Timeless Truths in the Bible

JosephAlward

Some of my favorites are:

"Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man 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 man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?" (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22)

"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." (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

"Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before" (Ecclesiastes 3:15)

What are yours?

Joseph F. Alward
"Skeptical Views of Christianity and the Bible"

http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html

Xander

Out of curiosity, why those?

General proof that the bible writers were depressed scizos? Or, is there a deeper purpose in your interest?

(The 9:11 and 3:15 ones, especially! That's like someone someone would right in their suicide note!)

Xander F
(Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)
A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
--George Santayana

Faithful2Jah

Ecclesiastes is believed to be the work of Solomon in his old age, after he had lost the close relationship he had once had with the God of Israel. Though Ecclesiastes contains much wisdom, it was obviously written from the perspective of a man who lacked confidence in an afterlife. It is meant to be understood in that manner.

JosephAlward

"Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22)

Faithful2Jah wrote,

The Ecclesiastes verses were] obviously written from the perspective of a man who lacked confidence in an afterlife. It is meant to be understood in that manner.

That can't be right. Accoding to the writer of 2 Timothy, all of the words in Scripture came straight from God. According to that author, Scripture does not contain misguided opinions of ordinary men, as you seem to believe. He believes the words in Scripture were breathed by God into the ears of his writers, and are useful for teaching God's Word:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)

Faithful, if you're right about the Ecclesiastes verses being just the misguided opinion of one man, then the writer of 2 Timothy is wrong, and the Bible is in error.

On the other hand, if you're wrong about the verses, and they really are God-breathed and useful for teaching, then God in these verses is teaching us that there is no afterlife, which contradicts other parts of the Bible which teaches that there is an afterlife.

Either way, there is an error or contradiction--one more among thousands.

Joseph F. Alward
"Skeptical Views of Christianity and the Bible"

http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html

Gopher

I like a lot of the Proverbs. Some of what they say is quite meaningful.

There exists the one speaking thoughtlessly as with the stabs of the sword, but the tongue of the wise ones is a healing. -- Proverbs 12:18

There's also some good stuff in the Sermon on the Mount, including the famous Golden Rule:

All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them. --Matthew 7:12

In fact both of these sayings can help keep the discussion on this forum healthy and interesting, even if differences of opinion are expressed.

-J.R., member, UADNA-MN
(Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Minnesota division)

This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.

Double Edge

What a party pooper.

Faithful2Jah

Much of Ecclesiastes was obviously written to illustrate the perspective of a person who had lost much of his faith. These passages of scripture allow Bible readers to see how such a spiritually lost person views the world. God inspired their writing and saw to it that they were contained in the scriptures for this reason.

Of course today all of us here have the Internet and JWD. So, if any one here does not have a Bible handy to read Ecclesiates and see how such a spiritually lost person views life, we can just read one of Joseph Alward's posts.

peacefulpete

Prov 14:15 Anyone inexperienced puts faith in every word, but the shrewd one considers his steps.

seedy3

Ahh nothing like biblical truths. Here are some of my favorite scriptures:

Gen 24:2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh..........9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Exodus 9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain....... 6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.
Then read
14:23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
I wonder where they came from?

Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

Psalms 136:10 To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Compare
Exodus 34:7 "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation."
To
Ezek. 18:20 "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

1John 1:8 "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
To
1John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin."
and
1John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not

Yep Lots of truth there. Sorry to insult, It is not meant as an insult, but the does bible have truths, don't get me wrong, but then again a lot of absurdities and contridictions as well.

Seedy

Satanus

"Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?

This seems to agree w some evolutionary theory. Both came from the ground. The same spirit motivates animals and humans. Man has no advantage over animal. Man is just another animal. Modern science bears this out, in discovering that human dna is about 98% the same as higher monkeys'. Maybe darwin was inspired by these verses.

Christians charge evolution w being meaningless. The wisest man on earth at that time, under inspiration also said everything is meaningless. It's no wonder some christians have problems accepting this part of the divinely inspired word of god.

SS

Timeless Truths in the Bible

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