FAQ #6 Isn’t Christian Hedonism just another way of saying to God, “I love you”?

Question 6.

Isn’t Christian Hedonism just another way of saying to God, “I love you”?

Answer 6.

Let us use the earthly analogy of marriage to address this question. I have two possible options of what to say to my wife (actually, the choices are infinite, but for the purposes of the illustration, we will restrict ourselves to two).

Option 1) I love you; therefore I will live to please you alone, even sacrificing my life and my earthly pleasures if need be, so as to ensure you are cared for and all your needs are met.

Option 2) I love pleasure; and I have chosen you as the vehicle through which all my pleasure will be derived, and only through you will I pursue any pleasure, and you will satisfy my every desire so as to give me the pleasure for which I live, and any loving or beneficial thing that I do for you will only be done contingent on the expectation that I will somehow benefit from that action by experiencing pleasure from it.

If your wife thinks that Option 2 is as selfish as my wife thinks that it is and if she thinks that Option 1 is the truly loving position to take (in fact she is still waiting for me to get down on one knee, gaze up into her eyes and reread Option 1) then imagine praying Option 2 to a jealous God. If a wife wants to hear you say, “I love you and will live to please you” do you not think that God Himself wishes to hear the same? Do you really believe that God wants you to pray to Him and say, “Dear God, I love pleasure, therefore I only worship You to get pleasure in You, so please me in all that I do”?

Christian Hedonism is not simply another way of saying back to God, “I love you”. In fact, I am not certain that the philosophy of Christian Hedonism is genuinely founded on a love for God so much as it is a love for pleasure. It says back to God, “I love my pleasure most of all and I am going to use You to get more of it for me.” This is a distinctly different message than “love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and strength.”

“I came to see that it is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure to be had in him.” — Dr. John Piper, Desiring God

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Corinthians 4:5, 10-13; 5:14,15)

Hedonism: living for my pleasure derived from God. Love: living for Jesus’ sake because He is the Lord. You choose under which philosophy you will pray to God.

FAQ #5 Don’t you have to choose between “hedonism” and “joyless duty”?

Question 5.

Don’t you have to choose between “hedonism” and “joyless duty”?

Answer 5.

“Joyless duty” as a lifestyle for a true Christian is an impossibility. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit Who works in every believer. God calls us to express our joy on occasions just as He calls us to express our sorrow on other occasions.While the Bible does not establish a means to measure the joy level within us, it also does not call upon us to maintain a certain level of joy. For most Christians they will experience joys and sorrows as a matter of course throughout their lives. This is the state of the faithful as is described from Old Testament to New. Jesus was Himself called the “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3).

If a person were truly incapable of experiencing any joy in God at all, doubtless they have yet to repent of their sins. “Joyless duty” is the extreme case reserved for those who have never been born again. They think they serve God, but how can they have the joy that comes from gratitude when they have received no salvation for which to say, “Thank you”? Such a person need not elevate joy as their priority pursuit, but rather elevate sorrow for having sinned, calling out to God to forgive them.

As a person goes through life, some duties will be more difficult than others. Placing a sinning believer under church discipline is in so many facets a joyless duty, for the church and for the sinner. A momentary lack of joy (for however long “momentary” might be, which could be quite long as in Hosea’s case) during the faithful performance of one’s duties is not a cause for concern.

James 1 tells us that trials such as these must be “counted as all joy”, that is, they must be imagined to add up to joy as if in a spiritual bank account against which some day one may finally be able to make a withdraw. Trials go on deposit today, and one day in the future, joy is withdrawn. James does not say trials are all joy right now, so, we must count on them becoming joy in the future because trials drive us to deeper holiness. In the case of church discipline, eventually the sinner will repent and everyone will rejoice together–the investment in sorrow will reap a tremendous dividend in future joy, or so we must hope with regard to those we love.

Just as a lifestyle of “joyless duty” is the extreme case known only to the unsaved, “hedonism” is the opposite extreme also reserved only for the unsaved. A hedonist lives for their own pleasure, how, or in whom that pleasure may be derived, is irrelevant. Hedonists live for themselves. A Christian is incapable of living for their own pleasure according to 2 Corinthians 5:14,15.

