troutdude's discipleblog

5/20/2008 - Christian hedonism.

I started reading John Piper's updated edition of "Desiring God". Although I am not nearly as enamored with every bit of reformed theology as he is, I am enjoying the revitalizing journey into a Christian philosophy and theology of joy. I will post updates on my observations and reactions from time to time. This is a book every Christian ought to examine. Here is what Piper proposes:

Christian Hedonism is a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions:

1. The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.

2. We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead, we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.

3. The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.

4. The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love.

5. To the extent that we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: The pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is:

The chief end of man is to glorify God

enjoying Him forever.

John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, Or.: Multnomah Publishers, 2003), 28.

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