Life and Death

In Ecclesiastes (圣经“传道书”) 3:1 & 11, it says:

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven... He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

"万事都有定期，天下万务都有定时... 他使万事各按其时，成为美好；他又把永恒的意识放在人的心里；虽然这样， 人还是不能察觉神自始至终的作为。"

I had studied this topic and wrote about it in my dissertation (2005). Recently I came across a Chinese book written by 张祥志, who explains these two verses of Ecclesiastes in a similar way. Let me quote & share it with you:

神创造人的时候给人“定时”的限制， 但同时又将“永恒感”放在人心里，让人有完美的渴望。在这“定时”与“永恒”，“限制”与“ 完美”的结合下，人就成了一种很矛盾的个体，他既有完美的渴望，但得不到这完美，因为他同时有定时的限制...。 这“永恒“与“定时”的差距产生得无奈感，传道书称之为“空虚”。

神在人生命中创造了这“永恒“与“定时”之间所产生的“空虚”， 目的就是要提醒人：人永远不是创造主，人不能掌管一切，人要学习尊重神是生命的主宰，这叫做“敬畏神”。

I believe that there's an order of things. Man needs to recognize his role. God gives man the idea of eternity (永恆) and he also gives man set time (定時) so that man may understand his limitation (限制) and his role as the creation (受造物) not the Creator (创造者).

While the Book of Ecclesiastes implies the roles of the Creator and the creations, elsewhere in the Bible, the loving relationship of Father and son/daughter is used to depict God and man.

神爱世人，甚至把他的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信他的，不至灭亡，反得永生。 约翰福音 3:16
凡接受他的，就是信他名的人，他就赐给他们权利，成为　神的儿女。 约翰福音 1:12