It’s advice you sometimes hear people say: just do what makes you happy. On the one hand, it’s not terrible advice—happiness is better than walking around miserable all the time. But on the other hand, it leaves the door open to individualizing morality away from God’s holiness; and it turns happiness into a god of sorts, making the feeling the supreme objective of life.
Solomon gave us an interesting take on the issue at the end of Ecclesiastes. Writing as an old man and reflecting back on his life, he mentioned several times how he had tested everything and denied himself nothing, even abundant pleasures, yet found them all to be vain. After his sizable reflection on the vanity of pleasure and just about everything else, he wrote:
8So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. 9Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
12:1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them.” … 13The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 11:8-12:1, 12:13-14
Solomon told his son: rejoice in your life, especially in your youth, do what you desire to do—what you think will make you happy, but remember God will judge. So keep your mind set on him, fear him, and follow his ways.
Thus our attitude should not be do what makes you happy; rather, do what makes you happy, but… That but helps put a bound on our happiness: God and his word. Yet, this is really not a bound but a refocusing. God’s ways are better than our ways. Hebrews 11 says that sin has its passing pleasures, Psalm 16 says that in God there are pleasures forevermore.
Solomon’s point is really threefold: 1) you only live once; 2) you’re only young once; and 3) God’s ways are best.
In the broader picture of his book, Solomon concluded there are plenty of things in life that can make a person miserable. Death comes to all, death comes unexpectedly, and death comes too soon. History moves on, the new generation forgets the last, yet human nature and folly remains the same. There is nothing new under the sun.
So, make the most of your life that you can, especially when you’re young and able. Pursue happiness. And why? Because the evil days are coming. In Ecclesiastes 12:2-7, Solomon poetically painted the process of aging. Yes, we have some medical benefits now that can make aging easier and more comfortable; but none of us escape it. Vision fades, strength is lost, hearing goes, desire falters, and then comes the grave.
Man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets. ~ 12:5
With age (hopefully) comes the wisdom of experience; but with age also comes difficulty in doing things. So, seize the opportunity while you can, grasp at the moment, pursue happiness, but keep the eternal in mind.
Recently I saw a list of 30 things to do before you’re 30. Most of them were good—spend a night camping under the stars, travel some place exotic, climb a mountain, learn a different language, etc. But several also had to do with various drunken revelries. In the pursuit of happiness, we need to keep the but in mind. In looking for joy we need to ask: will this make me happy AND will this honor God?
Life is short, age robs us of certain abilities, death comes to all… seek to live life to its fullest, make the most of your opportunities, and do it all for the glory of God in Christ. It is the pursuit of happiness interwoven with the pursuit of holiness.
Again, you write like the average Christian does ot have the Holy Spirit. And again, the Bible is not a how to book. We can do what makes us happy without fear of repercussion. God gives us desires. Desires for those who are missionaries, desires for whatever we persue.
My argument would be the same as the other post on works. People know the do’s and don’ts pretty well. The lost know what Christians consider right and wrong too. It just seems burdening down is the goal, rather intentional or not. There is freedom in Christ. Let people have their freedom.
“again”?
Whatever you mean by that, the bible ot and nt gives us limits, lines not to cross, things to flee, and things to pursue.
You’re pushing to an extreme where God’s word doesn’t go.
Which is why when it comes to freedom, scripture says “live as free men, but don’t use your freedom as a covering for evil.”
This is a good word, Mike. I appreciate your last line as well. I don’t think pursuing holiness is separate from pursuing happiness.
Look Mike. This is why so many Christians cannot think for themselves, they are told every move to make in everything. What is the most asked question Christians ask. “How Can I know God’s will”. That should be the least asked question if ministers are doing their job of being shepherd and not dictator. More are dictators right down to what we women should be wearing in clothing.
Posts like this and the last 3 are just not helpful. It keeps people dependent on ministers telling them what to do.
Tell people less what to do and tell them more about what Christ has done. That should be the only focus. You say the Bible emphasizes such and such. No it doesn’t in it’s full context. When the whole book is read in context, it is about Christ.
So you are saying what we should DO…is….
DL: If you think Christ and Christ alone is extreme, I would say that we have a huge problem in the SBC.
It is an extreme. Christ is an extreme. The Jews reacted the same way when told this new good news that they had never heard.
