The Problem of Happiness, Part 2

   As Americans, from womb to tomb, we are ever encompassed by and bombarded with the value dynamics set forth in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
   Moreover, what complicates things all the more these days is that these sacred, American words are most commonly viewed through a relative, postmodern lens. So, in a nutshell, this means that they are up for private, arbitrary interpretation, apart from any ultimate principles or sources.
   Accordingly, during the last several decades, our culture has increasingly embraced postmodern values, and such has led to an observable shift in the typical pursuit of happiness in America. When it comes to the pursuit of happiness, as a people, generally speaking, Americans now tend to look more within (subjectively) and less without (objectively) for an answer to their moment-by-moment problems with happiness. Sadly, often this is even true of conservative, church-going Christians, people who usually appreciate ultimate principles and sources.

   Consequently, as a serious student of the Scriptures, I want to offer my readers another perspective on the problem of happiness. Accordingly, these posts will be rooted in the ultimate propositions of the light of Scripture, the king of truth (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20-21), as well as the light of nature, the queen of truth (Rom 1:20). 

    Finally, I want to address the reason why I've titled these posts, "The Problem of Happiness." This is a play on words from the philosophical world. In the philosophical world, the "problem of evil" is an argument that points to the existence of evil in the world as proof that God does not exist. Moreover, the "problem of pain" is also presented similarly, as yet another philosophical argument against God's existence. Such philosophical views often maintain that the realities of evil and pain in the world cannot possibly be reconciled with the Bible's truths of a good, merciful God who is also omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Similarly, the "problem of happiness," as I define it, is perhaps best captured by this question: If God truly exists, why would He hard-wire human beings to pursue happiness with every breath they take, and then make it seemingly impossible for them to find it and keep it?

    In conclusion, as a foretaste, I want you to consider something that I believe lies at the heart of unraveling such a complicated, philosophical question. Strangely and counterintuitively, in the Scriptures, it is the cross of Christ, in all of its immeasurable depth, meaning, and beauty, that offers the most satisfying answer to the pressing problem of happiness, much like it also provides the most satisfying answer to the knotty problems of evil and pain.                

Note: This post is one in a series of posts entitled, "The Problem of Happiness." Sometime soon I'll post another installment, so be sure to come back and finish reading the series. On Sunday evenings, as part of the ministry of Park Woods Presbyterian Church, I'm currently leading a Bible-study/Fellowship on this topic. These weekly Bible studies are an even deeper look at The Problem of Happiness, so if you are interested in a fuller treatment of this subject, access the more elaborate study notes here: comprehensive "Problem of Happiness" study notes.

The Problem of Happiness, Part 1

   On the one hand, the urgent pursuit of happiness is an intrinsic and irresistible appetite encoded in our DNA as human beings. On the other hand, left to ourselves, we have considerable problems both finding happiness and keeping it. In a nutshell, this is the tension at the heart of the problem of happiness.
   Consequently, we need a life-map to happiness from a Source of wisdom higher than ourselves (Ps 119:105). Otherwise, we may end up like Alice, of Alice in Wonderland fame: thoughtless, directionless, and on the road to nowhere. Even the most intelligent among us gets lost, and no human being is equal to the task of definitively solving the problem of happiness.

Note: This post is one in a series of posts entitled, "The Problem of Happiness." Sometime soon I'll post another installment, so be sure to come back and finish reading the series. On Sunday evenings, as part of the ministry of Park Woods Presbyterian Church, I'm currently leading a Bible-study/Fellowship on this topic. These weekly Bible studies are an even deeper look at The Problem of Happiness, so if you are interested in a fuller treatment of this subject, access the more elaborate study notes here: comprehensive "Problem of Happiness" study notes.  

Intra-Trinitarian Love, the Church's Relational Model and Empowering Source

If God was unipersonal (one person), there would have been no love until he created the angels and human beings. However, if the world was created by a triune, tripersonal God, then relationships of love are what life is all about, defining God Himself and ultimate reality. Hence, God is not merely a participate in loving relationships; loving relationships are an intrinsic part of His eternal being. And, this intra-Trinitarian love is both the relational model and empowering source of love in the church. (Link to: Lesson Audio & Notes)

Heaven & Earth & Me

   This short video is an excellent summary of God's plans and purposes related to the cosmos. In American Christianity, this big picture perspective is, more often than not, found wanting.
   Accordingly, while it may be important for an individual believer to explore what God is doing within his or her personal life (e.g. within an individual believer's personal justification and sanctification), it is equally important for a Christian to explore what God is doing without, in re-creating heaven and earth (Mt 28:18; Col 1:20; Eph 1:10). Otherwise, a believer may become inadvertently stuck in a reductionistic model of Christianity that eventually proves lacking. And, unfortunately, such a believer's growth in future hope, a critical impetus in Biblical sanctification (1 Jn 3:2-3; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Pet 1:13-17), will remain anemic and underdeveloped.
   Finally, the "regeneration" that the Scriptures refer to involves both created/re-created believers (Tit 3:5) and the created/re-created cosmos (Mt 19:28). The same Greek word, "paliggenesia" ("regeneration"), is used in both of these passages (note: it is translated "new world" in the latter). And, essentially, it describes a spiritual rebirth or renovation, a Messianic restoration. In other words, individual believers, as a resurrected and glorified people, in a "a new heaven and a new earth" (Rev 21:1-3).     
   

