Are Christians allowed to be happy?

Are Christians allowed to be happy?
Jesus has never be recorded laughing, only crying and suffering. There is not one line in the bible where God calls for us to be happy.
Does the bible teach us to be masochists?

Ecclesiastes 8:15
>So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
holy fuck why is everyone on Veeky Forums retarded?

Ecclestias is probably the book that has the least in common with Christianity at all. The entire book is about exploring how to live in a world where there is no after-life or justice. It also advocates the view that the most importaint thing is to stay alive at all costs which goes in the exact opposite direction as the story of Jesus's death.

If Jesus listened to Ecclestias he would have attempted to escape from jail, preached there is no heaven, and encouraged people to seek pleasure.

Did Jesus preach that there was a heaven... seriously

Historically the answer is probably no: that would be Paul's idea. But than again "Christianity" has little to do with the historical Jesus.

His first miracle was showing up to a wedding party and making more wine for everyone out of water just to make people happy

op you're an idiot

If Ecclesiastes is wrong then I'm still right. The only happiness mentioned is happiness serving God. Not dancing or partying.

Do you think that video games, anime, and pornography are not allowed?

words from my mouth...

the wedding at Cana is LITERALLY the first miracle

>the answer is probably no

Where are you getting this shit from, Christ mentions heaven plenty of times in the Gospels

>the moral of Ecclesiastes is hedonism
lol??????

Heaven is a state of MIND and BEING not a magical place you party in after you die

He mentions some abstract "kingdom" but he never says it's a physical place. He also never says it's in some sort of higher plane of existence. He says the kingdom of heaven is within you; and he means that literally.

The idea of heaven as some sort of eternal life is Paul's idea.

>Death is not an event of life. Death is not lived through.
>If by eternity is understood not endless temporal duration but timelessness, then he lives eternally who lives in the present.
>Our life is endless in the way that our visual field is without limit.

>The temporal immortality of the human soul, that is to say, its eternal survival after death, is not only in no way guaranteed, but this assumption in the first place will not do for us what we always tried to make it do. Is a riddle solved by the fact that I survive for ever? Is this eternal life not as enigmatic as our present one? The solution of the riddle of life in space and time lies outside space and time.
>(It is not problems of natural science which have to be solved.)

"the moral of Ecclesiastes is hedonism"
These are your words, not mine. Retard.

>Heaven is a state of MIND and BEING
There is no concept of Being in any of Jesus's speaking. That's just theologians trying to read in ideas that aren't there. Jesus probably didn't even have an idea of the concept given his education and social status.

Christianity is nihilism

>this thread

This seems to me like New Age revisionism. Christ very explitly speaks about eternal life many times, often in direct contrast with death

im not the one who quoted Ecclesiastes, but no where in the quoted portion or in fact anywhere in the book will you find anything suggesting you should "seek" pleasure as you seem to erroneously believe.

>There is no concept of Being in any of Jesus's speaking. That's just theologians trying to read in ideas that aren't there. Jesus probably didn't even have an idea of the concept given his education and social status.

u r dumb and if ur op its clear u havent read any of the bible and yet are making some big show of "refuting" it online for whose benefit I HAVE NO IDEA

you also haven't addressed Jesus' miracle @ Cana

And what is meant by eternal life is not at all as clear as you make it to be

Why do you think they are? Because they feel good? I want it explicitly stated in the bible that happiness can/should be derived from ways that are not only praising or serving God.

Its still there regardless

eternal life != afterlife

fpbp

Well I don't see us bloody living forever in this life

>He says the kingdom of heaven is within you; and he means that literally.
He meant that there's actual populated castles and houses inside you ruled by a king?

No no user, you see literally means "whatever I specifically want this passage to mean" as opposed to metaphorically which means "whatever I specifically want this passage to mean"

I haven’t read Ecclesiastes in ages but this is not how I remember it at all. Why do you even think Jesus would listen to him? The book is advice for mortal men, What could Jesus possibly learn from a book, he is supposed to be God incarnate? This argument makes no sense, you could say Ecclesiastes was written for Christians but nothing in the Bible was written to teach Christ lessons he is supposed to be our teacher.

see:

Ludicrous.
You can make these types of claims if you wish but you can't pretend as if its at all suggested by the text itself.

>our visual field is without limit

But it isn't, its very literally limited by the speed of light

and where does Jesus speak of life after death? where does Jesus speak of an afterlife?

I have said very simply from the start that the idea of heaven is not anywhere in Jesus' teachings. you suggested that "eternal life" suggests an after life, which it does not. The onus is on YOU to show that Jesus preached an afterlife and not on me to show that he didn't...

