1、Click to edit Master title styleClick to edit Master subtitle style* 1Philosophical reflection in the Bible The purpose of life according to Ecclesiastes (傳道書 ) w Craig Ho, HKBU傳道書 (Ecclesiastes)w Central Issue: 1.3 - What is all lifes hard work for? What is good to do for our lives (2:3)?w Key word
2、 and idea: 1.2 - “vanity”, what does it mean?w Emptiness? Meaningless? Purposelessness? Worthlessness? Incomprehensibility? Cannot be completely grasped - life is illusive!w History has no definite goal; things just repeat themselves and therefore purposeless: 1.4-11; 2.12w What are not the most fru
3、itful things to do in life?w Human desires cannot be really satisfied and therefore fulfilling them is not the way to happiness: 2.1-11w The pursuit of wisdom cannot be the goal of life because death annihilate the differences between a wise man and a fool: 2.14-172EcclesWhat are not the purposes of
4、 life?w Accumulation of wealth will be left to the next generation who does not earn it. That shouldnt be the purpose of our own life: 2.18-23.w The pursuit of righteousness may not be the best way of life: 7.15-18. There is no justice in real life, 8.10-14.Why the meaning of life always eludes us?
5、w Human life is not so unique: 3.18-21.w Suffering destroy meaning - dead people sometimes are better than suffering people: 4.1-8; 6.1-5.w There is a limit to human understanding: 8.16-9.13Eccles.w The only constancy in life is death. It renders all differences meaningless: 9.2-6.w Life does not fo
6、llow a simple principle: 9.11-129:11 我又轉念：見日光之下，快跑的未必能贏 ；力戰的未必得勝；智慧的未必得糧食；明哲的未必得資財；靈巧的未必得喜悅。所臨到眾人的是在乎當時的機會。 9:12 原來人也不知道自己的定期。魚被惡網圈住，鳥被網羅捉住，禍患忽然臨到的時候，世人陷在其中也是如此 。w The way of God is beyond our intellectual capacity: 9.1; 11.54EcclesHow should we then live? - theme statements:(A) 2:24人莫強如 吃喝 ，且 在勞碌中享
7、福 ，我看這也是 出於神 的手(B) 3:12 我知道世人，莫強如終身 喜樂行善 ； 3:13並且人人 吃喝 ，在他一切 勞碌中享福 ，這也是 神的恩賜 。(C)3:22故此，我見人莫強如在 他經營的事上喜樂 ，因為這是 他的分 。他身後的事誰能使他回來得見呢？5Eccles. (D) 5:18 我所見為善為美的，就是人在神賜他一生的日子 吃喝 ， 享受 日光之下 勞碌得來的好處 ，因為這是 他的 分。 5:19 神賜人資財豐富，使他能以吃用，能取自己的分 ， 在他勞碌中喜樂，這乃是 神的恩賜 。(E) 8:15 我就稱讚快樂，原來人在日光之下，莫強如 吃喝快 樂 ；因為他在日光之下， 神賜
8、他一生的年日， 要從勞碌中 ， 時常享受所得的 。(F) 9:7 你只管去 歡歡喜喜吃你的飯 ， 心中快樂喝你的酒 ，因為神已經悅納你的作為。 9:8 你的衣服當時常潔白，你頭上也不要缺少 膏油。 9:9 在你一生虛空的年日，就是 神賜你在日 光之下虛空的年日，當同你所愛的妻， 快活度日 ，因為那是你生前在日光之下 勞碌的事上所得的分 。6Eccles. w 11:9 少年人哪，你在幼年時 當快樂 。在幼年的日子，使你的心歡暢，行你心所願行的，看你眼所愛看的； 卻要知道，為這一切的事， 神必審問 你 。w 11:10 所以，你當從心中 除掉愁煩 ，從肉體克去邪惡；因為一生的開端和幼年之時，都是
9、虛空的。w 12:1 你趁 年幼、衰敗的日子尚未來到，就是你所說，我毫無喜樂的那些年日未曾臨近之先，當記念造你的主。w 12:12 我兒，還有一層，你當受勸戒：著書多，沒有窮盡；讀書多，身體疲倦。 12:13 這些事都已聽見了，總意就是：敬畏神，謹守他的誡命，這是人所當盡的本分 或譯：這是眾人的本分。 7EcclesThe reasoning of the preacher.w What do you think is the purpose of (your) life?w Is this question too distant? Too abstract? Any point to ra
10、ise it now?w First observation: Things just repeat themselves and do not seem to show any purpose 1.1-11w Conclusion: “vanity” - cannot be fully grasped, just like wind. You feel it but you cannot control it. This is life.8Eccles.w Second observation: Hard life from God - 1.13; 3.10w Reason: attempt
11、s to do big things fail to achieve happiness - material (2.1-11); philosophical (2.14-17); wealth (2.18-23); w Even the purpose of righteousness (7.16-17) is not always fruitful. Why? Because we do not live in a just world (8.10-14)w Third observation: We know very little. The only thing we know for
12、 sure in the world that is death which destroys all differences and all meanings (9.1-6). w Reason: The deep things about the world is beyond our reach (9.1).9Eccles.w Fourth observation: Reality does not follow a simple principle to operate (9.10-12).w An example: 9.13-15.w Final question: What sho
13、uld guide us in our life?w The answer: The author of Eccles. failed to find the meaning of life in big answers but experienced it in moments of God-given enjoyment in daily enjoying meals and working hard. His advice: enjoy the good things and the hard things in life. Do not wait until it is too lat
14、e. w Later addition of a traditional wise man: Fear and remember God (12.1; 13)10EcclesConclusionw 1. The most real thing in life is working hard and enjoying (playing) hard.w 2. It is divine purpose that we all works and live and enjoy the fruit of our labour.w 3. We have to enjoy life responsibly
