I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” (Ecclesiastes 2:1–2)
The slogan of the strictly secular lifestyle can be reduced to six single-syllable words: “If it feels good, do it.” These words may not appear in bold, bronze letters, but they are nevertheless sandwiched between the lines of our advertisements and hidden within the script of our commercials. Sometimes they are openly stated, but more often than not they are subliminal, placed there by those who author our books, compose our music, design our clothing, publish our magazines, direct our films, and write our plays . . . “If it feels good, do it.”
King Solomon was looking under the heavens to find happiness without God. In the first chapter of his journal, he tried educational stimulation and a measure of scientific exploration, and both left him empty. Surely there’s got to be more in life than this! So he decided to pursue another course, to scratch some itches that have been there all his life, deep down in the eros zone.
Solomon says to himself what the waitress says when she serves you that delicious meal—“Enjoy.” “I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.’ And behold, it too was futility” (2:1 NASB). He didn’t beat around the bush when it came time to express his evaluation of it, did he? It was just another empty experience!
Solomon tells us to begin with that it isn’t all it was cracked up to be. Frankly, I appreciate such honesty. Erotic sensuality has deceived us long enough!
Will every young person hearing these words please listen to Solomon rather than the hype from our times? Will the novice, the inexperienced, the virgin, the person who has not yet been scarred by that journey . . . will you hear, ahead of time, the truth rather than a lie? Equally important, will you be mature enough to heed it?
Solomon, who trafficked in it and lived to tell us about it, is going to save us months, even years of heartache if we will only heed what he says. Not some present-day, wild-eyed prophet of doom, but the wisest and richest man who ever lived is telling us the truth about illicit sex, about alcohol, drugs, the occult, and all the things that appeal to our erotic desires. Common sense says we’d be wise to listen.
