Have you read Ecclesiastes?

[Ambivalent1]

It sums up the pointlessness of life. The writer of the book did more than anyone and still was dissatisfied. so why bother with any of this shit I wonder

 

[Ashu]

I deeply love it, it's usually at the top of my shortlist of my favorite books of the Torah, which also includes The Song of Songs, Job, Ruth, the Books of Kings.

 

[Ambivalent1]

I deeply love it, it's usually at the top of my shortlist of my favorite books of the Torah, which also includes The Song of Songs, Job, Ruth, the Books of Kings.

Why do you like song of songs?

 

[Remeer]

thanks for mentioning it, I will read the text you mention
life is a mystery, we will never know the point of this, we can ramble all we want to try to glimpse that
I recommend 2 texts:
- conversations with God
- bhagavad gita

 

[dernieresolution]

I'm surprised they never brought it up in Catholic school

 

[Linda]

It sums up the pointlessness of life. The writer of the book did more than anyone and still was dissatisfied. so why bother with any of this shit I wonder

Yes. It always seemed to me the only book of the Bible that made much sense. (That's probably because it was written by an atheist. The references to god don't fit the overall tone, and I think it likely that those passages were added by a later scribe.) Note that the word that appears in the KJV (and many later English translations) as "vanity" is actually a very poor translation of the original Hebrew word. I once traced it back through the vulgate (Latin) and septuagint (Greek,) and you can see the meaning subtly shifting as you get closer to the original. Unfortunately, I don't read Hebrew, so I will just have to believe those who do when they tell me that the original Hebrew word has the sense of "something unimportant and very transient" or, more poetically "a breath of wind".

 

[Ambivalent1]

Yes. It always seemed to me the only book of the Bible that made much sense. (That's probably because it was written by an atheist The references to god don't fit the overall tone, and I think it likely that those passages were added by a later scrbe.) Note that the word that appears in the KJV (and many later English translations) as "vanity" is actully a very poor translation of the original Hebrew word. I once traced it back through the vulgate (Latin) and septuagint (Greek,) and you can see the meaning subtly shifting as you get close to the original. Unfortunately, I don;t read Hebrew, so I will just have to believe those who do when they tell me that the original Hebrew word has the sense of "something unimportant and very transient" or, more poetically "a breath of wind".

And Jesus' original message was the kingdom of God would soon come to earth after a quick judgment. People dead would be resurrected. The wicked would be annihilated, not tortured for eternity. "And these will go away to eternal destruction." Death is eternal destruction. Later converts influenced by Greek paganism believed the soul was immortal, so they believed after death you were happy or in pain.

 

[Linda]

Yes. It always seemed to me the only book of the Bible that made much sense. (That's probably because it was written by an atheist The references to god don't fit the overall tone, and I think it likely that those passages were added by a later scrbe.)

And Jesus' original message was the kingdom of God would soon come to earth after a quick judgment. People dead would be resurrected. The wicked would be annihilated, not tortured for eternity. "And these will go away to eternal destruction." Death is eternal destruction. Later converts influenced by Greek paganism believed the soul was immortal, so they believed after death you were happy or in pain.

You're right. As a minor point, note that not all Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul. If you read Homer, for example, the concept just isn't there. It seems to have entered Greece via the Pythagoreans, in about the 6th century BC. My guess is that they got it from India. (That can not be proven, as relevant evience has not survived, but it seems plausible. I dont think it came from Egypt. There are other hints of Indian influence in Greece around that time too. If you read the surviving fragments of Heraclitus, for example, you can't help but detect a faint whiff of India if you are familiar with early Indian religious thought..) The early Hebrews didn't believe in an afterlife either, a fact that christians always conveniently overlook.

 

[lachrymost]

You're so vain... You probably think you have something to gain under the sun, don't you?

 

[Ambivalent1]

You're right. As a minor point, note that not all Greeks believed in the immortality of the soul. If you read Homer, for example, the concept just isn't there. It seems to have entered Greece via the Pythagoreans, in about the 6th century BC. My guess is that they got it from India. (That can not be proven, as relevant evience has not survived, but it seems plausible. I dont think it came from Egypt. There are other hints of Indian influence in Greece around that time too. If you read the surviving fragments of Heraclitus, for example, you can't help but detect a faint whiff of India if you are familiar with early Indian religious thought..) The early Hebrews didn't believe in an afterlife either, a fact that christians always conveniently overlook.

The Psalms talks about how in sheol the dead are not remembered by God and the dead don't think of God. It seems weird to create people then if it's just temporary. The emergence of a belief in the afterlife came later in the Hebrew bible when they began to realize it wasn't fair that the just and the wicked had the same ending.

 

[absolomonisgone]

It's the only book in the bible I read all of it again and again. But then, as you get older you realise you too can make up your own shit and believe it and it's valid and there's nothing anyone can do about it.