He speaks about the Kingdom of his father in contrast to Earth and he talks about eternal life. It is no great leap to put two and two together here which indeed the entire history of Christianity attests to.
The pure gall of you proposing a radically heterodox suggestion and expecting it to not only be reasonable but outright canonical to the gospels

You've misunderstood his point. If you stare into the sky you do not encounter a distance which you cannot see beyond. your visual field is essentially "infinite" or "eternal" in the sense that it is unbounded.

I have said it is no where contradicted in the gospels which is isnt...

I do not care what Christian thinkers have dreamed up out of his words in the centuries since especially when the entirety of "history" of Christianity which you attest to is full of hypocrisy and ignoring the teachings of Jesus

>If you stare into the sky you do not encounter a distance which you cannot see beyond

Your wording here is nonsensical.
Regardless there are literally things in space that we can look straight towards but due to the speed of light are literally impossible to see. That is a clear hard drawn boundary in our field of vision

>I have said it is no where contradicted in the gospels which is isnt...

Yeah and nowhere in the Bible does it contradict claiming God is a Black woman once you take certain words as metaphorical.
You're an unserious person and certainly not a Christian

>Regardless there are literally things in space that we can look straight towards but due to the speed of light are literally impossible to see. That is a clear hard drawn boundary in our field of vision

LW wrote in 1918 which predates our understanding of the observable universe and its limitations. His metaphor is dated, but his general point is not.

Then why is Christianity, overall, concerned with forsaking enjoyment, life, person, sun, food, drink, and gladness? It looks to a fiction that will never be, rejecting life.

user, who are you? :?

>but his general point is not.

Its not if we are to envision that such physical processes undermine our capacity to have any such eternal present which is exceedingly likely.

Kingdom of the Father = life in spirit

you admit that there was no Jewish heaven correct?

>Then why is Christianity, overall, concerned with forsaking enjoyment, life, person, sun, food, drink, and gladness?

Where the hell do you get this idea from?
Even Jesus drank wine

>you admit that there was no Jewish heaven correct?

I have heard it said by some but from what I've read I take is as an agnostic reading

i dont understand what you mean. his eternal life does not mean engorging yourself on infinite detail (if that is what you are pushing against? I apologize for my lack of comprehension)

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Oh how convenient its even less substancial than you claimed. When he says eternal life he actually means not eternal at all

Fuck you are an actual retard. I can't believe that people like you come on this website.

you fail to comprehend him.

I don't claim to comprehend Wittgenstein at present. All I claim is what you are describing is an independent philosophy and not theologically justified. It is not of the book even if were true

>All I claim is what you are describing is an independent philosophy and not theologically justified. It is not of the book even if were true
All of Christian thought is a response to Jesus' teachings and my own is no different.

If you wish to see my thought much more clearly and delicately expressed, then you should read Tolstoy's Gospel in the Brief which of all gospel analysis cleaves closest to my heart.

Regardless, I'm going to bed

Alright goodnight, I will say I have found your posts here interesting and am glad to have that suggestion

ITT: a bunch of guys who don't take the Resurrection seriously.

I do user, don't worry

>only crying and suffering
>has a good time with his desciples sleeping while they panic
>drinks and parties with wine

Is there a date for when this icon was made or found, and from what area it was found? The way that the fingers are crossed interests me to know more about it.

>Jesus has never be recorded laughing, only crying and suffering.
We have no historical evidence that indicates he was recorded expressing any emotion.

However, judging by the Gospel of Thomas, you could say he may have held a stance similar to the Bodhidharma. Not promoting any strong emotion at all; just discipline and simplicity in living.

The Bible literally says to not drink to get drunk you dumb fuck

Which means not to drink too much in one go so you don't beat up your kids, vomit and pass out you dumb fuck

>Jesus wants us to be unhappy, that's why he turned water into wine and died for our sins, and tells us to rejoice in the favor of God.

Nobody sounds explicitly happy in history textbooks either, but we take it for granted there were times they felt happy and times they should be. I am sure this applies to the Bible as well
Also have you seen Mormons? They are more of an offshoot, sure, but based on their demeanor it must be in the book somewhere

The focus of the Bible on suffering is pretty distinctive. By way of contrast, the opening lines of the Confuian Analects are
>To study and at due times practice what one has studied, is this not a pleasure? When friends come from distant places, is this not joy?

Mind you, Buddhism is arguably even more about suffering.

Anyone know what the happiness-to-suffering ratio of the Quran is? I'd guess Mohammed was generally quite grim but probably knew how to party too.

The wedding at Cana, dummy, Jesus makes some delicious wine so everyone can have a good time.

Mattthew 22:30, Luke 20:36, John 5:29, Matthew 18:10

the virgin mind-heaven vs the chad party palace heaven

>Where the hell do you get this idea from?
From practicing Christians and history.

The vast majority of Christians both now and throughout history were not ascetics

I read Name of the Rose too OP