Mike: So what we should DO is nothing. Preach and learn and grow in the knowledge of what Christ has accompished and God’s grace which is evidently new news to the SBC churches.
You missed my point. I was saying something similar to Mike did below. You are telling us that we need to DO is to stop DOING. Which is, quite ironically, telling us that there is something yet that we need to do.
But, I, like Mike will not go round and round with you. The terrible thing about this is that I agree with the things that you emphasize. The problem is in the things you don’t.
I wonder why Paul, Peter, James, John and whoever wrote Hebrews did not get the memo about how we should not command people toward obedience, how we should only focus on what Christ has done and de-emphasize what people are to do.
They certainly failed in that endeavor. While they constantly glorified Christ and exalted his finished work, while they rooted every imperative in the work of Christ, they also constantly and continually commanded Christians to do what is right and good as a response to that work of Christ.
The concept of speaking less of what we ought to do as a result of what Christ has done is a concept totally foreign to the biblical authors. Almost every verse of Romans 12-15 is a command. Ephesians 4-6 is one imperative after the other. Colossians is filled with them. Every NT book is filled with commands directed at Christians telling them exactly what they are to do in response to the work that Christ has done.
Debbie – You do not seem very happy. Praying for you.
Dave: Hebrews is full of what Christ has done and that we are free in Christ. That is what the whole book of Hebrews is about.
This is the message of scripture Dave, and it’s the same message as not sinning. We do good works out of love for Christ. When the message of the cross and what it accomplished is preached as it is taught in scripture(Galatians, Ephesians, Philipians etc.) and it is understood by the listener or reader it changes us inside even further. That is the growth. That is the prayer in Ephesians I mentioned.
Out of that good decisions, good works come out because that is who we are. It requires no effort. People are tired Dave. Tired of living up to ten or six or five point lists. They can’t do it Dave. Not even the person writing the list can live up to it. They may pretend, but it’s tiring.
Jon: I used to not be happy due to trying and trying, I am happy now. But thank you for your concern. 🙂
And amazingly the good works and creativity that flows out of those who understand the message of Grace in full, bypass the lists. The good works are greater than any list. And you can tell because they are happy.
You may think that by writing such posts, it educates people and makes them better but that is not true. Jesus said in John 5:37-39:
37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,
Hebrews 12:2 says Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. He is truth.
The message of the whole Bible is this. Getting our eyes off of ourselves and what we do or what we think we are supposed to do, including decisions and put them on Christ. Only Christ.
The concept of speaking less of what we ought to do as a result of what Christ has done is a concept totally foreign to the biblical authors.
I would disagree Dave. What you read as what we are to do are there because it is what a Holy God requires that we cannot do. We cannot even keep the commandment to love God with all our heart etc. We fail. God knows this and sent Christ to accomplish what we can’t.
It’s a low view of the law that says we can. We can’t. I have a high view of the law. I don’t say this to brag but the charge of antinomian is untrue. I know I can’t keep it nor does anyone else who gets the message of scripture. Christ has done what we can’t. We simply keep our eyes on Him for our righteousness and do nothing. Be who we are and praise Him for doing it. We are sanctified and are being sanctified because of Christ not a list of how to make decisions or what sin is or isn’t. Eventually we do not want to sin, and we do sin less. Changes occur supernaturally.
Debbie, I’m not going to go round and round with you.
Besides the irony of you telling me what to do when telling me not to tell people what to do, if you got out of the post what you’re arguing I said, then 1) you didn’t read what I wrote, and 2) you don’t read much of what I write here.
Oh I won’t go round and round either Mike. I am simply proclaiming the Good news to you. To give a statement from Tullian:
We eat the same fruit every day. We are addicted to self-salvation projects. So much of what we do, from putting in extra hours at the office to rededicating ourselves to a workout regimen to vowing to spend more time with our children to giving more to charitable causes, is done in an effort to save ourselves. We busy ourselves with all kinds of things in a desperate attempt to secure for ourselves the worth, approval, love, and significance we crave. And it makes life a burden to bear rather than a blessing to enjoy.
I would add…to give instructions on just the “right” way to make a decision and not be happy…..
For heaven’s sake don’t be too happy. That wouldn’t be the Baptist way to be Spiritual. Problem is that is not what scripture says at all.
