Christian Hedonism

[Sphinx777]

Christian hedonism is a controversial Christian doctrine current in some evangelical circles, particularly those of the Reformed tradition. The term was coined by Reformed Baptist pastor John Piper in his 1986 book Desiring God. Piper summarises this philosophy of the Christian life as "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes the "chief end of man" as "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Piper has suggested that this would be more correct as "to glorify God by enjoying Him forever." Many Christian hedonists point to figures such as Blaise Pascal, Jonathan Edwards, and C. S. Lewis as exemplars of Christian hedonism from the past, before the term was current. Jeremy Taylor once said that "God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy."

Christian hedonism was developed in opposition to the deontology of Immanuel Kant and the Objectivism of Ayn Rand. Piper himself supported Rand's attack on Kantian altruism:

An action is moral, said Kant, only if one has no desire to perform it, but performs it out of a sense of duty and derives no benefit from it of any sort, neither material nor spiritual. A benefit destroys the moral value of an action. (Thus if one has no desire to be evil, one cannot be good; if one has, one can.)
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Lewis, in an oft-quoted passage in his short piece "The Weight of Glory," likewise objects to Kantian ethics:

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and to earnestly hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I suggest that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
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Piper later disagrees with Randian Objectivism and argues:

But not only is disinterested morality (doing good "for its own sake") impossible; it is undesirable. That is, it is unbiblical; because it would mean that the better a man became the harder it would be for him to act morally. The closer he came to true goodness the more naturally and happily he would do what is good. A good man in Scripture is not the man who dislikes doing good but toughs it out for the sake of duty. A good man loves kindness (Micah 6:8) and delights in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2), and the will of the Lord (Psalm 40:8). But how shall such a man do an act of kindness disinterestedly? The better the man, the more joy in obedience.
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Some evangelical Christians object to Christian hedonism's controversial name. It has little historic commonality with philosophical hedonism, however; Piper has stated that a provocative term is "appropriate for a philosophy that has a life changing effect on its adherents." Critics charge that hedonism of any sort puts something (namely, pleasure) before God, which allegedly breaks Ten Commandments' first order: "You shall have no other gods before me." In response, Piper states in Desiring God that to find anything more pleasurable than God is sacrilege, and elsewhere that "By Christian Hedonism, we do not mean that our happiness is the highest good."

 

[dead2self]

Hardcore Christian Hedonist here

They only reason it causes a fuss is the word hedonism. But really, it fits if you just look at what the word means and not the negative connotations we have with it. Piper has developed his theology carefully and it is sound.

I challenge anyone to read or listen to this theology and ignore the word hedonism. Then compare it to the Bible.

 

[bliz]

I'm uncomfortable with the label, but fully agree with the theology. God calls us to a banquet, and some of us are packing to bring our own bread and water.

 

[dayhiker]

I have no problem with Christian hedenism.

To me tho God doesn't garentee pleasure in this world. If we can live in peace we can have that pleasure. But the Christians that are being percequted for Christ and don't have pleasure in their life are just as blessed as those living the good life.

dayhiker

 

[intricatic]

I think it basically misses the point. Christian joy is an expression against all reason in this life, like Joseph trusting in God even while in prison in Egypt, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the furnace. It may or may not find meaning from blessings granted in a physical or quantifiable sense except as a direct result of something more important happening to bring about that blessing.

The basis of hedonism is that the experience is more important than the thing being experienced, or that only pleasure itself is good, in and of itself. To merge that line of thinking with Christian theology is to debase Christian theology.

 

[Tissue]

I am a Christian. I'm also quite depressed, and have little happiness in life.

My question is, how could anyone wish not to be happy? And, if they were to wish not to be happy, would not the fulfillment of that wish be, in a way, happiness (that is, the fulfillment of the will)?

 

[intricatic]

I am a Christian. I'm also quite depressed, and have little happiness in life.

My question is, how could anyone wish not to be happy? And, if they were to wish not to be happy, would not the fulfillment of that wish be, in a way, happiness (that is, the fulfillment of the will)?

I don't think anyone would make such a claim. It's when happiness, or the experience of happiness, is an end in itself, rather than the byproduct of some other thing. When you rest your hope on happiness, you can expect to be disappointed. The idea behind Christian hedonism is that we all naturally seek out happiness, as an end in itself, because God created us with an inherent need to find happiness in Him. My objection to that would be based in scripture, as I somehow doubt Ezekiel, for instance, was happy about having to eat bread cooked with human feces (Ezekiel 4:9-10), or that those who desired meat in the desert were happy when God provided it (Numbers 11). It just reminds me too much of the prosperity movement.

 

[dead2self]

The basis of hedonism is that the experience is more important than the thing being experienced, or that only pleasure itself is good, in and of itself. To merge that line of thinking with Christian theology is to debase Christian theology.

In Christian hedonism God is of the ultmiate importance, not the experience. Rather than taking the name and seeing things into it I would encourage you to lok into the theology behind it. John Piper loves God, loves doctrine and loves theology. I have listened to more than 10 years of his preaching and have never heard him debase Christian theology once. In fact, he as an ardent advocate of the supremacy of God and truth in doctrine.

 

[Sphinx777]