The Straw Man
The book of Ecclesiastes has long been a source of confusion and even conflict in the church. When you read the book, much of what you hear seems to contradict what you know to be true from other places in the Bible. It is difficult to reconcile "eat, drink and be merry" with the narrow gate Jesus talks about, for example.
What is happening in Ecclesiastes, though, is a satirical "spoof" of the worldly view of things. The writer of Ecclesiastes caricatures the perspective of the god-less and writes as if he shares that perspective. The whole book, then, can be seen as sort of a straw man argument. The key verse in the whole book is Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 -
"That's the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty. God will judge us for everything we do including every secret thing, whether good or bad."
The point of knowledge is to point us to God. When we let knowledge draw us away from God, we lose our way and everything becomes "utterly meaningless."
Love is Good
Song of Songs is enough to make you blush. It is the ultimate song in praise of love. It tells the story of two lovers and all the stuff that goes along with their love. Over the course of history, people have attempted to explain away the erotic nature of the Song by saying that it is really not the story of two human lovers but the story of God's love for humans or the story of salvation history.
Such attempts diminish the significance of the Song. The Song is a beautiful poem that reminds us that love is good. Love is created by God and given as a gift to us. In our world in which sex is casual and "I love you" is thrown around without a thought, the words of the Song are a welcome reminder that love is more than all of that.
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