Just animals

Eccles. 3:18-22

18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

• How is man without God's influence different from the beasts of the earth?
  
• From Solomon's pre-Christ perspective, how are man and beast the same?
  - If man and beast are the same, why bother with being righteous?
  - If man and beast are the same, what is better than being happy in what you do?
  
• How did the coming of Christ make the difference between man and beast clearer and wider?
  - Without Christ, how is man's fate different from the beasts?
  - With Christ, how is man's fate different from the beasts?
  - Without Christ, how is man's motivations different from the beasts?
  - With Christ, how is man's motivations different from the beasts?

Harold's Musings:
Once again, Solomon concludes it is better to just rejoice in your work. At this stage in the journey, things are not looking hopeful. You bury a man and his dog; then dig them up years later, you see roughly the same thing: bones. As Solomon says, who knows if their fate was the same or different. If I look around me today, I hear people saying there is no difference; that when you die you are over. People are reaching the same conclusion that Solomon did. But we have insight that the wisest man on earth did not. We know that Christ came and that he provided a solution for the question posed here. I love my dogs, but God loved me enough to send His son to die for me and you. I am different than a beast because I am in Christ.