Mosaic

Origins

5 Comments

Register to our leadership experience “The Origins Project, May 22-24 in Pasadena, CA.

5 Responses to “Origins”

1. Michael Berra
   May 12th, 2006 at 5:16 am

   This sounds VERY INTERSTING - would like to be there… sadly Switzerland is a bit too far away :(… Go for it!

2. Tiv M
   May 15th, 2006 at 9:18 am

   I hear there may be an origns conference in the NY area this fall ?

3. CanMan
   May 22nd, 2006 at 9:21 pm

   At the ORIGINS conference, Erwin said,and I quote,”Solomon is wrong” in reference to there being nothing new under the sun as found in Ecclesiastes 1:9. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work”(ESV) Now b/c Ecclesiates is Scripure and all Scripture is breathed out by God, to say that Solomon is wrong is to say that God is wrong, and that is heresy. Somebody please help me understand or clarify this if it did not mean literally what was said.

4. Lon
   May 23rd, 2006 at 6:39 am

   CanMan, I think you need to look at the scriptures with a bit of context. Solomon also says ‘everything is meaningless’ in that chapter, and they also call Jesus a ’sinner’ in the Scriptures and if you follow Jesus you know that’s not true.

   I pray God speaks powerfully to every person at Origins.

5. Keith Walters
   May 23rd, 2006 at 10:27 pm

   Lon,
   I agree we need to understand Scripture within its immediate context and its context within the whole of Scripture. Yes, Christ was called a sinned and a glutton, and it is recorded in scripture. This, however, is not a divine pronouncement that Christ is sinful but rather the record of actual historical events. Jews at the time of Christ thought He was a glutton and a sinner, and Scripture is 100% accurate in relaying their opinions, of Christ, to us.

   Understanding the context of Ecclesiastes, the whole book, one would understand that everything is meaningless, when vainly pursued in the place of God. This thought is brought to a climax in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. In those verses we find where realy meaning lies, in fearing God and submitting to Him, and not in vainly striving for fleeting earthly pleasures.

   The context of there being nothing new under the sun, within Ecclesiastes and the whole of Scripture. Is not that there are new things and therefore Ecclesiastes 1:9 is wrong and should be erased from Scripture. But rather that there are no new vain earthly pleasures; which the whole book addresses the pursuit of these things. When understanding the Scripture in its true context we realise that there is nothing new under the sun and yet God can still do a new thing, we can still take off the old man and put on the new, and we can still sing a new song to the Lord. Why then can we do these new things if there is nothing new under the sun? Because these things are not the vain earthly pleasures sought to replace God but are rather acts of God-empowered and God-glorifying change.