Just what is the nature of the relationship between holiness and pleasure?
In generations past, Christians would have easily and confidently answered 'holiness eschews pleasure in this world, in order to have it in the next.' That same underlying attitude informs much of our contemporary answer to that question, at least at the popular level. We simply lack discipline.
We believe holiness is the denial of pleasure, yet we are too weak to avoid pleasure, so instead we simply feel guilty...
...how sad!
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But holiness is not the avoidance of pleasure, rather, holiness is the state of belonging to God. Holy objects are objects that are 'set apart' for a specific use, the Tabernacle and the Temple were places set apart for worship and sacrifice. Holy people are similarly set apart, having a deep connection to the Creator that marks them out from those who do not.
We often define holiness as the avoidance of certain 'things' (and we have ongoing debates about what those 'things' are), yet we should rather define holiness as the pursuit of certain things, or even the pursuit of the One Thing...
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So then, is holiness compatible with an outright pursuit of pleasure?
Perhaps our lack of discipline is an unwitting fortune and we should stop feeling so guilty about our indulgences?
...?
1 comment:
Oooo... I like this one a lot. There is so much to think about here!!
Guilt has been the bane of my existence for, well, most of my existence, and for the first time in my life I feel like there is this God given freedom over my life and that he is saying something along the lines of "Do what you want. I want you to be happy!"
The best explanation I've been able to come up with so far is that in learning obedience to God we learn how to manage the generous freedom we are given. If we're obedient to the things he asks of us, what need is there for him to control us? He did, after all, give us taste buds and sensory nerves. He made an array or birds, flowers, trees and sunsets. He made the human mind able to discover how to process and make chocolate. He made sex and music... and he gave us hands, ears, eyeballs, a nose and a mouth to experience it with.
Did he create us for our own sake or for His pleasure??
I wonder if our guilt and denial is a tactic used by our great enemy to distract us from the sensuality, wonder, goodness and beauty of Gods creativity!!
I can't help but think that if it were all merely functional, it would look the same. The sky would be unchanging with the cycle of the sun and moon, the birds, flowers, trees and animals would be generic - as if God had only one mold for each. We wouldn't come in such an array of shapes, sizes and personalities.
Isn't God's creativity astounding??!!! Sheesh!!! It blows my mind!!!
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