Month: August 2014

 

10. You can put the argument aside in disgust and declare his conclusions invalid. But you have not listened to the proof yet. You can fold your arms and proclaim your view, but your opinion is subjective, and the proof you imagine you have will not stand scrutiny. So please do not run away with the idea you have defeated the Preacher. You are being attacked by an arguing force superior to any you have met. Why despise it, you might learn something you did not know.

Already you have learned something about yourself you did not know. You have reacted in one of two ways. You are not afraid of new ideas and are willing to be logical and open-minded about what is presented, or you refuse to consider another’s belief, even though the view you treasure has big holes in it. One or the other is true depending on how you feel about what has been said.

The Preacher does not expect you to agree, he has not even presented his case, but he has managed to illicit a response that reveals more than you care to admit. Why not push on and see what he does to your mind with the full force of his powers to persuade?

What we need to realize at this point is that this man is no lightweight in the argument. His credentials are faultless. You can be challenged by him and not feel cheated. He has no plan to deceive. There is no purpose served in tricking you into submission. The only useful solution is to have you agree. It is the only thing that means anything to The Preacher. All else is vain.

If we have something to put forward that we think is new then we should put it up. We did say we would accept the challenge from anyone. It needs to be part of our world and able to be examined under the microscope as we examine all things. You should tell us what it is.

We get up in the morning and eat, we go to work and eat, we work till we go home and eat, we go to bed to rise the next day and do it again. It goes round and round and does not finish. Creation reflects what we are, as if it is all designed to work that way. Skeptics tell us if they were God they would have made it in a different way. They would have humans with the capacity to hold water like camels, to have gills like fish so there are fewer people drowning, and wings to fly so we can get around quicker. Then we would be in charge of our environment and control everything much better.

The Super Heroes are a fantasy to mask our inadequacies. To win we need to have superpowers. But God did not make us to fight. God did not make us to destroy anyone who is different or opposes us. We invented machine guns for mass destruction. Then we invent an excuse to use them on some poorly run country.

You could easily challenge this conclusion as he has not proven anything yet, simply drawn attention to phenomena we can view. Not the material from which you can draw conclusions.

Yet think about what he said. Consider the implications of the argument so far. He saw that creation mimics man in his cycle of life. He has also implied that this is not an accident. How could all these essential and fundamental elements of our world work the same way as our lives work. How do they go round and round and leave no profit. God made man, and he also made the earth, the sun, the wind, the watercourse, and all the things man would face and view. And the argument is that God has given man these experiences so he will learn what life is all about. This is a lesson far too subtle for our finite minds.

But not if it is drawn to our attention, and all we are asked to do is think about what is true of our condition. If you accept it could be true you are obliged to ask, could God be in control after all?

 

  

9. 11 There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after. There was an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions. It showed marvelous things that took another four hundred years to emerge from the technical age. These inventions worked, but they were before their time. Men forgot he was a person of marvelous engineering foresight. We could have been flying four hundred years ago, but they did not know what to do with such a device.

In 1968, the Swiss author Erich von Däniken remarked in his world best seller Chariots of the Gods, that he thinks, an artifact recovered from Columbia was nothing short of a prehistoric airplane. The statement was controversial, as archaeologists had cataloged the artifact as an insect. In 1994, three Germans, Algund Eenboom, Peter Belting and Conrad Lübbers, decided to create a scale model of the “airplane.” They wanted to experiment with its flight abilities. At the same time, they began to draw parallels between the features of this artifact and other similar artifacts – as well as insects, and airplanes.

By 1996, Peter Belting created a scale model of the Columbian artifact. The scale model was baptized “Goldflyer I.” Built at a scale of 16:1, the plane measured ninety centimetres long, with a wingspan of approximately one meter. It weighed seven hundred and fifty grams. A propeller was added to the nose of the plane and the wings were equipped with the necessary flaps and rolls. Early test flights were a success. The plane had a stable flight path and could make accurate and comfortable landings. In short: the artifact behaved as a plane is meant to behave.

