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. Ecclesiastes 3:18

Solomon goes on to say that both animals and humans die. Hopefully we all know that we're all born with the sinful nature and subject to the penalty of death because of how we ALL use our free will to sin against God. (Gen. 2-3, Rom. 3:23, 6:23) However, we are NOT meant to behave like animals and indulge our flesh, despite being in a corruptible body. (Gal. 6:7-8, Eph. 4:17-24, 2Pet. 1:3-4, 2Pet. 2:19, Rom. 6:12-13, 1Pet. 1:14-19) Unlike animals, we're made in the image of God--we have the ability to reason. We can exercise self-control--especially if the Holy Spirit dwells in us (as believers). (Gal. 5:22-24, 1Cor. 9:25, Acts 24:25, 2Tim. 1:7, Titus 2:11-15, 3:3-8, 1Pet. 4:7, 2Pet. 1:5-11)

Unlike animals, we can set our minds on the eternal things of above. (Col. 3:2, Rom. 8:5-9, 1John 2:15-17) If we submit to HIS ways, He will help us believers to become more and more Christ-like from within. (Rom. 12:1-2, 1Cor. 15:45-49, Gal. 5:13-25, Eph. 4:20-24, 6:10-20, Col. 3:9-10, Rom. 6:17-22, John 8:34-36) If we choose instead to embrace our sinful nature and carnality (by hardening our hearts against God as we love our sin more than Him, such that we quench the Holy Spirit and eventually reject/discard His gift of faith), then He will let us go that way if we persistently insist upon it. (Rom. 1:18-32, Acts 17:29-31, 2Tim. 3:1-5, Heb. 3-4, Heb. 6, 10:26-39, Eph. 4:30, 1Thess. 5:19, Eph. 2:8-10, Deut. 30:6, Rom. 2:29, 2Thess. 2:9-12) It's not about "losing" salvation or about "working" for it or to keep it--it's about revealing who we really are - a washed, regenerated child of God who is led by HIS Spirit, bearing good fruit (and being grieved by sin and repenting upon slipping, which we ALL do), or someone who obeys and is still enslaved to their old nature and bearing its fruit of sin - behaving like a child of the devil. (1John 2:1-6, 3:4-10, Rom. 6)

We can choose life or death. (John 3:36, Rom. 2:4-11, Eph. 5:5-6, Col. 3:5-7, 2Pet. 3, Rev. 21:8, 22:15) We will each answer for ourselves. (Gal. 6:4-5, 1John 5:18-21, Eph. 2:1-3, Heb. 4:12-13, Matt. 16:27, 2Cor. 5:9-10, Rev. 22:12) Let's not behave like animals instead of as beings created in the image of God. Let's humble ourselves and submit to God's perfect ways and will for us. (Jam. 4:4-10, 1Pet. 5:6-11, Rom. 13:8-14) Then we can look forward to the return of Jesus instead of fearing it. (2Tim. 4:8, 1Pet. 1:8-9, Heb. 10:36-39, 1John 2:26-28, Rev. 6:12-17, 19:11-21, Amos 5:18-20)

Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived - 1Kings 3:12, 4:29-34, 10:24 - in some but not all ways, he was a foreshadow of Jesus - Isa. 2:3-5, 1Kings 4:21, Isa. 60:11-12, 1Kings 10:1, 10, Matt. 12:42, Luke 11:31) concluded the book of Ecclesiastes by telling us the meaning of life in a nutshell, and giving us a warning against false writings such as those found in extra-biblical sources including the Book of Mormon and their other writings, such as the Pearl of Great Price, etc., the Quran and Hadith, the Talmud (Jewish rabbinic oral traditions reduced to writing*), the Catholic traditions (held to have equal authority to Scripture, even when contradicting or adding to it)--and sadly I'm sure the list could go on. (Also see Gal. 1:8-9, 2Cor. 11:2-4, Prov. 30:5-6, Rev. 22:18-19).

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:11-14 (Also see Rev. 22:12, Rom. 2:6-11, Heb. 4:12-13, Col. 3:24-25.)