As Christians we live to love Christ and are not controlled by our own zest for pleasure. We are motivated by love for God, love for our neighbors, sorrow over sin, zeal for God’s glory, and compassion for those who have not yet been saved. So many motivations pull the Christian along the path of righteousness. Joy, and even finding pleasure in such things as Bible study are good and natural results of living for Christ, and even anticipating rewards from God for holy behavior is one part of the grand scheme of motivations and encouragements that God has provided.

However, hedonism, a lifestyle dedicated to living for one’s own pleasure, is a virtual impossibility for the Christian. Even if all his pleasures were wholesome ones, eventually the Christian will be motivated to action by guilt, by sorrow, by fear, by embarrassment, by compassion…and as a result, all of a sudden, he is no longer a hedonist because he placed someone else’s interests in front of his own. Not only is hedonism an impossible state for a Christian to achieve, it is not even a desirable one. For hedonism is a “living for one’s own pleasure” and we live to please God, not ourselves.

“Joyless duty” is not a possible lifelong state for a Christian. Because the Holy Spirit is working in every one of Christ’s children, and joy is a fruit of the Spirit, a believer will experience joy as he is prompted by the Spirit. “Joyless duty” is the domain and exclusive estate of the not-yet-saved. It is also a strawman argument used by some in the church to judge the secret hearts and minds of other believers who are the servants of Christ. Such judging is a sign of spiritual immaturity by those lacking the knowledge that God alone can judge the mind and the heart of any person. Such judging is also a certain sign of pride and a spirit of elitism in the one doing the judging, as they have seated themselves in the very judgement seat of the Lord to weigh the hidden hearts of other men.

Similarly, hedonism is an impossible state for a Christian to achieve and maintain. Sooner or later the Christian will find that being motivated by a pursuit to increase his own pleasure (for himself) is outweighed by a concern for others or for an action solely prompted by a pure love for God, and will result in a deed done for God’s benefit above one’s own. When this happens, the Christian will find he is no longer a hedonist and that he has grown even more in his love for Christ. At that time, he will stop living for himself (and his own pleasures exclusively) and will start living for Christ.

Hedonism, like “joyless duty”, is a lifestyle only the unsaved can genuinely experience and sustain. It is utterly insane for us to crave and pursue lifestyles fit only for the enemies of the Lord. Careful students of the Word will find God calls His children to lives dedicated to loving service punctuated by joy, sorrow, peace, carrying the burdens of others, enduring trials, and painful discipline, but always pursuing love so as to please God. Nowhere will the careful student find a call to hedonism, a call to “joyless duty”, or a call to judge the amount of joy found in the heart of others.

FAQ #4 If “joy” or “pleasure” is not the greatest goal of Christians, what is?

Question 4.

If “joy” or “pleasure” is not the greatest goal of Christians, what is?

Answer 4.

Joy, like any other fruit of the Holy Spirit working in us, is an essential part of the well-balanced Christian life. Deny this, and you deny the Scriptures.However, unlike some other spiritual fruits, joy (and the pursuit of joy) are not called by God “the most important”. We know that love is the most important fruit (1 Thes. 1:3; 5:8, Gal. 5:22, 1 Corinthians 13:13). Even Jesus says the greatest commandment is “to love God” (Mark 12:31).

Hedonism is defined as “to pursue one’s pleasure as their highest priority with all their strength, to the imbalance and displacement of all else”–this is after all why it is called the philosophy of hedonism and not the philosophy of moderation, nor is it called the philosophy of balanced living. If experiencing “joy” is where you find pleasure (as Christian Hedonism says you must) then the spiritual fruit of “joy” becomes your highest priority, to the imbalance and displacement of all other spiritual fruits.

And this is where TheFaithfulWord.org would like the reader to think critically and from a Scriptural standpoint. If God’s Word says the greatest spiritual fruit is “love”, then how firm a foundation is established for replacing love with joy as the highest priority, the goal of life, and the chief duty of man on earth?

The word hedonism does not mean “pleasure is ok if it is balanced against higher and more important priorities”. That simply is not hedonism at all. Attainment of pleasure is the only most important goal–that is what makes it hedonism.

