Point-of-View

Epicureans within our nation (and around the world for that matter) recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of Playboy magazine. A liberal media that has repeatedly demonstrated a disdain for biblical morality was more than willing to aid and abet the celebration. Secularists have anointed its founder Hugh Hefner as a moral liberator who single-handedly set in motion the movement to free both male and female Americans from their sexual inhibitions. But there is a dark side to sexual promiscuity that the media seldom reports.

In an op-ed piece published December 17, 2003 titled "The Playboy philosophy at 50," conservative columnist Cal Thomas weighed in on the celebration, and asked: "Where were the stories on venereal diseases, broken marriages and shattered lives of the women who were ‘bunnies’ and ‘playmates’’ in Hefner’s fantasy world?" He added: "The progeny of the Playboy philosophy – which said men did not have to limit their sex drive to their wives but could plunder whatever woman would allow them – is brokenness, depression, addiction and, in some cases, suicide. What Hefner thought would liberate has, in fact, enslaved." He concluded with this observation: "Hefner has said he freed Americans from their uptight attitudes about sex. Given what replaced it, restraint, fidelity, character and chivalry never looked so good." Amen to that!

The student of Scripture is aware that the Playboy philosophy is much older than 50. Three thousand years ago God inspired the playboy of playboys to write the definitive analysis of the hedonistic life, and preserved it for the generations that would follow – including ours.

The man is Solomon; the book is Ecclesiastes. It begins: "The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem" (Eccles. 1:1). If there was ever a man who "had it all" as we often say, Solomon was that man! But as Jesus would later affirm, he found that life does not consist in the abundance of things that a man possesses, including unfettered access to sex. So Solomon’s recurring refrain regarding "things" apart from God is: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (1:2).

In his earlier years, Solomon was the epitome of moral and spiritual virtue. God appeared to him personally on two different occasions, and endowed him with wisdom beyond the purview of mere mortals. But as he grew older, Solomon became intoxicated with power – a power he abused in amassing a sexual harem that consisted of "seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines" (1 Kings 11:3). International prowess coupled with insatiable lust proved to be a lethal mix. These idol-worshipping wives and assorted mistresses were responsible for turning his heart away from God (11:3-4). As a result, the Lord was angry with Solomon because "he kept not that which the Lord commanded (11:9-10).

In the short term, Solomon’s sin cost his son, Rehoboam, the kingdom (11:11-13). In the long term, his sin served as a national example of what not to do. Some 550 years later in his rebuke of the post-exilic Jews, Nehemiah cited Solomon’s sin with these "outlandish women," and physically manhandled some of them to get his point across (Nehemiah 13:25-26). Solomon was a great king whom God blessed in an extraordinary manner, but failure to control his lust for women drove him and his posterity into some cavernous ditches.

Solomon the playboy had a predecessor of sorts who likewise found it well nigh impossible to resist sexual exploits with ungodly women who he found attractive. His name is Samson. It began with a Philistine woman from Timnath that pleased him well, and whom he married (Judges 14:1-4). God in His providence, however, used this occasion for his own purposes to provoke the Philistines. Then it was a harlot in Gaza that was apparently just a one-night stand for Israel’s judge (16:1-3). Again, God worked in spite of Samson’s sexual promiscuity to provoke and punish the Philistines. And finally there was Delilah from the valley or Sorek, with whom he fell in love (16:4). We can see God’s champion walking deeper and deeper into the morass of undisciplined sexual desire. The ill-conceived relationship seduced him to disclose the secret of his strength, and a blinded and humiliated slave he became! Samson discovered the hard way that sweet sexual pleasures can become bitter and deadly poisons if they displease God in the process. Unfortunately, he came to his spiritual and physical senses too late!

The Playboy philosophy as a means to self-improvement is an illusion. It openly advocates disobedience to the revealed will of God, and therefore enslaves its disciples to the baser lusts. It is touted as the good life, but is in reality the pathway to spiritual (and in some cases physical) ruin. If you doubt that statement, just ask a couple of former playboys, who I suppose would give anything to take back those impulsive acts, the wasted years, and their tarnished reputations!

The Pastor’s Pen column by Don Roberts can be found at www.truthonfire.com/pastor'spen/.