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So I am wondering: Does God want us to be happy? I know that happiness is fleeting and based on circumstances and Joy is lasting and based on a state of being within our hearts.
But does God want us happy? Does he support us making decisions and choices that create a certain amount of happiness ? Does any one have any profound thoughts? I know this may appear simplistic , like i should already know the answer but i am seeking others opinions
Which deity are you talking about? I think Thor cares by his slaying of ice giants, thwarting Loki, helping to defeat aliens, and defeating dark world elves.
The one true, living God repeatedly advises people (in His Word, the Bible) to 'not worry about tomorrow,' 'rejoice always', 'rest in God's peace regardless of our circumstances.' Humans are also the only creature that laughs.
Yes, IMO, God wants us to be happy. But, as you wisely pointed out, there is a difference between a deep, inner joy that comes with knowing the Lord .... and the fleeting happiness that comes from temporary worldly things.
I really have no idea if the Creator "wants" us to be happy.
So I was pleased to see your second option in the poll and was happy to click it. (Because I think if s/he/it "wants" anything for us, it's growth: spiritual, ethical and intellectual.)
I have based my last 8 years on that very premise.
So now it is part of the beliefs in my subconscious mind, even.
I did put it to the test tho...which meant believing it blindly for awhile...
then I was shown or it was proven to me...didn't take long either....couple months?
I could quote scripture if you need that...those are the only verses I believe and follow...
the directions and promises of happiness and abundance and the depth and heighth
and breadth of His love.
Apparently, most people aren't participating in your poll, as my "Yes" vote seems to have been only the second vote. The "happiness" that I would be talking about would be the happiness that one is alive and experiencing life and the inner confidence that life ultimately has purpose and meaning and that one is a child of God (by which I mean the God of Christianity); this would probably be more like what you are calling joy. It is well-documented that in the Nazi concentration camps there were some Jews who refused to be overwhelmed by despair and who found daily joy in trifling little incidents and things. This was largely due to the state of mind that I am talking about. I don't believe God wants us to be happy in the worldly sense promoted by the preachers of the "prosperity gospel." I know from personal experience and observation that worldly success (and striving after worldly success) is a massive impediment to happiness, as well as to personal growth. The happiest times of my life, and probably most peoples' lives, are pretty much in inverse proportion to the worldly success I was experiencing at the time. My wife of 33 years died of breast cancer after a seven-year battle, yet at the end of the road we both looked back on those seven years as unquestionably the happiest of our marriage. I believe that God wants us to be connected to him and thankful to him -- not to "glorify His name," as the mindless Christian saying goes -- but because he knows that it is only in him that we can find purpose, meaning and true happiness. People who eagerly embrace atheism are quite a puzzle to me, because I can't imagine trudging through decades of life with the mindset that it all boils down to random, meaningless nothingness. (By the same token, I'm not a Pollyanna either -- I'm a believer because I believe the best arguments and evidence point in that direction.) In terms of the "decisions and choices" to which you refer, I think God wants us to (and often helps us to) make decisions and choices that will eventually bring us closer to him and further our spiritual progress, even though such decisions and choices may not result in immediate gratification or the sort of "happiness" promoted by the preachers of the prosperity gospel (whom I regard as pretty much satanic). I remember my Philosophy of Religion professor asking the class more than 40 years ago, "Why wouldn't God give me a new Dodge pick-up if I pray for one? Why wouldn't God want me to have a new Dodge pick-up, huh?" I was then a newly-minted Christian and didn't have a good answer. It seemed to me that he was saying, "God doesn't give me a new Dodge pick-up when I pray for one, and he won't give you one either. Therefore, he doesn't exist." Now I recognize the point he was making -- i.e., if one's understanding of God and life is this shallow, one has a lot of growing to do.
So I am wondering: Does God want us to be happy? I know that happiness is fleeting and based on circumstances and Joy is lasting and based on a state of being within our hearts.
But does God want us happy? Does he support us making decisions and choices that create a certain amount of happiness ? Does any one have any profound thoughts? I know this may appear simplistic , like i should already know the answer but i am seeking others opinions
Wait, so you're saying I can't have felt joy if I ever felt sad later?
Are you saying that people with Joy can't feel sad? That would be sad. Or are you saying you can be joyous when at the same time sad? That's sad too.
As to your question: you define God, your faith is what shapes your believes about gods. Is God loving and forgiving, then of course he wants you "always fleeting."
Is God selfish and punishing, then he doesn't always want you happy unless its a circumstance that makes him happy.
I voted "that is not what we are here for," but it's the person themselves that decides what they will think they are here for. If your parents decided to have you and make "you" then they must have had some purpose for you, perhaps... unless they are loving and forgiving and just want you to have your own purpose.
If God planned out how your parents would procreate, what they would decide, and which cells would bind, etc, then perhaps God should let you know for himself what he wants, instead of allowing possible false intermediaries to use and abuse your trust.
For the people who enjoy sin against God , God want those people to have peace of God and His joy , and love , and everything of God , but the sin will not be redeemed but through Jesus and people who sin can sit in their sin all the days of their lives ........ People who became believers with faith by God grace , God needs them to be in peace and love and joy and in faith and be happy as Jesus has overcome the world by the spirit ..............Through God Spirit I seen last night in the spirit this dirty white hairy bug crawling around , then the hand of God reached out and stuck a fork through the back of this spiritual bug and took it off and the bug lightly brushed my hand and was ripped off , , then God`s spirit told me`` that was disease spirit ``......... God wanted me to be happy with no disease , as Jesus overcome the world
So I am wondering: Does God want us to be happy? I know that happiness is fleeting and based on circumstances and Joy is lasting and based on a state of being within our hearts.
But does God want us happy? Does he support us making decisions and choices that create a certain amount of happiness ? Does any one have any profound thoughts? I know this may appear simplistic , like i should already know the answer but i am seeking others opinions
I'm not aware of any verse that states God just wants us to be happy. We are to be joyful in all circumstances--but that is more of a choice--not a result of circumstance. I chose the 2nd option because happiness is not our purpose--our purpose is to glorify God. Many times we are happy as a result of that, but our happiness is not the primary goal in life.
Phil 4:4-7 states "4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "
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