I am suggesting to you that it existed and got lost. Make of it what you will. It is a good example of something that was discovered and then forgotten. People think change is taking place, but it is only the process of their own ageing. You may say that technology is an example of progress. Men have developed knowledge to a point where they can design marvelous things. But when you analyze what they have accomplished, they have simply discovered what is in existence in the world God created. They have discovered nature, copied it, and applied it to their own use. As marvelous as this might be, it falls into the realm of the clever copy.

Nano-technology, is the study of controlling matter on an atomic or molecular scale. “Nano-technology” mainly consists of processing, separation, consolidation, and deformation of materials by one atom or by one molecule. Now when we get down to this level we discover that what we have believed about our world is now obsolete. The Newtonian view that everything is a mechanism or a machine, and we are the sum of all our parts just does not fit the world we now know. It was a satisfactory model until we looked deeper and faced Quantum Physics or life at the subatomic level. The world at this level obeys none of the rules we have used to describe the one we thought we had. All the scientific theories go out the window.

If you want to claim Nano-technology gives us the ability to contain computing power in something the size of a bee’s brain. As marvelous as this appears to be, we have in a bee’s brain something much more powerful, and the bee has always had this power. It exists and anything we do is copying what is already there.

The Preacher is not however talking about advances in knowledge and science. He is talking about the experiences of human beings in day-to-day living. He is talking about the circle of life.

 

 

 

8. The list is huge. The first Helicopter was invented in 1924 by a Spanish Civil Engineer. It was named after the “Spanish Dragonfly.” In 1900 a Frenchman experimented with rotating wings. The point is the unique feature of Dragonfly flight was the prototype for all advances in this technology. Dragonflies can move all four wings independently of one another. It is this trait that gives them their awesome flight powers, such as their ability to come to a dead stop while making a one hundred and eighty degree turn and their capacity to fly backwards.

Dragonflies are such great fliers because they have different wing muscles than most other insects. Many insects have sensitive and specialized organs of perception. Some insects such as bees can sense ultraviolet wavelengths, or detect polarized light, while the antennae of male moths can detect the pheromones of female moths over distances of many kilometres.

All we are saying is the advances we imagine are new, are only copies of what exist and cannot be called new. Not everyone will accept the point. Give them time and they will come up with something that is new.

The challenge is before you. There is bioluminescence seen in fireflies and beetles and grubs resulting in chemical luminescence. Insects that feed on blood have special sensory structures that can detect infrared emissions, and use them to home in on their hosts. The Pigeon can navigate its way home from anywhere once it gets celestial bearings. Honeybees face the task of finding their way on foraging trips that may take them up to ten kilometers from home. Over such distances, only visual information such as landmarks and celestial orientation cues can provide a basis for rapid and accurate homing. These references are useful only if the creature can learn the spatial relationships defined by these visual features.

The flight-control and navigation systems of robots are inspired largely by the designs and functions of the vision systems and brains of insects, which have been shown to use optical flow resulting from their own motions in the environment. We want to give example after example of this. Clearly we have copied some things, but I do not think we can say we have copied everything. How can we know?

All we need to do is find something that is new. The jet propulsion behavior helps the dragonfly nymphs avoid being eaten by predators by allowing them to escape quickly in water when they are startled. These examples of Biological Inspirations show different mobility categories. The Honeybee, Dragonfly, Hummingbird, Monarch Butterfly, Inchworm, Ant, Centipede, Earthworm. We are distilling some of these insect-inspired tactics to gain unique solutions to navigation, hazard avoidance, terrain following, and smooth placement of payload.

