Queen's Road Cell

  7  All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied 8  For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9  Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. 10  Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11  The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12  For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?   In this study we see Qoheleth asking many questions and not providing answers. We will unpack his thought in 3 parts to unravel his meanings: v.7-9 (What is Qoheleth saying here?) v.10-11 (Compare the idea of naming in Gen 2:19-20 ...

So today Selwyn asked how we are meant to interpret Genesis 1... We said that it was important to determine the genre (historical narrative, poetry, wisdom literature, apocalyptic literature, etc.) of that chapter. When the creation story is repeated in Genesis 2, it is reasonable to deduce that the 2 chapters have different emphases. I think Genesis 1 is a song! Some have noted that the creative acts of the 1st and 4th, 2nd and 5th and 3rd and 6th days parallel each other. This may suggest that the 'days' of creation are not in chronological order. Some have tried to reconcile Genesis 1 with modern science by evoking the 'gap' view (i.e. there is an indefinite chronological period between 1:1 and 1:2), or by noting that the 'days' may not be literal 24-hour days (no sun and moon till day 4!). I think it is more profitable for us to consider what Genesis 1 tells us about spiritual realities, for instance: 1. God is Creator. We owe our existence to Him and a...

 We start our study of Ecclesiastes today! In this introductory session, we have asked ourselves: Am I an optimist or a pessimist? We generally felt that it was somewhat too simplistic to categorize ourselves as optimists or pessimists. We felt that we might have characteristics of both at different times in our lives, or at different times of our lives. T here is no doubt the writer of Ecclesiastes was a pessimist. Even his positive statements (e.g. 2:10, 24; 5:18-20) are enveloped in some sense of resignation that joy is not ultimate. He speaks as if to say. "Make the best out of a bad situation" rather than telling people to 'go out' and  'live life to the fullest'.   I asked if it was possible to be a faithful Christian and a pessimist. I said that Ecclesiastes affirms that expectation of little in this life is fine. We know 2. Who wrote Ecclesiastes? What was his purpose?   The book is named after the writer (Gk. Ekkleiastes ). This individual is ...

Selwyn shared about his reading on how science is consistent with Scripture in different ways, so that we do not need to fear scientific discoveries or shrink away from scientific endeavour. He mentioned his understanding that the days of Genesis 1 were not likely 24-hour days. We have discussed the matter previously here : This led to a discussion as to when to take numbers literally in the Bible (e.g.lifespan of the pre-Flood patriarchs). My answer was that we always read the Bible according to genre and context, understanding that there are different genres in the Bible, and that some books have sections with different genres. Context (e.g. metaphors in the gospels) also helps us to understand if numbers are to be taken literally (Matt 19:22 "Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.") comes to mind, actually! We also asked when promises apply to us in the Bible. This has also already been discussed here . I summarized by saying that we sh...