A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
(Pro 18:2 ESV)
We must always recall the difference between true understanding and the mere expression of opinion. Many people these days share a lot of their personal thoughts on any given subject, but how many of those thoughts are just subjective opinion and how many are based on well-founded understanding? How many perspectives are rooted in research and depth, and how many are half-baked ideas? As much as we need to invest the time and effort to generate thoughtful perspectives for ourselves we also need to probe what others might tell us in order to filter fact from speculation.
Good post. The distinction drawn by the proverb is between one who takes pleasure in understanding while presumably also expressing opinions of one kind or another, and a fool who expresses opinion to the exclusion of understanding. One useful function of a blog like this is to express opinions and then, from others’ comments, to see to what extent they can have a basis in well-founded understanding.