Contemplative Bible Reading

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (New Living Translation)

But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path.

The writer reminds us of a simple yet critical thing: God created us to be virtuous.

Well, that’s nice. What does that mean? And, so what?

The definitions of virtuous and virtue vary. They mostly have to due with high moral standards. That’s nice, and we have to note that moral standards vary from culture to culture. What is morally good in one culture can be bad in another. Universal standards across all the peoples of the earth? Well, maybe there are some.

Since, however, this note comes from a Hebrew in the Old Testament, we can look to the moral standards stated by God threw various highly esteemed persons to God’s people.

In relation to relations among persons, we have the basic things like: tell the truth, respect others’ property, respect others’ families, respect others’ lives, etc.

God created us to do these things. Pretty simple. Why can’t we do them? Well, we, uh, er, well, you know. We, just can’t seem to do them. Yet, God created us to live this way. Who am I to argue with the Creator? When you ask that question, I am stumped. Either I believe God created or I don’t.