Posted on 10/07/2015 7:26:27 AM PDT by Salvation
One of the questionable, and unfortunately common, forms of moral reasoning today is the rather narcissistic notion that God wants each of us to be happy. Sometimes it is put in the form of a rhetorical question: God wants me to be happy, doesn’t He?
And this sort of reasoning (if you want to call it that) is used to justify just about anything. Thus, in pondering divorce, a spouse might point to his or her misery and conclude that God would approve of the split because God wants me to be happy, doesn’t He? Many seek to justify so-called same-sex marriage, and other illicit sexual notions in the same way.
Further, other responsibilities are often blithely set aside as too demanding, under the pretext that God would not make difficult demands because, after all, He wants me to be happy. Since getting to Mass is difficult for me, God will understand if I don’t go; He wants me to be happy, not burdened. Forgiving someone is hard and God does not ask hard things of us; He wants me to be happy. Refusing to cooperate with some evil at work would risk my income; surely God would not demand that I withstand it since He wants me to be happy, content, and financially secure.
The notion that God wants me to be happy thus becomes a kind of trump card, some sort of definitive declaration that obviates the need for any further moral reflection. Practically speaking, this means that I am now free to do as I please. Since I am happy, God is happy, and this is His will … or so the thinking goes.
There are, of course, multiple problems with the “God wants me to be happy” moral stance. In the first place, happiness is a complex matter that admits of many subjective criteria including personal development, temporal dimensions, and worldview. For example, a spiritually mature person can find happiness simply in knowing that he is pleasing God by follow His Commandments. On an interpersonal level, many are happy to make sacrifices for the people they love. To others who are less mature, even the smallest sacrifice can seem obnoxious and bring on unhappiness; pleasing God is not even on their radar, let alone something that would make them happy.
Happiness is also temporally variable. Most of us are well aware that happiness tomorrow is often contingent upon making certain sacrifices today. For example, the happiness one gets in taking a vacation is usually dependent upon having saved up some money beforehand. Making sacrifices today enables happiness tomorrow. If all I do is please myself in the moment, insist on being happy right now, my ability to be happy in the future will likely be seriously compromised. Setting no limits today might mean that I am broke tomorrow, or addicted, or unhealthily overweight, or afflicted with a sexually-transmitted disease. True, lasting, deep happiness in the future often requires some sacrifice today, some capacity to say “No” right now. Without any consideration of the future or of eternal life, “happiness” in the moment is vague, foolish, and meaningless, if not outright destructive. God desires our happiness, all right, but the happiness He wants for us is that of eternal life with Him forever. He has clearly indicated that this will often involve forsaking many of the passing pleasures and the “happiness” of this world.
More troubling still is the self-referential and narcissistic aspect contained in the simple little word “me.” God wants me to be happy.
Those who expresses this “me” notion might be surprised to discover that God has bigger things in mind. God actually cares about other people, too! He also cares about future generations and about the common good. Yes, there’s just a little more on God’s radar than you.
So the divorced man who might say, “God wants me to be happy” should consider that God might actually care about his children too; He might care about the culture that suffers due to rampant divorce; He might care about future generations that would inherit a culture shredded by destroyed families.
Wow, God might actually want others to be happy besides me! Even more shockingly, God might want me to sacrifice my happiness for them! He might actually want me to consider them and even regard them as more important that I am.
As a moral reference point, “me” is remarkably narrow and usually self-serving. And yet many today use this almost reflexively and authoritatively. “God wants me to be happy, so all discussions and further deliberations are over. God has spoken through my desires. He wants me to be happy. Who are you to dispute that? We’re done here; I will not be judged by you.”
“God wants me to be happy” is not a legitimate moral principle. It bespeaks a narcissism that is, sadly, too common today. Call it “Stuart Smalley theology.” You don’t know who Stuart Smalley is? This video shows it plainly enough. The bottom line is, don’t be Stuart Smalley.
That's why he/she/it created beer!
This is the stuff for the itching ears. And where I work it’s the women who eat this up.
I figure I can put up with unhappiness here on earth and strive for happiness in heaven.
Happiness as the general overall experience of the totality of one's life depends on whether one is good man who obeys and follows God's commands or a bad man who disobeys God.
Another one is the story of finding Jsus in the temple talking with the priests.
It ends with “And he went home with them and was obedient to them.” I might be paraphrasing.
Another one is the story of finding Jesus in the temple talking with the priests.
It ends with “And he went home with them and was obedient to them.” I might be paraphrasing.
#18. I don’t believe that.
O.K.,
‘round two’,
I am content in all that I experience in life, today.
I am content in strewing seed for the wild birds, and watching their antics.
I am content in watching the sun rise, and moon rise, from my door and window, each day, weather permitting.
I am content, in all of my infirmaties, considering THE alternative.
Does this make me ‘happy’?
Maybe not, but then, having been in the depths of unhappiness while arguing ‘to be or not to be’ with myself in my earlier years, I have gone from “I’m ok with that” to “I’m content.”
Clap along if you feel that's what you want to do
I thought God wanted us to carry our cross and follow Him?
I actually do believe that God wants us to be happy.
Need you to talk to my brother. He lost his wife last year ALS. He lost his position with a company he worked for for over 25 years a couple of years before that. He has two adult children battling drug addiction...one is sober for the moment. He is losing his home due to costs of battling his wife’s illness and children’s medical and legal problems. He is alternately finding comfort in Jesus Christ and still devolving into despair. I pray for him. I pray for him.
God loves us, He is our Father....He wants us to be happy in His Word....His plan. Not our plan, His plan.
God can only do for us what God can do through us. The only God we can understand is God within. We are constantly choosing, and it is our choices that drive what happens to us. Thus, expressing Cosmic Joy is our job.
“It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom,” but God can only give you what you will accept and claim.
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