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Pure Pleasure: Why Do Christians Feel So Bad about Feeling Good?, by Gary L. Thomas
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Discover the power of guilt-free pleasure. Pleasure is a good thing. It’s a powerful force that feeds your relationships, helps protect your spiritual integrity, and brings delight to our heavenly Father. Pleasure isn’t something Christians should fear, shun, or disparage; it’s something we should learn to cultivate in our lives. Acclaimed spiritual growth author Gary Thomas will guide you into this way of life, which is foundational to a healthy relationship with God, with your loved ones, and with the world. He’ll show you that, for the redeemed, pleasure can be a powerful and holy force for good, leading to increased worship, spiritual strength, and renewed relationships. In this invigorating and liberating book, Gary Thomas will energize, inspire, equip, and challenge you to experience life as God meant it to be: overflowing with pleasure.
- Sales Rank: #915328 in Books
- Brand: HarperCollins Christian Pub.
- Published on: 2009-10-13
- Released on: 2009-10-13
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .67" w x 5.47" l, .55 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 256 pages
Review
“A theology of pleasure! What a great idea! And what a pleasure to read. With the verve and intelligence we’ve come to associate with all his work, Gary Thomas has taken to heart Jeremy Taylor’s warning that, ‘God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy.’ We all need this book---both the pleasure-challenged and the pleasure-prone; those who get it wrong and those who don’t get it at all. Joy is, after all, the serious business of heaven (C. S. Lewis).” -- Ben Patterson
“If Gary Thomas writes a book, you need to read it. It’s as simple as that. He has incredible insight into spiritual truths and is able to make those truths graspable for all audiences. In Pure Pleasure Gary reminds us it is OK for Christians to feel good---even have fun! A refreshing message at the right time for contemporary believers. You are going to enjoy this book.” -- Ed Young
“Gary Thomas writes for all of us who sometimes feel guilty about the good things God does for us. In Pure Pleasure, he helps us understand that the abundant life Jesus promises in John 10:10 is a better life than we could ever have imagined. And here is the good news: it is not life after death, but life after birth!” -- Dr. David Jeremiah
“Gary’s book is unlike anything I have ever read. He has stumbled upon a hidden treasure of truth that will no doubt set many Christians free to experience God’s richest blessings. Like Sacred Marriage, Pure Pleasure is a groundbreaking book that I would recommend to any Christian who desires to more fully know the heart of God.” -- Dr. Juli Slattery
“As Gary Thomas so aptly demonstrates, ‘pure pleasure’ is not a biblical oxymoron but rather a key characteristic of the God-honoring, soul-satisfying life. Warning of the dangers of both fleshly indulgence and an equally fleshly asceticism, Thomas guides our pursuit of holy delight by showing us how to embrace it in its fullness and maintain its connection to the pleasures in which God himself delights.” -- Randal Roberts
“This attention-keeping book will challenge, liberate, and inspire the reader to worship God for every way he intended his children to celebrate his gifts of marriage, sex, family, money, time, laughter, joy, and exercise. Gary does a fantastic job of biblically balancing warnings of unhealthy pleasures to practical solutions to retaining the healthy ones.” -- Miles McPherson
“I don't think it is an understatement for me to say I doubt you've ever read anything quite like this. . . . Not only does Gary give us permission to embrace life with all its legitimate joys, he encourages us to embrace them wholeheartedly! Whether it’s a good cup of coffee or a walk in a park or a great mystery novel, the book shows us how the things that delight our souls are designed to enhance our walk with God and bring him glory.” -- Tricia McCary Rhodes
“Pure Pleasure by Gary Thomas will help you to embrace and experience God, fullness of joy in his presence, and eternal pleasures at his right hand. I highly recommend it as essential reading for building a life of true pleasure and joy from a biblical perspective.” -- Siang-Yang Tan, , Professor of Psychology
From the Back Cover
Discover the power of guilt-free pleasure. Pleasure is a good thing. It's a powerful force that feeds your relationships, helps protect your spiritual integrity, and brings delight to our heavenly Father. Pleasure isn't something Christians should fear, shun, or disparage; it's something we should learn to cultivate in our lives. Acclaimed spiritual growth author Gary Thomas will guide you into this way of life, which is foundational to a healthy relationship with God, with your loved ones, and with the world. He'll show you that, for the redeemed, pleasure can be a powerful and holy force for good, leading to increased worship, spiritual strength, and renewed relationships. In this invigorating and liberating book, Gary Thomas will energize, inspire, equip, and challenge you to experience life as God meant it to be: overflowing with pleasure.
