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theology
Beautiful in its time?
If you type the words “beautiful in its time” into your web browser and click on images your screen will fill up with flowers, butterflies and sunsets – all with those famous words from Ecclesiastes plastered over top of them in flowing script. What you won’t see is a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb […]
IN THE END
QUESTION Was King Solomon right when he said in Ecclesiastes that the only thing that matters in the end is to fear God and keep his commandments? VANSWER It’s important to note that we don’t know for certain who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Whoever it was only identified themselves as Kohelet, a word that […]
THE BEST BOOK OF THE BIBLE
QUESTION Why do some firmly believe Ecclesiastes is the greatest and wisest book in the entire Bible? VANSWER Kohelet means “to gather” so early translators decided that it meant to gather people together and teach them wisdom. In latin such a gathering is an “ecclesia” and the one doing the gathering was the “ecclesiastes”. At […]
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
COMMENT A person’s final words may contain the wisdom of a lifetime distilled into a sentence. John Wesley’s last words were repeated several times, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Wise Solomon at the end of Ecclesiastes wrote, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God […]
DAILY BREAD OR GET AHEAD
COMMENT My guess was that the author of this book, who I believe was a man of great wealth and power, was trying to say that everything we do that is for our own sake and not for God is meaningless. Working and “toiling” has no purpose and will not “bear fruit” unless God’s purpose […]
PAIN AND SUFFERING
COMMENT The more pain and suffering we endure, the better we can empathize with the position others face during their times of distress. We learn more through our failure and loss than through our success and winning. A RESPONSE Thank you for telling us all how lucky we are to suffer and what life is […]
THE LOST BOOK OF THE BIBLE
QUESTION The Book of Ecclesiastes does not get used/read/considered often enough. In a similar vein to Job, Ecclesiastes explores the meaninglessness and nihilism inherent in life. Man is ignorant. Man cannot do what is best for himself. We cannot ascribe higher powers to anything, so we should just enjoy the gifts God has given us. That’s […]
NAME THAT PERFUME
QUESTION Ecclesiastes 7:1 “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.” Can someone explain it please? VANSWER It would appear that Kohelet, the writer of Ecclesiastes, is referring to the perfumes used to prepare a body for burial. This would fit the remainder of his thoughts […]
The Forest for the Trees
Think of the Bible as a forest. As you explore its groves you will find many different ‘trees’; massive oaks, stately pines, weeping birches and other species both exotic and plain. Each tree is quite different from the others but each makes an important contribution to the overall vitality of the forest. Throughout the ages […]