Christian vs. American Worldview Part I

My apologetics teacher posed four worldview questions: 1. "How do we find happiness," 2. "How do we find wholeness," 3. "What goals are worthy of pursuing," and 4. "What is life 'for.'" We had to give two short answers to each of these questions--The first answer had to be from a Christian/Biblical worlview, and the other had to be how we think the average American would answer the question. I enjoyed answering these questions and will be pasting my answers here one at a time. In this post I will be answering, from a Christian worldview, the question "how do we find happiness?" I have already posted my answer to this a week ago or so, but am posting it again because I want it to be organized (so leave me alone). If you don't want to read it again--too bad! (just kidding) As you read this think of how the average American would answer this question. Think how hopeless life would be without Christ. Think how unhappy life would be if our happiness did not come from Him. Rejoice that you are His. I will post my answer to how the average American would respond to this (probably) tomorrow. Enjoy!

"Our happiness in something is entirely built upon an intellectual understanding of how long the happiness will last. The happiness that drunkenness, money, and sex can provide is often real happiness, but it is not ultimate happiness. In reality, the question is, “how can we find ultimate happiness?” Ultimate happiness can only be found in something that can offer the promise of eternal satisfaction. With this in mind, looking for ultimate happiness on this temporal earth will only lead to despair. Ultimate happiness can only be found in God, because only God can deliver on the promise of eternal satisfaction.

God is the only infinite entity in all of existence. The love, beauty, glory, justice, and happiness of God simply cannot be exhausted, therefore we can be assured that we will never run out of that which makes us happy. The problem is that right now, because of the effects of the fall, even our finding happiness in God can (and does) have physical draw backs (if you disagree, talk to those undergoing persecution for the name of Christ), which can limit our temporal enjoyment of it. How then can Christians defend the thesis that ultimate happiness can be realized when one finds his/her happiness in God? It all has to do with hope.

We live in the already/not yet. Our confidence and surety is that a time is coming when our unabridged enjoyment in Christ will be actualized. We but get a mere taste of it now, but will be wrapped in it for an eternity once Christ welcomes us to our heavenly abode. The mere taste of what we now enjoy (by faith) is much sweeter than what those who are finding their happiness in the temporal satisfactions of the world are tasting, and yet it is not even comparable to the satisfaction of what we will enjoy in heaven."