Debbie, you clearly need to work on reading comprehension or something. If you cannot take the time to understand a post, maybe it is best if you do not interact with it. Honestly, it is hard to understand how you can read a post and come up with what you do.
But please do not continue to divert the discussion into directions other than that which the author intended please.
It is impolite. I am going to ask you to stop commenting until you take the time to read and understand the post.
I read it as I always do Dave. I could point out the parts of the post that caused me to answer as I have.
Not sure what to say then. How you got to where you did from what he said defies logic.
One might hope that basic decency and cordiality might have moved you to make sure you understood him before you lit into him and started trying to tear him apart though.
You really need to try harder and do better.
There is no reason one can not be civil in discussion.
I actually have zero interest in that at this point, and I’m going to tell you why. Then I’m done responding to this line of thought.
My post is a simple devotion from Ecclesiastes with the point: live life to the fullest by finding happiness in the ways of God and not the ways of sin/the world, a point which you actually don’t seem to disagree with in all your statements, and a point that it seems everyone else understood. A subpoint, drawn from the text, to this would be: start doing this when you’re young because many things are harder to do the older you grow.
Now, instead of engaging that or making comment on anything I said in particular, you came in lobbing grenades which included:
1) The accusation that I’m communicating the average Christian does not have the Holy Spirit,
2) That my post encourages suppressing freedom in Christ,
3) That my thoughts are like those who encourage Christians not to think but rather just submit to pastoral dictatorship which includes what women should wear, because somehow what I said keeps people dependent on what ministers tell them to do,
4) That my post communicates ideas that keep people addicted to self-salvation projects in attempts to find approval,
and 5) That I was telling people “Don’t be too happy.”
Now, you got all that from a post that has no commands, suggestions, or instructions other than: seek your happiness in the ways of God.
Sorry, but you came in here with guns blazing and an axe to grind on ideas that were not communicated in any way, shape, or form.
That’s not dialoguing in love, that’s not seeking understanding, that’s not vying for mutual edification, that is trolling plain and simple.
So, no–I have no interest in further hearing what you have to say, and you can keep your reasons to yourself.
But Debbie, an apology for your insulting tone would probably go a long way here toward fixing the mess you made.
“…that is trolling plain and simple.”
I don’t feel I owe an apology. I have been straight forward. I can’t be any other way.
Bart: It’s not trolling to be against lists on how to make decisions and what sin is. The message of Grace permeates to lists like this. I know Mike’s intentions were good just as the post by the other Mike were good. I have simply commented on the content of both posts. I am not trolling I assure you. I am however burdened for the denomination I love who has based their whole message on works and downplaying joy, happiness which is in Christ Jesus.
It seems that we have taken our eyes off of Christ “The author and finisher of our faith” and put them on us, our performance in all areas, even decisions. We actually have a low view of the law, thinking we can achieve it. We can’t. Not next to a Holy God. We are Holy because He is Holy. Not due to anything we accomplish for good, but what Christ has accomplished.
I do apologize for writing so much, this is why I post links and not say much. I could write all day, I love what the scriptures say on this subject. I am a former very tired and frutstrated person, trying to live up to these lists, that has discovered that the scriptures teach freedom from such lists and that Christ did this all for me. That the lists are things the Bible doesn’t teach.
It is exteme as DL has pointed out, it isn’t balanced. The lists show us our need, scripture shows us our provision. Christ.
What list? I don’t see a list.
Bill, maybe “list” refers to the discussion leaning to one side or another a bit too much. However, maybe the one tilted thinks (s)he is the one who is upright.
Debbie, in one sense, I agree that we all simply need Christ. However, that’s rather nebulous. In fact, I see many people justifying sin by claiming that they have Christ and that’s all they need, or that God only wants them to be happy.
For me, I love God, if imperfectly, and I want to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to improve my ability to love him and serve him better. It helps to have some practical direction to do so. Someone says “run to the cross!” Well, that’s obviously figurative, but figurative for what? Can no one tell me lest they make some practical goal I can’t reach? Plants grow towards the sun although they will never reach it, but it’s good to grow towards the sun anyway. Don’t just tell me to grow towards the Son without telling me which direction he is.
Bill: The title of this post is “Do What Makes You Happy But….” Then there is a disortation of how to make the right decision…it’s not in list form, but it’s a list.
