For thousands of years, philosophers, theologians, and other deep thinkers, have asked the question, “What is the good life?” Until recently, the majority answered the question in moral terms. They may have disagreed on the details, but all agreed that the good life involved shunning certain vices and seeking certain virtues, which may or may not have had their basis in a divine being.

Ask the same question today, “What is the good life?” and you’ll hear a very different story. For the vast majority, the good life is about good feelings not good morals. The goal in life is not goodness but happiness.

INSIDE THE SECULAR STORY

• The good life is a happy life.

• The happy life is found by avoiding pain and accumulating certain possessions and experiences.

• Our main problem is physical and psychological sickness which can be cured with medicine and therapy.

• Religion is part of the problem because its moral constraints challenge our individuality and make us feel guilty.

The most obvious questions to challenge this narrative are:

• Can your happy life last through inevitable suffering, loss, and death.

• Can even the best medicine and therapy ensure happiness?

OUTSIDE TO THE CHRISTIAN STORY

• The good life is a redeemed life guided by a divinely given moral code of virtue.

• The good life is found in denying self and sacrificially serving God and others.

• Our main problem is spiritual. We've turned against our Creator and his moral order. He uses suffering to point us to that deeper problem and his solution.

• Because of sin and the fall, we can never be perfectly happy in this world but Christianity develops our individuality, removes guilt, and gives ultimate hope.

What is the good life? The good life is a godly life of self-sacrificing love that denies self to seek the glory of God and the good of others.