The Goal of Wisdom is Laughter and Play

I like this Philo character.
He believes that people are ultimately good. Just like God is good. He believes that God “alone rejoices, he alone feels delight, he alone is happy, he alone enjoys absolute peace; he has no grief or fear, is free of any evil or pain, and lives in eternal bliss.” I’m not quite sure I believe all of this, but it makes for a nice picture of God. Even if, while you’re struggling, and upset, and depressed or sad, you don’t have a God available who can relate to you, because He just has a smile on His face all the time, and pure happiness in His heart. If only He would have modeled us to be more like Him…Shucks!
Philo seems to think that we are made in His image though. He declares that “the face of a wise man is…radiant and serene, filled with a vast delight”. And that “the goal of wisdom is laughter and play”.
Don’t get me wrong, I love laughter. I’d love to become laughter itself, like Philo says I would be if I were wise. I think that it is very wise to laugh a lot, since it is a portrayal of a glad heart, and an easy mind. Do the wise men that you know laugh a lot? I know a few…however; the majority of the wise people I know generally reflect other qualities before they laugh away. They tend to be more silent and contemplative-thinking before speaking. They tend to be analytical, well-learned, slow to anger, and understanding of many things.
While I think Philo has a great outlook on life in general, I don’t necessarily know how realistic it is.

Rebellion Predestined

Throughout the passages from the Bible, I found there to be some contradiction.
Today in one of my History classes, my professor said something that I had never really thought about before. She explained how Islam believes the Koran to be the unaltered Word of God, whereas the Bible is just the inspired word of God. Humans put their own twist and interpretation on all of the books of the Bible, however in the Koran it is just God speaking to humans. Pretty enlightening if you think about it.
Out of our reading from The Bible, I wonder how it is that Jacob was able to “see God face to face” and have survived. Doesn’t it also say in the Bible that no one can see God’s face, and even that he is all powerful. If so, how can a man wrestle with God and win? This makes no sense to me. Another excerpt says: “I form light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil.” How can the Jewish God create evil, when He is supposed to be everything that is good. Or better yet, why did he create evil? Weren’t humans created for the purpose of worshipping Him? He basically predestined our rebellion against Him, by creating this evil.
Yet another passage says, “You have hidden the truth in darkness”-why would God hide the truth? But directly before that, there is an extract that declares that “No longer does a man need to teach his brother about God. For all of you know Me, from the most ignorant to the most learned, from the poorest to the most powerful.” How does a man know God, if God’s truth is hiding from us in the darkness?
I have all of these questions about this religious book that I was brought up to think was without fault. You would think that this one book-the Bible would have continuity throughout it, as opposed to contradicting itself.