There is a more important point to make about what is new. We like to think that one generation builds on the knowledge and experience of the other. It is popular in our age to believe in the theory of evolution. In this idea there IS progress, there IS fulfilment, there IS satisfaction, and we ARE going somewhere. We can look back and see what we feel to be our beginnings and marvel at how far we have come. But what if our opinion of beginnings is flawed? What if this view is an invention that fits the theory but not the fact? What if the observable is not proof of what we do not know? What if our methods of observation are no longer scientific? What if it is all pickled in prejudice and preference?

The Preacher attacks the foundations with things we see. There is nothing you can claim to have viewed that you are entitled to call new. If there appears to be support for it, it is only because you have forgotten that it is known already.

  

7.  But Solomon is only concerned about what man will experience here in our world in this life. He wanted to show he was aware that other experiences could be had at another time, in another place. This is what the Quantum Physicists are trying to describe to us. And it has other worldliness about it that we do not have to explain. But it does add interest to our world, and convinces us of the power of God.

The Bible talks about a change at the end of time where the things described here happen. What we need to note is the change intended by God at the end of the age involves putting things back to the way they were to be at the start. Death was not part of the plan. Sin introduced death. So “the bondage of decay” was introduced by man, and will be reversed. Listen to what it tells us in Isaiah 60:19; ” The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory. 20 Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the LORD will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended.”

When you couple these sayings with the things we know of our world the change will be something we can only imagine. In Revelation 7: ¹⁶ They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; Revelation 21: ²³ The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. ²⁴ And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Revelation 22: ⁵ There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

One other subject needs to be addressed and that concerns the statements that speak of a New Heavens and a New Earth. It will be as different as the world we have not known. Isaiah 65: ¹⁷ “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. Isaiah 66: ²² “For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD.

We digressed, but it was to consider an interesting development in the argument. We should get back to Solomon’s point.

10 Is there anything of which it may be said? “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.

Here is a challenge. Find a flaw in the proposition. If you can say I have found something new in human experience you have destroyed the theory and all is not vanity.

I know what you are thinking. There are many things that are new. Technology has advanced in leaps and bounds with the Industrial Revolution, I have a new IPod, I can have music wherever I go. Let me put something to you. There is nothing new, and I say this in all seriousness. We think they are new but mostly they have existed for a long time. Take Sonography as an example. We use it in Medical imaging, in Ultrasound equipment where we look at babies inside their mother’s belly. Dolphins and Whales and bats use it all the time. It is vital to their existence and ability to communicate and get around. It is called echolocation and they use it in water and air. Take Radar. It is a part of early warning systems used in defense, but it is patterned on the same technology as sonar but a higher frequency. These frequencies of energy have always existed and men have put them to work.

The argument is that scientists have copies of what God created  and therefore there is nothing new. The only thing that is new is we duplicated it.

 

 

 

6. Whether you accept it or not, here is proof of the proposition that all is vanity. If something full of work does not end, why do you begin? Vanity means empty, meaningless, and worthless. Why start, if after all your effort you cannot finish?

We do it to get it done, because it is holding up all the other things we need to do. But it makes sense. It is futile. There is a lot more to consider, so hang in there.

9 That which has been is what will be, which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. The past is the future, and the present is the future, and the future is the past. But what is the point?

Our forebears have not completed any stage in the development cycle so we can start from where they left off and feel we are progressing. We start from the beginning again and go through all the trial and error till we get it right. Since we do not ever get it right, we go back around.

Individuals are comforted by the idea that we are making progress. We have come from minor forms of life until now, where we have nearly reached perfection.

Do we have a right to be comforted by this thought? Is it true we have progressed? If we were made as we are, we have not progressed at all. If we have not progressed, then where is the comfort? You need to tell us what is new. You need to tell us why it is new, and how it shows progress.

You know the scientists just throw the information out there and expect people to accept it without question. And when you try to question it they throw something else out there to confuse you. What Solomon has put forward is startling. This whole issue of progress is the one to focus on. They show great progress over vast periods of time, but is it progress? Is it new?

