Pure Pleasure: Why Do Christians Feel So Bad about Feeling Good?

In our early marriage, my husband was in graduate school and I was soon a stay-at-home mother, and our financial situation required a lot of scrimping to avoid debt and goverment aid and still be able to give to God's work and save something. But, years later, when our financial situation was much different, I realized that I still had a mindset of scrimping and feeling guilty for anything I bought that I didn't absolutely need. And that in essence, I was not appreciating and was even feeling guilty in enjoying the blessings that God had given. Perhaps God would be better pleased if I would occasionally use some of that money to buy something that would bring pleasure to me and my family. That is the point of Gary Thomas' book Pure Pleasure. While the world in general elevates pleasure above all else, in much of the Christian world, many things that bring pleasure (without some other obvious benefit) are regarded with suspicion. But, God created us to need relaxing and to enjoy pleasure, and He delights in giving good gifts to His children. And the Scriptures make it clear that that even includes "non-spiritual" things. The author provides a whole range of possibilities in which Christians might derive pleasure, and cautions against looking down upon the pleasures of another Christian as wasteful, while accepting our own. He gives the example of the couple that looked down upon him for his daily Starbucks habit while driving a car that easily cost $20,000 more a year than what he drove. Different does not mean wrong. The author makes his case well, using plenty of Scripture, but he is also very careful to caution his readers not only against "pharisaic prohibitionism" but also "hedonistic license." He does caution against a life focused on one pleasure after another, neglecting responsibilities, etc. But, his ultimate point is that the things that give us pleasure and joy in this life (provided they are not forbidden by the Word of God) should be seen as gifts from God, causing us to have thankful hearts to worship and praise Him. Jesus Christ came to give us life, and life abundant; the life of a Christian should be one of joy. He also makes the point that by denying ourselves pleasure, we set ourselves up to be tempted by things which are sinful but would meet our longings for enjoyment. The book is very readable. The book is rife with examples, personal and otherwise. The author makes his points very clear and supports them well. He has a way of taking a passage that I've read many times before and bringing out a point that I hadn't previously considered, but he doesn't have the tendency to stretch and read into the Scriptures like some authors I've read. Oh, and there are study questions at the end of each chapter if you like that sort of thing. Having also read and appreciated the author's book Sacred Marriage, I will likely be checking out other books by this author. I would definitely recommend this book to any Christi

I identified easily with the subject of this book. Raised in a conservative evangelical culture, I picked up along the way a messy tangle of assumptions and perceptions that gave me a distorted view of myself, of life, and of God. Like the author of this book, I've spent much of my life trying to loosen those knots. If we believe that God made us, and made us on purpose, we shouldn't take self-awareness lightly. Of course, the Christian doctrine of the Fall should keep us from assuming that what is and what should be are identical. Sin is real, and the most casual observer can see that all is not right with the world or with us. However, the feelings of pleasure and pain are built into us. The book of Genesis does not even hint that pleasure was a result of the Fall. In fact, the overwhelming sense one gets when reading Genesis 2 is that Eden was a place of pure pleasure. We were made to feel and respond to pleasure. So why do so many Christians assume that if it's fun it must be wrong? Why do they assume that God's will for them is whatever is least pleasurable? Why are feelings of pleasure so often followed by feelings of guilt? Gary Thomas does a masterful job of helping Christian readers sort through this issue of pleasure with courage, compassion, and biblical insight. I highly recommend it.

This is the second book I've read by Gary Thomas (the first was Sacred Marriage, and my wife and I also spent a weekend with him at a marriage retreat), and now that I've been reminded just how good his books are, my new goal for 2010 is to read everything else he's written. Whatever the subject, this guy brings more common sense and Biblical wisdom to bear on a single page than most inspirational writers can muster in an entire book. Most blessed of all, Thomas is almost entirely free from the bad habit of basting pop-psychology with a few Bible verses and calling it Christian. Pure Pleasure is saturated, not so much with biblical quotes as it is with truly Christian thinking. Readers should be grateful that Thomas has drawn from the 2,000-year-old well of Christian wisdom and distilled its rich liqueurs into appetizing and nourishing doses for twenty-first century man. And did I mention that this book is funny? Example: Thomas' midnight stand against the smoke alarms that won't stop beeping in the night, culminating in his tearing all the alarms off the ceilings and throwing them into the basement, then uttering the famous "Rocky" quote through clenched teeth to his wife -- "I never asked you to stop being a woman; please don't ask me to stop being a man" -- is laugh-out-loud hilarious. You may think, as I did when I first saw the title, that Pure Pleasure might be too much in tune with the spirit of the age. Do we not already live in an era dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure? Do today's Christians really need to be encouraged to enjoy themselves? The news media was choked with tales of golfer Tiger Woods' infidelities when I started reading. As yet another public figure was exposed as living a decadent private life in total contradiction to his public persona it seemed to me that the last thing Christians needed was an encouragement to go out and have even more fun than they were already having. Too many might be tempted to walk the path of the Tiger. But be of good cheer, here as always Thomas maintains the delicate balance that such a book requires if it is to be truly Christian. He is well aware of the danger inherent in what he is offering: "In one sense, writing a book on giving ourselves permission to enjoy pleasure in the twenty-first century seems like the height of absurdity," he writes. "Our world drowns in pleasure." But, Thomas suggests, the worst thing Christians can do is over-react and try to shut all pleasure out of their lives. Far better to realize that Christians are human too, and therefore designed to enjoy life in this world. At the same time Thomas reminds us that we are also Spiritual, and therefore called to satisfy our designed-in need for pleasure in ways that honour God. Two quotes get to the heart of his message: "Wouldn't you like to explore the potential of building a life of healthy pleasure?" And, "What if pleasure can lead us to God instead of compete with God?" If you answered "yes" to the first que

I've just spent a most delightful weekend finishing Gary Thomas' Pure Pleasure. This excellent book was not only enriching (convicting!) but I found my enthusiasm for Gary's insights growing page by page. As a therapist I am eager to recommend this well-balanced book to clients who suffer from rigid scrupulosity (guilt and fear for experiencing pleasure) and to those who suffer from the residue of unbridled pleasure. The chapter on family pleasure and "being a servant of other's joy" is worth the price of the book. Anti-pleasure ascetics will have a difficult time answering Gary's relentless, tightly reasoned, and winsome defense of pure pleasure which is anchored in both scripture and classic Christian spiritual writers. Highly recommended!

Wow, this message from a favorite author hit me right between the eyes in a good way. I am now pondering how my faith-life can express joy and healthy pleasure rather than be defined by restrictions and guilt. Isn't this the type of realtionship we want with our children? Well, this is the type of relationship with us that the author proposes is desired by God. This is a grace-oriented book that challenges many church attitudes of denial, repression, and living by rules. But, it does not encourage license and irresponsiblity. A very balanced teaching with many "Ah-ha moments.