I don’t think happiness is a choice. The situations listed above would make me unhappy. But I think joy is a choice. I can choose how I view the situation with the context of the life I lived, the life I’m living and the life to come from there.That brings up perspective. Is this life all there is or is it just a fleeting glance in the view of an eternity that is, in some respects, dependent upon how I reacted to circumstances on earth and choices I made.In a letter to a group at the Greek city of Philippi, Saul of Tarsus said “To live is to share the words of the anointed one, but to die is to gain and be with him.”
With all the comments back and forth I was surprised that no one (that I saw) commented on why Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. He was rich, married many women from multiple cultures and was throughly into the things of the world. He wrote Ecc. to talk about the futility (vanity, all is vanity) of seeking riches, sex, power, etc. There was a time for all things in the world, but they didn’t lead to fulfillment ultimately. Many parts of the Bible are descriptive without being prescriptive. Ecclesiastes is a prime example.
I don’t think happiness is a choice. The situations listed above would make me unhappy. But I think joy is a choice. I can choose how I view the situation with the context of the life I lived, the life I’m living and the life to come from there.That brings up perspective. Is this life all there is or is it just a fleeting glance in the view of an eternity that is, in some respects, dependent upon how I reacted to circumstances on earth and choices I made.In a letter to a group at the Greek city of Philippi, Saul of Tarsus said “To live is to share the words of the anointed one, but to die is to gain and be with him.”