A quote to ponder

  • Thread starter Thread starter southpaw85
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

southpaw85

Guest
I am a newbie as far as wanting to learn more, examine, and grow in my Catholic faith. I just wanted to share a quote and had a general question for you all. “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” -Benjamin Franklin
I am not trying to start an alcohol debate. It just got me thinking. After reading posts on this forum, it seems there are a lot of people spending a lot of time worrying. What kind of balance does the Church teach on living life for enjoyment (within morality because we love God) and worrying about things like hell and purgatory? Wouldn’t God want us to enjoy the life he gave us while working to grow our relationship with him?
 
I don’t think we are meant to live a puritanical life, and God did make the world beautiful so that we could enjoy it. He filled the world with pleasure for us to enjoy. He gave us a very enjoyable aspect to procreation.

However, He also gave us rules to follow. There is no problem having fun, being happy, experiencing pleasure, as long as we are doing it the right way.

Suffering is also beneficial, but only because we are fallen and in need of redemption.

Too much of a good thing is also bad, leading to Gluttony, and also taking our focus away from things that matter (spiritual things, the four last things, salvation) and focusing more on physical gratification.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 is a good example of this, and there are others as well (if only I had the time to find them).
 
Hi,
This is one of my favorite quotes!!
Probably because there is nothing better after a long hard day at the “office”, which for me is a sweltering hot kitchen, than an ice-cold beer!! 😛

But seriously, I commend you for wanting to learn more about your faith,
and I welcome you to the forms.

I agree that many people on these forms are full of worry about how to live their faith, and at times can be very misguided regarding what is sinful behavior or not.

In my journey, I have found the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola to be of a great help. In his Spiritual Exercises he gives a wonderful explanation of what you are asking.
The Principle & Foundation-
Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul.

And the other things on the face of the earth are created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he is created.

From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as to it.

For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us to the end for which we are created.
Click to expand...
Peace be with you on your journey! 🙂
southpaw85 said:
I am a newbie as far as wanting to learn more, examine, and grow in my Catholic faith. I just wanted to share a quote and had a general question for you all. “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” -Benjamin Franklin
I am not trying to start an alcohol debate. It just got me thinking. After reading posts on this forum, it seems there are a lot of people spending a lot of time worrying. What kind of balance does the Church teach on living life for enjoyment (within morality because we love God) and worrying about things like hell and purgatory? Wouldn’t God want us to enjoy the life he gave us while working to grow our relationship with him?
Click to expand...
 
southpaw85 said:
I am a newbie as far as wanting to learn more, examine, and grow in my Catholic faith. I just wanted to share a quote and had a general question for you all. “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” -Benjamin Franklin
I am not trying to start an alcohol debate. It just got me thinking. After reading posts on this forum, it seems there are a lot of people spending a lot of time worrying. What kind of balance does the Church teach on living life for enjoyment (within morality because we love God) and worrying about things like hell and purgatory? Wouldn’t God want us to enjoy the life he gave us while working to grow our relationship with him?
Click to expand...
Hmmm. I get this a lot from people. Usually this kind of reasoning is one that promotes sin or spiritual laziness or a lax conscience. You know - “God wants you to enjoy life stop worrying about sin!”. Yeah right! The life of enjoyment is precisely one where we work out or salvation in “fear and trembling” as St.Paul says. As Christians we find nothing more edifying than to learn how to love God more. What you see on this website is a collection of people all trying to grow closer to God. Furthermore, you only see a snapshot of their lives in the questions they ask. It’s impossible to maintain the position that everybody here is not enjoying life because they are too scrupulous. Nor is it a good position to maintain to suggest that worrying about pleasing God is an “imbalance”. What kind of balance are you looking for? The balance between God and our own sinful inclinations? That just won’t do. There is no balance when it comes to God. We should be doing everything we can, all the time, every time to please the Lord. We should never give in to our inclinations. Which is not to say we cannot have fun - far from it. We must enjoy the God things in life because they come from God, but we must also be vigilant.
 
While the authenticity of that particular quote may be questionable, the idea that alcohol (more wine then bear) was made for the enjoyment of humanity is very biblical and very catholic. Jesus after all turned water into wine, not just a little, but A LOT!

Having said that I am by no means advocating drinking to excess which is seriously sinful.

There is a balance which needs to be achieved, not in terms of allowing sin, but between work and fun. We are human not angels. While we should indeed work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and work to overcome our vices, we should also take some time to relax.
 
Fr_Michael_Grac said:
While the authenticity of that particular quote may be questionable, the idea that alcohol (more wine then bear) was made for the enjoyment of humanity is very biblical and very catholic. Jesus after all turned water into wine, not just a little, but A LOT!

Having said that I am by no means advocating drinking to excess which is seriously sinful.

There is a balance which needs to be achieved, not in terms of allowing sin, but between work and fun. We are human not angels. While we should indeed work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and work to overcome our vices, we should also take some time to relax.
Click to expand...
One should also remember that drinking beer and/or wine was safer then drinking untreated water, at a time when most water was untreated.:stretcher:
 
Perhaps, but that is not the reason Jesus turned water into wine, nor was the intent of the imbibers medicinal 🙂

Let us not be puritans.
:tanning:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top