Ecclesiastes Part II

Ecclesiastes Part II

     Here we have the second posting for the Book of Ecclesiastes. This book of the Bible just gets screwier and screwier with some of the little stories and snippets of supposed wisdom that it contains. Many of the verses are in direct contradiction with other verses, almost to a point of aggravation. This is a truly ridiculous book of the Bible. How can people read this muck and harbor even an inkling of wanting to believe in this God that has inspired such filth?

1. Ecclesiastes 6:1-2

     1 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind:

     2 God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

Questions
     1. Why does God/the Lord give in little incomplete snippets and parcels that always turn out to be dark little gifts more along the lines of a behemoth Pandora's Box?

     2. How is a perfect God/Lord so persistently incomplete in His gift giving? Why is there always something left out?

     3. Is there something left out of God/the Lord? Is this why He is so erratic and absurd in His supposed gift giving? Is what is left out of God/the Lord glory? Is this lack of glory why He demands it from man?

     4. If God/the Lord created everything under the sun didn't He also create evil?

2. Ecclesiastes 6:3 

     3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Questions
     1. What do children and many long years living and prosperity matter if everything is meaningless? Didn't this book mention in from the very start that everything is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 2:17-23)?

     2. Would the mother or father of the stillborn child agree with the last part of this verse?

3. Ecclesiastes 6:7

     7 Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied.

Questions
     1. But it is all meaningless, right? Sooo, it really does not matter whether it is toil or hunger it all means a big pile of bullshit, correct?

     2. Was Jesus' toil for His mouth?

     3. Is God's/the Lord's toil for His mouth? If so, if His appetite never satisfied?

4. Ecclesiastes 6:9

     9 Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Questions
     1. What happens if what the eyes see is not good? Would it not make sense for the eyes to rove to find something better?

     2. Is it meaningless to search for something better?

     3. Chasing the wind is NOT meaningless is it? Didn't God/the Lord know that you CAN catch the wind and convert its mighty power to energy?

5. Ecclesiastes 6:10

     10 Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger.

Questions
     1. No one can contend with someone who is stronger? Really? How do you explain David and Goliath?

6. Ecclesiastes 7:1-2

     1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

     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.

Questions
     1. Ah, now a good name is said to be better than fine perfume. Doesn't Proverbs 22:1 say that a good name is better than riches? Why the change? Is this simply just another thing a good name is better than? Again, what does it freaking matter if everything is supposed to be meaningless? Is the Vanderbilt name better than Carolina Herrera perfume?

     2. The day of death better than the day of birth? For whom? For God/the Lord? What does He do with the dead? Eat them? Are people more useful to the Lord/God if they are dead? If people are more useful when they are dead then why give them life to begin with?

     3. Death is the destiny of everyone? What about Enoch and the prophet who was whisked away in a chariot of fire? How often does God fudge the rules?

     4. Why should the living take death to heart if everything is meaningless? Is death the only meaningful thing? Wouldn't that make God the God of death and not the God of life?

7. Ecclesiastes 7:3

     3 Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. 

Questions
     1. In Proverbs 17:22 it says that a merry heart is just like medicine but a broken spirit dries up the bones...sooo, what the fuck? Make up your freaking mind here, God. 

     2. If a merry heart is just like medicine and if frustration is better than laughter, wouldn't frustration also be counted as a medicine?

     3. If God considers frustration to be good medicine where in the hell did He get His medical knowledge or degree? A Cracker Jacked box?

8. Ecclesiastes 7:5

     5 It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.

Questions
     1. This is pure common sense, isn't it? There is nothing new being revealed here in some divine fashion, is there?

     2. I just don't know about this verse, right? Does this apply only to those being rebuked or to everyone in general to include those NOT being rebuked? I mean, if you consider a judge's decision to be rebuke of the wise does this verse infer that it would be better to listen to such than fun music?

     3. Sooo, if this applies to those who are not being rebuked would you rather read a court decision on a lengthy and boring contracts case OR listen to Gwen Stefani sing that her shit is bananas?

9. Ecclesiastes 7:12

     12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it.

Questions
     1. Sooo, wisdom preserves those who have it? But...doesn't Ecclesiastes 1:18 say that with much wisdom comes much sorrow?

     2. If much sorrow comes with wisdom and if wisdom is a shelter is all of that sorrow providing the shelter in full or part?

10. Ecclesiastes 7:13-15

     13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?

     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.

     15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness. 

Questions
     1. Sooo, if God has made the good and the bad and the happy and the sad...He has ALSO made the meaningless, hasn't He?

     2. How can a perfect God make something meaningless?

     3. How can a righteous God make something meaningless ON PURPOSE (and everything God does and creates IS supposed to be for a reason and thus on purpose, right?)?

11. Ecclesiastes 7:17

     17 Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time?

Questions
     1. So, if you are not supposed to be OVERwicked, is it okay to be a little wicked?

