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?

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Proverbs Part I

Proverbs Part I

     We are finally able to move on from the Book of Psalms to the Book of Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is loaded with verses repeated over and over, or simply reworded five different ways...but still the same verses. One of the things I found interesting in Proverbs was the number of times that avoiding the evil wiles of women is discussed. Does the Almighty have a problem with women? Pick up and read the Book of Proverbs and you just might think He does. Sure, a mere mortal man wrote the book, but isn't it supposed to be God-inspired?

     Now let us move on to the first posting for the questions for the verses in the Book of Proverbs.

1. Proverbs 1:4-5, 7

     4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—

     5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— 

     7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Questions
     1. Okay, simple people just don't get certain things due to their simple minds, right? They do not have the mental capacity to obtain and hold more than a certain amount, correct? It is not that they are stupid, no. A stupid person knows better but chooses differently, right? A stupid person can learn prudence, but can a simple person learn prudence when they don't even have the mental capacity to know much of anything to begin with?

     2. How is the fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge? Is it because that to the Lord the most important thing is that He have the mighty fear of those around Him?

     3. If the Lord's/God's people serve Him, how does the fear of those who serve Him benefit the Lord/God?

2. Proverbs 1:32-33

     32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

     33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Questions
     1. Didn't we just discuss this? Simple people are not the same as stupid people, correct?

     2. Would you agree that a wayward person is one who knows better BUT who chooses differently? If such is the case wouldn't a wayward person be synonymous with a STUPID person and not a simple minded person?

     3. A simple minded person just does not know any better so how in the fuck can they be considered wayward?

3. Proverbs 2:3-5

     3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

     4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

     5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Questions
     1. Insight is birthed from understanding which is itself received by the individual, thus HOW can it be justly stated that one would call or cry out for either?

     2. Why try to draw a parallel between insight and understanding and the fear of the Lord/God? This is far more than just a little stretch, wouldn't you say?

     3. Sooo, is the knowledge of God the fact that He must be feared or that He survives off of fear?

     4. What happens to God/the Lord if no one fears Him?

4. Proverbs 2:16-17
     16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words,

     17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.

Questions
     1. The Book of Proverbs has a lot to say about avoiding the adulterous woman and seems to go great lengths to make it seem as though it is not really a problem with the man so much as it is a problem with the typical wicked woman. Why is this?


5. Proverbs 2:21-22
     21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;

     22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Questions
     1. Sooo, when the Native Americans were torn from their lands was it because God thought they were unfaithful? Does it not matter because they were not His people? But doesn't everyone belong to God?

     2. Sooo, the problems that modern-day Israel has had with maintaining their land are because they are unfaithful?

6. Proverbs 3:5

     5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Questions
     1. Does this mean to NOT trust yourself? How far is one supposed to go with not trusting the self?

     2. Isn't it a dangerous thing to NOT trust yourself? Doesn't trust start with the self?

7. Proverbs 3:11-12

     11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke,

     12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

Questions
     1. Have you seen how the Lord/God dishes out discipline? 

     2. Sooo, when the Lord/God is committing genocide or commanding genocide He is only doing so out of love?

8. Proverbs 3:13-17

     13 Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,

     14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.

     15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

     16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

     17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.

Questions
     1. Sooo, you say wisdom is more precious than silver and gold and then you say that in her hand are riches. That just makes no sense, does it?

     2. If God/the Lord is the ultimate in wisdom and the ways of wisdom are peaceful and pleasant, why in the hell isn't God/the Lord more peaceful and pleasant?

9. Proverbs 3:25-26

     25 Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,

     26 for the Lord will be at your side and will keep your foot from being snared.

Questions
     1. How is it possible for the Lord to be the one to keep your foot from being snared when in a different set of verses it clearly says the Lord commands His angels to do the protecting?

     2. Sooo, who is it who does the protecting? The angels? The Lord? Both?

10. Proverbs 3:33-34

     33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.

     34 He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.

Questions
     1. Does the Lord/God favor the humble and the oppressed because He feeds off of their immense fears?

11. Proverbs 6:16-19

     16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:

     17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

     18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

     19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Questions
     1. Make up your mind, is it six or is it seven?

     2. Doesn't God/the Lord Himself fill at least three of these traits?

     3. Hasn't the Lord/God shed innocent blood time and time again?

   4. Hasn't the Lord/God devised wicked schemes, like when He purposely hardened Pharaoh's heart?

     5. Hasn't the Lord/God stirred up conflict by purposely pointing out differences between His people and others?

12. Proverbs 9:13

     13 Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing. 

Questions
     1. Isn't an unruly woman different from a woman who is simply a simple minded person?

     2. An unruly woman is a woman who knows better. A simple minded woman does NOT know any better. Why in the hell does the Book of Proverbs consistently try to make these two into the same goddamn thing?

13. Proverbs 10:3

     3 The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

Questions
     1. Sooo, if we go according to this verse all of those who starved during the Holocaust were unrighteous? There were loads of people who went hungry then, right? Weren't many of those people the LORD'S people?

     2. The Nazis were ravenous wolves if there ever were any, and those mother fuckers got a huge chunk of what they wanted for quite a while. In fact, the little bastards are still hanging around, aren't they? Sooo, when will the cravings of the wicked, such as the Nazis, going to be thwarted PERMANENTLY?

     3. Does the Lord only temporarily thwart the cravings of the wicked? Why?

     4. Is the Lord/God only referring to the afterlife and NOT how things go here in the real world? Does the Lord mean that in the afterlife the righteous will not go hungry, but here in the real world many righteous will suffer and starve while the wicked will reap the riches of the earth?

14. Proverbs 10:12

     12 Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs.

Questions
     1. If love conquers all wrongs then WHY doesn't God/the Lord use love to conquer all instead of bloody wars?

15. Proverbs 13:11

     11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

Questions
     1. Do you think that Bernie Madhoff knew this?

     2. Do you think that the filthy rich televangelists know these verses?

16. Proverbs 13:24

     24 Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

Questions
     1. Does hitting children really teach them anything other than it is okay to hit other people?

     2. Why are children so badly treated in the Bible? Remember when Abraham came that close to sacrificing his son at the request of God? How about the Son of God being sacrificed?

17. Proverbs 13:25

     25 The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.

Questions
     1. Does this verse mean in the afterlife and not in real life?

     2. How many wicked folk in the present times go to sleep with their bellies full?

     3. Sooo, are the hungry homeless of the earth all unrighteous?

18. Proverbs 14:4-5

     4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.

     5 An honest witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies.

Questions
     1. Are these verses really examples of the wisdom of Solomon? Where there are no oxen the manger is empty? No shit, Sherlock.

     2. An honest witness does not deceive? Really? Isn't that like saying a glass with water in it is not empty? Seriously.

19. Proverbs 15:3

     3 The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

Questions
     1. Well, since God/the Lord IS supposed to be Omni-Present I suppose it could be said that His eyes are everywhere. BUT, is that what this verse means?

     2. Does this verse mean that the Lord has eyes everywhere because he has his little angel slaves slinking around keeping tabs on everybody?

20. Proverbs 16:4

     4 The Lord works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Questions
     1. Isn't this one of the oft favored verses of Christians when they cannot explain something? Don't worry, the Lord/God has it all worked out in the end, right?

21. Proverbs 17:28

     28 Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.

Questions
     1. This is not fucking wisdom. Just because a fool is thought to be wise and discerning because he has kept his trap shut does not make him wise or discerning, right? Even a sleeping dog left to continue sleeping is STILL a sleeping dog and nothing else, correct?

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