Link: Heaven and Earth

     

Running on Empty

   Unlike many conservative Christians, I don't believe the Bible is the only source of God's truth when it comes to counseling troubled people (click here for a concise summary of what I believe: True Counseling). Consequently, I also (very discreetly) read secular authors to gain maximum wisdom and insight.
   Since I first read Daniel Goleman's book, Emotional Intelligence (around 1996), I've continued to be interested in this subject. In fact, this book has proven to be one of the most important books I've ever read. In its day, this book was "groundbreaking," and it continues to significantly influence the psychological profession. Per this book, Emotional Intelligence consists of five essential skills: knowing one’s emotions, managing emotions, motivating oneself, recognizing emotions in others, and handling relationships.

     Moreover, this past week, I finished reading the book, Running on Empty, by Dr. Jonice Webb. This book builds on Goleman's work in Emotional Intelligence, and it's, in a word, extraordinary. Within the psychological community, this author's insights are considered a rare breakthrough. In a nutshell, the book deals with the often undetected invisibility of Childhood Emotional Neglect (CEN). Here's a brief quote from the book that helps to introduce and define CEN:

"There is a good explanation for why Emotional Neglect has been so overlooked. It hides. It dwells in the sins of omission, rather than commission; it’s the white space in the family picture rather than the picture itself. It’s often what was NOT said or observed or remembered from childhood, rather than what WAS said."

If you're interested in further details, below are some links that will introduce you to Dr. Jonice Webb and her book, Running on Empty:
1) Dr. Jonice Webb PhD, (questionnaire/book)

2) CEN, Defined, Video #1 (length = 3:51)

3) CEN, Effects, Video #2 (length = 5:08)

4) CEN, Parenting, Video #3 (length = 5:33)

5) CEN, Abuse and Neglect, Video #4 (length = 4:32)

6) CEN, Author's Professional Discoveries, Video #5 (length = 3:46)

7) CEN, Author Interviewed, Video #6 (length = 24:35, note: interview begins @ 15:45)

8) CEN, Author Interviewed, Video #7 (length = 54:22, note: interview begins @ 1:38)

9) Best Price I Found on the Book, "Running on Empty"

The Power of Empathy

   This short, animated video helps illuminate the difference between an empathetic and sympathetic response to another person's angst. And, this is significant, because understanding this difference will often determine whether we aggravate or alleviate another person's pain. Empathy is more other-centered; sympathy is often self-centered. Hence, truly empathizing involves exiting and suspending one's own orbit of thoughts and feelings with a view to entering and dwelling within another person's orbit of perceptions and emotions (which is, by the way, a privileged entry into a very guarded, sacred place).
   Moreover, such patient listening should never be considered equal to acquiescing with the relativism of our day, wherein even legitimate, Biblical judging is strictly taboo. The patient (Scriptural) listener simply suspends judgment, understanding that it is God-like to lovingly enter into messy, human needs that are commonly buried under ugly, human sins (Rom 5:8).
   All that said, empathy isn't an easy gift to give, as, by nature, we are not other-centered, we are self-centered. Of course, Jesus Christ, in His incarnation, epitomized such self-forgetting love, so he is the ultimate model for His disciples to follow (Phil 2:3-8; Jn 13:34; Gal 6:1-2). Consequently, it seems to me that empathy should be the first gift we give to anyone we love that suffers, even if his or her unhealthy thinking and living needs some obvious re-alignment.

Link: The Power of Empathy

      

The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey (Aesop)

A Man and his son were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

 

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor Donkey of yours--you and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the Donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the Donkey to their shoulders.

Then they went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them: "Please all and you will please none."

When Greatness Meets Emptiness

What happens when good things become ultimate things? In the end, they starve, enslave, and divide us. Human emptiness is a God-shaped void, even in the lives of notorious people like Michael Jordan. And, unfortunately, the last place we usually go to solve our pressing problems is to God, via the Scriptures, in the person of Jesus Christ. Bottom line, we would rather live in our disordered loves than seek real, satisfying answers. We are all worshipers, whether of good things, of ourselves, of evil impulses, or of God.

When Greatness Meets Emptiness--Michael Jordan at 50 

"Word of God" by Mian Situ

   I love this picture (a painting entitled "Word of God," by Mian Situ). It seems to be a painting that brings out the truths in the parable of the sower from (Matt 13:1-9; 18-23).
   A clergyman, looking heavenward, is declaring the Word of God to a diversity of hearers, some engaged, others partially engaged, and still others ignoring him. All of these people are on a voyage together. While a storm seems possibly brewing in the distance, it is not presently upon them. A lifeboat is vaguely in the background (note: click on it to enlarge).

Financial Advise From Jed Clampett?

Well, here's an unlikely source of good financial advise--but good financial advise it is! 21st-century Americans would do well to be as content financially as ole Jed. This is one of my favorite scenes from the old show, The Beverly Hillbillys.