     2. Why not just say do not be wicked at all? Why use the term OVERwicked?

     3. Sooo, if being really wicked as well as a fool makes you kick the bucket before your time, what the freak happened to this implied rule when it comes to Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin? Why didn't they die when they were kids or young men before they fucked up a good portion of the world for a really long time?

12. Ecclesiastes 7:19

     19 Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city.

Questions
     1. Hah! God/the Lord must have never heard of politics, right? I mean, some of the biggest idiots EVER end up in charge and with more power than should ever be given or allowed to anyone, correct?

13. Ecclesiastes 8:4-5

     4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

     5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

Questions
     1. Isn't the Lord/God supposed to be King, THE King? Lots of people obey His supposed commands and come to all sorts of harm (some of them even cause a lot of harm; some even harm themselves in the name of God their King), so what the freak happened to obeying the king and coming to no harm, hummm?

     2. A king's word may be supreme, sure, BUT when the king is issuing statements and words that are detrimental to his people shouldn't you absolutely question the king as to what the FUCK he is doing?

14. Ecclesiastes 8:7-8

     7 Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

     8 As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

Questions
     1. But we CAN know the future, right? If there is nothing new under the sun (as so stated in Ecclesiastes 1:9) then there is nothing new when it comes to the future, correct?

     2. The future is not cloaked in utter darkness, is it? By reviewing past events and results and outcomes and merging those with current events and proposed actions, isn't it true that we can develop a fairly accurate idea of what the future will be?

     3. Does not knowing everything about the future mean that we do not know the future?

15. Ecclesiastes 8:14

     14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

Questions
     1. Ecclesiastes 7:14 says that God has made the good times as well as the bad times. Lovely. Considering that, wouldn't it be fair and accurate to say that in this verse when the wicked get what the righteous deserve and when the righteous get what the wicked deserve THIS IS OF GOD'S DOING?

     2. All of this is supposed to be meaningless to boot. Why is God going about making all of this dastardly, meaningless shit? Why does God make bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?

16. Ecclesiastes 9:2

     2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

Questions
     1. If this is the case then why do so many of the followers of God draw so many goddamn lines of separation?

     2. If this verse is the truth then why does God/the Lord create so much separation and division within man? If everything is so much the same why is God constantly trying to make things so very different in really fucked up ways?

17. Ecclesiastes 9:4

     4 Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

Questions
     1. Really? Doesn't Ecclesiastes 4:2 say that the dead who have already died are happier than the living? WTF kind of bipolar horseshit is going on here?

18. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6

     5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.

     6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.

Questions
     1. This is freaking lunacy, right? Doesn't Ecclesiastes 4:3 say that better is he who has never been born and who has never seen the evil under the sun? If that is the case WTF difference does it make whether or not the living know they will die?

19. Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

     11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

     12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Questions
     1. This is so fucking stupid! Time and chance have NOTHING to do with ANYTHING, do they?! Read the goddamn Bible. Why do the Children of Israel win or lose? Why does anyone die? Why did the freaking Flood happen? Why is there pestilence and slavery and famine? Do you really think these things are from CHANCE and TIME? Fuck no! Isn't God/the Lord the One who manipulates everything to meet whatever ridiculous and absurd ends He has created?

     2. So, people are like fish in a net, an evil net? And WHO does this net belong to? WHO cast the net after purposely creating helpless little fish (the people) in a stinking toxic sea of hate and sorrow and suffering? WHO creates the unexpected evil?

20. Ecclesiastes 9:14-16

     14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.

     15 Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.

     16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.

Questions
     1. How freaking stupid is this story? So this wise but poor man saves everyone BUT no one remembers WTF he did to save everyone? No one remembers a word? If this guy who saved everyone was so insignificant how in the fuckey-doo do the people even remember he saved them to begin with, hummm?

http://www.amazon.com/Turkey-Broth-Spirit-Questions-Pentateuch-ebook/dp/B00GVLQ0CY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1400012965&sr=8-2&keywords=ester+lighthorse


http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ester+lighthorse


http://www.zazzle.com/smartytwoshoes

Proverbs Part II

Proverbs Part II

     Here is the second and final posting for the questions for the Book of Proverbs. As previously mentioned this book does consist largely of verses repeated again and again and worded a b-zillion different ways. Was King Solomon running out of things to say? It is entirely possible.

1. Proverbs 18:6

     6 The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating.

Questions
     1. Sooo, does this mean it is okay to beat the piss out of people who you think desperately deserve it?

2. Proverbs 18:15

     15 The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.

Questions
     1. If the Lord/God is the ultimate in everything, including wisdom, and if the ears of the wise seek out knowledge and the Lord has ears, does the Lord ALSO seek out knowledge?

     2. If the Lord/God is the ultimate in everything does He EVER have to seek out any kind of knowledge or understanding or wisdom in regard to anything?

3. Proverbs 18:17

     17 In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.

Questions
     1. Is this more of the wonderful and expansive knowledge and wisdom of Solomon? Seriously?

