The Theme of Ecclesiastes is in 1:1-3 (NLT), These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. 2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” 3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?” Introducing Ecclesiastes • The teacher – King Solomon in his old age. Solomon had it all, did it all, knew it all, and in many ways lost it all. Solomon made more mistakes in life than all of us put together, and He lived to tell us about it in Ecclesiastes. • The date – 935 B.C. (earliest fragments to 175 B.C.) • The word – 37x “hebel” - the Hebrew word for “mist, vapor, breath,” which our Bibles translate “meaningless, vanities.” It also has the meaning of “puzzling – like being in the fog, or temporary, like the morning mist.” • The views – Is it atheistic, atheistic/theistic or theistic? My view is that it is a book inspired by God telling us about happiness in God. • A Theistic Worldview - A theist believes ultimate reality is made up of nature and supernature, matter and mind, material and spiritual, the creation and Creator. Ultimate reality has two stories: the upper story and lower story. • The purpose – Is there meaning and happiness if the lower story is all there is (under the sun)? Quotes from Famous Atheists Lawrence M. Krauss, said in A Universe From Nothing, “You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.” Richard Dawkins said in River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life, “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.” Viktor Frankl in Man's Search for Meaning, “Striving to find a meaning in one's life is the primary motivational force in man.” **Ecclesiastes shows the futility of atheism – a “life under the sun.” ** Happiness Apart from God? (Ecclesiastes 1-2) is meaningless under the sun (1:4-11). is meaningless under the sun (1:12-18). is meaningless under the sun (2:1-11). is meaningless under the sun (2:12-16). is meaningless under the sun (2:17-23). Conclusion: There is no meaning apart from God (2:24-26). **So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. ** True and lasting happiness comes from the of God. Trying to live God is exactly what leads to unhappiness and loss of meaning in life. **James 1:17 (NLT) “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.” **