It is not new. It has always been like that. The changes are not changes at all. There is variation within a species, but where is the huge change that shows progress from one form to another? It does not exist.

Now that we can read the human DNA they tell us they can see the differences, and they know how to change it and manipulate it. This enables them to say this is new.

It has always been there, and could have been changed at any time in our history if you have the skill. What is new about that? The only thing that is new about that is we have finally developed the skill to do it.

Another matter raised by the last verse. What does this expression “under the sun” mean?

“Under the sun” is an interesting expression. It is used around thirty times throughout this argument and it is such a feature we need to know what it means. At the fundamental level it means where we live on earth. Earth is under the sun. In chapter 2:3 it tells us Solomon was examining what a man should do all the days of his life under the heavens. This thesis is concerned with the way you ought to spend the time allotted which is about seventy years under the sun.

Just take the information provided for its obvious meaning first, and then conjecture about the scientific significance after. It does challenge us with interesting notions given the time of writing. Could “under the sun” be telling us there are other places to be. Like, we could be in outer space and in another galaxy, no longer “under the sun” as we know it. Or perhaps we could be in another time, where the sun has less importance, when there are other forces governing the things we do. For instance the kingdom age spoken about in scripture, speaks of “time” not being important at all.

In space, or other Galaxies, the experience of man would be different, because time is different for a start. And many other things are different as well, like gravity.

It mentions “under the sun” to draw attention to these other worlds where experiences can be had that are not the same as the ones we know.

 

 

 

Nature

5. One answer would be: he was not intending to reveal all the earth’s secrets, just show that we are involved in a-never-ending cycle of change that repeats itself every twenty four hours. It took another three thousand years for a person with enough knowledge to ask the right question about what he saw. The information would not be of any help till then. There are other passages that tell us the earth is a sphere. Take Isaiah 40:22 it says: “It is he (speaking of God) who sits on the circle of the earth.” Isaiah wrote around 600 BC, and he tells us the earth is round. So we cannot claim we have been misled. The opposite is true.

6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; he wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. This is the same argument but using wind instead of the sun as the example. The wind with all its force moves to the south, and then in much the same way as you have witnessed water currents, it folds back on itself moving upward and then over to the north and is involved in a cycle. The energy is not exhausted; it just goes round and round. There is this endless cycle of work, full of labor and its associated travail. There are a few features of this phenomenon we ought to notice, but just settle for the cycle of work he presents.

7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again. Here is another example from nature. Water moves across in clouds over the land to drop its load on the mountains, and the mountains feed the streams and the streams the rivers, and the rivers run into the sea. The water is evaporated from the sea and rises to the sky and the cycle begins again. This involves significant and relentless toil. It might mean something if the sea is eventually filled, but it does not change or increase its level by one centimetre. The science of Hydrology tells us all about precipitation and the movement of water. Solomon was advanced technically for the time in which he lived. But again, it is showing that God made it work in a precise way. We get a benefit, and we enjoy it, but there is nothing left over at the end, simply because it goes round and round. Perhaps we should allow Solomon to make his point.

8 All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. The frustrating part is it does not finish. There is no end to a circle. That is what is so difficult to accept, there is no conclusion; it is never satisfied. It does not finish. Take a straight line from A to B. You start out from A to go to B, and when you get there you have achieved what you set out to do. But if this line you are traveling along is a circle you never get there, because when you finish you just go back around. Your brain might be exhausted, but that does not mean your eyes and ears stop taking information. We have to close our eyes, and stop our ears, to give our brain time to keep up. But when we wake in the morning it begins again. It is not as if you have a basin, and you stop receiving information when it is full. Solomon sees frustration in that, because you cannot complete anything, you cannot bring it to an end. Scientists tell us an image is one thing, but it must be interpreted by the brain before it means anything.

An experiment was conducted where a set of glasses was worn for about two weeks that gave the image of everything upside down. After two weeks the image was inverted so it appeared to the person to be the right way up. When the glasses were taken away it took the practice of two weeks to get the image back to the right way up. So the brain learns to interpret images so they make sense. The eye and ear can keep receiving the images but the brain can have overload.