     2. Isn't the first to speak in a lawsuit the plaintiff? 

     3. Wouldn't a person of WISDOM not make any assumptions about who is right or wrong in a lawsuit until both have spoken and all evidence is brought forth? Who in the hell thinks that the first person to speak in a lawsuit is the right one, hummm?

4. Proverbs 19:11

     11 A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

Questions
     1. Much of the Bible discusses the persistent anger of God as well as His consistency in punishing even the smallest of offenses. Did the Lord/God not consider this verse?

     2. If the Lord/God is not very patient, what does that signify in regards to His level of wisdom?

     3. It is to one's glory to overlook an offense? Sooo, is the person doing the overlooking doing so because they want glory, or because they want to be nice or generous or kind?

     4. Why would a smart fellow like Solomon even mention something so trite as glory when gain of glory is the wrong reason to do something that is supposed to be right in the first place?

5. Proverbs 19:14

     14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Questions
     1. Sooo, the person who marries an imprudent wife has been more or less screwed over by the Lord, right? I mean, if a prudent wife is from the Lord why wouldn't the Lord give such a wife to, say, a really good guy (or gal)? Don't lots of nice folk who don't deserve the bitchy wiles of an imprudent woman end up with such for a wife?

6. Proverbs 19:16

     16 Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life, but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.

Questions
     1. Sooo, if you want to keep your life you have to keep the commandments? Wouldn't this include the commandments to stone people for various reasons?

     2. Do people realize there are far more than the well known Ten Commandments that the Lord/God supposedly gave people? Are they not supposed to follow ALL of them? Why don't they?

7. Proverbs 19:17

     17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.

Questions
     1. The Lord/God is always promising rewards here and there to people for various things. Do these people ever get them? Are these rewards from the Lord/God supposed to be in the afterlife? 

     2. Are there kind people who do not lend to the poor?

     3. If lending to the poor is lending to the Lord, is the Lord poor and in need of lending? Is this why televangelists are always asking people for money to give to Jesus?

8. Proverbs 19:18

     18 Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

Questions
     1. Sooo, does Solomon mean physical discipline or discipline more along the lines of working with the child and showing them by example and speaking with them?

9. Proverbs 19:19

     19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

Questions
     1. Really? Well, the Lord/God seems to be pretty hot tempered. Who the hell is going to rescue Him?

     2. God/the Lord is consistently hot tempered. What penalty will He have to pay?

10. Proverbs 20:4

     4 Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

Questions
     1. If a person is too goddamn lazy to plow their fields, how in the hell would they suddenly get the energy at harvest time to get their lazy asses up to look for what they didn't plant in the first freaking place?!

11. Proverbs 20:9
     9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?

Questions
     1. Exactly. WHO can say such? Can the Lord/God say such?

     2. Is anger and killing people out of anger a sin? Aren't there plenty of stories in the Bible of God being severely angry and killing people in the heat of that anger?

     3. Is God clean and pure and without sin?


12. Proverbs 20:12
     12 Ears that hear and eyes that see— the Lord has made them both.

Questions
     1. And what about the ears that do not hear and the eyes that do not see? Doesn't the Lord make them also? Why would He make something that does not function properly?


13. Proverbs 20:30
     30 Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.

Questions
     1. Sooo, Solomon IS condoning beating the crap out of people?

     2. People in prison get the shit beat out of them all the time. If blows and wounds scrub away evil...well, why do these morons always end up right back in prison?


14. Proverbs 21:8
     8 The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

Questions
     1. What is the point of having Solomon say that the way of the guilty is devious? Isn't such apparent?

     2. If the way of the innocent is so upright why is it punished so often?


15. Proverbs 22:1
     1 A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Questions
     1. Not that many verses ago Solomon said that it was wisdom that was more desirable than riches, but now it is a good name that is more desirable? What changed his mind?


16. Proverbs 22: 24-25
     24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered,

     25 or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.

Questions
     1. Well, God/the Lord is hot tempered and angry. Should people associate with the Lord?

     2. Do terrorists of any religion act in the hideous ways that they do because they have been ensnared by the anger of their God?


17. Proverbs 25:21-22
     21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

     22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

Questions
     1. Sooo, the Lord is rewarding because of what? Because of making the enemy feel like they have burning coals on their head, or because someone fed another person (which is what you do when people are hungry, right?)?


18. Proverbs 28:14
     14 Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.

Questions
     1. Why is the one who always trembles before God always blessed? Is it because God gets something from the trembling person? What does He get? 

     2. Does God translate the trembling of those before Him into glory?


19. Proverbs 29:22
     22 An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.

Questions
     1. Sooo, if the Lord/God is so very hot tempered (and oh yes my MY He is) how many sins has He committed? How many conflicts has He stirred up?


20. Proverbs 30:5-6
     5 Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

     6 Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

Questions
     1. Every word of God is flawless? Really? If that is the case why don't more of the followers of God follow ALL of the commandments of God given in the Bible?


http://www.amazon.com/Turkey-Broth-Spirit-Questions-Pentateuch-ebook/dp/B00GVLQ0CY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1399668996&sr=8-3&keywords=ester+lighthorse