Author: Joe
Last saved by: PJD
Company: GDC

99-03-30.JSH-120 / 

©℗ 1999  Joe Griffin

Faith-Rest Drill: Solomon’s Frantic Search for Happiness in Philosophy, 1 Jn 2:15, 22-23; 4:19-21; 1 Pet 1:8,22; 3:8; in Money, Eccl 5:11-14
		17.	Personal love for mankind is without virtue and is motivated by the three arrogant skills with its emphasis on self.  It is refuted as being a part of divine viewpoint in:
1 John 2:15 -	Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him
v 22 -		Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
v 23 -		Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father.  The one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
18.	We know from the Royal Law that personal love for God is the catalyst for unconditional love for our fellowman.
19.	We are therefore able to see the misapplication of nonvirtuous personal love found in humanitarianism when we compare it with the virtuous unconditional love found in the Royal Law:
 1 John 4:19 -	We love unconditionally, because He first loved us unconditionally.
v 20 -		If someone says, “I love God (personally),” and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the one who does not love his brother (unconditionally) whom he has seen, cannot love God (personally) Whom he has not seen.
20.	This verse can be altered for the sake of making a point by an exchange of objects.  Consequently, verse 20 would read this way:

21.	“If someone says, “I virtuously love my fellowman,” and hates God, he is a liar, for the one who does not personally love God Whom he has not seen, cannot virtuously love his fellowman whom he has seen.
22.	This is amplified by the next verse:
1 John 4:21 -	And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God personally should also love his brother unconditionally.
23.	From this we are able to conclude that personal love for one’s fellowman is not only without virtue, when practiced by the humanitarian it is evil and self-centered.
24.	Such cannot be the case when personal love for God and unconditional love for mankind work in tandem.
1 Peter 1:8 -	Though you have not seen Jesus Christ you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with happiness inexpressible and full of glory.
v 22 -		Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for an unconditional love for the brethren, fervently love one another from the stream of consciousness.
1 Peter 3:8 -	To sum up, let us be harmonious, sympathetic, motivated by unconditional love for the brethren, kindhearted, and humble.
5)	Money.  Money and possessions are details of life and are not designed to provide happiness.  In fact all you can really do with money and possession is look at them.
Ecclesiastes 5:11 -	When good things increase those who consume them increase.  So what is the advantage to their owners except to look at?

1.	When you have a lot of investments, especially today, the only way you know you have anything is by numbers on a piece of paper.  You don’t really have any money, you just have more numbers than you did the last time you checked.
2.	So the challenge is to accumulate numbers that you can look at.
3.	Now you can take some of those numbers and transfer them to someone else’s ledger for them to look at and in return acquire a possession.
4.	But what do you do with most of your possessions?  You look at them.
5.	And as you look at them you begin to wonder about all the numbers and possessions that you have and this leads to worry that you will loose some of them.
6.	This leads to loss of sleep.  Such was the case for Solomon in:
Ecclesiastes 5:12 -	The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much.  But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.
v 13 -		There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt.
v 14 -		When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him.
7.	Solomon obviously does not find security in his own wealth because he fears that he too might loose all his money and possessions.
8.	This worry, anxiety, and even dread results in his loss of health.