The message of Ecclesiastes: fear God in order to turn a vain, empty life into a meaningful life that will enjoy God’s good gifts, and to escape the final judgment.

1. Fear God, for he is sovereign (3:1-15)
2. Fear God, for he will judge us all at the judgment seat of Christ (3:16-22)

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Compatibilism (also known as soft determinism) is the belief that God's predetermination and meticulous providence is "compatible" with voluntary choice. The bible as a whole, and sometimes in specific texts, presupposes or teaches that both of the following propositions are simultaneously true:

1. God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions in such a way that human responsibility is curtailed, minimized, or mitigated.
2. Human beings are morally responsible creatures – they significantly choose, rebel, obey, believe, defy, make decisions and so forth, and they are rightly held accountable for such actions; but this characteristic never functions so as to make God absolutely contingent (that is, secondary; a responder; dependent upon us in some sense).