Ecclesiastes

Over the last month or so, I have been reading Ecclesiastes and the commentary from The Guide series. While I liked the Colossians & Philemon guide better, this one was good too. The author was definitely strong in giving lots of illustrations to relate the major points to modern life. However, it didn't make you "dig in" to the Bible as much for answers to questions like the Colossians and Philemon guide did. (By the way, I'm really excited to teach Colossians to the junior high group and church on Wednesdays this year!) To wrap up my study, I thought I would post some of the quotes I highlighted throughout the study that I found insightful. 

Ecc 1:3-11

"Jesus pointedly asks us, 'For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?' (Mark 8:36) Modern secular man replies, 'What use is my soul, if I can't have a piece of this world?' " 

"Sin...is at first novelty, then drudgery, and finally slavery." 

Ecc. 1:12-18 "...the more we learn, the more we see how little we know." 

Ecc. 2:1-26 "But the meaning of life is not found in just being alive in this life itself (the gift), but is rather in God who gave it (the Giver)." 

Ecc. 3: 1-8 

"Merely to state that 'to everything there is a season' is to imply purpose and direction; to assert the controlling power of an intelligent providence; to declare that God is on the throne." 

"Our inability to comprehend the often apparently incomprehensible things happening in our world only proves we are not all-knowing- that is, we are not God!"

Ecc. 3:9-22  "Complaining that God's sovereign control over everything renders our efforts meaningless is actually a veiled rationalization of practical atheism."

That's all for tonight. More to come!