Ecclesiastes Part I

Ecclesiastes Part I

     Here we are at the Book of Ecclesiastes. This is a depressing book of the Bible if there ever was one, right? I mean, Psalms was pretty bad and Proverbs wasn't exactly a piece of pie but Ecclesiastes is seriously depressing. As you read through this book of the Bible you really must wonder about the state of mind, the depth of depression of the individual who wrote it. Many individuals who read it will choose to take the words as poetic in value, mere metaphors and similes. Yet, the dark nature of many of these words really leave the reader to wonder...did God/the Lord really inspire these terrible words of dread and depression and sorrow and deep absence? 

1. Ecclesiastes 1:7

     7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.

Questions
     1. Let us take this verse for the poetic value since, obviously, the sea does not have a brim to which it may be filled. Now, if you consider the symbol of water as having to do with emotion does this verse mean that there are many emotions, just none that are fulfilling?

     2. There are many emotions that make up everything that it is to be a human being. If there are no adequate emotions to be fulfilling does that mean that being a human is an empty experience?

     3. If many emotions fill a sea of emptiness didn't God/the Lord know that this would happen to humans? Why didn't He change this to make the human experience more meaningful?

     4. How can an all-powerful creator create something that can never be fulfilled?

2. Ecclesiastes 1:9

     9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Questions
     1. Okay, if there is nothing new under the sun then why are the followers of the Bible constantly looking for new signs and things they have never seen before but have supposedly been told will happen sooner or later?

     2. If what has been done will be done again wouldn't that mean that God/the Lord will NOT behave in a manner He has not already behaved in before?

     3. If God/the Lord has a track record for losing His temper, revoking promises, murdering people en mass, and pretty much fucking things up for everyone and everything on the entire planet won't He simply do it again since there is nothing new under the sun and what has been done before will be done again?

     4. If there is nothing new under the sun then when a baby is born into the world they have actually been here before, right?

     5. If there is nothing new under the sun then when people say there is more evil now in the world than ever before they are wrong, right? I mean, wouldn't there be just as much evil present now as there has ever been?

3. Ecclesiastes 1:14

     14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Questions
     1. Is this verse only referencing what people do and not what God/the Lord does?

     2. Why is it that whatever man does is stupid and pathetic and meaningless? Is it because he does it all for himself?

     3. If man is doomed because whatever he does he does for himself, wouldn't the Lord/God also be doomed since everything He does and everything He MAKES man do is for Himself, for the glory of God/the Lord?

     4. If everything that God/the Lord does or causes is for His own glory how in the fuck is He any different than when man does something for himself? Is it because God is God and man is man?

     5. If everything man does is meaningless does this mean God/the Lord created a meaningless creation?

     6. If everything man does is meaningless then how can he show glory to God/the Lord? Wouldn't glory construe something with meaning?

4. Ecclesiastes 1:15 

     15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

Questions
     1. If this is the case then why does God/the Lord count on man to show God glory?

     2. If man is crooked and cannot be straightened then why does God even try?

     3. If what is lacking cannot be counted shouldn't you look to the Creator for the true beginning of all the trouble/problems? How does such a great Creator put out so many things that are lacking and crooked?

     4. If what is crooked cannot be straightened does that mean there is no hope?

5. Ecclesiastes 1:17-18

     17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

     18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Questions
     1. What the hell happened to all of the great things that Solomon said about wisdom in the Book of Proverbs?

     2. God sure did make sure that man had no way out, right? I mean, with folly there is sorrow and with wisdom there is sorrow? WTF? There is nothing man can do, right? Wouldn't this be a divine catch-22?

6. Ecclesiastes 2:16

     16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!

Questions
     1. Sooo, then the promises of the wise living a long life really amount to a pile of beans, correct?


7. Ecclesiastes 2:26
     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.

Questions
     1. But it does not freaking matter whether or not God gives wisdom and knowledge and all of that happy crappy if such things still equal empty sorrow in the end, right?

     2. What good is a gift if it is no good to the one who receives it?


8. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3, 8
     1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

     3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

     8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Questions
     1. Is this why bad things happen to good people?

     2. Is this why good things happen to bad people?

     3. Is this God's excuse for all of the bad shit He does/lets happen?


9. Ecclesiastes 3:10, 14
     10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.

     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. 

Questions
     1. Ahhh, so God/the Lord IS the One Who fucked it up for everyone, right? God is the Placer of the enmity in man, correct?

     2. Is enmity the burden of man?

     3. If everything that God does endures forever wouldn't this mean that God placing the enmity within man will last forever?

     4. If nothing can be added or taken does this also mean that God cannot add or take away?


10. Ecclesiastes 3:15
     15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

Questions
     1. Do you think that when God calls up the past He will remember all of the bad shit HE has done to man?

     2. Will God remember how He purposely hardened Pharaoh's heart?

     3. Will God remember that He instructed His people to kill the inhabitants of entire cities?

     4. Will God remember that He brought His people to the brink of starvation and then punished them terribly when they asked for food and water?


11. Ecclesiastes 3:16
     16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

Questions
     1. Wouldn't this then mean that God/the Lord is wicked?

