Ever obedient to your wishes, Boaz, I took a look through Ecclesiates.

(One day you will return the compliment by picking up Mosley's "My Life". At least, you ought. You owe it to yourself)

To me, Ecclesiastes reads like an early management manual, complete with catchy turns of phrase and memorable lines.

But it isn't real.

"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever"

I know that these guys didn't have the educational advantages that we have, so they were unable to know that the earth has no chance of abiding for much longer - a couple of billion years at the most.

But that in turn is worrying. If they were "just these guys" writing what would easily pass for pop philosophy ("to everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time for every purpose, under heaven..." oh sorry, that was The Byrds) then what is it doing in the Bible? Clearly, there is no divine spark that adds some essential insight, over and above the talent of an early management consultant.

So I'm a little puzzled what you imagined I would gain from reading the work of an anonymous Hebrew poet.

It's catchy stuff, of course. But the Byrds were catchy too, in a popp-y sixties kind of way.

Pericles... the only thing I'd expect you to gain from reading Ecclesiasties.. is some insight into the fact that the questions we ask today have already been asked 'then'... nothing is new. The supposedly anonymous hebrew poet is most likely Solomon if the internal evidence is considered.

He basically goes though the list of things normally said to give our lives meaning, points out the defficiencies of them...and reaches a conclusion.

Do you know of any similiar piece of literature from a similar period ?

(thanx for reading it by the way.. and yes.. I will read Mosely at Christmas if you send.. newlifeinhim777@yahoo.com.au if you want a P.O. box... which I'll let you know by email.)

regards

Sorry Boaz, I thought the Solomon attribution had been thoroughly debunked, and the "anonymous Hebrew poet" theory was now prevalent.

But hey, what do I know?

>>the only thing I'd expect you to gain from reading Ecclesiasties.. is some insight into the fact that the questions we ask today have already been asked<<

I need absolutely no convincing that these questions, and many others, have been asked ever since man could grunt out a coherent sentence.

But if it was indeed Solomon, and he was indeed as wise as they say, and the only thing to learn is that there are some eternal questions, then...

(you know what's coming, don't you?)

... why is it that you continue to insist that you and your religion between you know the answers?

Doesn't wisdom lie, as Solomon and I appear to agree, in continually developing new questions, humbly aware that we are far too stupid ever to understand the answer, even if it were to appear as a piece of four-be-two, and whack us between the eyes?