Many centuries ago sometime between 600 and 500 BC a man was born in north Bengal in the Himalayain foothills. He was a member of the clan that ruled the country. He was, therefore, wealthy and lived an affluent life. However, something was missing in his life. When he saw the misery and hardship all about him it made him sad and depressed. He decided that he wanted to find the answers to life. This desire became so unbearable that one night he saddled his horse, left his family and rode off into the night. He rode many miles until he came upon a group of wise men who lived in caves outside a town. These men lived lives of self denial, self torment and celibacy. They believed that living this kind of life would bring them into ultimate knowledge and wisdom. They thought that this knowledge could be obtained by extreme asceticism, fasting, sleeplessness and self torment. One day the young man became so exhausted by this tormented way of life that he fell to the ground unconscious. When he awoke he saw the stupidity of these semi-magic ways of attempting to obtain wisdom, he renounced this way of life as evil. Due to his sincerity and honesty he had acquired several followers. These deserted him when he abandoned the life of an ascetic.
By now many of you may have guessed who this young man is. His name was Siddhattha Gautama better known as Buddha. After he left the ways of self torment and came into his "new" light, he traveled about the country teaching . He had encountered the specter of death which hangs over all men. Because of this he came to the conclusion that all is nothing. He called it nirvana. He saw that all was death and that men strive after nothing. He said that men should rid themselves of selfishness and greed. He stated that there are three great evils, the desire for self gratification, the quest for immortality, and the self centered desire for money and wealth. These, he said, are desires of evil and mankind must rid himself of these evils. He knew that all ends in death anyway.
Along about the same dispensation of time in the nation of Israel another man was seeking for wisdom. He called himself the Preacher. He was better known as Solomon, the king of Israel. In his seeking for wisdom he too tried many ways of life. He led the life of a play boy. The bible said he did not deny himself any desire. He ate and drank and had many beautiful women around him. Life was one great big party. But after many days of this kind of life he saw that this was not the way to happiness and wisdom. He finally ended up by saying that all was vanity. The next thing he did in his endeavor to find wisdom was to become a great builder. The Pharaohs of Egypt became great builders in their quest for immortality. The Pharaohs had huge tombs built, which, they thought would insure them of eternal life. These tombs later became known as the Pyramids. Many people to this day believe that there is some type of mystic aura surrounding these great edifices. But many men lived in great misery and thousands lost their lives building them. To this writer they are nothing but a great memorial to man's inhumanity to man. Perhaps Solomon was seeking immortality for himself by his great building projects. He built a beautiful temple for God as his father David instructed him to do. He also built himself a great palace that was so beautiful that many came from far and near just to see it. He built big gardens and put flowers and water fountains in them. They dazzled the eyes to behold them. But again, Solomon came to the conclusion that this too was vanity and a striving after the wind (nothing)
He said that he perceived that the same event comes to all men, the wise as well as the fool. This event is death. There is no escaping it. He said that men strive and build and gather but they do not know who will be the one to get the fruit of their labor. He ended by saying that there is nothing for a man to do but to love the Lord God and to love his Neighbor. Isn't it awesome that these two men who lived in two different cultures and were separated by many miles came to the same conclusion? They both lived in the dispensation of the law of sin and death. They could only cry out, "we need a savior".
Many centuries later another man seeking for perfection by his own works spoke these words; "The things that I want to do, I do not. And the things that I don't want to do are the things that I do.. Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death." Of course this was the Apostle Paul who said this in Romans chapter 7. Paul also encountered the law of sin and death just as Buddha and Solomon had encountered it many centuries before. However, the man Paul had found the answer to this question on the road to Demascas when Jesus came to him in a blinding light. The reason I know that he had found the answer is because he answered his own question in the beginning of Romans chapter 8. when he said; "For there is now no more condemnation (death) to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of life in Christ Jesus has delivered me from the law of sin and death.
Jesus Christ has opened the door to life to all those who believe. In the time of Buddha and Solomon there was no open door to eternity. There was only nothing. This is why the Savior said that Sodom and Nineva would stand up in judgment on this generation. Because a greater one than Solomon has visited this world. We live in a huge schoolhouse in which only entropy (death) rules. In fact it rules through out the whole universe. Reincarnation, evolution, or any other way of salvation that is based in flesh can only end in death because we exist in a system of death. Jesus said know you not that you must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God? He also said "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me. Brother and sister, even the science of thermodynamics which deals with the death constant, entropy, upholds the word of Almighty God. The heavens and the earth shall wax old as a garment and be folded away, but my word will never pass away. You may find the bones of Mohammed, Buddah, Zoraster, or any other religious figure, but you will never find the bones of Jesus lying in a graveyard. He has ascended to the father in the flesh! Come to Jesus that you might have eternal life, not eternal death.
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