     2. If nothing is new under the sun then the Lord has judged wickedly and with regularity, correct?

     3. Think about the story of the Flood. Is not God's brand of justice WICKED?
     
     4. Think about the commandment to stone bratty children to death. Is not God's judgment WICKED?

     5. Think about God shirking the attributes of Love. Is not God WICKED?


12. Ecclesiastes 3:17
     17 I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

Questions
     1. But if God's judgement is tainted and wicked then the good folk are just as fucked as the bad folk, correct?

     2. If someone was judged during their life for something bad that they did are they going to be judged AGAIN for that same thing when God supposedly judges every being at the end of all time? Has God ever heard of double jeopardy? This would be a very good example of God's wicked justice, wouldn't it?


13. Ecclesiastes 3:18-20
     18 I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

     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.

Questions
     1. What horrible and depressing verses these are, right? Everything meaningless? This is supposed to be text that is God inspired?

     2. If everything is meaningless then wouldn't the Creator of everything ALSO be meaningless?


14. Ecclesiastes 3:22
     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?

Questions
     1. Doesn't this totally sound like something from the movie The Matrix?


15. Ecclesiastes 4:1
     1 Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.

Questions
     1. And WHO is the Oppressor? WHO allows all of this oppression to happen, right? This oppression cannot simply just happen because of man since man has no power to do anything of meaningful value on his own. God does it all, correct? So, again I ask you WHO is responsible for the oppression?

     2. If the Truth has the ability to set one free then realizing the Truth that it is God Who is the Oppressor should set the oppressed free, correct?


16. Ecclesiastes 4:2-3
     2 And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

     3 But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Questions
     1. These verses are seriously fucked up, right? The dead happier than the living? WTF kind of horseshit is that?

     2. Hey, if those who are never born are better off, why give people who get abortions so much trouble?


17. Ecclesiastes 4:7
     7 Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

Questions
     1. If everything under the sun cannot exits without the express permission of God then God is responsible for anything and everything that is meaningless, correct?


18. Ecclesiastes 4:10-12
     10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

     11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

     12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Questions
     1. Oh, these verses sound all nice and cherry until you realize that it is God who constantly pits people against each other, right?

     2. A cord of three is not easily broken unless God is right there in the middle, correct?


19. Ecclesiastes 5:12
     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.

Questions
     1. The sleep of a laborer is sweet even when they have had little to eat? Are you insane? Have you ever gone to bed hungry? Did you sleep well with your hungry belly burbling away? Did your hunger allow you to sleep sweetly?

     2. Why wouldn't the rich sleep well? Isn't that what insurance is for?


20. Ecclesiastes 5:20
     20 They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

Questions
     1. How nice. Sooo, does this verse mean that human beings as a whole really serve no purpose whatsoever (other than the dastardly plans God has for them) and so the Great Divine keeps them occupied with happy little hearts?

     2. If they are being kept occupied isn't that akin to being sidetracked or tricked?


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I Kings Part V: Just a Few Questions

Why not be the King? It can be far worse to be a prophet!

Oh yeah...you thought some of the kings of the people of Israel had it bad? Look at what some of the prophets had to go through. If you read this story and did not know it was from the Bible you would think you were reading a terrible story that involved a quite powerful person who used, abused, and threw people away whenever he was done using them for whatever dastardly thing he had planned. So SO terrible it really makes me sick.

1. I Kings 13:11-18
11 Now an old prophet lived in Bethel. And his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king.

12 And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.

13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it.

14 And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”

15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

16 And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place,

17 for it was said to me by the word of the LORD, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’”

18 And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him.

Questions

     1) This is an interesting gaggle of verses, right? Sooo...the sons go and tell their old man prophet father that another prophet is in town? And then in quick response the old man prophet father jumps up and says to go and saddle...the donkey?

     2) Sooo...was this old man prophet who shot off across the plains on a donkey also a prophet of God? If not, just who was he a prophet for? If he was a prophet of God what the hell happened? Did God need to turn him rogue in order to make things happen the way that He needed them to happen?

     3) Sooo...if the old man prophet who shot off across the plains on a friggin donkey was directed or allowed by God to purposely lie to another prophet about being a person who received a message from God/the LORD and this is actually a lie in the specifics of the message (since there was really no such message received) and not in the act of being a person who speaks for God (because the lying prophet IS a prophet of God)...WHEW!!! Who writes this crap?

   4) Okay, here is yet another question that bothers me about this story, right? Sooo...uhmmm, God IS supposed to be all-powerful, correct? God is also supposed to be all-good and all-loving, right? If God really is these things, all-powerful, all-loving, all-good, yada-yada, plucka-plucka, then wouldn't it stand at the very LEAST by biblical reasoning that God ALWAYS WINS? If God always wins then why did He manipulate people into doing things that are the antithesis of God's very own nature? Why did God make the donkey dude prophet lie to the first prophet?

     5) Does is make any sense whatsoever that God had to LIE in order to get what He wanted done/to fulfill prophecy/to make His words stand?

