Hedonism

One definition of hedonism is, the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life. Chances are if you are not a hedonist you know someone who is, it is such an appeasing lifestyle to live. Hedonism is not necessarily a bad thing, when attached to another thought as well.

One hedonist I know lives for his beer and music. Almost everyday when he gets home from work he picks up a beer and starts drinking and drinking. In the morning when I get up it is no surprise from me to go downstairs and see fifteen beer bottles on the table, all consumed by him. Occasionally my other roommate will try to match the consumption, and they will get in a battle of who can drink the most. In one week he will consume over three cases of beer, and several Red Bulls. An interesting thing that I discovered is that he tells a lot of his buddies about me, and my pursuit to go to seminary. Sometimes these buddies will talk to me about things, but mostly they have this thinking that I am wasting my life.

Another hedonist I know, will tell you he is a Christian, but there is no evidence of that in his life. Every Sunday I go to church and not once, even on Christmas and Easter, will he go to church. I have offered many times to give him a ride to church, but never does he accept the offer. It is not uncommon for me to come home from church and still not see him for another two hours, because he has a hangover. He will also tell his buddies about my pursuit to go to seminary, and politely they will say that’s cool, and later it will be treated as a dumb choice for life.

What does that common saying, “Hate the sin, love the sinner,” really mean? My way of defining this statement has changed over the years, never more so then this past year. Some nights I will be exhausted curl up with my pillow and welcome the warmth and comfort of my bed, only to be awakened by the loud thumping of music at 2:00 AM. Not to mention that it is one of those nights and it is currently 3:00 AM and the music is still going.

Once a week this happens and at first I was angry at the person playing the music. I would wake-up and toss and turn in my bed thinking, ‘You idiot it is two in the morning don’t you realize people are trying to sleep right now.’ At times I would pray that the music would stop functioning and would not be able to play anymore. ‘God please take out that stereo, whether by surge or beer splatter, please just shut it up.’ ‘Okay God it is now three in the morning, and you know I need my sleep, so help me out here, and shut that stereo up.’ I have had several people tell me I need to move to another place, where late parties by the neighbors are not as common, but I do not see that choice as wise right now, only selfish.

A man asked me one time, “Do you feel compelled to join in, in their drinking? Is their lifestyle tempting you?” My answer is why I did not move out at the end of my lease, and instead renewed for another year. The lifestyle exhibited by the people living around me is not appeasing at all. Instead I am developing a hunger for the lost. Late night parties, I see differently now. Sure the inability to go to sleep is annoying, but during those times I pray a little different prayer, I don’t pray for the stereo to malfunction, or the CD to go bad, but instead pray for those who will remember these days as their closest they got to heaven.

Some of us se God as we do rain, necessary but we only want what is necessary for life. Half the time it rains it seems like the wrong time for me. Rain should only come at night when I am sleeping, at work, or stuck inside for a period of time. Sure this thinking might seem unreasonable, but I’m sure I am not alone here. I hated the rain the most when I used to read electric meters for a job. The worst time it rained was the night of my junior year homecoming.

My date had to pick me up, because I did not drive yet. That was embarrassment one for the night. She picked me up and we were going over to a friend’s house for pictures, and then leave from there for dinner. Rain started coming down while our friend’s parents were taking pictures. Pictures were finally done, but the rain was not. I did not have an umbrella with me, so my friend was going to walk my date to the car with his umbrella. It was a race for me to get to the car without becoming soaked. I got in the car and my date was soon joining me. She got in the car, but my friend did not wait for her leg to be in the car before shutting the door. The door pinched her just above the ankle, embarrassment two. Once we got to dinner the rain had not stopped, so I ran once again and my friend came to walk my date in. While running to the door, my shoes started to slip in the rain. After sliding into a car and almost falling in the process of getting my balance, I turned to see how my date was managing the rain. She was fine but had seen the whole sliding and hitting the car I had just done and was not laughing. After that the rain stopped and so did the embarrassments.

I know rain is needed for life to exist, but sometimes I hate its timing. I hate when it rains in the middle of working on your car. I hate loading sound equipment in the rain. I hate the rain, but we need it.

God is not like the rain, wet cold and something to run away from. God is to be enjoyed, like the puddle we jumped in growing up. God is to be enjoyed, like that first day snow comes down and you get to have a snowball fight. God is to be enjoyed, like a jacuzzi after a hard day at work. God is to be enjoyed, like a day on the lake fishing with your dad. God is to be enjoyed, not avoided.

John Piper talks about another form of hedonism in many of his books. He calls it Christian Hedonism, enjoying life by enjoying God forever. Which do I enjoy more a nice cold beer, or God? What do I find joy in temporary things or eternal things? Life is short; make sure you choose the right thing to enjoy in life.