Jim: And I don’t have a problem with that persay. But….I read posts like this and it points to performance to please God and it’s exhausting. God is Holy. The message is not what we do to please God or what we do period. It’s what God has done for us. That is the message of the Gospel.
We preach salvation by faith alone and yet we continue to write or preach how to sermons. This post is not exception. Seems I have to follow rules and not be 100% happy or I am not spiritual enough. The words “or you are not spiritual enough” is not written plainly here or on the other post, but the message is there. To please God we must……, it’s tiring. It’s not scripture. We must read scripture in proper context and when read as a whole from OT to NT, the message is what God has done for us, what Christ has done for us. Christ is the object, not us.
Jim: Don’t tell you to grow in the Son without telling you what direction He is? IOW what He wants you to do? He wants you to do nothing. It’s the same as with salvation. Faith. Faith in Him alone.
Debbie: so basically I can just go off and do whatever I want?
Your argument is not with Mike, it is with Solomon, Peter, Paul, James, John, etc. Jesus didn’t tell the woman caught in adultery “all you need is Me”, He told her “go and sin no more”.
The word “decision” doesn’t even appear in the article. You are arguing against something that hasn’t even been said. Pursue happiness but remember God’s ways. How can anyone, anyone possibly find fault with that?
People, Debbie has indicated an unwillingness to examine her rudeness.
Please stop trying to make her see the error of her ways.
Out of respect for Mike, we should discuss the article and not let Debbie derail the article into a direction it was not intended to go.
Debbie, please restrict your comments to the subject of the post. Others, if she continues to troll this article, please do not take the bait.
It is disrespectful to a very good article Mike wrote.
Debbie: so basically I can just go off and do whatever I want?
Yes.
Dave: I believe I am within the subject matter of persue happiness but…..I am not trolling. I do have a difference of opinion, have read the article and am responding to what has been written.
But you can edge me out and say I am trolling. That is how the SBC leadership operates. It’s sad.
We are to persue Christ and we are free to choose to do what we want. People are not going to sin by that message. In fact just the opposite occurs. That is my argument. There is no persue happiness but….
American’s have so messed up the truth of scripture. Foreign lands whose people become Christians get it. They have it right.
Debbie
Re. comment Dec 30 @ 3:28
Are Southern Baptist responsible for (1) cancer (2) World War 2 (3) dandruff (4) Oklahoma’s embarrassing loss yesterday. You seem to blame everything on SB so just wondering. What say ye? 🙂
Debbie
It appears that we are going to do what we do so often and that is debate from the extreme. Anything taken to the extreme on this subject will probably be inconsistent with scripture. We cannot be so burdened down with rules and laws that our freedom is hindered. That is one extreme. Yet we cannot exercise freedom to the point that we have no limitations. That is the opposite extreme. As the thread develops we will find out but I will bet my little red wagon to your half eaten donut that this is what we will do.
I sense the implication that “holiness” is a limitation of freedom. That fits well with the world view of “holiness” i.e. dull, lifeless, etc. However for the Christian holiness is the grandest expression of our freedom. By the blood of Jesus and our justification we are free to seek the holiness that is God honoring and very exciting.
OK OK you are right, now I have gone to preaching 🙂
Debbie
re. comment Dec. 29 @ 5:59
(1) My point of reference was not Christ. I was referring to the discussion of freedom vs. the law or “holiness” as it was erronously framed. Quite honestly I think you understood that, hence I am at a loss as to why you chose to comment.
(2) It never ceases to amaze me how you come down on the SBC because of one man’s (in this case me) comment with which you disagree. I am hardly a spokesperson for the SBC.
re. comment Dec 29 @ 5:27
(1) “How to find God’s will”…..In 50 years of pastoring when that question has been posed to me it was never in the context of anything I can be “dictatorial’ about. They were not church issues i.e. “how do I find God’s will in voting on something at the business meeting”? It was always personal. That is; God’s will in changing jobs, or buying a house, God’s will for my life etc. Those are things about which I can hardly be a dictator.
(2) “That should be the least asked question”….Oh my no!! That is a question a Christian should ask daily. If there is a failure on the part of the pastor, and note I said IF, it would be the failure to teach on the IMPORTANCE of walking daily in the will of God.
