BIBLE.ORG SAYS:
I. The Origin of Man
A. The importance of Special Creation:
If man evolved as a product of chance (as evolutionists teach), then the ideas of sin and salvation really make no sense. If there was no supernatural origin, then why would there be a supernatural destiny (salvation in heaven)? (If random fate caused a man to be, then random fate must determine a person’s character.) In fact, an eternal destiny for man after death would be no more likely that dogs or dandelions living eternally if evolution were true. Only if man was uniquely created by God and in God’s image does it make sense that man is accountable (sin) and has a destiny (salvation or judgment). The real motive behind the evolutionary theory, it seems, is to eliminate the need for God and His revelation about sin and salvation.
I. The Origin of Man
A. The importance of Special Creation:
If man evolved as a product of chance (as evolutionists teach), then the ideas of sin and salvation really make no sense. If there was no supernatural origin, then why would there be a supernatural destiny (salvation in heaven)? (If random fate caused a man to be, then random fate must determine a person’s character.) In fact, an eternal destiny for man after death would be no more likely that dogs or dandelions living eternally if evolution were true. Only if man was uniquely created by God and in God’s image does it make sense that man is accountable (sin) and has a destiny (salvation or judgment). The real motive behind the evolutionary theory, it seems, is to eliminate the need for God and His revelation about sin and salvation.
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Mankind wrestles with the difficult problem of pain in life, especially in the face of God being a good God. Can any good come out of man being put into peril and pain?
Ecclesiastes 6:10-12
Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Mankind can find contentment because God is in rule on His throne, and man finds frustration in trying to fight this. Men and women don't need to be fatalistic, but in having an understanding - and faith - that God has the authority of the universe will settle mankind. Adam (whose name means "soil") realized that his greatest contentment was being given authority under God (naming the animal life for example) and his greatest anguish was trying to take the place of God.
For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? Words alone don't give the answer. Man's mortality is displayed in verse 12 as compared with God's sovereignty in the earlier verses of this passage: For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun? Man' life on this Earth is temporary, and God is eternal. Man wants to learn the secret of mortality, and it comes in being a part of God's overall plan of obedience and glory.
Your arms are too short to box with God - James Weldon Johnson's poem "The Prodigal Son," 1927
Mankind tries to fight God in every angle, in a dishonoring way of questioning His leadership in his life. Ecclesiastes 7:1
A good name is better than a good ointment,
And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
Man finds the best way to live this life is in consideration of his life's story as being read by God. Men and women find that their good name is really considered int eh proper definition of "good" as written by God. The name that carries beyond the grave, going beyond the disappointments and trials of this life here on Earth. Men and women find greater understanding when they truly agree with Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Verse 2 helps man understand the brevity of life and consider how he is living:
It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because that is the end of every man,
And the living takes it to heart.
Mankind can understand suffering when he considers the vast stretch of time in which he is and will be in existence. In fact, sorrow beings a man close to God:
Sorrow is better than laughter,
For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.
And yet the conflict arises when man wants to find diversion and forget the seriousness of eternity:
The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.
Disappointments and hurt occur to everyone. The question is, how do we pursue the answers ... or do we pursue answers at all? Man wants to be attracted to songs of fools and yet frivolity does not answer the problems of trials:
It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man
Than for one to listen to the song(s) of fools.
For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool;
And this too is futility.
Thistles are quick flame but little heat. It is the same with comedic relief; it will not last. What is the wise man's response to tragedy and trials? First, the man must be true. He must be aware that the world will try to be taken away by the "bribe" of the world's errant answers. Following a quick but wrong answer because the world's influence is an overcoming oppression:
For oppression makes a wise man mad,
And a bribe corrupts the heart.
Pride will come ("I can do it myself") and anger is impatience. Man often wants quick and easy answers and gets impatient when things don't give him the answer he likes. Impatience sets in.
The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.
Do not be eager in your heart to be angry,
For anger resides in the bosom of fools.
And yet verse 10, living in a mentality of "better days elsewhere" rather than saying ""God will lead me into the future":
Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
There is value out of all the trials of life. Learning the folly and frailty of the world brings wisdom to every day. Wisdom gives perspective and skill to know what to do next, no matter what the trial. It is like the dashboard on the vehicle we travel through life. It is explained in verses 11 and 12:
Wisdom along with an inheritance is good
And an advantage to those who see the sun.
