Question 31.
You quoted Dr. Piper’s writing well enough, but the quote does not really communicate what he really wanted to say.
Answer 31.
This is similar to the often noted objection, "Dr. Piper did not actually mean what it appears he said", or, "he was actually just using hyperbole to make a point."
Some have told me Dr. Piper really did not mean that experiencing the pleasurable sensation of joy was really the goal of worship, though that is what he appears to have said. Others have told me that Dr. Piper did not really mean that one must become a Christian Hedonist to be saved, though that is what it appears he has written. Still others have told me that he does not actually believe that the pursuit of pleasure is man’s highest calling, even though his writing certainly says this.
To me, this is an odd type of apologetic. Dr. Piper clearly writes that Christian Hedonism is about the pursuit of one’s own pleasure with all one’s strength as one’s highest calling and chief end which is a prerequisite for salvation, yet, those who would adhere to this philosophy of hedonism argue that its founding author did not understand English well enough to write just exactly what he meant by the term. Could it be that he did just miswrite all those concepts? I am unconvinced.
There is another possibility available to us. Perhaps the would-be adherents to hedonism are simply so embarrassed by the actual tenets of the philosophy that they wish that these comments had not been penned, and they simply and desperately desire them to be inaccurate representations of their adopted philosophy.
It must be kept in mind that the philosophy of Christian Hedonism is over 20 years old, and that there have been three re-printings of the book Desiring God (each with edits and new material added), and one publication of a condensed version of Desiring God called The Dangerous Duty of Delight (2001). If the above quotes were genuinely misstatements, written in error, and did not communicate what the author intended to say, they would most surely have been corrected by now.
The quotes stand, they mean what they convey. The philosophy is what it advertises itself to be. Dr. Piper must have meant and understood what he wrote.
If one is going to call themselves a Christian Hedonist, why not gladly embrace the above premises of the philosophy and be done with it? Why deny that the philosophy is what it is? And if one is inclined to feel that the above quotes are simply improper Christian doctrine, then why not gladly abandon the philosophy of Christian Hedonism?
Whatever the case, Dr. Piper wrote what he wrote, he has not modified his stand over the decades, his words are clear, and he has defined the philosophy as it is. Denying he means what he writes does nothing but a disservice to all individuals involved.
