I have not entered into the discussion about Ecclesiastes this last quarter, mainly because I was away for much of the time, either on leave or teaching in Thailand. However I could not let the lesson series pass altogether with out comment. The theme of the Ecclesiastes is perhaps all too familiar to us.
What is the meaning of life? Why does punishment and reward seem so capricious? Why do we forget about God in our youth and then suddenly turn religious and philosophical in our old age when nobody is going to take any notice of us anyhow?
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Recently I was faced with a long plane trip and very little to do during the flight. Bangkok's brand new airport has many shops but only one of them is a book shop. I searched hard for a book that looked as though it was not so boring that I would choose to watch the in-flight entertainment. Only two books attracted my attention. Richard Dawkin's "The God Delusion", and Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari". I did not feel up to the challenge of Richard Dawkin's strident denunciation of belief and chose Paul Theroux in the hope that it would give a perspective on Africa. So for the next Theroux is no stranger to Africa. He spent several years teaching in Malawi and Uganda and several of his books are based on his experiences there. "Dark Star Safari" revisits the Africa that Theroux is familiar with, some 40 years on. His dismay at the environmental decay, moral corruption, and the high incidence of AIDS colours almost every page of his book. He is devastatingly critical of foreign aid and international charity. Foreigners, providing foreign solutions using foreign equipment procured in foreign markets, with little relevance to the local people and their environment. Many of those involved in such aid have little real commitment to the long term solution of African problems. Christian aid in particular Theroux sees as self-serving, gathering souls for the Kingdom without any long term commitment on the part of individuals to the welfare of Africans. They come, do their term of missionary service, and go home secure in the knowledge that they have earned their heavenly treasure. Even where service has been truly altruistic it is so quickly forgotten. |
Key Phrases - Unique:
Capitalized Phrases (CAPs):
These are the 100 most frequently used words in this book.
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Theroux tells the story of a couple from England who in the later years of their life went to live in Malawi and work as teachers. They dedicated their lives to Africa, teaching, training in practical ways and eventually, still at work, dieing there in their 90s. They were the epitome of unselfish Christian workers. Theroux had looked up to them as role models. Now, less than 10 years after they died, he found their forgotten graves, overgrown with weeds, their once neat tidy school unkempt, their library ransacked, their efforts forgotten. It is a sad ending for two people, who unlike the current aid workers, the "purveyors of virtue", they had given their lives to Africa only to have their good work not only forgotten but undone.
Dark Star Safari is in many respects a sad book. In some respects it is like Ecclesiastes without the moralization at the end. The really serious issue that Theroux raises is that Christian charity in the long run is vanity as well. The purveyors of virtue involved in their self-serving activities, building a bigger better organization here on earth, or laying up treasure in heaven. And the seeming unfairness of those whose genuine spirit of selfless service has been ignored and forgotten.
There are a couple of texts in Ecclesiastes that has given me pause. Ecc 9:
14, 15(NKJV) "There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, and besieged it, and built great snares around it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor wise man.
Such a great event, the salvation of the city, yet nobody remembers that man, or his wisdom that saved the city. Perhaps I should conclude my message here and save myself from writing a platitudinous conclusion, but I will ask a couple of questions.
- 1) Does Ecclesiastes have a message for those of us who are busy building the church or laying up treasure in heaven?
- 2) Is there any merit is making a difference to somebody's life now, when it may be forgotten after the moment has passed?
Responses:
 | You quoted Ecc 9:14,15 and asked:
(playing the ratbag) I suspect the answer is right there, in the NIV, "Meaningless, meaningless! All is meaningless!" |