The Man Under the Sun Argument

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

Talk about fighting words! In a vast majority of churches, to say that men and beasts die the same death, and that both turn into dust, is intolerable. No man of understanding, they say, could possibly utter such a thing.

How to wriggle out of this (and other) plain statements? The answer is the "man under the sun" argument. These words and ideas are merely those of an ignorant, fleshly, oaf, a kind of theological cave man. But Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. Is he such a man?

No, but according to this theory, Solomon is quoting a man of extremely limited understanding. Now occasionally, man under the sun gets it right. Whenever he says what the theorizer agrees with, that is. So we have a sometimes right, sometimes wrong man of the flesh.

I take an entirely different stand. I say that Solomon is describing the conditions under which all men presently live, including himself. I also believe that all of Ecclesiastes is wise and true. Look at the descriptions in this book. Are they not a 100% accurate description of the present human condition?

So why this negative picture of the source of this book? I maintain that it is an attempt to discredit the above verses (and others) that say we die. If man under the sun says, All go into one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again (Ecclesiastes 3:20), and David says, For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? (Psalm 6:5), is David also a man under the sun, without understanding?

My cat used to go to sleep on my shoulder and snore little cat snores. I thought, "We both breathe air, and we both will die."

Ecclesiastes is the truth of God, not just the opinion of men. Show me an immortal soul in the Bible. Send the quote or quotes, and they will be printed for all to read.