I find it interesting....
Zeromonkey, I will say that yes, I have found life to be completely meaningless many times throughout my life.... for about four years, to be exact. I was highly depressed, and even suicidal from the time I was in fifth grade, until I got saved last year. (Btw, if you would ever like to talk to me, I'm new here and you can reach me via any way listed here). Nowadays, I find life meaningless in a different light; meaningless in the way that Darth_Jonas outlined - Soloman's kind of meaningless.
I will also agree with Darth_Jonas' outline on the meaning of joy versus happiness.
Happiness is what the_roach was referring to when he said follow your nature and be worldly. Well, honestly, to date, all that the world has to offered me hasn't lifted me up, nor has it helped out any of my friends. The friends I've lost due to suicide and that I can't continue a relationship with due to their lifestyle live in a state of loss and unhappiness, even though the do/did drugs, sex, alcohol, etc. Many have quite a bit of money for their ages, but they're still not happy. Most of the biggest hip-hop, rap, and other musical and movie superstars live in an inward state of unhappiness. I know a guy named Phil Chalmers, whom you've probably heard of, and several other people who either are in, have been in, or associate with people who are in the industry of making the bigtime and living large. They've told me and would tell you as well that things are not wonderful just because you follow what you're good at or get what you want. The former lead singer of alternative metal band Full Devil Jacket and now lead singer of Christian-rock band Day of Fire is from my hometown of Jackson, Tennessee. (In fact, both bands were/are as well). He and several bands who have opened for him are pretty good friends with me, my friends, my church, and several other people I associate with. He was on top of the world with Full Devil Jacket and had everything he wanted. He had always wanted his own band and album, money, fame, and he'd always loved singing, etc. This is what he'd always dreamed of and what he loved. But he still lived in depression and sadness. He tried to intentionally OD once, and God spared him from death. Afterwards, he met up with the group of guys with whom he would later form the group Day of Fire.
Fulfilling a positive purpose is the only thing that will bring happiness and hope to your life. I don't say that because I was raised in church because I wasn't. I don't say that because some preacher I heard said that because that's not a sermon I've heard. I say that because I lived it and I've been reaffirmed time and time again by others. I've recently led several of my friends to Christ, am helping with several Christian causes within my city, am helping on the frontlines of the culture war within my school, and am helping to promote my youth ministry and its cause. I've never experienced happiness and joy in my life before recently. Nowadays, though, I'm still not perfect and I have my times of sadness and feelings of being a lost cause. But I'm helping do something for the good, and that is what helps me see that things aren't meaningless. And I also see that we don't just "live and die." I'm not even mentioning anything Spiritual there (though it's true), but I'm saying that if you help someone and help do something in their lives, it will flow from them to someone else, from that person to another, and so on for eternity. Billy Graham was saved and turned into who he is because when he was young, an usher at his church did a good deed because the usher had been helped out before that. And many people who have influenced my life have either been influenced by Graham's material or been helped by direct connections with him. See the ripple? I do.
I find it interesting....
