Knowledge of God

The Knowledge of God (or the fear of the Lord) is like a man who has watched a film; he has direct, intimate knowledge of the plot, characters, and story; therefore, he has the ability to speak the Truth according the Facts.

The Charlatan is like the man who has seen the preview yet claims to have watched the film in its entirety; he has but a vague impression of the plot, characters, and story; therefore, if he speaks, he speaks like an archer shooting in the dark.

The Liar is like the man who has seen neither the preview nor the film yet claims to have seen the entire film; he claims to know that which he does not; therefore, everything he says is false -- with the rare exception of the infinitude of chance.

The Uninformed is like the man who has neither seen the film nor the preview and admits he has not; he completely lacks the facts about the plot, character, and story of the film and he acknowledges it.

Thus, the Uninformed may be easily blinded by the Charlatan who has but seen the preview and the Liar who has seen nothing and who, with cunning deceit and lies, uses his imagination to deliberately fill up the two missing hours of the film and mislead the Uninformed, to the advantage of his own Vain and Selfish purposes.

But to him who knows God, the Charlatan and Liar reveal their deceit, fraud, and trickery from the moment they but open their mouths to speak of what they claim to know.

Thus:

Does this not pose an obvious problem to the Uninformed but honest Truth-Seeker? For if he has not seen the film himself, how is he to determine who has seen it from who has not?

What barometer has he to distinguish the Charlatan and the Liar from the Knowledgeable?

How is he to prevent his ruin by listening to the Charlatan and Liar and instead exalt his life by listening to the Learned?

If he honestly seeks the Truth, based on the Facts, how shall he determine whom he should listen to in search of Instruction?

In his hour of darkness, how shall he see the light instead of being blinded by it?

What test may he engineer to remove the "wheat from the chaff"?

It is written, "By their deeds, you shall know them". But if the deeds of the Knowledgeable are only recognizable to the Knowledgeable, how does that benefit the Uninformed?

It is also written, "A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit." Yet during the delay between the planting of the seed and the bearing of the fruit, how is it possible to determine which tree is good and which is bad before it has grown to fruitation?

For it is true, a tree to bear good fruit may look ugly and a tree to bear bad fruit may be pleasing to the eye.

How is the Uninformed to evaluate and discern when he has no measure by which to weigh the Truth from Falsehood?

Lo! Have Faith! There is but one measure by which the Uninformed may use in aiding his discretion!

The measure is the observation of the method used in the attainment of Knowledge -- or the claimed Knowledge, as it were -- for the methods are exact antitheses:

The method of the Knowledgeable is the investigation of the Facts and, through them, the revelation of the Truth. Upon this method may the Knowledgeable be identified.

The method of the Charlatan and Liar is the adovocation of a Superstition, which he seeks to prove by presenting and twisting the evidence that will thereby come to support his Superstition. Upon this method may the Charlatan and Liar be exposed.

Furthermore, if the "Knowledge" (or Superstition) presented is questioned, the words of the Knowledgeable may be distinguished from those of the Charlatan and Liar by identifying to whom the benefit of the words befall.

For it is true, the motive of the Knowledgeable is Altruism, the motive of the Charlatan and Liar is Selfishness (often unbeknownst to himself); therefore, if the word benefits you it is born of Knowledge, but if it benefits only the speaker it is born of Deceit and Lies.

Yet upon closer inspection, it will also be discovered that there are times when said Knowledge, on the surface, appears to benefit the ear but upon deeper investigation, cunningly benefits the mouth.

What then?

These are mysteries for another time.