From The River of God by Kim Cimio — Part I. Life, Chapter 1

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens. (Psalm 96:5)

Why the modern pursuit of money and love fails to deliver happiness, how it echoes ancient idolatry, and why Jesus speaks of being blessed rather than being happy.

To understand what a human being is, why do we need to ask what we are made for?

To identify anything correctly, you have to know what it is made for. On the Reddit forum r/whatisthisthing, a puzzling egg-shaped object only made sense once someone explained it was an egg surrogate that stops hens from breaking their own eggs. The same applies to us. If humans are merely accidental byproducts of blind evolution, life has no inherent purpose. Yet only the most committed atheists seem content with that conclusion. Some philosophers say the phrase “the meaning of life” is a category mistake, but that is like telling a crying baby it doesn’t need its mother. However clever the argument, our longing for meaning does not go away.

How has the idea of happiness changed from the ancient world to today?

Aristotle, in the Nicomachean Ethics, called happiness the highest good because we desire it for its own sake. His word was eudaimonia, from eu (good) and daimon (divinity or spirit), which implies happiness is granted by divine favor. The English word “happy” comes from hap, meaning luck, and the German Glück means both luck and happiness. In the past, happiness was received, not seized. Modern people see it differently. Like Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness, or Sinatra singing “I did it my way,” we treat happiness as something we fight for and earn, a validation of our independence. Bertrand Russell even called it The Conquest of Happiness. The idea of receiving it passively almost offends us.

What is the Christian view of money: is poverty a virtue or is wealth a blessing?

Christianity has held two attitudes. Traditional Catholic teaching treats poverty, alongside chastity and humility, as a mark of devotion. Protestants, as Max Weber noted, have tended to see money more positively; John Wesley said, “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” Both have problems. I grew up in South Korea as it went from poor to wealthy, and I saw how poverty brings oppression, corruption, lack of schooling and preventable deaths. Poverty can be a spiritual snare that pushes people to steal, lie or neglect their families. But the hunger for fast wealth is also dangerous. Capitalism runs on desire, and advertising keeps telling us we need more. Paul warns that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” and that those who crave it pierce themselves “with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:10).

What can money do for us, and what can’t it do?

Money brings small pleasures: a good coffee, a nice outfit. It solves small problems, which matters because for poor people anything can turn into a crisis, as in De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves. I remember having to step out of a van and walk home because I couldn’t pay fifty cents for the ride. And money does increase happiness when you are poor, though beyond a certain income it stops adding much and often becomes a source of anxiety. But money has clear limits. It can’t buy love, whether from a partner or from your children. It can’t guarantee health or long life. And it has limited power before the law. Money is useful, but it can’t buy what really matters.

What does the Bible say to Christians who are rich?

Being wealthy is not wrong in itself. Paul didn’t tell the rich to give away everything; he told them how to live well with wealth (1 Timothy 6:17–19). First, they should not be haughty, as if money made their opinions more important. Second, they should not trust riches, which are “here today and gone tomorrow,” but God, “who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” Third, they should be generous and rich in good works. Many wealthy Christians I know do this well, funding missions and helping those in need. Because both wealth and poverty carry spiritual dangers, Agur prayed, “Give me neither poverty nor riches” (Proverbs 30:8–9). Paul, poor and possibly facing starvation in a Roman prison, wrote that he had “learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger” (Philippians 4:11–13). Money, or the lack of it, held no power over him.

Where does our modern idea of romantic love come from?

C.S. Lewis traced our idea of romantic love to the courtly love tradition of twelfth-century France. Before that, love was seen either as dangerous madness, as with Medea or Dido, or as a light diversion, as in Ovid. The troubadours of southern France elevated romantic longing into something noble and almost spiritual. Later, love became tied to marriage. For most of history, marriage was a family affair; in pre-modern Korea couples often first saw each other on their wedding day. With the rise of individualism in the eighteenth century, people began choosing spouses by personal feeling. Today love is not just valued but idolized, as the highest possible good. Evolutionary psychology explains attraction as hardwired reproductive strategy, but whether by design or programming, we love to love, and our films and shows, from Notting Hill to Friends, portray what we wish would happen.

How is the modern pursuit of money and love connected to ancient idolatry?

In the myth of Paris, offered power, wisdom or love, he chose Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She was worshiped as Venus in Rome, Ishtar in Mesopotamia and Ashtaroth in Canaan. After Joshua died, Israel “abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth” (Judges 2:13). Baal, a fertility and storm god, promised wealth through good harvests; Ashtaroth promised love and sexual satisfaction. Modern society holds out the same promise: follow the “god of this world” and you will be rewarded with money and sex. Only the packaging has changed. Paul begins his explanation of the gospel in Romans by confronting this: people “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (Romans 1:22–23). N.T. Wright argues that idolatry is the fundamental human sin, a distortion of the good impulse to see God through creation.

What is animism, and where does it still show up today?

Animism is the belief in spirits animating nature, used to obtain wealth, pleasure and protection. It goes by many names: polytheism, folk religion, paganism. It still shapes our lives. The days of the week are named after its gods (Thursday after Thor). The Christmas tree comes from tree worship. The New Age movement is today’s spiritual marketplace for animism, blending Hinduism, European magic, yoga, alternative medicine and meditation. Because animism seeks good things in this life, it includes fortune-telling, such as astrology. Augustine opposed astrology by asking why twins born under the same star live such different lives, and because it undermines moral responsibility. Ancestor worship in East Asia, offering food in exchange for blessing, is another classic form.

What is the difference between being happy and being blessed?

The deepest contrast between animism and Christianity is the goal. Animism exists for humans; its gods are tools for prosperity, love and health. Christianity exists for God and his glory. The prosperity gospel confuses the two. Following Jesus often means suffering: “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus never said, “Follow me and you’ll be happy.” He described who is blessed: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the persecuted (Matthew 5:3–10). These don’t sound like happy people, but they belong to God’s kingdom. The paradox is that the pursuit of happiness rarely brings happiness. Many avoid marriage and children to protect their freedom, and find their lives lonely. Parents, despite the sleepless nights and costs, often say children are the best experience of life. In obeying “be fruitful and multiply,” they find blessing, and in that blessing, happiness.

Can happiness be pursued, or must it be received?

The Declaration of Independence named “the pursuit of happiness” an inalienable right. After more than two centuries, that pursuit seems to have made many people less happy. True happiness cannot be grasped; it must be received. Jesus said, “whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). When I joined my mission organization, my grandfather, a pastor, warned me that unpaid Christian work was something “only rich kids in America can afford.” He wasn’t wrong; I was often hungry, and I still earn less than minimum wage. Yet I have no regrets. I feel deeply loved by God. Those who give up the pursuit of happiness and live for God often find that happiness comes to them, quietly and unexpectedly, as a gift.

Source: Kim Cimio, The River of God (Vision & Logic, 2025), chapter 1, “Pursuit of Happiness.” Answers are condensed from the book in the author’s words.