  4. The argument starts with a question. 3 What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? It seems he has changed the subject. But he has not changed the subject, it is just that we are talking about things he wants to talk about. What is left over at the end of life? The profit is the surplus. When you set your income against the cost of gaining that income, and you subtract the one from the other, there is a residual. That residual is called a profit that you put in your pocket and spend at will. The rest of the money goes to pay the bills. The Preacher asks; what do you get out of life when you subtract the cost, which is measured in pain and frustration, from the overall benefit? He challenges you with the idea there is nothing left, there is no profit. There is not enough information to agree with the conclusion, or even accept it broadly. Obviously there are questions that need to be addressed if we are to agree. He has just begun. Follow the argument and try to answer it as it unfolds. At the moment all we have are unanswered questions. We will allow him to lead on.

4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. Has he changed the subject again? He is still arguing the same point. This is what our life is. We are involved in a cycle, or something that goes round and round. We talk about it as the circle of life. A generation comes, and a generation goes. The earth is the only thing that does not move. It does move of course, but you know what he means, it is still here even though generations pass away. The backdrop against which this pantomime of life is played out is the only thing that does not change. Great men have made their mark in the earth by a monument of some remarkable event of history, related to a time or place that will be remembered. They realize the earth will still be there when they are gone. They have made their mark, so they are immortal. No one misses the tragic drama of the passage of time. The cycle goes on whether we like it or not. And we have no control.

5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. That tells us it goes round in a circle. We call it the sunrise and the sunset. And it results in this image of the sun revolving around the earth. The sun climbs into the centre of heaven at noon, and down into the west in the evening, and then returns in the morning to begin again. But there is a difference when it appears next time, it hastens. The word “hastens” more properly presents the image of panting as if it were a man who has run out of breath. It uses enormous energy moving to the centre of the sky and down again, and in the morning when it appears, it seems to be exhausted. This exhaustion is seen in the heat haze that occurs that causes light to shimmer. This is an affect that does not mean the sun is showing signs of running out of energy. It just supports the idea the process involves much work. And all this work makes it look as if it is exhausted.

But I have a question, because the sun does not revolve around the earth. That raises an interesting point. If God is God he ought to be able to tell Solomon what has puzzled men for thousands of years. It was Galileo Galilee around 1600 AD who first put forward the idea the earth revolved around the sun and spun on its axis to give us day and night. The Christian Church claimed he was wrong and imprisoned him, because in their view he maligned God. They claimed God made it clear the sun revolved around the earth, and the earth is flat. So why would Solomon use an illustration of the cycle of the sun that is not scientifically accurate, when God knew we would eventually find out the truth?

   

3. There are things you will prefer to leave out of your life that are inconvenient and disrupt your fun. Things you are willingly ignorant of, because they are a nuisance to have to think about. But if you had a sick child, you would study all that has been written about the complaint to decide the best medicine to give the child to make his or her life as manageable as possible. So it does involve thinking about things you would like to put off for a more convenient time. But we have probably put it off too long already. The first Proposition Solomon puts to us is “ALL IS VANITY.” Vanity means, a vapor or emptiness. To put this forward as a proposition invites us to react violently and protest. He devalues us to the point where our life means nothing. We want to object, but the proposition is so absurd it is hard to know where to begin. You get to the point where you ask; does he mean life is not worthwhile at all? Is he saying that all the effort we put into stretching ourselves to become someone, to excel at everything so we can take our place and acquit ourselves like men, is hardly worth the effort? I told you everyone is going to argue against that. At this point you can get on your high horse, and storm out of the battle in disgust. But you are made of sterner stuff.

