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Happiness (2?)


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#1 Candice

Candice

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Posted 08 October 2015 - 01:46 PM

I like this quote from Tozer, "Man is bored, because he is too big to be happy with that which sin is giving him."

 

Tagging onto the other post on "Happiness", I'm considering what Randy Alcorn discusses in his book, Happiness:

 

"In other words, the Fall didn't generate the human longing for happiness--it derailed and misdirected it.

 

Scripture portrays our connection to the sin of Adam ina way that transcends time--as if we were there in Eden with him (Romans 5:12-21).  Similarly, I believe we inherited from our Eden-dwelling ancestors a sense of their pre-Fall happiness.  This explains why our hearts refuse to settle for sin and suffeirng and we long for something better.

 

Were we merely the product of natural selection and survival of the fittest, we'd have no grounds for believing any ancient happiness existed.  But even those who have never been taught about the Fall and the Curse intuitively know that something is seriously wrong [YES!]

 

Why else would we long for happiness and sense what a utopian society should look like even if we've never seen one? We are nostalgic for an Eden we've only seen hints of."

 

          "O Wretched lot of man, when he hath lost tht for which he was made!  He has lost the blessedness [happiness] for which he was made, and has found the misery for which he was not made".  Anselm of Canterbury.

 

Just thinking and wondering if we are really ever happy ourside of Father/Son/Holy Spirit?  Can one be happy it's a sunny day? 

 

Or, are all of our happy-hearted thoughts and emotions centered solely on God? 

 

If this desire is "deeply planted" in our hearts, who planted it? 

 

Did Adam and Eve "want to be" happy before they sinned?  I'd say no cause they didn't know good and evil.  Some say only God can handle good and evil; not man.

 

I know I have always believed after belieiving on Christ that God does not care if we are happy.  He cares about Holiness.  Wow. Do I (you) believe that this view obscures the Good News. This is the remnant of Vatican 1 Catholic life as a young girl.

 

Alcorn says, "If we separate God from happiness and from our longing for happiness, we undermine the Christian worldview."  Wow again!

 

As Tozer suggests, is "sin" making us unhappy?  I'm bored and I'm not in overt sin. Well, I don't think I' am.  I'm not loving the idea of feeling like I'm settling for what the world has to offer. 

 

Of course, Alcorn gives very concise and thorough treatment as answers to these questions.  I'm just asking you all...