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Jun 4 2023 05:26am
To all members of PaRD.

Grace and peace to you from CPK001. Tonight is the first of the five series of the book of Ecclesiastes that we are studying at Church. I have been taking notes and I am going to try and portray what I heard at Church onto here.
When we think of the book of Ecclesiastes what do we think it is about? "Vanity of vanities/everything is meaningless". We shall look into this book and ask: What's the point of LIFE?

We'll start off with an exercise, you have 2 buckets and one is full of water. You are given a measuring cup and a colliander. Your task is to transfer the water from one bucket to the other by collecting the water from the measuring cup, pouring it into the colliander then tipping the water from the colliander into the other bucket. You can try and be creative but the colliander will not hold any of the water with all of the holes. It's a meaningless task that serves no purpose.

With this in mind let's read Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 ESV

All Is Vanity
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

What is the point of LIFE?

Let's go through some of life events. Who likes celebrating? I sure do. Go out and celebrate with your friends. Yet is it really a celebration? Some people get annoyed with each other and it's no longer a celebration. Who likes collecting nice things? I sure do. Yet how good are they in reality? Those nice things will simply break in time and become obsolete. What about going Church itself? All we do is read the same passages every Easter and every Christmas. There seems to be no progression. For this study we are going to give an overview of Ecclesiastes and then each week we'll study what the World considers is worth investing.

So where shall we start? We will start with, what do we know about Ecclesiastes?

Who wrote Ecclesiastes? - We don't know.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-10

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

This book appears to have two writers, a teacher and a preacher. Many people say that king Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. This could be right but we don't know for sure. Here are some reasons why this is the case.

1 Kings 4:29-30

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

This verse in 1 Kings 4 does fit the bill for King Solomon.

Ecclesiastes 1:12

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Could Solomon ever say that he "was" king?

Ecclesiastes 1:16

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

King Solomon only had surpassed ONE before him, that being king David.

Who is the teacher? - We don't know.
When was Ecclesiastes written? - We don't know.


This isn't a good start is it? However what the writers have done is take the spotlight off themselves and on the words themselves. In our day and age we like to read behind the scenes and look into the writers of the books to get their background. Yet let's respect what they are doing and leave it be, focus on the text.

Ecclesiastes 1:3

3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?

What do we gain truly by our daily toils? We go to work and keep returning to work. It is never truly finished.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-6

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.

700 Years ago the sun rises and goes down. The wind blows wherever it goes. We all live and die. Who remembers the previous generation or the generation before that? I sure don't. Neither will the next generation remember our generation.

Ecclesiastes 1:7

7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.

It's an endless cycle. The Stream falls into the sea but it is never full. The waterfall never fills the sea. The water turns to vapor and it does it all again. It's an endless cycle, there is no progression.

Ecclesiastes 1:8

8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.

Who has been overseas and gone sight seeing? Did you get to see absolutely everything? I doubt it. Even if you did, the next day it will all be different. You can never see it all.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.

Is there anything brand new now than back then? Computers? How are they new? They perform tasks we already do but with more efficiency. Sending an email? It's just a more efficient way to send a letter in the mail. Cars? Planes? They're just more efficient modes of transport. They are not 'new' in the sense of this hasn't been done before.

All we are doing is coming up with more efficient ways to perform tasks that we already do.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Footnotes: The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes

What do we know about mists? They are here today and gone tomorrow. Ever been to a lookout that's been shrouded by the mist? Come back the next day and there will be no trace of the mist.

Now let's look at some other verses in the Bible and see what else is "futile".

Romans 1:21

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Not glorifying God, their thoughts became...futile.

There is no doubt that the West is trying to cut God out. As a result the rate of Depression and the like is through the roof.

1 Corinthians 3:19-20

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

For all of our IQ's and deep thinking, the world has no meaning when God is cut out.

1 Corinthians 15:16-19

16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If Christ is not raised then our faith is futile. However we then get to verse 20:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

It is here that we find meaning. We can relate, encounter and rejoice in Jesus who has been raised from the dead.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

There is meaning found in God alone, anything else will wind up being empty. Keep your attention and focus on Jesus. Fearing God is the beginning of Wisdom.

To conclude:

Under the Sun = meaningless
Under the Son = meaning

Under the Son we are driven to the source of all meaning.

This is the overview of Ecclesiastes, next week we will explore and ask: What's the point of PLEASURE?
Member
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Jun 4 2023 05:34am
:)
Member
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Jun 4 2023 08:35am
All meaning is subjective. Even the letters on this page have meaning to you as you read them, but have no meaning to somebody who doesn't read English.

I find value in my life, and I am largely indifferent to if anybody else finds it valuable.
Member
Posts: 23,514
Joined: Dec 20 2006
Gold: 80,251.69
Jun 4 2023 11:29am
Quote (CPK001 @ Jun 4 2023 04:26am)
To all members of PaRD.

Grace and peace to you from CPK001. Tonight is the first of the five series of the book of Ecclesiastes that we are studying at Church. I have been taking notes and I am going to try and portray what I heard at Church onto here.
When we think of the book of Ecclesiastes what do we think it is about? "Vanity of vanities/everything is meaningless". We shall look into this book and ask: What's the point of LIFE?

