Eat, drink and be merry

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morbo3000
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Eat, drink and be merry

Post by morbo3000 » Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:59 pm

I am going back and looking at some writing projects, and one was on the subject of slippery slopes in Biblical studies. Whenever I discuss the inerrancy of the Bible, I inevitably get push-back from people saying unless we hold to the inerrancy of the Bible, life is meaningless, and we can do whatever we want. Eat, drink and be merry.

Examples:
Homer wrote:
If there is no God we are nothing more than an accident of nature then our life is no more important than that of a dandelion. And why should it matter to me whether "good" or "bad" should come to other dandelions? "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die".
dwight wrote:
And since you don't assume revelation, or inspiration, or inerrancy in the Bible, then who cares what it means? If it's not the revealed word of God, inerrant and inspired, then we all might as well eat, drink, and be merry, because it would be totally irrelevant.
I decided to look up the phrase "eat and drink and be merry," thinking it must be Shakespeare, or some other tragic philosopher.

I was surprised to discover it is in the Bible. In Ecclesiastes 8:15
And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
The bottom of this hill's slippery slope isn't godless hedonism. It is the fulfillment of Solomon's wisdom. The "revealed word of God" in Dwight's terms, proclaims our lives to be meaningless, rather than protect us from meaninglessness. And then instructs us to enjoy that life. The gotcha of the slippery slope argument is actually a command of God.
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Homer
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Re: Eat, drink and be merry

Post by Homer » Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:17 pm

Morbo 3000 wrote:
I inevitably get push-back from people saying unless we hold to the inerrancy of the Bible, life is meaningless, and we can do whatever we want. Eat, drink and be merry.
My point is not that the scriptures must be error free. My point is that if there is no God life is meaningless.

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morbo3000
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Re: Eat, drink and be merry

Post by morbo3000 » Tue Apr 05, 2016 12:18 am

According to Ecclesiastes, life is meaningless anyway. In which case, the maxim applies. Eat, drink and be merry.


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When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.
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Candlepower
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Re: Eat, drink and be merry

Post by Candlepower » Tue Apr 05, 2016 2:53 am

morbo3000 wrote:According to Ecclesiastes, life is meaningless anyway. In which case, the maxim applies. Eat, drink and be merry.
Not everything Solomon said or did was wise. In fact, much of what he did was quite foolish. And it was his foolishness, to a great extent, that led to the civil war that brought an end to the united kingdom early in his son's reign.

Ecclesiates is the confession of a sorrowful and repentant old man. In it he admits he had spent much of his life foolishly wasting the gift of wisdom that God had given him in his youth. And what Solomon said in 8:15 of that confession is certainly not a command of God. Rather, they are the words of a man whose self-centered and decadent lifestyle had led him down to a place where eating, drinking, and partying were his highest virtues. Hedonism.

Solomon's life makes, I think, a fitting definition of "conspicuous consumption." His confession reminds me of a ditty my mother used to sing. It begins, "He's a perfect example of what not to do; he makes a perfect picture of "Don't let this happen to you!..."

Solomon had some wise things to say, but he said and did a lot of foolish things, too. And he admits it in Ecclesiastes. Near the end of his lament, after pouring out his regrets, he says,

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil."
(Eccl. 12:13-14).

Now that is wisdom! That's a command of God.

The difference between 8:15 and 12:13-14 is the difference between foolishness and wisdom.

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Re: Eat, drink and be merry

Post by mattrose » Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:48 am

The Hebrew word translated 'meaningless' in Ecclesiastes, as far as I understand it, doesn't actually mean that life is without meaning. It means that the meaning of life is enigmatic (puzzling... beyond our ability to figure out). And the context for that statement is 'under the sun.' In other words, the author is stating that while he was searching for meaning/purpose on earth (outside a proper relationship with God), he could not find it. And if you cannot find meaning/purpose in life, it makes sense to just try your best to eat, drink and be merry. But that life-philosophy isn't really being recommended by the end of a book (which is in the form of a personal journey). Ecclesiastes is an inspired record of the SEARCH for significance, not every step in that search is a solid foundation.

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Re: Eat, drink and be merry

Post by Paidion » Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:42 am

Didn't the apostle Paul say much the same concerning the purposelessness of life, unless we are raised from the dead at some point after our death? It seems to me that he indicated that if there is no resurrection, then we may as well eat, drink, and be merry, for our death will be permanent.

[If I will not be raised from death], what do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32 )
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Re: Eat, drink and be merry

Post by steve7150 » Wed Apr 06, 2016 5:43 pm

Didn't the apostle Paul say much the same concerning the purposelessness of life, unless we are raised from the dead at some point after our death? It seems to me that he indicated that if there is no resurrection, then we may as well eat, drink, and be merry, for our death will be permanent.










Good post, but do you think this may be a bit of hyperbole by Paul to get his point across.

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