Many of you will recognize the name John Piper. He may be most well known for his book, Desiring God. You may not be aware of the subtitle, however; Mediatations of a Christian Hedonist."Christian Hedonism" is a controversial label, to be sure. In using it, Piper contends that we should pursue happiness above all else.
"By Christian Hedonism, I do not mean that our happiness is the highest good. I mean that pursuing the highest good will always result in our greatest happiness in the end. But almost all Christians believe this. Christian Hedonism says more, namely, that we should pursue happiness, and pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God - that's what makes Christian Hedonism controversial." (Piper, 1995)
To be fair, Piper acknowledges there is only one way to achieve lasting happiness. Even Christian Hedonists “recognize that obeying God is the only route to final and lasting happiness.” (Piper, 2006)
In the end, Piper is right that we should find joy, fulfillment, and contentment in Christ. But my reading of Piper is that he is overstating his case to make a point. Consider two more quotes.
"As Christian Hedonists we know that everyone longs for happiness. And we will never tell them to deny or repress that desire. It is never a problem to want to be satisfied." (Piper, 2006)
"Christian Hedonism teaches that the desire to be happy is God-given and should not be denied or resisted but directed to God for satisfaction. Christian Hedonism does not say that whatever you enjoy is good. It says that God has shown you what is good and doing it ought to bring you joy (Micah 6:8). And since doing the will of God ought to bring you joy, the pursuit of joy is an essential part of all moral effort. If you abandon the pursuit of joy (and thus refuse to be a Hedonist, as I use the term), you cannot fulfill the will of God." (Piper, 1983)
And finally, when asked about the relationship between holiness and happiness, Piper contends that one cannot be truly holy unless he is truly happy. (DG Staff, 2006)
(Italics are original. Boldface is my emphasis.)
I’m not sure what to make of all this from Piper. In the end, it may not be fair to have to choose ONE aspect of the Christian life that is more important than another. They all influence each other and are interrelated. But I do wonder…… if I did have to choose ONE thing to promote as the ULTIMATE goal of the Christian life, what would it be? Piper has given us his answer. I’m not sure I agree.
Part 2 is coming later. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Posts
9 comments:
Jesus was fully "Holy" but happy? Seeing the sinfulness and pain that people lived during his reign on earth..I don't think "happy" was a word he would have used. Knowing the the "will" of God the Father and knowing His purpose gave His life peace and purpose but "happy"....no too simple of a word and a emotion that is not lofty. Happy denotes a life that perhaps is easy and we like easy but a life to strive for? Again I think not. "Happy comes in moments and on occasions but joy and peace comes from knowing the Lord and that is what causes a person to be Holy.
I have read this book a few times and glanced through it many more. From my understanding, Piper's main point in using the words "hapiness, hedonist" was to re-direct our thinking from carnal man to incarnate God. We live in a Hedonistic society where everything is done for the pleasure of one's self. The Christian Hedonist does things for the purpose of pleasing God. Or focus is shifted from what do I desire but what does God desire. 'Anonymous' wrote that Jesus wouldn't have used the word happy, and even questions if Jesus was happy. I belive He was happy and that His happiness was found in His obedience. Happy doesn't always mean easiness or laughter. Happiness is the place of rest, contentness, and peace. When Piper is talking about Desiring God- this is what he is talking about. Finding the "happy" place where we bring God glory.
Afterdarkness,
You have some good thoughts. But we might have a different interpretation of Piper. You read Piper as saying "The Christian Hedonist does things for the purpose of pleasing God."
But I read Piper as saying "The Christian Hedonist lives the Christian life because it brings the most happiness to themselves."
Or put another way, "The Christian Hedonist does things to please God, but the only proper motive for donig them is because those are the only things that bring true happiness."
Piper says that the pursuit of our own happiness is the appropriate motivation for being obedient and faithful. Piper hates anything done out of duty, for example.
I'll acknowledge I could be misinterpreting Piper. I don't think I am, though. His own words are pretty clear. I'll go back in my original post and highlight some of his words in boldface.
In the end, I think Piper would say that THE hallmark of the Christian life is a life of happiness. For him, happiness is both the ultimate motive for living for God and is the ultimate outcome of living for God.
I like your last statement. I will say I may have misinterpreted Piper too. I will go back a re-read Desiring God. Some of this could be do to what we define happiness. I do think that Piper does want people to persure joy and their own personal happiness but through God. When Piper says
"the pursuit of joy is an essential part of all moral effort. If you abandon the pursuit of joy (and thus refuse to be a Hedonist, as I use the term), you cannot fulfill the will of God." (Piper, 1983)and that we should pursue happiness, and pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God - that's what makes Christian Hedonism controversial." (Piper, 1995) I cannot argue that he isn't talking about personal joy. However, our personal joy is something that God does desire. Now this "joy" comes in all shapes and sizes. I think ultimatly Piper is striving to change how we view God. We as Christians seem to be questioning God all the time. I do think it is ok from time to time to ask questions of God but not to question God. This is the life that Desiring God is trying to achieve. A life in which his/her happiness is focused on God so much that joy is found in everything. Sex, art, music, words, nature, life, pain, hunger, death. After having the honor of visiting with him for about 10 min. and from reading his books and listening to his sermons, this has become more clear to me. In fact it is how I personaly believe, and this may be why I read Piper different but we may believe that same. I do think that this book which was origianlly written in the 1980's is our look into the person of John Piper and how he changed from a hedonistic christian to a Christian Hedonist.
Afterdarkness,
"However, our personal joy is something that God does desire."
Agreed. But Piper would say that our personal joy is what God desires MOST.
I'm not as smart as Piper. But I'm still not sure I'm with him on this one.
I'm not sure about that one either.
His famous quote is "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him" maybe that is it. I don't know.
Aaron,
I have read a great deal of Piper's work including Desiring God. You said,
In the end, I think Piper would say that THE hallmark of the Christian life is a life of happiness. For him, happiness is both the ultimate motive for living for God and is the ultimate outcome of living for God.
I think perhaps you are misunderstanding Piper here. I don't think Piper would say the hallmark of the Christian life is a life of happiness. He would say it is a life of happiness in God. I think Piper is assuming that people pursue their own happiness as a default position of human nature (thus the term hedonist). Piper is saying that our quest for happiness finds its end in God. The hallmark of true Christianity is finding our happiness (perhaps a better word is pleasure) in its only genuine source - God Himself.
This is not a pursuit of pleasure for pleasure's sake. It is a pursuit of pleasure to the glory of God because we realize that true pleasure is found in God alone.
I have to admit the first time I read Piper, I had to read and re-read some paragraphs until I understood his point. Anyway, it is a good topic of conversation. That's my .02 worth.
Thanks for joining the discussion Kelly.
You said, "I don't think Piper would say the hallmark of the Christian life is a life of happiness. He would say it is a life of happiness in God."
This is an important distinction and I agree that this is what Piper is trying to communicate. I'm just still not sure that if I had to choose the one most important characteristic of the Christian life that I would say it is being "happy in God."
Or, to put it another way....
You say, "This is not a pursuit of pleasure for pleasure's sake. It is a pursuit of pleasure to the glory of God..." But if we were to ask what brings God the MOST glory, I'm not sure I would resopnd (like Piper does) that it is a pursuit of pleasure.
You are right, however. This is good conversation. I have learned a lot from Piper. I'm just still struggling with a few of his ideas.
AN
Post a Comment