About the Author
Gary Thomas is writer-in-residence (and serves on the teaching team) at Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas and author of 18 books that have sold over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into a dozen languages. He and his wife Lisa have been married for 30 years.
Most helpful customer reviews
58 of 68 people found the following review helpful.
Rambling
By Kevin L. Nenstiel
I'm more confused by this book than enlightened. Not that I disagree with the author's thesis; far from it, I think he's probably correct. But instead of making his point in the most concise, convincing manner, he writes like a hyperactive pulpit preacher who can't put the brakes on his tongue.
Gary Thomas believes we are made by God to enjoy the blessings of God's creation. Not that we should wallow in self-indulgence and be slaves to sensuality, but that laughter, good company, good food, marital sex, and other simple joys are God's gift. When well-meaning Christians think dour self-denial makes us holy, Thomas says, we squander the beauty of creation and bring displeasure to God.
My problem is that Thomas makes this point in a brief, persuasive, succinct way... then keeps talking. His argument loops back on itself time and again, long after most audiences already accept the validity of his point. He cites scripture, quotes other authors, regales us with family anecdotes, until I'm ready to shout that I believe him already, and he can get to the next point.
Then as he keeps making already made points, he undercuts himself. When he explains why it is godly to enjoy a cup of coffee or a good book, I'm sold. But then he talks about luxury cars, country clubs, Hawaiian vacations, and flying first class. Hey, I'm an English teacher from the provinces; these "holy pleasures" aren't available to me. Am I less loved by God, then? Oops, did I let class envy into the discussion?
You see my problem?
At other times, he undersells his point. Chapter 13 in particular, about finding holy pleasure in a world where disappointment is the rule rather than the exception, reads like the outline for something not yet completed. After gorging us with details and anecdotes, this part has almost none of the author in it, only quotes, citations, and aphorisms. Just when I need detail, Thomas yanks it away so fast that I get whiplash.
He also promises matter for the future that he could put in right here. A future book, he says, will be about the relationship between physical fitness and spiritual fitness. I'm sure that will be a great book, but since he dedicates pages and pages to his love of marathon running, why couldn't he put that in this volume? I could help him trim the book in front of him to make room for it.
And right at the end, we get a study guide for an accompanying set of online videos for group study. Wait, it says I have to purchase the videos separately. After plunking down fifteen bucks per book for the study, am I unfair to think maybe I should get the videos from YouTube?
I like Thomas' point, and I'm glad somebody has finally said that "I surrender all" doesn't mean we must punish ourselves for loving life. But this rambling book, in need of a judicious edit, is probably not the book to sell this thesis to a mass audience. I wait patiently for the book that will cash the checks Gary Thomas has written.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Christians should delight in the pleasures God offers them....
By HeatherHH
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 Christian, but especially those who struggle with guilt over enjoying themselves. However, due to some brief references to the sexual aspects of marriage, I wouldn't recommend this book for reading aloud in a mixed gender setting.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Holy Pleasures
By Rebecca of Amazon
"I enjoy chocolate because God gave me taste buds, and any pleasure I derive from eating it is a pleasure designed and sustained by God. I can talk about enjoying running or eating chocolate as temptations toward idolatry, or I can talk about them as acts of worship..." ~ pg. 55
Before reading "Pure Pleasure" I had no idea there were so many things to feel guilty about. Sure, I've thought about various issues and also realized that God doesn't like it when we complain. In the Old Testament at least he gets angry each time the Israelites start complaining. So from my own reading it does seem he is happier when we are happy even though he does allow terrible things to happen on this earth.
One of the issues taken up in this book is the topic of paying $4 for a cup of coffee when people are starving, even in our own country. I personally only buy drinks at Starbucks once in a while but the author does so every day. He sees it in an interesting light. He provides himself moment of holy pleasure so that he doesn't get enticed by illicit pleasure.
Throughout the book Gary Thomas seeks to find a middle ground between hedonism and asceticism. He fights for the right to be positive and to feel pleasure in many forms. While he talks about each pleasure he is however quick to mention how each pleasure can turn sinful.
The only pleasure I think some Christians will have problems with is the pleasure of drinking alcoholic drinks. While Gary Thomas doesn't drink a lot himself he does find a glass of wine now and then to be an enjoyable way to celebrate an occasion. As always he does things in moderation. Personally I would rather drink Welch's grape juice because to me it is much more satisfying and reminds me of the grape juice we used to drink at communion when I was a child.
After reading this book I now see how allowing yourself certain pleasures can help you to attain a level of holiness you might not otherwise obtain. If you don't allow yourself holy pleasures you are much more likely to fall into temptation. Or at least that is the authors main view on the subject.
~The Rebecca Review
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