The Pursuit Of Happiness In Ravi Zacharias's The Cry For Freedom

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In Ravi Zacharias’s book The Cry For Freedom, he asks the question, “Can God give to us a wide array of pleasures including the physical and the aesthetic that may enjoy without feeling that it is a break from the routine for the Christian” (Zacharias 122)? Zacharias seems to conclude that God can give us these pleasures. He believes that these pleasures are secondary to the primary pleasure of God himself. I would agree that Zacharias is correct in his beliefs about true pleasure found in Christ. God has given us these pleasures for our enjoyment, but they must only be used in pursuit of the goal. Unfortunately, modern society views pleasure as happiness but really the pleasure they seek usually just ends in misery. Pleasure must not be the goal, but rather finding joy in oneness with God. “‘Under the sun,’ he said, everything was ‘a chasing after the wind’” (Zacharias 131). Zacharias is quoting Solomon in the Bible where is lamenting about his life of lavish living, and Solomon concludes that it was a lot of toil to no avail. Pleasure for the sake of pleasure usually results in insanity. People who have an addiction to gambling continue to risk money they do not have in hopes of winning more. They take pleasure in the act of gambling, in hopes of the pleasure of winning, but when the gambler loses he or she just throws more money away. In modern society when the immediate pleasure fails, the cycle of insanity begins by trying to use the immediate pleasure in hopes of