We'll start off with an exercise, you have 2 buckets and one is full of water. You are given a measuring cup and a colliander. Your task is to transfer the water from one bucket to the other by collecting the water from the measuring cup, pouring it into the colliander then tipping the water from the colliander into the other bucket. You can try and be creative but the colliander will not hold any of the water with all of the holes. It's a meaningless task that serves no purpose.

With this in mind let's read Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 ESV

All Is Vanity
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

What is the point of LIFE?

Let's go through some of life events. Who likes celebrating? I sure do. Go out and celebrate with your friends. Yet is it really a celebration? Some people get annoyed with each other and it's no longer a celebration. Who likes collecting nice things? I sure do. Yet how good are they in reality? Those nice things will simply break in time and become obsolete. What about going Church itself? All we do is read the same passages every Easter and every Christmas. There seems to be no progression. For this study we are going to give an overview of Ecclesiastes and then each week we'll study what the World considers is worth investing.

So where shall we start? We will start with, what do we know about Ecclesiastes?

Who wrote Ecclesiastes? - We don't know.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-10

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

This book appears to have two writers, a teacher and a preacher. Many people say that king Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. This could be right but we don't know for sure. Here are some reasons why this is the case.

1 Kings 4:29-30

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

This verse in 1 Kings 4 does fit the bill for King Solomon.

Ecclesiastes 1:12

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Could Solomon ever say that he "was" king?

Ecclesiastes 1:16

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

King Solomon only had surpassed ONE before him, that being king David.

Who is the teacher? - We don't know.
When was Ecclesiastes written? - We don't know.


This isn't a good start is it? However what the writers have done is take the spotlight off themselves and on the words themselves. In our day and age we like to read behind the scenes and look into the writers of the books to get their background. Yet let's respect what they are doing and leave it be, focus on the text.

Ecclesiastes 1:3

3 What does man gainby all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?

What do we gain truly by our daily toils? We go to work and keep returning to work. It is never truly finished.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-6

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.

700 Years ago the sun rises and goes down. The wind blows wherever it goes. We all live and die. Who remembers the previous generation or the generation before that? I sure don't. Neither will the next generation remember our generation.

Ecclesiastes 1:7

7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.

It's an endless cycle. The Stream falls into the sea but it is never full. The waterfall never fills the sea. The water turns to vapor and it does it all again. It's an endless cycle, there is no progression.

Ecclesiastes 1:8

8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.

Who has been overseas and gone sight seeing? Did you get to see absolutely everything? I doubt it. Even if you did, the next day it will all be different. You can never see it all.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.

Is there anything brand new now than back then? Computers? How are they new? They perform tasks we already do but with more efficiency. Sending an email? It's just a more efficient way to send a letter in the mail. Cars? Planes? They're just more efficient modes of transport. They are not 'new' in the sense of this hasn't been done before.

All we are doing is coming up with more efficient ways to perform tasks that we already do.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Footnotes: The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes

What do we know about mists? They are here today and gone tomorrow. Ever been to a lookout that's been shrouded by the mist? Come back the next day and there will be no trace of the mist.

Now let's look at some other verses in the Bible and see what else is "futile".

Romans 1:21

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futileand their foolish hearts were darkened.

Not glorifying God, their thoughts became...futile.

There is no doubt that the West is trying to cut God out. As a result the rate of Depression and the like is through the roof.

1 Corinthians 3:19-20

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

For all of our IQ's and deep thinking, the world has no meaning when God is cut out.

1 Corinthians 15:16-19

16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If Christ is not raised then our faith is futile. However we then get to verse 20:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

It is here that we find meaning. We can relate, encounter and rejoice in Jesus who has been raised from the dead.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

There is meaning found in God alone, anything else will wind up being empty. Keep your attention and focus on Jesus. Fearing God is the beginning of Wisdom.

To conclude:

Under the Sun = meaningless
Under the Son = meaning

Under the Son we are driven to the source of all meaning.

This is the overview of Ecclesiastes, next week we will explore and ask: What's the point of PLEASURE?




'VA-NiTY':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_stars

w/o meanness
with significance
moral pleasure prevents soul corruption.

This post was edited by lodd222 on Jun 4 2023 11:30am
Member
Posts: 23,514
Joined: Dec 20 2006
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Jun 4 2023 12:28pm
Member
Posts: 38,096
Joined: Sep 5 2016
Gold: 2,955.95
Jun 7 2023 07:55am
Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ Jun 4 2023 07:35am)
All meaning is subjective. Even the letters on this page have meaning to you as you read them, but have no meaning to somebody who doesn't read English.

I find value in my life, and I am largely indifferent to if anybody else finds it valuable.


why do you find value in your life?
Member
Posts: 53,359
Joined: Nov 7 2009
Gold: 2,420.00
Jun 7 2023 08:57am
Quote (CPK001 @ Jun 4 2023 07:26am)
To all members of PaRD.