I sense the implication that “holiness” is a limitation of freedom. That fits well with the world view of “holiness” i.e. dull, lifeless, etc. However for the Christian holiness is the grandest expression of our freedom. By the blood of Jesus and our justification we are free to seek the holiness that is God honoring and very exciting.
Well said. All too often the slavery of sin looks like freedom to us, and like the Israelites we desire to return to it. The spirit speaks to us through the scriptures, which urge us to go forward onto the promised land instead of back to Egypt.
Bill Mac
Good analogy and imagery
“It is the pursuit of happiness interwoven with the pursuit of holiness.”
I like that.
Thanks for the article.
Thanks and you’re welcome 🙂
I daresay we always do what we think at the time might make us the happiest. There are two factors to consider in this:
1. We typically have conflicting things that make us happy. Either we can do one thing or another.
2. We have limited knowledge regarding what will make us the happiest.
Regarding #1, discipline typically involves rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior with the hopes of causing the one being disciplined to internalize some deeper principle: duty, honor, love, etc. Such discipline often fails when the discipline doesn’t fit the sensibilities of the one being disciplined. It especially fails because what is being taught through discipline is the behavior rather than the principle.
What needs to happen for people who are fallen is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It’s true that some who don’t have the Holy Spirit can be taught good behavior and aligned with some sense of right and wrong. However, without the Holy Spirit the operating principle is substandard and unfounded and can be dismissed as such. So we have some people in good standing in our churches who are unregenerate. When tested, they discover that they are happier walking away from their false faith. A true believer has happiness that exceeds all trials in this world.
That brings me to #2: We are often ignorant of what will make us the happiest. That’s why people who have the Holy Spirit, although tempted to seek happiness in some sin, will grieve upon discovering that the sin is but a shadow of the brilliance of the happiness we can only find in God. Therefore, it behooves us, as perhaps Solomon did here, and as Paul and the others often did, to admonish each other to remain true to God, so as to educate each other on the happiness of God. Therefore, I think it’s fitting to re-term it as we often do: “joy”.
The fact is that there are many things that could make me happy which I choose not to do. Contentment, satisfaction, peace, joy–all of these have their source in my relationship to Christ.
“With age (hopefully) comes the wisdom of experience; but with age also comes difficulty in doing things. So, seize the opportunity while you can, grasp at the moment, pursue happiness, but keep the eternal in mind.” This is a truth I’m learning to live with more every day.
“So, seize the opportunity while you can, grasp at the moment, pursue happiness, but keep the eternal in mind.” This is a truth I’m learning to live with more every day.”
Yep, Duckman Dale. Yep, Yep, and Triple Yep.
Mike,
If we want to know Christ, we work at knowing him because it is a joy to know him. Believers grow in their knowledge of him, which makes life amazing in all respects.
“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.” NASB
There is great joy in living to know Christ to the fullest! Believers strive at knowing him. Christ has encouraged us in that respect through the Apostle Paul. Solomon has simply echoed the same message.
That is the greatest joy! Live life to the fullest in all respects,…fearing God and loving Jesus Christ in everything you do!
Good article! To misunderstand the message you have put forth, is to misunderstand what Solomon and the Apostle has written.
By the way, Mike, did you work a subtle YOLO into this?
That is a really serious offense!
It did cross my mind as I typed that phrase, but that’s not why I typed it though… 🙂
I try to be tolerant with my contributors and all, but…
“Solomon’s point is really threefold: 1) you only live once; 2) you’re only young once; and 3) God’s ways are best.”
I wish every young guy would catch on to this. I wish I had.
Good post.
Agreed, CB.
I think that is a good quote as well.
I like what K MacArthur says about Romans 6…
“Romans 6:
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ROM. 6:16–18, NASB
As the apostle shows in this passage, there is no such thing as absolute moral independence. Every person is a slave—either to sin or to God.”
Great post… I get it.
That should be J, not K. This English / Arabic keyboard is getting to me.
While I agree with the devotion, the book of Ecclesiastes is still more of an enigma than this simple reading of what “the Preacher” (a rather awful rendering of a word the Alexandrian Jews–prior to the revelation of the relationship of the word ecclesia to the church both local and universal–probably thought of as merely a speaker lecturing and might or might not have thought of as a homily with a moral conclusion.
