For his exploration into hedonism, Solomon admits in Ecclesiastes 2:10, “And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.”

Jordan explains, “Now, that’s the Playboy philosophy—‘We don’t believe in censorship; just put it out there! It’s okay, just hang pictures of naked people all around. It’s no big deal. Why, if you don’t want to look at it, turn it off; don’t buy it!’

“But anybody who’s ever lived knows why God told Israel, when they went into Canaan, to destroy the pictures the heathen had let abound. It was lascivious, pornographic art; the equivalent of photographs at the time. You get rid of that because it’s debasing; it’s desensitizing. But the philosophy of hedonism is just, ‘Whatever you want to do, do it.’

*****

Only ten verses later, Solomon laments, “Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
[21] For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
[22] For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
[23] For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.”

Jordan explains, “Solomon’s saying, ‘I just became the biggest pessimist you ever saw.’ Now, you wouldn’t think that’d be a philosophy but it is. It’s an organized philosophy with people who teach it in schools that promote it.”

*****

In Ecclesiastes 2:24, Solomon determines, “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour.”

This, of course, represents the Epicureans in their own motto of, “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

*****

The philosophy of egotism can be found one verse later, with Solomon reasoning, “For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?”

He goes on, “For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God.”

Jordan says, “You see what Solomon’s saying about himself? He’s saying, ‘I’m good. You know why? Because I’m wise. God gave me this just kuz . . . and them dudes over there they’re sinners and they didn’t get any of it.’

“That’s evaluating the good and the bad—deciding what’s good and what’s bad on the basis of the end justifying the means. In philosophy, that’s called pragmatism.”

*****

The classic verse of, “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again,” is Solomon examining the notion, “There’s no difference between anybody. Everybody goes to the same place.”

Jordan says, “In philosophy, that’s called nihilism. It’s the belief, ‘Everybody came from the same thing. We all came from monkeys, or whatever it is, and we’re all going to go to the same place—the grave—and in between you’re just alive.’

“I heard this guy the other night on the radio. He’s a great big, important philosopher at the University of Chicago and he said, ‘Well, why would you worry about death and where you’re going to go when you die? Why worry about where you are 200 years from now. Are you worried about where you were 200 years in the past? Does it bother you? Are you worried about where you were in 1750? No, well why would you worry about where you’re going to be in 2250? I mean, all go to one place—all are of the dust and all return to the dust again.’

“You know what the problem is with that question? You know why you’re not worried about where you were in 1750? You didn’t exist! You weren’t! You know why you’ve gotta worry about where you’ll be in 2250? Because you’re still going to exist! You are and always will be! That’s why it’s a problem.

“But see, he didn’t believe that. His frame of philosophy, his point of reference, his worldview is, ‘All go to one place. All are of the dust and all return back to the dust and life is just the transition from one dust pile to the next dust pile.’ ”

*****

In identifying pantheism, Solomon concludes, “Concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
[19] For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.”

Jordan reasons, “You go out on the Northwest Coast where the logging industry is and those people are very in tune to environmentalism. The tree-huggers world is out there. It’s a great issue in their politics, their economy and everything else that’s done.

“They’re people pushing it and they believe just this: ‘Why man has no preeminence over the beast of the field. You’re just another evolutionary creature. You’re just another animal out there and why you should you take advantage of these poor, helpless animals that can’t do these things.’

“Now, man rapes the environment where he goes. Everywhere and anywhere any human goes to do progress we live junk behind. I understand that. We sent people to the moon and left beer cans and cigarette butts and gum wrappers. We left a Rover, or two or three. We left golf balls, flags, poles. Millions of dollars of junk is up there and that’s all it is—junk.

“Euell Gibbons used to say, ‘Go out in nature and take only pictures and leave only footprints.’ We didn’t do that up there. That’s the nature of man. See, that’s part of our fallen nature.

“That’s the destructive nature of man and that stuff needs to be curbed and checked, but the fact is there is a whole lot of difference between a man and a spotted owl. But that isn’t what that verse said. So, when you hear people talking like that, just remember it’s Ecclesiastes 3:19 and it’s just another form of pantheism.

*****

Capitalism comes into play in Ecclesiastes 5:13 when Solomon observes, “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.”

Jordan says, “This is a great American philosophy. You know what the basic principle of capitalism is? You got to have money to make money, and to make money you’ve got to spend money; you can’t hoard it up. Solomon says if you want to be wise and not hurt by money, don’t just keep it stored up.

*****

In Ecclesiastes 5:11 is a description of altruism, or the belief that things aren’t of any value except if they’re used for the good. Solomon writes, “When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?”

*****

Ecclesiastes 6:2 presents an expression of socialism: “A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.”

*****

Stoicism is defined in Ecclesiastes 7:3: “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” Jordan explains, “The stoic says, ‘Grin and bear it because the worst it gets, the better off it’s gonna make you. There’s value in all that stuff.’ ”

*****

Ecclesiastes 11:8 is an illustration and basic statement of Kierkegaardian existentialism: “But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.”

*****

It’s in chapter 12 that Solomon concludes from all his findings, “What you’re looking for ain’t out there. You’re only going to find it in God.”

Jordan reasons, “When Solomon says, ‘Remember thou thy Creator in the days of thy youth,’ he’s not just saying, ‘Be a Creation Scientist.’ When your Bible talks about remembering God as the Creator . . . You remember when we were studying Job and I tried to show you God spoke to Job, saying, ‘Trust me as a faithful Creator. I got a plan. I made creation. Look at how I made it, Job. See what I did. Everything is done in a plan.’ ”