   6) Can an intelligent, ultimately controlling and reasoning Being that is supposed to encompass everything that is truth, is this Being capable of lying? Yes or No...can this Being LIE and if so how does this affect His perceived natural state of perfection?

    7) Sooo...man was made in the image of God, was he? If man was created with free will does that mean that God also has free will? If God is the ultimate in free will then there is no one anywhere that can make Him do anything AND with this ultimate free will God will logically possess every possible choice (both good and bad) to every situation, right? 

    8) If the above IS the case, wouldn't it follow out of necessity of His very attributes of all that He is and all that He consists of, that God used HIS  ultimate free will to make the choice to lie, to trick, to mislead, to knowingly and intentionally place someone in danger for the purpose of murdering them...and all of THAT for the so-called fulfillment of His 'plan' for mankind?

    9) What is it exactly about the foregoing that makes you want to worship, love, adore, pay homage to, pray to, or even give any attention whatsoever to the seriously screwy God of the Bible?

2. I Kings 13:20

20 And as they sat at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.

21 And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the command that the LORD your God commanded you,

22 but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’”

23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.

Questions

     1) Oooooohhhh!!! I see! It was ALL a trick of the LORD/God...right from the very beginning, right?

   2) Sooo...let me make sure I've got this right here, uhmmm...the story here is that the LORD/God told the original prophet that he was not to go back and eat or drink and all that mumbo jumbo, BUT then the LORD/God tells this other prophet old guy to get on a donkey, go out to the original prophet, invite him to lunch BY TELLING HIM THAT GOD SAID TO GO BACK WITH THE PROPHET RIDING THE DONKEY TO HAVE LUNCH. SO then the original prophet goes back because he believes the prophet dude on the donkey...THEN when the original prophet is eating lunch with the prophet dude on the donkey the LORD/God basically channels a message through the donkey dude prophet and says, "TRICK!!! I gotcha, bee-OTCH! Now you are gonna die!" I have got that much right, THAT is the story here, correct?

     3) THEN...after God/the LORD is finished tricking this prophet guy (the one who made the prediction about the splitting altar and the falling ashes) by getting another prophet (the older prophet dude on the donkey) to lie to him, the LORD/God then decides to off this faithful servant (the altar prophet guy) by having a LION meet him on the road and kill him? What the fuck?!

     4) Oh, and the donkey IS safe, correct? I mean, the Bible does say the donkey stood beside the body of the prophet bamboozled by the LORD/God, right?

     5) I am really curious about the idea of a lion meeting the individual he is to kill, aren't you? What kind of message did this lion receive from God? I mean, how does this play out? Is it something like...Once upon a time, a young lion living in the land of the people of Israel was instructed by God, Who said, "Lion, goeth thee thou out to yonder road and waiteth thee for a prophet with whom I am very angry. Thoust shalleth maul-eth the man who once spoke for God, but when the man has expired thou shouldst not eateth of his body, neither harm his donkey, but sitteth there for shits and giggles just to see how many people passeth the carcass of this former man of God before someone haveth compassion, decency and courage to bury and mourn for him." Do you think it would have been something like that?

3. I Kings 13:25

25 People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived.

Questions

     1) Really? Sooo...this lion is standing by the body of a person it has killed, and we are supposed to believe that people are 'passing by' and taking all this in like a midday matinee, then reporting it to the townspeople? Somebody was into the ganja when they wrote this story, weren't they?

4. I Kings 13:26

26 And when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.”

Questions

    1) Does this donkey dude prophet remember anything he said or did to the other prophet?

   2) Doesn't he recall telling the other prophet the lie that God said to go back with him and have lunch?

   3) Do any of the people suspect this donkey dude prophet had something to do with it since he apparently knows all of the information as to what happened to this guy while everyone else does not?

    4) This man of God who was killed disobeyed God? Wasn't he TRICKED by God? If he was tricked by God he sure as shit did not disobey God, did he?

    5) The LORD/God set this poor man up for failure, didn't He? How does this LORD/God then deserve anything BUT disdain?

5. I Kings 13:27

27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." And they saddled it.

28 And he went and found his body thrown in the road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.

29 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back to the city to mourn and to bury him.

30 And he laid the body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”

31 And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.

Questions

     1) Sooo...up to this point no one has gone to get the body of the dead prophet, which by the way the lion and donkey are still standing by? You have a dead body and a lion and a donkey and the lion isn't touching the body or the donkey and people don't stop to think that God/the LORD definitely had something to do with this?

     2) Sooo...the prophet who had his mind hijacked by the LORD in order to tell the other prophet a lie so that God/the LORD could kill him, goes out and takes the body of the dead prophet, buries him and mourns for him...because apparently no one else was going to do so? What the fuck is wrong with people? What the fuck is wrong with the LORD/God?

     3) There is something about verse 31 that just seems so very lonely and so very hurtful and so very dejected, isn't there? God/the LORD would have left the body of the tricked prophet that He murdered just laying there on the road, wouldn't He have? Was it not enough for God that the man was dead that He had to make the effort to try to leave him alone in death as well, his body cast aside like trash? Is THIS the God/LORD you worship?

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