By reading the Book of Ecclesiastes one sees readily the inconsistencies in it. Let us quote a few passages to show this. “A wise man’s heart is in his right side. A fool’s is on his left” (Eccl. 10:7). Eccl. 9:11 teaches that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding nor, yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happenth to them all.” This teaches that all things happen by chance, which is false doctrine. Another inconsistent quote is Eccl. 7:16. “Be not righteous over much: neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thy self.” The Jehovah’s Witnesses proclaim that the above pertains to “self-righteousness.” Instead of this it shows the false theories of men in the book itself which is faulty in many places. To say that we should not be righteous or wise for thereby we destroy our selves, is not true. (See their tract, Watchtower, Jan. 15, 1953, p. 62.) Eccel. 7:27-28 is another passage that is inconsistant: “(Who pleaseth God) . . . One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found.” This does not say much for women according to the preacher. This same view of women is given in the Jewish Talmud. (Arch S. Reynolds, Minor Sects in the Light of Mormonism [Art City Publishing Company, 1955], 43)
Further Reading on "soul sleep"/"mortalism," etc:
Response to Douglas V. Pond on Biblical and LDS Anthropology and Eschatology