If somebody challenges you, you stand up and defend your position. You do not cave in and concede the ground to this person, who in your opinion is wrong. That would be the response of a quitter. Who does he think he is anyway? What does he know about life in the twenty-first century? People have different personalities, and react differently to the experiences of life. Has he taken this into consideration? He has not experienced the thrill of high-speed travel, of flying like a bird as you do with an Ultra-lite or Hang-Glider or even a Parachute. Has he ever heard a Beethoven Symphony or listened to a choir sing The Messiah? I think you will find that not everyone wants to hang from the sky and fly like a bird. In fact it might be a minority who enjoy that. Solomon did not do that so he has not experienced everything. But this is beside the point. He ties you up in knots; you need to marshal your forces.

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. He introduces himself as the Preacher. He tells you it is an argument, because that is what Preachers do. They argue. This is a king who has taken the trouble to explain to his people what they should do to get the best from life. How many kings bother to do that? Tell me of a king who has written a book about dealing with issues of everyday life. It is an argument, because he wants you to think about it, and try to defeat it. Come up with something to say he is wrong. This is life so be in it. In any treatise of value you challenge your reader with the conclusion at the beginning. Do not be alarmed. It is blunt. And he knows you disagree. But then it is proof he will not waste your time. Be assured he will explain, so just think about the challenge.

2″Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher;

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” To have a vanity of a vanity is like having the vapor of a vapor. It does not have a large presence and is so insignificant you wonder if it exists at all. You would not expect to be able to see it, because you can hardly see a vapor. You have every right to say he exaggerates. A vanity of vanity does not carry much weight. And then to add “all is emptiness” is rubbing salt into the wound. And yet Solomon challenges you with this idea. Clearly he is going to explain what he is talking about. It is telling us that everything in our lives is nothing? Our life has no substance, it has no lasting value, and it is empty and meaningless? You are offended by this statement. That is good. You want to challenge it. That is good. Solomon wants you to challenge it. I want you to challenge it. So what is the point? It will become obvious as we progress.

 

2. You may say I do not argue about religious things because they cannot be resolved. The argument goes round and round in circles and depends on how much you know compared to the other person. But we have common sense, and you do not need to know much to know the statement of Solomon is outrageous.

Your religious persuasion is unimportant in this argument. It is not argued from that angle. It does not matter what you believe. The argument is based on your experiences of life, and those experiences are common to all men and women no matter who they are, or where they live, from one end of the globe to the other. This argument will however test your honesty. It may even help you realize the extent that prejudice has forced you to ignore the obvious.

What is obvious in The Preacher is everyone can sort out the most vexed questions. You do not need to study religion or philosophy to answer the real questions. All you need to do is try to defeat the Preacher as he challenges you, and to point out where he is wrong.

This book is a puzzle to be unraveled. They put a crossword in the paper every day because people love to do it, and they love the challenge. It should be obvious from the first words the writer wants you to challenge him. How can anyone say vanity of vanities all is vanity and hope to get away with it? Do you like being tested logically? Are you willing to pit yourself against the wisest man in the World? Can you accept the challenge of answering these questions and keeping it together? Or are you one of the “I already know all this?” You do not already know this. You have not even begun to know it, so hang on to your seat, because we are going to be rattling along at a torrid pace.

The overriding question is: What is the value of life lived as an end in itself? If you take life as it comes and get what you can out of it, what does it amount to in real terms? Answering this question, you get the answer to all the questions you did not know how to ask. You should not expect to hear only the things you want to hear. You will be challenged at every twist and turn of the argument. But you want to hear the truth. You do not want to hear useless opinion. You want to be able to resolve this. You do not want to come out of this as confused as when you went in.

It is up to you. There are twenty six questions asked and answered during the argument and they are all fascinating. They are all part of the argument, and we will get to them shortly. Questions like “What profit has man of all his labor in which he toils under the sun?” We need an answer to that one. It is safe to say that if we get an answer to all of the questions we will be well on our way to understand how to handle life.

