Ad Gloriam Dei

"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." - 1 Corintians 10:31

"Let us pursue the things which make for peace and those by which one may edify another"- Romans 14:19

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." - Proverbs 27:17

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Christian Hedonism and John Piper

Christian Hedonism sounds a bit dodgy doesn't it? I'd heard about John Piper advocating this, but hadn't bothered looking into it. A recent discussion with a brother in England has made me investigate it and, as I suspected, it looks okay. I'm going to listen to the sermons here and understand a bit more. It sounds just what we need, although he should've named it something else!

An overview can be found here.

7 Comments:

Blogger Timothy said...

Yes, I think the goal is to name a book something catchy, in order to catch your attention.

Although, I think the name is "Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist"

Blessings

Wednesday, September 06, 2006 5:53:00 pm  
Blogger Timothy Davis said...

What he has done is to make people suspicious of him! A lot of people pick-up on sound bites, judge someone immediately and don't bother to do the research.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006 9:07:00 pm  
Blogger Kevin said...

I have to say it makes me suspicious and I don't know anything about the author . It is difficult to understand why anyone would want to associated Christianity with a word which denotes a life devoid of God.

Are the followers of this author called "Christian Libertines"? Will the sequel be called practicing Christian Idolatry?

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 10:48:00 am  
Blogger Timothy Davis said...

As I said, the title isn't helpful as it puts people off. I think it is a rather foolish use of words. He should of called it "seeking pleasure in God". However, the title is technically correct.

Hedonism comes from the Greek for pleasure, and thus means seeking pleasure as the highest good. Christian Hedonism is seeking pleasure in God and in doing His will as the highest good.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 1:31:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The sermons are good. The title maybe is a bit controversial or attention-grabbing, but his theory is that man's chief end is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever - starting now

i.e. God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 5:23:00 pm  
Blogger Timothy Davis said...

Is that Peter Loughridge?

Our forefathers made the distinction between glorifying and enjoying (not glorifying BY enjoying) for a reason. Not all glorifying God is enjoying Him. Nevertheless we do glorify Him by enjoying Him, and we should enjoy glorifying Him. If you get what I mean...

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 8:56:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, Peter Loughridge!

Thursday, September 14, 2006 8:59:00 am  

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