Don Massey (contact me @ contactus@timberlinechurch.org)
Description:
Schedule & more:
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
The class is open to everyone. No registration required. Drop-ins welcome.
This class is designed as a 6-week class and will take place Sunday mornings @ 11:30 a.m. in room #201.
7 Comments on “Ecclesiastes: Chasing After Meaning (Rm 214 @ 4:30pm) 6-wk class OCT. 13–NOV. 18”
Brent:
Wish I could attend your class as Ecc. is one of my favorite books in all the OT.
I teach a weekly ‘podcast’ called “Living Life to the Fullest!” on Mon & Fri. (www.mylivetalk.com)
God Bless You!
Matt Geib
Don,
One thing I am struck by in my initial readings of Eccleiastes is the Teacher’s portrayal of the huge chasm or gulf between God and man when he refers repeatedly to man as “under the sun” with the never-ending cycles in nature, of what amounts to “nothing new”, as well as all the repetition of man’s questionable undertakings. It seems that man must have meaning in his life and when his searches prove fruitless, looking only to this world, he attributes meaning to almost any pursuit, rather than to have a life devoid of meaning. One is led to the issue of man’s attempt at creating meaning by active attribution of meaning to himself, others, activities, etc., as opposed to discovering the meaning intended for his life by God. A critical response to that by the atheist might be that what the theists see as God’s intended meaning for man is merely man’s attempted creation of meaning by attributing it to God.
What draws me to Ecclesiastes is this stark confrontation with man’s inadequecies and limitations in knowing and being, as compared to the incomparably higher realm of God.
Jim
Thanks for your comments. After class you made the comment that Chapter 1:1-11 is basically an existentialist point of view. I agree to an extent that man exists in a world that is absurd. Where the book departs from fundamental existentialism is Nietzsche’s proclamation that “God is dead”.
As a aside there are proponents in existentialism, theistic existentialists, who beleive man can freely choose to believe in God and, despite one’s doubt, have faith that God exists.
As we saw in class, Ecclesiastes’ theme and introduction in Chapter 1:1-11 attacks our human ego. It weakens our pretenses. The reader who accuses it of being overly pessimistic may be the one who clings to the rewards and pleasures of this world to find ultimate happiness.
In the class we will discover there is a different perspective, a positive one, to Ecclesiastes.
Don,
I am coming to understand and appreciate some things, through our study of Ecclesiastes and other readings/studies, that were largely just ‘words’ before. It is centered around our identity, individually and collectively, and where we seek and find that. Eccesiastes presents pictures of two existing worlds in which we may dwell: the material and temporal world “under the sun,” and the eternal and heavenly world. Of course we are to be “in” both worlds, but if our true identity is sought and determined by and in the physical world, then truly all is, in the end, meaningless and vanity, a depressing picture and state. This can be a very hard learning sometimes only coming through much pain and heartache. Our true identity, the identity that doesn’t fade away, is in Christ, to be found in the person of Christ. “Location, location, location!” we hear regarding real estate, etc. but it also applies to in what or whom our real identity lies. The blessings that God desires for us are found in this location; Christ in us and we in Him. We truly are, or may be, new creatures in Christ.
Jim
Your observations are correct. It’s also interesting to note there are seemingly contradictions to our basic belief in God that we see in Ecclesiastes. That’s because it is the observations of a man who sees the world and its injustices and that truth as unattainable. A contemporary reader, a non believer, could easily use the observations in Ecclesiastes as proof there is no God. In fact they do without referring to Ecclesiastes. I wondered why the Teacher did not deny God because of his observations. I found that it would have been impossible in that time frame. Atheism was not present in the ancient Jewish world. The existence of the world was tantamount to the existence of God.
Don,
I am reading the Freud – C. S. Lewis book… I have long been intrigued by Freud because of his still-standing theories of psychoanalysis and his own life. The book describes his depression and gloomy disposition which he was aware of as being a result of his worldview, one of pessimistic atheism. Interestingly however, many of his writings did allude or point to faith-based type comments or remarks. Knowing this is Freud, it is unlikely that these are mere “slips of the tongue.” How to account for them is speculative. There often seems to be a dark side that emerges with a worldview similar to Freud, or what is presented in the majority of Ecclesiastes by the Teacher through his earthly view. Lewis also shared this pessimistic and gloomy/depressive view before his conversion from atheism. I know personally how insidiously this dark side can emerge when the heavenly realm is set aside, even in pursuit of a “positive” or “good cause,” leaving only the earthly realm. Freud was only one of an endless score of writers, thinkers, philosophers who recognized the diversions and distractions that are sought out to fill the “God-shaped void” in our hearts when God is not there, leaving only meaninglessness or “vanity.” I wonder how commonly held this depressive and gloomy disposition is/was in pre-Christian or non-Christian cultures, e.g. Judaiism?
Jim,
I know I’ve already talked to you about this, but I thought I’d post it here for others to see as well. This spring (Jan 13, 2008) we’ll be starting a “Book Club†which will run along with the other Sunday morning EQUIP classes. The book club will be hosted by Michael Anderson. And the fist book the group will be reading is the one you are referring to—“The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life†by Dr. Armand Nicholi, Jr. It is fascinating to see how these two great minds dealt very differently with depression, because they certainly both experienced its weight, didn’t they?