Ecclesiastes discussion board

 Hey guys. I actually struggled with this chapter a lot. There seemed to be a lot that I felt really conflicted about.

At first it felt very Nihilistic and honestly a bit judgmental. He kept treferring to how meaningless everything was ( All was vanity - EC 1:2) and how foolish people are to persue happiness. Any attempt to to influence to seek happiness was like "chasing the wind"... but to me he just seemed ungrateful. There is joy in chasing the wind, there should be gratitude for the ability to chase, for the wind itself, and for the desire to do so (to continue his anaology). So the beginning of the book immediatley rubbed me the wrong way. 

I only pulled a few examples but can easily add more - I had a few trains of thought as I read. 

1) Certain verses were truly depressing and nihilistic 

• 1:8-10 "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 remembranceof later things yet to be among those who come after."
• 7:2-4 "2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. 3 Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure."

1) in some areas I could see how it could be used to bring comfort. Almost in a very Buddhist/Taoist sort of way.

•  3:12-13 "12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
•  3:19-22 "19 Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?"
• 5:15 "Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands."
• 7:14 "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future."
• 8:15 "So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun."

2) In others I could see how it could easily be used for opressing others.

• 5: 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.
• 5:18-19 "This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.19 Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God."
• 6:10 "Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger."
• 7:26 "I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare."
• 7:28 "while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all."

3) And in a similar vein... It speaks about the opression from God. 

• 2:24-26 "A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
•  3:14 "14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him."
•  5:7 "7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God."
• 9:1 "So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them."

I promise I am not trying to beat a dead horse, but the more I read of the bible, the more flawed I see the Christian God. I would not go so far as to describe him as an evil god, not by a long shot, but he is definitley just as flawed as any other deity. As much as I like the peaceful parts of this book, the thing that just stands out to me the most in the most frustrating way is how much of unpelasant deity this description of the biblical God is and how that can have such a negative effect on those that follow him - such as the depressive nihilism of the beginning chapter

EC 2:17-20

"17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun."

Although I find it odd that almost the entire chapter 9 contradicts the energy and angst of the first 8 chapters.