15、because (according to the final editor) God will judge how we live our lives at the end of the day final word from a traditional wise man.11EcclesKushner, “Go Eat Your Bread in Gladness”w Five Dead Ends of the Meaning of Lifew 1. The way of selfishness and self-interest w - it is the quest of wealth
16、 and powerw - it sees other people as competitorsw - it sees the goal of life as “winning”w - it makes an idol of ourselvesw - it makes us very lonely and less human due to the lack of genuine relationship12Eccles2. The way of renouncing all bodily pleasuresw - it is the opposite of (1), e.g. Mahatm
17、a Gandhiw - it sees life as a battle against our natural desires for pleasurable thingsw - it robs us of our inner peace and contentmentw - it denies the good things as God-givenw “Instead, a sense of reverence for the pleasures of life which God put here for our enjoyment, a way of seeing God in th
18、e world through the experience of pleasure moments. Like all gifts, of course, they can be misused, but then the fault is ours, not Gods” (p. 82)13Eccles3. The way of wisdom- the rational understanding of life does not guarantee the living of a meaningful life- smart people sometimes do foolish thin
19、gs- they make clever excuses to do the wrong thing- there are important aspects of life not rooted in the rational seat of our brain: faith, love, loyalty, hope, and many other human experiences- “There is a cycle of daylight and darkness, of mind and emotion in my inner world even as there is in th
20、e world around me. But sometimes our lifes task is to accept the darkness, the things which cannot and perhaps should not be explained, as part of the world we live in.”14Eccles4. They way of avoiding all feeling in order to avoid pain- it is the art of detachment and transcend the pain. The pain is
21、 real, but it does not hurt.- it teaches us not to be hurt by life- it teaches us not to be too involved with other people if they would hurt us one way or another- it makes us less human, humanity is realized in relationships which sometimes enrich us or hurt us.- Some painful facts, e.g. social in
22、justice, should be fought against instead of transcending them.15Eccles5. The path of piety and religious surrenderw It sees God as a super-parent or an absolute monarch who gives commandsw We only have to obey and be rewarded, or else disobey and be punished.w It always reminds us of our sin and fo
23、rgets our goodness.w Some believers think God has a blue-print for our lives already fixed in heaven.w “Religion should not be in the position of giving us answers. It should give us courage to find our own way.” (p. 130)16EcclesEcclesiastes vieww There is no one big answer to the problem of life.w
24、The meaning of life is in the moments of life in our work and in our daily enjoyment of things life can offerw “Life is not a problem to be solved once; it is a continuing challenge to be lived day by day.” (p. 144)w “But the key to our happiness, to our being able to find pleasure in our work, is t
25、he sense that we are using our abilities, not wasting them, and that we are being appreciated for it. Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might.” (p. 149)17EcclesMeaning of Life, the Starting Pointsw Starting point 1: the meaning of life is there in what you have already got, you ha
26、ve it but you do know understand it, and if you do, you wont ask about it.w Starting point 2: the meaning of life is in things that we as individuals have not yet got they could be material things like wealth, power, or honour, or immaterial things like knowledge, attitudes, or membership of a relig
27、ious community.w Starting point 3: the meaning of life is realizable only in an ideal society, like a classless egalitarian society.w Starting point 4: the meaning of life is realizable only in another life, e.g. in Heaven, the purpose of the present life is to obtain a membership of the heavenly community. If you are not part of them, your next life is doomed.18Eccles
