Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
To conclude our thoughts on the Book of Ecclesiastes, I want to ask the author a few questions.
1. First question. What do you think of Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign?
Ecclesiastes says,
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is unwise to ask such questions. (Eccl 7:10)
Hmmm. Didn’t expect that! And question #2:
2. Should we fear death?
Ecclesiastes says,
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens,
a time to be born and a time to die. (Eccl 3:1-2)
3. Next question. What do you think of prognosticators and pundits and podcasts, who pontificate about every topic under the sun?
Ecclesiastes says,
Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few. (Eccl 5:2)
I have spoken many words. Perhaps too many!
4. Another question: What do you think of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, owner of Space-X and Tesla?
Ecclesiastes says,
I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
or wealth lost through some misfortune.
Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone departs naked. (Eccl 5:13-15)
One day soon, it will be said of Elon Musk, “The emperor has no clothes.”
5. Question #5: What do you think of the Internet’s vast treasury of knowledge? And of Wikipedia and modern science and universities?
Ecclesiastes says,
The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone? (Eccl 6:11)
You may have heard about the scientist who said, “When I was in school they taught that a million monkeys typing for a million years would not compose a single Shakespeare play. Now, thanks to the Internet, we’ve proved that it’s true.” I think Ecclesiastes would agree. A million monkeys typing for a million years.
6. Next question. Do you believe the doctrine of original sin?
Ecclesiastes says,
This only have I found:
God created humans upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes. (Eccl 7:29)
7. And a question on meaning: In Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the computer Deep Thought calculates that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is 42. What do you think?
Ecclesiastes says,
I saw all that God has done.
No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun.
Despite all their efforts to search it out,
no one can discover its meaning.
Even if the wise claim they know,
they cannot really comprehend it. (8:17)
8. Ecclesiastes, do you believe in the law of cause and effect?
Ecclesiastes says,
I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift,
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise,
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned,
but time and chance happen to them all. (Eccl 9:11)
9. And a final question: Is wisdom stronger than folly?
Ecclesiastes says,
As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. (Eccl 10:1)
Let’s pray.
Our father, Ecclesiastes tell us to:
Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth. . .
before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl broken;
Before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Eccl 12:1, 6-7)
Yes, Lord, our lives often feel like a broken wheel bumping through life; like a golden bowl easily broken, like a pitcher soon to be shattered.
Yet you have set eternity in our hearts. You have put this treasure in jars of clay. As we live in our fragile and failing bodies, help us drink the water of everlasting life. Help us hold the treasure of righteousness and truth. Help us remember you, our creator, all our days.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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