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We’re exploring three books in the Bible known as the wisdom literature Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job.

They’re all asking the question what does it mean to live well in this world. So we looked at proverbs who you could think of as a bright young teacher. She’s all about pursuing wisdom an attribute of God that’s woven into reality and she’s optimistic that if you use wisdom you will build a successful life but then we come to Ecclesiastes who’s more like the sharp middle-aged critic and he says. You think using wisdom will bring you success. You’d better think again because life here under the sun is meaningless  and that’s a phrase you use a lot in this book but to understand this book we have to realize first that we’re hearing two voices.

So first there’s the teacher and we’ve been calling him the critic. He’s the main voice in the book

but he is introduced to us by another figure the author  and he’s the one who’s collected the critics words  and then at the end of the book summarizes everything and gets the final word

So why does the author wants to hear from the critic?

He wants to turn your view of the world upside down and he’s gonna let the critic explore three really disturbing things about the world  and we should warn you these are pretty intense

Yeah! So the first is the march of time whereas the critic says.

“Generations come and generations go  but the earth it’s been here long before us and we’ll be long after. No one remembers people from long ago and all the people yet to come. They too will be forgotten by those who come after them”

And so on a cosmic scale, you and I, we are just blink, stars are born and then they die and form planets with orbit new stars  and those planets they change over time and eventually burnt up and admits this cosmic backdrop, my entire existence is like a blink in time  which leads to the critic’s second disturbing observation  that we are all going to die.

Humans face the same fate as the animals.

Death, “all people, the righteous and the wicked. The good and the bad. Those who offer sacrifices to God and those who do not . They all share the same destiny  all this activity and madness then we all join the dead”

Man! This book is depressing  and so is the final disturbing thing for the critic  and that is life’s random nature. So in Proverbs, life isn’t random. There’s a clear cause-and-effect relationship between doing the right thing and being rewarded.

But the fact is that life doesn’t always work that way. The critic has observed a glitch in the system. He calls it, Chance, or in his words.

“The race doesn’t always go to the swift nor the battle to the strong  nor does food always come to the wise  or wealth to the brilliant  or favor to the educated, time and chance happen to them all”

So his point is that you can’t really control anything in life. It’s just way too unpredictable

so if i want to master life  then you’re setting yourself up for a fall. Now throughout the book, the Critic uses a metaphor to tie together all of these disturbing ideas. Nearly 40 times he says that everything in life is “Hevel” it’s a Hebrew word that means smoke or vapor.

Like smoke, life is beautiful and mysterious. It takes one shape and before you know it. It takes a new shape and smoke look solid but try and grab it it will slip right through your fingers and when you’re stuck in the thick of it like fog, it’s impossible to see clearly.

Now our modern translations have lost the metaphor  and they usually translate “Hevel” as meaningless but if you read closely the critic isn’t saying that life has no meaning  but rather that its meaning is never clear.

Like smoke, life is confusing. It’s disorienting and uncontrollable and more often he says that since you can’t control your life. You should stop trying. Learn to hold things with an open hand because you really only have control over one thing and that’s your attitude towards the present moment.

Stop worrying he says and choose to enjoy a good conversation with a friend or the Sun on your face or a good meal with people that you care about. The simple things in life. Yes and both the good things and the bad because both are rich gifts from God and that’s the surprising wisdom of ecclesiasticus. Listening to the critic is painful and can lead you into some dark places  and that’s why the author speaks up at the end of the book. He doesn’t want you to lose hope. He wants to make you humble. Into someone who trusts that life has meaning even when you can’t make sense of it

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Diterbitkan oleh Skeptical Inquirer

• Central For Inquiry (CFI) • Skeptical Inquirer • Free Inquiry • Point of Inquiry ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Yang nyata ialah manusia itu sendiri bukan tuhan, bukan manusia pikiran tuhan, tetapi tuhan adalah pikiran manusia, agama tidak merubah kenyataan dan mengukir sejarah, tetapi manusia itu sendiri yang merubah dan mengukirnya. Bukan tuhan yang menciptakan manusia tetapi tuhan adalah angan-angan manusia. Agama tidak merubah kenyataan tetapi menusia bisa merubah kenyataan. 2. Agama ialah proyeksi manusia : tuhan, neraka, surga, malaikat. Kenapa? Karena manusia butuh tempat untuk mencurahkan keluhan karena dunia tanpa hati, jadi penderitaan tempat lahirnya tuhan. Dengan demikian agama disebut keterasingan manusia dari kehidupan karena struktur masyarakat tidak mengizinkan secara penuh perealisasian diri sendiri, sehingga manusia membangun kerajaan angan-angan (agama). Dalam kenyataan manusia menderita lalu ia mengharapkan surga 3. kenapa agama khayalan, karena agama tidak inderawi, sedangkan manusia inderawi, manusia penuh dengan kepastian sedangkan agama berbau unsur spekulatif, unsur yang tidak bisa diterima secara ilmiah 4. Jadi agama dan tuhan ialah ciptaan manusia itu sendiri, tetapi manusia itu sendiri lupa dengan ciptaanya (seperti pada zaman jahiliyah dahulu sebelum nabi muhamad dating : orang-orang kafir zaman dahulu mengukir tuhan dari kayu dan batu, yang kemudian disembahnya, sama seperti kita kini yang memproyeksikan tuhan lalu menyembahnya). Agama penyembahan tuhan terhadap dirinya sendiri. Agama penyembahan manusia terhadap ciptaanya sendiri 5. Sehingga khayalan atau angan-angan itu mempunyai eksistensi realitas yang membuat manusia takut dan harus menyembahnya dan tuhan mempunyai hakikat lain yang manusia harus sembah. Sifat-sifat itu yang membuat manusia egois. 6. Penderitaan manusia ialah tempat lahirnya tuhan, penderitaan yang memaksa manusia mengasingkan diri ke dalam agama, itulah dasar yang menyebabkan manusia merasa butuh agama dan tuhan 7. Teologi harus diganti menjadi antropologi dan agama ialah candu rakyat. 8. Kritik agama hanya meruska bunga khayalan pada rantai, bukan bunganya yang harus dipatahkan tetapi rantai itu sendiri. Rantai (factor yang menyebabkan manusia mengasingkan diri ke dalam agama) 9. Kita seperti wayang dengan penuh kesadaran dan kemauan tetapi kita tidak bisa lepas dari tangan sang dalang. 10. Kalau semua ini benar, maka manusia bukan merealisasikan keinginanya tetapi mengharapkan berkah dariNYA (proyeksi manusia itu sendiri/perubahan pasif) 11. agama ialah keterbatasan: agama melarang kita bergaul dengan duniawi, sehingga kita hanya memikirkan surgawi Tanpa agama kita bisa hidup lebih baik, tanpa mengaharapkan hibah/welas asih dariNYA, hanya mengandalkan kenyataan dan diri sendiri. 12. Kepasrahan adalah kelemahan agama 13. Tuhan seperti halnya dengan setan, bila ia terus diyakini dengan adanya exsistensinya maka semakin berkuasalah ia, kita seperti member roh kepadanya dengan keyakinan kita. GROUP : https://www.facebook.com/groups/scientistsecularist