Similarly, Christian Hedonism does not mean “joy is ok if it is balanced against higher priorities, other more important spiritual fruits, and greater commandments.” That is again simply not hedonism.

The pursuit of joy is not a higher pursuit than the spiritual fruit of “faith” (Gals.5:22) because Paul tells us this when he says, “there remain three, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest is love.” If Paul’s words are true, then is it proper for Christian Hedonism to elevate joy to reign supreme over love and over faith?

If for example, the Scriptures call us to weep, to cry, and to be sorrowful (as they do), does it mean that we are to become “clinical depressionists”? No, of course not. We are called to balance sorrow alongside joy, faith, and hope, but at all times, to understand that love is our highest priority, our greatest pursuit.

It is this challenge that TheFaithfulWord.org gives to you: Take a biblically discerning look at the Scriptures behind Christian Hedonism. Hold strongly to your legitimate joy in the Lord, but know whether you are called by God’s Word to hedonism, or perhaps called to something even more excellent.

And I show you a still more excellent way.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Pursue love.
(1 Corinthians 12:31b, 13:13, 14:1a)

FAQ #3 Do you believe that the Bible teaches a conflict between pursuing my own pleasure and loving God?

Copyright 2004, 2005 – All rights retained by author

Written by: Craig W. Booth

Question 3.

Do you believe that the Bible teaches a conflict between pursuing my own pleasure and loving God?

Answer 3.

No, I do not believe there is any such conflict in the Bible. It is my understanding from specific Old Testament passages that God created man, and all living creatures, to glorify Himself. In doing so, He gave man a mission (a duty) on Earth, and that duty is to “fear God and keep His commandments”, and to do so in such a manner that man does not impugn God?s glorious name.

Serving God by doing his duty is a joyful and light burden for man compared with servitude to sin. As a result of obediently and dutifully serving God and delighting in all God?s ways, man will be rewarded beyond all earthly description and far in excess of any compensatory value he may think he has “earned” by his service. Obedient and loving service results in future rewards and a present promise of hope of eternal life. The present promise of hope results in incalculable joy for the one who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, there is no conflict between lovingly serving God and the rewards God showers on those who love Him. Only when man begins to think he deserves “more happiness” or “more pleasures” and puts his own interests ahead of loving God or ahead of the interests of his fellow believers and neighbors does the conflict begin to show its ugly and selfish head. This is why it is so critical to understand that man?s highest duty, his first priority, his greatest command, is to love and fear God, and then to love his neighbors as much as he loves his own person.

Here is a test by which one can determine if they are selfishly putting their own interests before those of God and their neighbors. Ask and answer honestly which you serve with your highest priority:

� Are you motivated to serve God because He is awesome, because He is God, because you return to Him the love He has shown you, AND because He will reward you with salvation?

� Or, do you serve Him only for His pleasurable rewards?

One answer demonstrates true love. The other demonstrates unabashed selfishness which is the antithesis of love.

The Bible keeps love for God and the pursuit of one?s own pleasures and rewards from becoming a conflict by establishing a pecking order, by making one a higher priority than the other. Pursuing love for God is our highest priority. This is the equivalent of seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness–love for God involves the fear of God as King over all, and obedience to God which John says is the same as love for Christ. Pursuing love for our neighbors is our second highest priority. That all men love pleasures and rewards is an assumption that Scripture makes, and as such, the pursuit of pleasure is not listed as a priority pursuit in the Bible. In this way, the love for pleasing rewards is made subservient to the higher priority of loving and obeying God.

Because the love and pursuit of pleasure is not a biblical priority, given that it is lower than seeking first the Kingdom of God and it is also lower than pursuing love, there is no conflict of priorities between loving God and loving pleasure.

The conflict arises only when someone contradicts the Bible by saying, “I will make my love of pleasure and the pursuit of good feelings the thing that I use all my strength chasing.” For then he is in conflict with God’s edict, “love the Lord your God will all your strength.” God created the pursuit of love for God as our highest priority, love for our neighbors as our second highest priority, and the pursuit of pleasure as something so insignificant that it ranks as less important than pursuing faith and hope. No, there is no conflict in the Bible between loving God and loving pleasure.