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Exploring the False Philosophies about Truth (Part 4)

Hedonism

Moseley states, “Hedonism as a philosophy, or worldview, measures the rightness or wrongness of a particular course of action by whether it is pleasurable. “If it feels good, do it; do it if it’s what you feel” is the contemporary proverb that expresses the philosophy of hedonism…hedonism formulates this natural tendency into a philosophy of life, an ism”.[16]

The philosophies of hedonism and naturalism are philosophies that are closely connected:

(1) Hedonism is a result of naturalism; it has a naturalistic view of nature and as such it excludes God from nature as naturalism does. When God is excluded then self is the only one left to whom we answer to.

(2) Naturalism is the result of hedonism. When self-pleasure becomes a persons highest good, inevitably, one’s worldview will exclude God from it because the very thought of God will hinder one’s pursuit of pleasure.[17]

Many of today’s venues that promote those “self-help,” “self-fulfillment,” “personal happiness,” topics have been heavily influenced by hedonism. There is often no mention of the divine during these types of conferences or in the written literature, again, because the divine hinders the pursuit of that which these proponents are peddling. Many Christians have incorporated hedonism into their personal worldview. When “self” takes the place of God in one’s worldview, then when it comes to worship, who are we worshipping? The answer is quite obvious, SELF!

There are, though, some problems with hedonism:

(1) As with all the other “isms,” it is a self-refuting argument and philosophy and as such, it cannot be true.

(2) As with all the other “isms,” its ultimate purpose is to remove God from its worldview thus removing any form of accountability to a divine Judge and elevating “self’ to a god status.

(3) Then there is “the hedonistic paradox.”[18] Here is the paradox; on the one hand, if a hedonist can’t reach the level of pleasure sought, frustration sets in, and frustration is pain. On the other hand, if a hedonist does find that pleasure, he will soon become bored with the pleasure itself or the source of that pleasure. Pleasure and the pursuit of pleasure become an addiction. Boredom and addiction also cause pain.

Either way, the final outcome for the hedonist is pain. Hedonism rather than containing the seed of pleasure, as its proponents argue, it contains the seed of pain.


[16] N. Allan Moseley, Thinking Against the Grain (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2003), pg. 52.
[17] Ibid., p. 53.
[18] R. C. Sproul, Lifeviews: Make a Christian Impact on Culture and Society (Old Tappan: N.J.: Revell, 1986), 131.

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