Ecclesiastes does not flow to its conclusion. And it’s writer “sounds” bitter in his writing which if at the end of life is an interesting bookmark to the advice in Proverbs. I’ve wondered if it was written when he was younger and finished when he was older hoping that he found an enjoyment in God later that his wives (famously) distracted him from when he was younger.
I’ve always felt the book did a fantastic job of presenting the limitation of the study of love of life (philosophy) from an under the sun perspective. And that one of the most famous phrases from epicurean philosophy shows up in this document–eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die–is a fascinating starting point largely because that was NOT this anachronistic “epicurean”‘s advice.
I do think we tend to behave as if we ought to be the opposite of epicureans and that we sometimes preach asceticism instead. I wonder if our implicit adoption of asceticism limits our kingdom work both in its direct rejection of material means as well as it sometimes turning into a list of “do nots” that distracts from the Gospel. We at times struggle to explain why we get focused on managing our appetites at the very same time that Paul said everything was legal for him but not everything was beneficial. Any careful reading of Ecllesiastes not only leads to bolstering that comment from Solomon, but it probably ought to lead to another sensation: Paul writes not just under the inspiration if the Holy Spirit but also living in the daily presence of the Paraclete. Perhaps the difference in tone of the darker Ecclesiastes is specifically due to the lack of the daily presence of the Holy Spirit??
It very much seems the difference between the “Preacher’s” perspective and Paul’s is NOT that Paul thought of himself as someone warning against excesses–one way you actually could read Ecclesiastes–but one literally admonishing believers to live in “the Law of Life of the Spirit” which is precisely the underlying point Debbie is making.
Now if I were her I’d try not to come across the way she sometimes does, but no matter how poorly she presents her points, if they’re worth hearing they deserve consideration.
I often get accused “in real life” of trying to portray myself as the smartest person in the room and I know my writing comes across that way from time to time. I hope that my points are well enough stated that someone reading Ecclesiastes carefully could actually catch them from the text and don’t think I’m just making something up!!
Over the past 3 years, I’ve taught OT wisdom/poetic literature (including Ecclesiastes) as a class at a bible college in Zambia. Trying to explain it to a different culture like that highlights how difficult the book is, like you said. 🙂
However, that’s also given me the opportunity to spend more time trying to figure it out. I’m not going to claim an unerring interpretation; but in my studies, this is where I land:
I see E written as a work late in Solomon’s life as a reflection looking back and now giving advice to his son about what he has learned, in the hope his son won’t make the same mistakes. That reflection ultimately is: I’ve tried all of this stuff, and most of it wasn’t bad in and of itself (labor, pursuit of wisdom, pursuit of happiness, etc.), but if you do it without maintaining a focus on and awe towards God, then it will all be in vain.
I think Solomon drops hints of that conclusion through the first ten and a half chapters, but his main point there is a dismal one: All of this I’ve done is vain; and then in chapters 11&12, you get a giant BUT and he brings it back to: Set yourself on pursuing God and then you’ll find true meaning in it all, for he is the good Shepherd.
In this way, I think E reads as a book of repentance from the vain things he sought as he allowed his heart to be pulled away from God to chase idols.
I could see that and was what I meant by the misuse (or autocorrected) “bookmark” when I meant E being a bookend to Proverbs which CLEARLY was written earlier in life to one or more princes that likely were pre-teen or teen in age (pardon the subtle anachronism comparing ancient teens to moderns, but I suspect there is a fair comparison in there somewhere.) That it starts naming a “Preacher” (or in a somewhat clearer rendering “Lecturer before an assembly”) leads me to feel it likely is NOT directed at his son but at a more general audience but Hebrew is weird and I could be entirely wrong.
I have an affinity for both Jonah and Ecclesiastes due to their relative out-of-placeness in the Bible which in a more expansive, salesy way might be referred to as a special KIND of timelessness. (Psst…don’t tell anyone…but I feel the same way about Song of Songs.)
Yeah that quoheloth (not sure I got that 100% without looking) term is tricky.
I go with the “to his son” primarily b/c that’s who he addressed in 12:12.
Q then could be a rhetorical device or a title Solomon was known by, a fact of which his son(s) was aware.
