• Theme
• 1:1-11
•  Life without God
• 1:12-18
• Have it all
• 2:1-17
• However, it doesn't work - even for the rich who have "everything!"
• hate life
• 4:17,18
• Vexation - 10 verses
• 1. To irritate; to make angry by little provocations;
• 2. To plague; to torment; to harass; to afflict.
• 3. To disturb; to disquiet; to agitate.
• 4. To trouble; to distress.
• Vanity - 28 verses
• 1.  Emptiness; want of substance to satisfy desire; uncertainty; inanity.
• 2.  Fruitless desire or endeavor.
• 3.  Trifling labor that produces no good.
• 4.  Emptiness; untruth
• 5.  Empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment.
• 6.  Ostentation; arrogance.
• Ostentation
• 1.  Outward show or appearance.
• 2.  Ambitious display; vain show; display of any thing dictated by vanity, or intended to invite praise or flattery.
• 7.  Inflation of mind upon slight grounds; empty pride, inspired by an overweening conceit of one's personal attainments or decorations.
• Solomon's own testimony of being a great man
• 1:16-18
• 2:9-11
• 8:16,17
• Solomon's summary
• 1:11
• 2:16,17
• 12:13,14
• Solomon and his wisdom
• 2:12-17
• Solomon and despair
• 2:18-23
• All the world's philosophies 1:13,16 (I Corinthians 1:19; 26-29; 2:14)- can be found in Ecclesiastes:
• materialism and education - 2:1-3; 5:9-11
• learn by experience - 2:3
• phenomenalism - 2:10 - how YOU see it - your own perception and concept.
• pessimism - 2:20 - stressing the negative / gloomiest view - Eyorism.
• fatalism - 2:23 - predetermined by fate - you have no choice in the matter - unalterable
• egotism - 2:25 - all about yourself
• pragmatism - 2:26 - if it works, then it must be right. Go for it!
• agnosticism - 3:11,12 - no 'truth' - no God - only how you perceive it
• theism - 3:14,15 - belief in God - all of God
• naturalism - 16-18 - all explainable by natural causes, instinct
• pantheism - 3:20 - worship of all gods - Deity is the universe
• At the heart of pantheism is reverence of the universe as the ultimate focus of reverence, and for the natural earth as sacred.
• Scientific or Natural Pantheism -  Pan for short - has a naturalistic approach which simply accepts and reveres the universe and nature just as they are, and promotes an ethic of respect for human and animal rights and for lifestyles that sustain rather than destroy the environment.
• When scientific pantheists say WE REVERE THE UNIVERSE we are not talking about a supernatural being. We are talking about the way our senses and our emotions force us to respond to the overwhelming mystery and power that surrounds us.
• We are part of the universe. Our earth was created from the universe and will one day be reabsorbed into the universe.
• paganism - 4:2 - no religion - all based on personal pleasure - hedonism
• deism - 5:2,4,6,7 - God created and then let it go on it's own.  No influence from God.
• communism - 5:9 - collective ownership - labour for the common man, controlled by the government that "knows best" for all.
• capitalism - 5:12-14, 18,19 - a free market - make it work through your own efforts, etc.
• altruism - the doctrine that the highest good is service to others
• Objectivism - supports a free market with no government intervention. Objectivism opposes welfare programs, censorship of any kind, and both military and "national service" drafts.
• Objectivism supports a strong separation between church and state and between schools and state.
• rationalism - 6:9,10 - reliance on reason.
• Reason over authority (Bible Education), experience (Pentecostals) or spiritual revelation (Great Commissionism)
• "Each man should seek his own happiness through a productive life in which his own independent, rational judgment is his only guide to action."
• skepticism - 6:11,12 - doubt - stressing uncertainty to oppose dogmatism - absolute knowledge is unattainable.  (Eyorism)
• modernism - 9:7,8 - departure from the traditional way - new, innovative forms of expression
• existentialism - 11:7,8 - A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.
• The message of existentialism, unlike that of many more obscure and academic philosophical movements, is about as simple as can be. It is that every one of us, as an individual, is responsible—responsible for what we do, responsible for who we are, responsible for the way we face and deal with the world, responsible, ultimately, for the way the world is.

It is, in a very short phrase, the philosophy of 'no excuses!' We cannot shift that burden onto God, or nature, or the ways of the world. --Professor Robert Solomon

Crooked

• 1:15 - That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
• Yes, the crooked can now be made straight!
• Isaiah 40:4 - Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
• Finally, the crooked will be kept straight!
• Revelation 11:15 - And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

• 3:21 - Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
• A good sermon / bible study - the spirit of man

4:1 - So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

• Modern Christianity and worshipness today
• 5:1 - Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
• 7:5 - It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
• Modern worship?
• Acts 17:24,25 - God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

5:2,3 - Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.

5:10,11 - He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

• 6:7 - All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

• 7:1-2 - A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
• 7:3,4 -  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

• 10:4 - If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.

• 10:11 - Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

• 10:12 - The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
• 10:13 - The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
• 10:14 - A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

• 10:20 - Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

• 12:1-7

• 12:9,10 -  And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

• God won't force anything on you!
• Let Paul guide you to and through the Risen Christ!  Romans to Philemon - TO you - the rest is there only FOR you!