JM – i’m encouraged by the questions you regularly ask in your blog posts and comments. sometimes i’m not sure if you’re playing devil’s advocate or not… which i like… it makes me think!!

i’ll probably be doing some ecclesiastes talks over the summer holidays on a camp… so will probably post some more the more i think about it.

Oops.

Yes, I’ve heard that view, Stephenmac, but the trouble is that the writer believes in God, and says so throughout, not just in Ch 12. He is not thinking about a world ‘without God’, but a life under the sun with God. Was there any such thing as a wide-spread atheism when it was written anyway?? (Genuine question)

I think that the conclusion has in it some resolution, but not in a way that negates his previous difficult observations.

So, I believe that the common interpretation is that without God, this is the best worldview that you can rationally come up with. With God, this worldview no longer works:

13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

I think this is the way to respond… is my exegesis incorrect?

But is this observation True or False?

And if true, then to what extent is it true??
And if false, then how come its in the Bible?