You can say, we are handling life and you are the one suggesting we are not. You need confidence you are handling it. I do not want to undo that. But there are some things you need to think about. Most of our questions are about how to get back on track once we have run off track. What can you do to fix it so it does not happen again? After a tragedy the family say, I want it fixed so no one else has to go through what we have had to endure. And our heart goes out to them and we say we are going to fix it, but nothing is done, because it is too hard or too costly. That is not good enough, if it has to be fixed then we will fix it, at least in our own lives.

No one is going to pretend it is not complicated. But there are only certain things you must get right, and all the others follow automatically. Stray from these, and it gets complicated. There are people who make money out of those who choose to live on the edge. They charge a huge-fee to fix it, and you are dependent on them for the rest of your life. We want answers that are practical and manageable. We want to get the basics right, so we do not have to run to our counsellor every time something goes wrong.

At this point many say, this is not all negative is it? We are not going to find everything that is bad for us are the things we like, and everything that is good, are the things we do not like? This is the old Brussels sprouts question.

 

  

133.

Preface

We are going on an adventure. This is a journey into your mind, a trip into the unknown, where no one else has been. You were unaware there are new frontiers to conquer, uncharted waters to cross. You are about to face the most fearful foe on earth, and that is yourself.

There are some things you have not faced yet, and there is no way of knowing how you will react. This journey of discovery is one you must take. You may not like what you discover. You may not act in a more useful way. But you will know who you are, and why you are what you are, and you will be in a position to arrange your life to suit what you want to be.

THE PREACHER is the name of the book of Ecclesiastes, and it is one of the 66 books of the Bible. The Hebrew word translated Ecclesiastes means “The Preacher.” What may not be immediately clear to those who have read Ecclesiastes is: the author of this book is preaching. What is put forward is an argument for change. Certain things have to be altered if you are to get the most out of life. He is arguing to convince you that change is important to you. If he cannot convince you then he has accomplished nothing, so you can assume he is going to be trying hard to make his points clear and reasonable and acceptable to you.

Why would we trust The Preacher? It is because he offers irrefutable proof. Also his credentials are impressive. This is a man who has done it before, and knows how to fix it when it needs fixing. Who is he anyway? His name is Solomon the son of David. He was monarch for forty years in one of the most dynamic economies in the Middle East just before the first of four great World Empires. His success as an administrator is celebrated. The justice and order of his government is witnessed to by world leaders of substance in his time. The merchants and traders of those days paid him the greatest respect, by trusting their enterprise to his skill. And we are told that God gave him wisdom far above all that were before him as leaders of the nations.

This man is going to give us sound advice on all issues of life. The cost will be your time. The benefit will be power and control over your life. You should not resent the time, because you give it freely to trivial pursuits without concern. He has the credentials to command your respect.

Let me give you some information about the structure of the presentation. It is a scientific thesis. Ten propositions are put and supported. Each of these propositions draw you closer to accepting the whole argument. It is an argument, and I will show you why I say this in a moment. You need to follow the argument, and if you lose it, then go back and trace your steps again to pick it up. You need to stay with him for the greatest benefit.

All quotations we use in this presentation are from The New King James Version of the Bible. We do this because you are more familiar with these words than the old English of the Authorized Version. You know, the one that uses “thee and thy and thou” which can confuse you if you are not familiar with them. The challenge is to read the text, and give the sense. It must make sense to you. This is not a religious journey it is a common sense journey. When it does not make sense, it is time to ask a few questions. The overriding purpose is to understand and accept the message of The Preacher.

If I were to say to you that all religious groups in the world have it wrong, you will want to argue with me. Everyone who belongs to a religious organization has convinced themselves that their organization has it right, or close enough to right, that the things they get wrong do not matter. When Solomon begins his book about life with the statement “all is vanity” he expects you to argue the point. Just take that statement for what it says, and it does not make sense. Everyone is expected to challenge it. And everyone is entitled to a satisfactory answer to their issues.