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| “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 ESV) | | |
| Tabula rasa from birth? Were we born neutral? Then why do we rebel: why do we sin, why do we lie, why do we steal, why do we rape, why do we molest, why do we murder, why do we think we are gods and why do we live autonomously?
Did we learn from our parents? Did our peers or teachers show us the way? Who or what should we blame? Not ourselves—of course. We can blame our parents or our friends…maybe our teachers or environment, but not ourselves—of course. But I wonder who they blame. I guess they can’t blame themselves since they are like us…right?
They could blame their parents or their friends…maybe their teachers or their environment, but not themselves—of course. But I wonder who they blame.
This infinite blaming process could go for eternity. Who is the root cause? Our first parents…of course! Even the Bible said that the first humans—Adam and Eve—sinned. It also said that they have no one else to blame so they blamed each other and the talking snake (Just take a look at Genesis 2-3). Now, we can stop there. But, however, we came from them. Did their rebellious and blaming nature pass on to us? I think so…just read the newspaper, watch the television, or look in the mirror.
We have to be human and know that we have choices to make and responsibility to take. No one and nothing forced us to do what we did—we chose to do it, so let’s be responsible. We lie, rape, molest, murder, make ourselves gods, and live autonomously.
We live in a messed up world and we are also messed up. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:4-10).” Amen
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We all have heard that knowledge is power, which is true indeed. We seek to understand disease and drugs to manipulate it so we can feel well. We seek to understand technology and use it so we can live well. We at times believe that we can save and fix the world if we know how so we seek to understand human psyche, logic and reasoning, science and technology to better humanity. But the modern world with all its facts, information, advances in science, and wealth are not any better than before. There are as much or more sufferings, diseases, and deaths than ever before. It seems like when we fix one thing we cause plethora of other problems in the process. Some of us still believe that we can do it if we try; we just have to know more…do we not know that knowledge is not the solution. It is our heart diseased that is the problem…do we still not see? In other words, it is the corruption within us. The more knowledge we have only gives more power to control ourselves. We think we have control of this power, but we don’t even have control of ourselves. We can’t control our feelings or the things we choose to do at times. The power and thirst for knowledge supply us with more things to control ourselves with, because of our lack of self-control. We become obese (more food), disease (less work more pleasure), and violent (War World I & II with all its technological advances to kill more people). The knowledge that we seek to understand, to predict and manipulate becomes something that manipulates us and controls us…we can’t live without it and with it…we must function according to it. How long will we try to save our world and ourselves when we are the one who are drowning and we are more corrupted than we can ever fathom. We are destroying ourselves. We need the Savior; we need our God. We have lived without our maker and look where we are. We neither know Him or why we exist; we barely know how to function. Jesus bids us to Come, pick up our cross, and following Him. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen
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| We all have hunger that food can't satisfy, but we don't always know what or whom we are hungry for. No matter who we are rich, poor, single, married, wise, and average; we all have this thirst and hunger. Our souls are restless. We seek it in security: money, power, success, beauty, and being loved; we search the world, but we still can’t find truely what or whom we are looking for.
Why are we here, what or whom are we made for, what is our purpose, and where will we go after we past away. No one knows who they are before they existed nor where they will go after they die unless it is revealed to them, because it is not something we can observe nor find in our existential world. But why do these question press on us when we cannot find an answer anywhere in this world.
Eccl. 3.11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
God has given us the concept of eternity. We were made for something that we have no control over and something that we cannot comprehend; we were made for God. He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. To know Him is to submit to Him and to response in worship. Seek Him O readers; our soul will not rest until it rests upon Him.
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| When we were young, we hid under the bed or in our closet when we were afraid. How silly that was, we are strong now and we can face our fears: the uncertainty in life, the hardship, the rejection (because we don’t care what people think? Right), pain inside and out, responsibility, and even death. You can do it, believe in yourself, we would say; so we stray, especially from Him, God.
We need not to hide anymore; we will make something out of ourselves. Let’s play games: whatever game you want, life or computer. If that doesn’t work, we’ll be successful by working hard...success doesn’t live up to what it promise. Well, we can try drugs, sex, or maybe even art, so we can make our own reality. We are not scare, we are strong; we need not to hide anymore. Wrong.
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