Belief Systems

Curious thing about humans and the belief systems they develop to survive the dull drums of life. Solomon talked about the vanity of life, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity”. We go through life doing the same thing every day, “what does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” We go through life doing the same thing over and over again. We arise in the morning to work, eat and sleep. Everyday the same, on weekends we tend the yard, cut the grass, etc.

We medicate ourselves with drugs, alcohol and sex to make it through life. We cheer for “our team” to avoid thinking about the boredom of life. But in the end we know that is was all in vane as we will die and be forgotten in this life for who remembers that people of yesteryear. And if they were lucky enough to have had a picture taken we ask, “Do you know who this person was?” And everyone says “no”. Man strives to build a legacy only to have his descendants squander it. We strive for knowledge and wisdom only to discover, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow”.

To realize that the same end awaits both the fool and the wise, as Solomon said, “For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!” Prior to this verse Solomon says, “The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.” But what is the goal of it all? As Solomon says, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Only God can give us the ability to enjoy this cycle of toil that exists in life. Christ came so that we could enjoy in this life those things that are meaningless in the next life. I did digress from the point I was attempting to make. In order to survive this life we have each person has a belief system. Some are developed on our own while others are taught to us by parents and teachers, etc. I have noticed when a person with another belief system comes along it is anathema.

All Scripture is from the English Standard Version, the book of Ecclesiastes chapters 1-2.