Utopia

"And the reason is that men whose minds are filled with false ideas of pleasure have no room left for true genuine delight. As a matter of fact, there are a great many things which have no sweetness in them, but are mainly or entirely bitter, yet which through the perverse enticements of evil lusts are considered very great pleasures, and even the supreme goal of life." (pg. 563)


I agree with the Utopian view point that chasing and putting ones hope in material things lead to destruction. But I wouldn't want to take it to the extrema in which the Utopians did. I thought it was cleaver that the slaves wore gold rings and earrings. And gold was repulsing to them. It's just the opposite of the glorified human nature. Putting ones self first and taking care of "number one". These people were the total opposite. The people did what was best for the whole while the whole, in turn, took care of the people. It's hard to kill ones flesh to live for something that is totally outside of ones own self. I guess that's what makes Utopia messed up and truly unrealistic because your always going to have that one person who says why?

Back to the statement above. I can relate to that statement because that is the same thing that the Bible says. When I became a Christian my whole view on the world changed. I no longer wanted to strive after material things like nice clothes, cars, and a lot of money. My life was destroyed by those things leaving me with nothing and no where to turn. Everything that I knew to be real was fake. It took a total destruction in my life for me to realize that there is a deeper meaning to why we are here and why we do the things we do every day and why we go about doing meaningless tasks to try to live "the good life". When really it's not living at all. Once I came to my wits end trying to " live the good life" I had to find a better way to live. Little did I know that it wasn't me who was trying to figure this out because I could have never figured out the stuff I know now by myself self . Isn't that what life's about? If you've never asked your self the question why am I here then you probably haven't come to the end of your self. I was just sick of getting high and drunk every day to make it though the day. "And the reason is that mens whose minds are filled with false ideas of pleasure have no room left for true genuine delight".

That is why I can relate to this statement so much because it is true in my own life. I believe to some degree the statement is true in everybody's life. Maybe you don't struggle with the same things that I struggle with but one way or another we all fall short. And we all come to realize that we are not self sufficient. That outside help is needed and sometimes and (in my case) it was a divine rescue that changed my life. If you had seen me two years ago you wouldn't have recognized me. I used to live on the street and you wonder why I am the way I am. Talk is cheap but the way we walk is reality. You and I haven't gone down the same path you've never walked in my shoes and I've never walked in yours but I do know one thing, we are all going to die. Where are you going to go when your life's over? I know where I'm going. A few years ago I would have told you I didn't know where I was headed if I died the next day because I did know anything about God and I wanted nothing to do with him. I was happy living the way I was and I didn't see anything wrong with it. i wasn't hurting anyone I was just trying to get by. It's different now, I will say that heaven and hell are real and you can't believe in one and not the other and there is no heaven for a "G".

What is the supreme goal in life? Mine used to be making the most money I could in the shortest and easiest way possible. Now, none of that matters anymore because I have been transformed by Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:1-8(ESV study Bible)
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."