Unpopular Opinions: What if Pleasure Is Part of the Solution?
Is our love for pleasure part of the problem or part of the solution? I’d answer, both. I wrote a book fifteen years ago entitled Pure Pleasure: Why Do Christians Feel So Bad About Feeling So Good? When a German publisher picked it up, they sent me a series of questions for a German magazine. It seemed a bit controversial to them that a writer of spiritual books penned a volume praising the power of pleasure as a pathway to worship. I’ve updated this interview just a touch, but I think it’s still very relevant. As we enter the summer months, thinking through a more nuanced, biblical view of pleasure can lead us to a life of more enthusiastic worship as well as turn us away from illicit pleasure (i.e., sin). See what you think.
1. Why did you write a book about pleasure? Why is this an important topic for Christians to discuss?
Much of today’s spirituality is built on a foundation guaranteed to create disillusioned believers: how to avoid doing something sinful that in all sincerity the believer truly wants to do. Ancient and biblical Christian spirituality approached obedience from an entirely different perspective: cooperate with God as he shapes our hearts in such a way that we desire what is truly holy, and are repelled by what is truly sinful.
We live in a culture where temptations of all kinds are so pervasive that unless we address a transformed heart, Christians will live frustrated and occasionally even despairing lives. Ultimately, most of us will end up doing what we want to do. Instead of trying to deny this, we need to learn how to shape our heart so that we desire what is pleasing to God. Pure Pleasure builds on the ancient truth of a transformed heart and adds a contemporary twist: a practical look at what it means to build a life of pure pleasure with the result that illicit pleasure begins to lose its hold on our souls.
Some believers assume “pleasure” and “sin” are synonyms. Others define godly “pleasure” so narrowly that it is reduced to direct worship (singing worship songs, studying the Bible, etc.), which drastically reduces the powerful place of pleasure in their lives. Still others would feel guilty even thinking about how to build a life of pleasure. Pure Pleasure provides an entirely new paradigm: how and why contemporary Christians can embrace a life of true pleasure as a pathway to obedience and even worship.
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