For wisdom is protection just as money is protection,
But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.
And Proverbs 3:13 enforces this:
How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gains understanding.
And it comes down to a willingness of submission. Every man submits to something. Man will find peace if he submits to God, not to pride or to the world:
Consider the work of God,
For who is able to straighten what He has bent?
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider--
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
God's ways are purposeful and developmental in nature. Man will find contentment in his soul no matter what is happening to his body. God designed man for a glorious purpose even through the painful molding process, and man will get strength in not trying to fight that designing process.
Ecclesiastes 6:10-12
Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Mankind can find contentment because God is in rule on His throne, and man finds frustration in trying to fight this. Men and women don't need to be fatalistic, but in having an understanding - and faith - that God has the authority of the universe will settle mankind. Adam (whose name means "soil") realized that his greatest contentment was being given authority under God (naming the animal life for example) and his greatest anguish was trying to take the place of God.
For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? Words alone don't give the answer. Man's mortality is displayed in verse 12 as compared with God's sovereignty in the earlier verses of this passage: For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun? Man' life on this Earth is temporary, and God is eternal. Man wants to learn the secret of mortality, and it comes in being a part of God's overall plan of obedience and glory.
Your arms are too short to box with God - James Weldon Johnson's poem "The Prodigal Son," 1927
Mankind tries to fight God in every angle, in a dishonoring way of questioning His leadership in his life. Ecclesiastes 7:1
A good name is better than a good ointment,
And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
Man finds the best way to live this life is in consideration of his life's story as being read by God. Men and women find that their good name is really considered int eh proper definition of "good" as written by God. The name that carries beyond the grave, going beyond the disappointments and trials of this life here on Earth. Men and women find greater understanding when they truly agree with Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Verse 2 helps man understand the brevity of life and consider how he is living:
It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because that is the end of every man,
And the living takes it to heart.
Mankind can understand suffering when he considers the vast stretch of time in which he is and will be in existence. In fact, sorrow beings a man close to God:
Sorrow is better than laughter,
For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.
And yet the conflict arises when man wants to find diversion and forget the seriousness of eternity:
The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.
Disappointments and hurt occur to everyone. The question is, how do we pursue the answers ... or do we pursue answers at all? Man wants to be attracted to songs of fools and yet frivolity does not answer the problems of trials:
It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise man
Than for one to listen to the song(s) of fools.
For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool;
And this too is futility.
Thistles are quick flame but little heat. It is the same with comedic relief; it will not last. What is the wise man's response to tragedy and trials? First, the man must be true. He must be aware that the world will try to be taken away by the "bribe" of the world's errant answers. Following a quick but wrong answer because the world's influence is an overcoming oppression:
For oppression makes a wise man mad,
And a bribe corrupts the heart.
Pride will come ("I can do it myself") and anger is impatience. Man often wants quick and easy answers and gets impatient when things don't give him the answer he likes. Impatience sets in.
The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.
Do not be eager in your heart to be angry,
For anger resides in the bosom of fools.
And yet verse 10, living in a mentality of "better days elsewhere" rather than saying ""God will lead me into the future":
Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
There is value out of all the trials of life. Learning the folly and frailty of the world brings wisdom to every day. Wisdom gives perspective and skill to know what to do next, no matter what the trial. It is like the dashboard on the vehicle we travel through life. It is explained in verses 11 and 12:
Wisdom along with an inheritance is good
And an advantage to those who see the sun.
For wisdom is protection just as money is protection,
But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.
And Proverbs 3:13 enforces this:
How blessed is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gains understanding.
And it comes down to a willingness of submission. Every man submits to something. Man will find peace if he submits to God, not to pride or to the world:
Consider the work of God,
For who is able to straighten what He has bent?
In the day of prosperity be happy,
But in the day of adversity consider--
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will not discover anything that will be after him.
God's ways are purposeful and developmental in nature. Man will find contentment in his soul no matter what is happening to his body. God designed man for a glorious purpose even through the painful molding process, and man will get strength in not trying to fight that designing process.