But nailing that down is kinda like figuring out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop… 😀
Three…
Having read that Mike Bergman has worked toward an ability to teach E with credibility for three years, I do admit he has labored with the writing far more than I and no doubt has a greater understanding of its content.
However, I have worked toward being able to teach the Book to the churches to which I served as pastor.
Therefore, I do think his summation statement is valid, at least in my mind, as he states the following:
“In this way, I think E reads as a book of repentance from the vain things he sought as he allowed his heart to be pulled away from God to chase idols.”
I also think that due to the fact that the writer of E was writing under direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that he wrote in a personal confessional way that men would not do otherwise.
Good stuff.
Mike good job. I do not understand professing Christians today. I am old.
“If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.” — Sheryl Crow
“Happiness is the truth.” — Pharrell Williams
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” — Proverbs 14:12 (and 16:25)
“If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.”
I wounder if Ole Sheryl stayed with that after Lance Armstrong gave her the brush off when she had cancer?
I actually came | | this close to quoting Crow in the blog…
Jeff wins our “Comment of the Week” Award.
That there is gold, it is.
Oh, one other thing: happy’s etymology–based on “hap” or “luck” in English–isn’t my favorite word in the English language. I especially didn’t care for that rendering in the Beatitudes when Ken Taylor put “Happy are those…” in TLB. But that is in the nit category…
Interesting post. It is always difficult to think about what it really means to be a “Christian” and love God with all your heart, and soul, and mind.
If we avoid extreme views I think the Bible’s message can be quite helpful. To live as if behavior does not matter because of grace is making grace a license for sin, not a solution for it.
“Debbie: so basically I can just go off and do whatever I want?
Yes”
We visited the Bahai’ Temple in Chicago a few summers ago and they told us the same thing about their religion.
Lydia: Satan always likes to make counterfeits of the real thing. Christianity is not a religion. It’s life in Christ. The counterfeit is just that, looks close to the real thing but isn’t upon close examination. Satan is not very original.
“Lydia: Satan always likes to make counterfeits of the real thing. Christianity is not a religion. It’s life in Christ. The counterfeit is just that, looks close to the real thing but isn’t upon close examination. Satan is not very original.”‘
Debbie, the question has been all along; how can you tell the difference? Words and deeds?
Quoting Tullian does not help in my case. I think he is antinomian on steroids.
Mike Bergman specifically-Anyone in general,
Is it possible that E is also about the avoidance of a counterfeit life? By a “counterfeit life” I reference that which Satan offered Eve in the Garden.
God had given Adam and Eve paradise (perfect happiness) with one restriction. “. . . from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, . . .”
Satan comes along with a counterfeit plan for perfect happiness. Ryrie relates Satan’s counterfeit in the form of a syllogism:
“The major premise was that restrictions were not good. The minor premise was that God’s plan included a restriction. The conclusion then was that God’s plan was not good. On the other hand, Satan’s did not include any restrictions; therefore, it was good.”
Ryrie goes on to state, “The validity of the conclusion depends on the truth of the major major premise, which in this case is not true.”
The truth is that the restriction placed on Adam and Eve in the Garden was good in that it provided the principal way they could show their obedience to the will of God. Satan’s counterfeit of perfect happiness did away with any restrictions. Everyone on earth knows the rest of the story.
It seems to me that Satan is still working his plan with great success both within the Church and without. It seems to me that the writer of E, like many of us today, failed to see the reality of the counterfeit until he was older.
God’s true happiness has boundaries. “You can’t just do as you please.”
Satan’s counterfeit happiness has no boundaries. “Do anything you please.”
What do you think?
CB–I can certainly see that as an undercurrent; just personally played out in the theme of Solomon’s life.
In 2:10 Solomon said, “I denied myself nothing that my heart desired” i.e. life without bounds; but in 2:11 he states that it was as vain as trying to catch the wind.
When you take that and contrast it with the section of E I wrote about above: do whatever makes you happy, but do it honoring God–he brings the boundary of God’s holiness back into the equation.
I put this up on facebook a week or so ago:
In Genesis, God gave us the world but we traded it for a small piece of fruit; in Christ, God once again promises to give us the world, but each time we sin we are saying I’d rather have that small piece of fruit.
The pleasures of the fruit look HUGE in our eyes, that we forget the unfading pleasures found in God.
So, yeah, I can track with what you’re saying… 🙂