"The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 'Vanity of vanities,' says the
Preacher; 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.' What profit has a man from all his labor in which he
toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth
abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose.
The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about
continuously, and comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full;
to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again. All things are full of labor, man
cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which
has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under
the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, 'See, this is new'? It has already been in ancient
times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of
things that are to come by those who will come after....For man goes to his eternal home, and the
mourners go about the streets....Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will
return to God who gave it. 'Vanity of vanities,' says the Preacher, 'All is vanity.'" (Ecc. 1:1-11;
12:5,7,8)
These are the words of Solomon, the wise king of Israel who was offered a choice of many things.
Instead of wealth, he asked for an understanding heart, so that he could discern between good and
evil. God granted his desire and gave him wisdom. Because he did not ask for riches, honor and
long life, God also granted these to Solomon. Upon obtaining wisdom, he concluded that wealth
and all that it could do was vanity, and that the only thing worth doing was to obtain truth
concerning a righteous way of life and teach this knowledge to others.
This righteousness is based on living in accordance to standards modeled after God's divine nature.
The whole duty of man is to acquire this nature and walk in the righteous ways of God. In doing
so, God's will for man is fulfilled, for we are to perfect ourselves in righteousness. This is not to
say that we will become perfect in its purest sense, for righteousness, in its purity, exists only in
God's divine nature.
Perfection, in this limited sense, is achieved by entering the body of Christ. The reward for this
activity is eternal life. If one wishes to obtain eternal life, a person must understand what it means
to believe in the only begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the Jews
were prepared to receive this understanding. The way to enter the Kingdom of God was
established for those who accepted it.
Mankind, as a whole, was given the opportunity to receive this understanding as the apostles began
to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mustard
seed of truth grew and flourished until worldly influences caused the tree to become diseased. As
the tree withered, the light of truth concerning the way to the Father was placed under a basket.
The world had entered the Dark Ages.
Eventually, as a result of God's great mercy, divine intervention began to pull the Christian Church
out of the Dark Ages. Under great persecution, truth came into the limelight. Reformers began to
examine the primordial soup containing truth and error. It was people like Martin Luther, the
Anabaptists and the Methodists who poured the broth through filters, extracted the truth and
tossed out the error.
Truth that contains the ingredients to fulfill God's will for man has its exactness in the Father. The
mind can only conceive this truth in a less than perfect state. As the character of the "Church"
continues to be refined like silver, the entity of truth known to man enlarges, but it's source is never
exhausted.
Since precise truth concerning the Way is unattainable, it follows that any human assertion of the
truth is a conjecture. Truth has many elements. The exactness of each element is unknown.
Because of this, there are many conjectures within the Christian Church. Because there are
diverse conjectures on the many assertions of truth concerning the true way to eternal life, the
Christian Church has split into many fragments. In order for truth concerning the way to the
Father to be enlarged within the fragments of the Church, each element of truth needs to be
refined in order to obtain it's preciseness. This, in turn, would cause the fragments to become
unified, that is, Christians would once again be speaking with one mind.
Elements of truth concerning the way to the Father's Kingdom are interwoven throughout
Scripture. Any assertion of truth can be refined by reducing the number of contradictions relative
to that truth as it is encountered throughout Scripture. The word of God does not contradict
itself. Finding the exactness of an element of truth is like forming a beautiful diamond from the
"rough". When a diamond is produced, the Church climbs further out of the Dark Ages. The
Church obtains more freedom, for the truth shall set people free. Unification approaches reality as
the exactness of each asserted truth is realized.
Power comes with unification. How close man is to receiving the strength of the early "Church"
depends on how close one or more fragments of the "Church" gets to the critical mass of truth
required to receive this power.
So, how does one approach this critical mass? Perhaps, here a little, there a little, line upon line
and precept upon precept. If one was to present a conjecture of truth that works upon this
principle, one must have some confidence in the foundation of lines and precepts that already
exists. Any document that makes any positive assertion of truth must not only articulate the new
precept, but also verify or modify the supporting foundational principles being built upon. In
other words, all in-depth conjectures will require a good defense.
Accomplishing the goal of presenting a decent conjecture, worthy of being read by the masses, will
require much Biblical study so that the number of apparent contradictions to the word is
minimized. Freedom from contradictions requires perfect knowledge and understanding of the
Written Word. Since perfection in its pure state lies with the Father, one can never be free of
contradictions with the Written Word. The problem is compounded because the Written Word
comes from diverse translations of diverse source materials.
This may cause the scholar to breath a sigh of despair. However, though original Biblical
writings don't exist, close examination of some of the oldest known writings have confirmed that
present day translations are in agreement. The mounting evidence to this fact distracts those who
take the conservative view that Scripture has lost its accuracy as it was handed down through
many generations.
Now, it's intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers that the world and the "Church" are
still in a sad state of affairs. This tells us that present day truths are having little effect on the sea
of nations. A continued search for revelation knowledge should change this condition.
Fortunately, God keeps the mainstream of truth moving with a faithful remnant who continue to
inquire of His ways. One might wonder if diverse conjectures by different people at different
times are steps toward obtaining the latter rain that eventually subdues the earth. There are hidden
mysteries that have yet to be revealed; mysteries that even the most scholarly theologians have
difficulty discovering.
The more truth that is acquired and applied, the more people will become released from the
bondage set forth by the chaotic behavior of worldly affairs. Someday, soon, it is hoped that
someone or some group of people will discover the catalyst that will bring all people into the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord. However, revelation of truth is not without its problems.
The introduction of hidden or lost truths tends to split people into two groups. One group will be
conservative and stay where they are. The other group will accept the revealed truth and move
on. It's not unusual for the former to persecute the latter for departing.
Truth comes by knowledge and understanding. These are the two main ingredients of wisdom.
With them comes power, righteousness, the fear of God and the ability to wisely counsel fellow
man.
The book of Proverbs tells us to acquire wisdom. It describes wisdom, and tells us what state we
are in if we have it and if we don't have it. The book even tells us how to apply it. But, how do
we acquire wisdom? The New Testament will answer this question by simply saying, "Ask for it!".
God, through His grace and mercy, is good to provide the keys to obtaining wisdom. These keys
will open the doors of revelation knowledge concerning the way to the Father whom we are to
seek.
The seven days of creation, as described in Genesis 1 and 2, by virtue of being at the very
beginning of the Bible, lead one to believe that it sets the foundation for all Scripture. By this,
one might conjecture that this passage of Scripture might hold the keys to obtaining wisdom. To
obtain these keys, one must go beyond the debate between the evolutionists and creationists, and
view creation from a different perspective.
This treatise does just that. It boldly utilizes the allegorical method of interpretation. The seven
days of creation in such a way as to identify Biblical mysteries and reveal truth concerning the
ways of God. The book offers a visit to a spiritual archaeological digging. Some of the findings
may be recognizable. Other findings may be new. It's the new material that makes the visit
exciting.
copyright 1996 by Dana George Cottrell