I find it interesting that most groups can pinpoint where others went astray, but they can't recognize the same sorts of errors within their own denomination, sect, cult, false religion, etc. I guess it's similar to being able to see the splinter in our brother's eye, but not the log in our own. (Matt. 7:3-5) We're not meant to devour one another over differences, but if there is leaven (sin or false teachings), it's to be removed. (Gal. 5:15, 26, 1Cor. 5:6-13, 2John 1:9-11, Gal. 1:8-9, 1Cor. 12:3, Eph. 4:11-14, 2Cor. 11:2-4)

*Please note that the oral traditions which were ADDED to the law given to Moses were the VERY things that Jesus went AGAINST during His earthly ministry. (e.g. Legalistic things such as counting one's steps on the Sabbath, forbidding Jesus Himself to HEAL on the Sabbath, rituals such as hand washing before eating, etc., and also obeying the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it.) That is not to say that the people Jesus criticized were personally responsible for all of those traditions, but they adhered to them, placed burdens on others that they hypocritically did not carry themselves, and exalted the traditions above God's own words, adding to them. See Matt. 5:20, 9:10-17, 15:1-20, 16:12, Matt. 23, Luke 11:37-44, Mark 7:1-23, Acts 15:10-11. Not even Jesus kept the Sabbath to their satisfaction! (Matt. 12:1-14, Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-6, Luke 6:1-10, 14:1-6, John 9:14-41) Jesus pointed out that the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around, and that He is LORD of the Sabbath. He also said that we have ONE Teacher ("Rabbi"). (Matt. 23:8-10, John 13:13)

When they said that Jesus "taught with authority, not as their scribes," that refers to the fact that their scribes didn't even agree with each other. (Matt. 7:28-29) They questioned what the Scriptures said, contradicting both the Scriptures and each other. They enjoyed the attention and power they received from being the "go-to" person on how to please God, but they thought He wanted rituals instead of truth and spirit. (Matt. 23:5-7, Luke 12:1, 15:1-2, 16:14-15, John 12:19, 12:42-43, Luke 18:9-14, Deut. 30:6, Rom. 2:29, Isa. 1:10-23, 29:13, 66:2, Mark 7:6-9, Matt. 15:7-9, Amos 5:21-27, Hos. 6:6, Matt. 9:13, 12:7, Psa. 51:17, John 4:23-24, 6:63, Titus 1:10-16, 1Tim. 1:3-11, Rom. 10:1-13) The Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes (lawyers/teachers of the law) tried repeatedly to "trip up" the Son of God, and to have Him killed. (Matt. 12:14, 19:3-9, 22:15-32, Mark 3:6, 10:2, Luke 6:11, John 11:57) These were people who AT THAT TIME felt that their traditions trumped God's written word as well as His Son's spoken words. They recognized that He was talking about them in the Parable of the Tenants, but instead of repenting, they grew more determined! (Matt. 21:33-44, 45-56, Mark 12:1-11, 12-13, Luke 20:9-18, 19-20) They even sought to kill Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead - and what about Stephen? (John 12:9-11, Acts 7:54-60) Sadly, MANY people today are still of that same mindset, and will be until God unblinds them after the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. (Rom. 11:25-36, 2Cor. 3:14-17, 4:4)

Remember, this is NOT about there being anything wrong with being a Jew. We believers are "Jews" and "children of Abraham" through faith by grace, grafted into Israel's "olive tree." (Gal. 3:7, 3:28-29, 4:31, 1Pet. 3:6 - children of Sarah, Rom. 2:28-29, Rom. 4:16-17, 11:17-25) But why would anyone want to follow the historical traditions (which Jesus criticized them for) observed and passed down by people who rejected and hated Him, calling for His crucifixion for claiming to be who He WAS, even after all of the miracles they saw Him perform (and yet demanded more)? (Matt. 15:7-9, Mark 7:6-9, John 11:47, 12:37) Did you know that some say that people who study the Talmud receive a greater blessing than those who study the Torah? (But see Rev. 1:3, 22:7 instead.) How on earth can anyone claim to know God and think that He would exalt the words of mere men above those of His Son (which include those of the inspired Scriptures)? (2Tim. 3:16-17, Jam. 1:21) And for that matter, how can ANYONE deny that God HAS a Son, when He is mentioned repeatedly in the Torah? (Prov. 30:4-6, Psa. 2:12, Isa. 9:6-7)

related (to the verse at the top about beasts):

But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. Jude 1:10-16

But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 2 Peter 2:12-14

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:21-22 (See all of Psa. 37 and Psa. 73.)

Please also see the article I wrote, entitled "In Defense of Paul." (Click on the "free PDF downloads" link. The article will be one of the last in the list.)