Grace and peace to you from CPK001. Tonight is the first of the five series of the book of Ecclesiastes that we are studying at Church. I have been taking notes and I am going to try and portray what I heard at Church onto here.
When we think of the book of Ecclesiastes what do we think it is about? "Vanity of vanities/everything is meaningless". We shall look into this book and ask: What's the point of LIFE?

We'll start off with an exercise, you have 2 buckets and one is full of water. You are given a measuring cup and a colliander. Your task is to transfer the water from one bucket to the other by collecting the water from the measuring cup, pouring it into the colliander then tipping the water from the colliander into the other bucket. You can try and be creative but the colliander will not hold any of the water with all of the holes. It's a meaningless task that serves no purpose.

With this in mind let's read Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 ESV

All Is Vanity
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

What is the point of LIFE?

Let's go through some of life events. Who likes celebrating? I sure do. Go out and celebrate with your friends. Yet is it really a celebration? Some people get annoyed with each other and it's no longer a celebration. Who likes collecting nice things? I sure do. Yet how good are they in reality? Those nice things will simply break in time and become obsolete. What about going Church itself? All we do is read the same passages every Easter and every Christmas. There seems to be no progression. For this study we are going to give an overview of Ecclesiastes and then each week we'll study what the World considers is worth investing.

So where shall we start? We will start with, what do we know about Ecclesiastes?

Who wrote Ecclesiastes? - We don't know.

Ecclesiastes 12:9-10

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

This book appears to have two writers, a teacher and a preacher. Many people say that king Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. This could be right but we don't know for sure. Here are some reasons why this is the case.

1 Kings 4:29-30

29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

This verse in 1 Kings 4 does fit the bill for King Solomon.

Ecclesiastes 1:12

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

Could Solomon ever say that he "was" king?

Ecclesiastes 1:16

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

King Solomon only had surpassed ONE before him, that being king David.

Who is the teacher? - We don't know.
When was Ecclesiastes written? - We don't know.


This isn't a good start is it? However what the writers have done is take the spotlight off themselves and on the words themselves. In our day and age we like to read behind the scenes and look into the writers of the books to get their background. Yet let's respect what they are doing and leave it be, focus on the text.

Ecclesiastes 1:3

3 What does man gainby all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?

What do we gain truly by our daily toils? We go to work and keep returning to work. It is never truly finished.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-6

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.

700 Years ago the sun rises and goes down. The wind blows wherever it goes. We all live and die. Who remembers the previous generation or the generation before that? I sure don't. Neither will the next generation remember our generation.

Ecclesiastes 1:7

7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.

It's an endless cycle. The Stream falls into the sea but it is never full. The waterfall never fills the sea. The water turns to vapor and it does it all again. It's an endless cycle, there is no progression.

Ecclesiastes 1:8

8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.

Who has been overseas and gone sight seeing? Did you get to see absolutely everything? I doubt it. Even if you did, the next day it will all be different. You can never see it all.

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.

Is there anything brand new now than back then? Computers? How are they new? They perform tasks we already do but with more efficiency. Sending an email? It's just a more efficient way to send a letter in the mail. Cars? Planes? They're just more efficient modes of transport. They are not 'new' in the sense of this hasn't been done before.

All we are doing is coming up with more efficient ways to perform tasks that we already do.

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Footnotes: The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes

What do we know about mists? They are here today and gone tomorrow. Ever been to a lookout that's been shrouded by the mist? Come back the next day and there will be no trace of the mist.

Now let's look at some other verses in the Bible and see what else is "futile".

Romans 1:21

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futileand their foolish hearts were darkened.

Not glorifying God, their thoughts became...futile.

There is no doubt that the West is trying to cut God out. As a result the rate of Depression and the like is through the roof.

1 Corinthians 3:19-20

19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

For all of our IQ's and deep thinking, the world has no meaning when God is cut out.

1 Corinthians 15:16-19

16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If Christ is not raised then our faith is futile. However we then get to verse 20:

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

It is here that we find meaning. We can relate, encounter and rejoice in Jesus who has been raised from the dead.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

There is meaning found in God alone, anything else will wind up being empty. Keep your attention and focus on Jesus. Fearing God is the beginning of Wisdom.

To conclude:

Under the Sun = meaningless
Under the Son = meaning

Under the Son we are driven to the source of all meaning.

This is the overview of Ecclesiastes, next week we will explore and ask: What's the point of PLEASURE?


can I get a tl;dr
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Jun 7 2023 09:16am
Quote (TiStuff @ Jun 7 2023 08:55am)
why do you find value in your life?


I don't need a why
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Jun 7 2023 05:21pm
Quote (NetflixAdaptationWidow @ Jun 7 2023 08:16am)
I don't need a why


its just the feelings that matter?

This post was edited by TiStuff on Jun 7 2023 05:21pm
Member
Posts: 64,656
Joined: Oct 25 2006
Gold: 260.11
Jun 7 2023 05:42pm
Quote (TiStuff @ Jun 7 2023 06:21pm)
its just the feelings that matter?


There is no "why" to valuing my life. I simply do.
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