladly share their folly, or their unverified thoughts.  Fools build their bunkers and stock their freezers based on their passionate but unverified opinion that something very bad is going to happen.  Fools state with authority what the prudent call wild speculation.  Fools, after reading an article or a book, proclaim with certainty that they know when Jesus is coming or who the Antichrist is going to be.  Make note that fools aren't always uneducated and unread.  Fools are often some of the most informed people you will meet - they have just made it a habit to believe everything someone says because they like or respect a particular source (author, website, cable network).  Fools lack the character to be without respect of persons in vetting information and in verifying opinions.  A fool is hasty in sharing his opinions despite lacking verifiable proof of his position.  A fool will gladly dispute and debate that which he disagrees with despite being unable to prove his position with facts when pressed.  The currency of choice for a fool is speculation.  To a fool, it looks factual and truthful but at the end of the day, it lacks legitimate proof.  This is what makes a fool dangerous to entertain.
 
Fools lay open, or expose and present their flawed way of thinking.  They keep promoting their thoughts and ideas.  They keep posting, writing and sharing their interesting beliefs but at the same time, keep failing to prove them as factual.  Let it be known that the prudent have their speculations and unverified thoughts as well - they just don't use them in their dealings.  The prudent call their speculations what they are and keep them in that category until they can be verified as true or disproven as false.  If they share their speculations, they identify them as such.  Facts possess incredible value to the prudent.  The prudent may not be as intriguing or as dramatic as fools, but they are far more reliable and stable.  The prudent simply won't buy or sell anything without verifiable knowledge.  

Friend, not everything you hear or read is true, whether found on the Internet or in a Christian book.  Deal only with knowledge as that is the only currency that lasts and pays interest in the future.