Experience Is The Best Teacher.
Choose which best answers the above .
A)It is not true.
B)It is always true.
C)It is never true.
D)It is impossible to say how true it is.
E)It is sometimes true.
Experience has its merits undoubtedly but the cliché “experience is the best teacher” quite frankly will be a sweeping statement.
Here are reasons worthy of consideration.
1)One May Not Live To Tell The Experience Or Share The Lessons- Bluntly true!
Life can be unfair, sometimes excusing the incorrigible and making a scape goat of the naive.
My profession reminds me of this sad story of a teenager who had an abortion & lost her life at it.
Confucius, a Chinese philosopher once observed three ways to acquire the necessary wisdom you need for life .
He said, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is the noblest; Second by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest”
The story of Ananias and Sapphira resonates with this lesson.
2) One’s Experience Isn’t Another Person’s Reality Or Experience.
One might be quick in using his or her experience as a tool for judging or appraising others, but let’s be reminded that our experiences sometimes won’t absolutely fit into their reality. We are often admonished to learn from the experiences of others which isn’t absolutely bad but important to note that the objects, subjects, temperaments, conditions surrounding every experience could be different, so projecting a past experience for comparison might not be fair or the best fit.
3) Life Is Dynamic.
Experience is a function of time, hence your experience 5-10 years ago might not fit into the reality of today. This is why learning shouldn’t be one-off but rather continuous – Unlearning and giving room to taking up new ideals.
A surgeon who glories in his past experiences will not get to learn evolving techniques of operating and definitely with time will become obsolete.
I also think this should influence the decision of employers to be open, considerate and flexible with churning out time frames to their employees. Other factors like character should be worthy of consideration.
4)Principles And Laws.
There are principles governing some reactions or happenings and the onus lies in our hands to recognize and work by them without necessarily experiencing them first hand.
Do I have to put my hands in fire before I know it will burn?
Do I need to be pricked by a needle before I know I stand the risk of being infected?
Doing any of these would be quite foolish.
Again is the natural flow of things.
“You won’t know how to do it in the future if you don’t do it now” a guy who was begging to have me as his girlfriend repeatedly told me when I was in Secondary school.
He wouldn’t mind discarding Biblical injunctions to satisfying his urge( which is unsurprisingly the usual rhythm in contemporary relationships)
To floor the school of thought that permits consummation before marriage so experience can be gained, time is the only difference between now and the future & If you can start doing it now to gain experience, you can as well start doing it in the future when married and gain experience.
Research -Read and listen to different resources.
Learn from someone’s experience.
Activate the voice of reasoning.
You really do not have to experience somethings before learning from it.
Ultimately, allow the best teacher-The person of The Holy Spirit.
JOHN 14:26 AMPLIFIED VERSION
26 But the a]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.
Does The Bible absolutely Invalidates our experiences? NO
EPHESIANS 5:10 AMPLIFIED VERSION
Trying to learn [by experience] what is pleasing to the Lord [and letting your lifestyles be examples of what is most acceptable to Him—your behavior expressing gratitude to God for your salvation].
As Christians, our experiences are conduits, tools, opportunities and parts of our lives that the Holy Spirit uses to conform us to the image of God.
Just as our temperaments isn’t the best fix, so also our experiences.
So therefore your experience isn’t the gospel!
it isn’t a yard stick!
It isn’t a spring board!
If not, we risk the complexities of bringing in & fusing different experiences as a template and that will inevitably bring chaos!
Your experience is personal to you!
Yes, you alone and should be left at that.
We may also make a standard of our experience, idolize it & fail to live by Biblical standards.
So “Experience is the best teacher” is a statement which will not be always true.
Paul The Apostle again drives this lesson home as he was never married but wrote most of the Biblical injunctions about marriage as inspired by God.
You see things differently? Let’s talk in the comments.
If this has blessed you, please do not hesitate to share with some others.
before
Such an educative write up. People say this alot especially when it comes to “elders” with the quote I have more experience so I can teach you.
As much as their experiences maybe useful in guiding the last few lines of the write up summarises the truth.
Thank you.
Inasmuch I agree experience is key and has its own advantage at some point in life or even career but if one is swallowed in past experiences be it positive or otherwise, it hinders improvement. Thus, I must say just like the write posit experience is not always the best teacher it varies. Such a brilliant submission from the writer.
Inasmuch I agree experience is key and has its own advantage at some point in life or even career but if one is swallowed in past experiences be it positive or otherwise, it hinders improvement. Thus, I must say just like the write posit experience is not always the best teacher it varies. Such a brilliant submission from the writer.
Thank you