Recently I’ve been convicted to start maintaining a healthy lifestyle in all aspects of life: spiritually, emotionally and physically.
I have neglected all three of these aspects at different points of my life and one thing I can safely say from experience is that neglecting one will negatively affect the other two. Your spiritual, emotional, and physical components are all intertwined so that if one component is affected, all are. It saddens me when I see a Christian who strives to live a spiritually pure life but doesn’t take care of his body. Job is a good example of a guy who learned the hard way how much his physical life influenced his faith. Would it have been easier for Job to believe that God was good if his physical status was in good condition? Scientific studies have proved over and over again that when we are physically healthy we feel better. When we feel better it is easier to spiritually and emotionally strengthen ourselves.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. Ecc 3:12-13
Christian hedonism is the somewhat controversial doctrine which can be traced back to the theologian Johnathan Edwards. It has been made popular within many evangelical circles due to John Piper who summarizes this philosophy by stating “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”.
It’s the genius of God’s creation to make Himself supreme while satisfying us in that supremacy. So that our happiness and God’s glory do not compete since our happiness is in His glory, and enjoying God’s glory makes God’s glory all the more glorious.
One of Jonathan Edwards resolutions was the following “Resolved, To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of.”
CS Lewis states that: “It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”
This does not mean that out happiness is the highest good, rather that pursuing the highest good will always ultimately result in our greatest happiness.
Now, those who disagree will many times claim that we should do the good because it is good and that ones motivation to seek joy or reward corrupts the act. Immanual Kant the philosopher argued against Christian Hedonism by stating “An action is moral, 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.)”
A good and righteous 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). Kant loves a disinterested giver. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)
So what position do you take on the issue? Are you a Christian Hedonist?
Some of these points are taken from here on Piper’s Blog
Edwards Quote: Resolution #22 in Edwards’ Memoirs in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1974), p. xxi.
CS Lewis’ Quote: From a letter to Sheldon Vanaukehn in Vanauken’s book, A Severe Mercy (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), p. 189.
Immanuel Kant’s Quote: Ayn Rand, For the Intellectual (New York: Signet, 1961), p. 32.
1. Register for the mission trip to Haiti.
2. Apply for RA.
3. Go evangelizing at least once a week.
4. Finish any and all client work.
5. 4.0 gpa.
6. Engage with scripture much more frequently.
7. Gain a deeper understanding of the kalem cosmological argument.
Just finished this up, a tribute to the greatest cartoon series ever.
let me know what you think
Note: If you click on the video it will take you to the vimeo page where it’s in HD.
I seem to be hearing a lot of talk about it being impossible to prove the nonexistence of something. It seems to me that their are multiple ways to prove the nonexistence of non existent objects/beings. For example if any object/being is contradictory by virtue of its existence (married bachelor, or circular square) it is proof of its nonexistence. Also why can’t I prove that (for example) no 10 year old US senators exist? If it is possible to prove that certain objects or beings do not exist shouldn’t it then be possible (albeit difficult) to prove that god does not exist.
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy which deals with the nature of knowledge. What does that mean? well epistemology basically asks questions about knowledge. What is it? Is it possible to acquire it? What types of things can I know? How do I know what I know? and so on. These questions might sound trivial, but deep thinking is required if we are to soundly answer any of them.
Knowledge is in its most basic form justified true belief, and like everyone else Descartes was just your ordinary philosopher/mathematician/genius trying to show that he was justified in believing what he did. Descartes was not satisfied with dogma, or common beliefs; instead, Descartes wanted 100% certainty that what he believed was justified. To do this he developed a systematic method by which he could doubt everything. If there were beliefs which could not be doubted, then they could serve as a foundation for more beliefs until everything that was true, was justified. The Cartesian Method of Doubt relies heavily on the epistemic closure principle which states that I know that X happens, and I know that X happening entails Y happening, then I know that Y happens. By using this principle Descartes makes what was a pretty profound argument for skepticism. In his first meditation descartes states that: P1. If I know that the external world exists than I know I am not dreaming. P2. I do not know that I am not dreaming. C. I do not know that the external world exists. (side note: Descartes is not arguing that the external world does not exist, he is merely pointing out that we can doubt its existence.) Now you can substitute many things for his example of dreaming. In fact, Descartes himself gives similar arguments using different examples (the Evil Demon, Distorted perception ect.). Basically to understand his argument all you need to do is understand that since we do not know that we are not dreaming, how can we know the world around us is real? Life could be illusory and we would never know it. Since dreams distort our perceptions and senses why couldn’t our perception of the external world be a false reality? Using the example of the evil demon: maybe our minds are simply being controlled by a malevolent demon who cruelly decided to give us a false sense of reality. Since we do not know that this is not the case, we do not know that our perception of the external world falls in line with reality.
After he figured out things we cannot know (according to his view of justified true beliefs). Descartes continued his quest for justified belief in his second meditation by finding that in which we can know, and cannot doubt. This is where Descartes uses the famous phrase “cogito ergo sum” roughly translated “I think, therefore I exist” to demonstrate his main point. Descartes cannot rationally doubt his own existence. For if there is doubting, then their is one doing this doubting. He does not try prove that he exists, only that it is irrational to doubt his existence. If he does not exist, than their is nothing doing the doubting ect.
Now that he had this foundational belief which could not be rationally doubted, Descartes set out to build on this foundation. Most philosophers agree that he was unsuccessful in his later meditations, trying in one to prove that God exists, and that this God (being omni-benevolent) would not give us a false sense of reality. Regardless of the soundness of his later works Descartes’ work serves as a great foundation for skepticism, and epistomology in general.
Went to a fantastic concert last night at the University.
Reilly, an alternative rock band had a unique sound which was partly due to the fact that they incorporated violin into their songs which made their music almost symphonic. They have some amazing talent and well thought out lyrics.
Here is their newest music video, a great song called Sunlight
Next Lecrae got up and knocked the concert out of the park.
Lecrae’s songs are sermons put to music. Well, not really, but they are very sound as far as doctrine is concerned, and his beats are out of this world. He gave his testimony and shared the gospel at the end which was really awesome to hear. The guy has serious talent and he stays so humble. He gives God the full credit for all that he does which was really cool to see.
Here is his latest video “Dont Waste Your Life” based off of on of John Pipers books.
