April 28– Ecclesiastes 1-5 KJV
Summary: Life sucks, and then you die.
Commentary: I've had a theory since the first or second week that T5FSOB is actually an concealed piece of apostate evangelism (there's probably a better word for that). It's not surprising that we get selections from the Bible, and numerous Christian authors. They'd been a powerful cultural force for centuries at that point, and America was obviously very Christian at the time. But Elliot's choices are interesting, doubly so in the 15 minutes a day plan. There are all kinds of stories in the Bible. Some of them are exciting, some of them are inspiring. The beatitudes and the story of the prodigal son pass on the kind of morals Elliot seems to generally support. Revelations has some crazy cool stories about beasts attacking. David and Goliath is exciting and inspirational. And we get none of that. We get Job, where God and Satan decide to fuck over the most righteous guy they can find in a weird test. We get Ecclesiastes, where a king rambles on about how great he is, and how none of it matters and life sucks and then you die (and sounds fabulously selfish when he complains about how people after him will benefit from his labor).
2:18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
What a dick.
We get the lyrics to Turn! Turn! Turn! which I knew was biblical, but not exactly where.
3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
So that's cool.
3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
Everything is pointless and FEAR GOD!
Long story short: I think Elliot purposely chose the Bible passages (and some other writings) that make Christianity sound awful. While he seems to have been nominally Christian himself, I find it hard to believe anyone trying to convert people to Christianity, or inspire and inform believers who hadn't read the Bible before, could pick these sections.
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