Enjoying Well-Being Through Well-Doing

By Leon Pamphile

From the very beginning, God destines human beings for a life of fruitfulness and well-being. There has been a serious illusion for many people that this state of happiness is automatically given. This book, Enjoying Well-being Through Well-doing aims to dispel this misunderstanding by challenging you to make every effort to achieve God's promise of a blessed and flourishing life. . You can certainly do it if you use the power within you. to consistently engage in doing good.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CrossLink Publishing
• Release date: May 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781386411024

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Enjoying Well-Being Through Well-Doing in the Age of COVID 19

Leon D. Pamphile, PhD

New Harbor Press

Rapid City, SD

Copyright © 2020 by Leon D. Pamphile, PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Pamphile/New Harbor Press

1601 Mt. Rushmore Rd, Ste 3288

Rapid City, SD 57701

www.NewHarborPress.com

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the Special Sales Department at the address above.

Enjoying Well-Being Through Well-Doing in the Age of COVID-19/Leon D. Pamphile. -- 1st ed.

In loving memory of my father and mother,

Pastor Devaise and Mrs. Francilia Pamphile,

who taught me the precious art of sowing and reaping.

Do you want a long, good life…Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. (Psalm 34:12, The TLB)

Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. (Isaiah 3:10-11 (NKJV)

Acknowledgments

L

ife is never a

lonely road. Our achievements are always the fruit of con-certed efforts. Many people have contributed to make this project a reali-ty. It is not possible to mention the names of all those who have assist-ed. I would like, however, to express my deepest gratitude to the late Dr. Richard Seckinger, who made valuable suggestions that enhanced the manuscript. I will always be indebted to my lovely wife Rozelle and the members of my family for their unconditional support in all the ven-tures of my life.

Leon D. Pamphile, PhD

Contents

Prologue

PART I: THINK RIGHT

1. Believe in a Good God

2. Cultivate Good Hope

3. Make Good Choices

4. Cling to a Good Conscience

PART II: ACT RIGHT

5. Become a Good Person

6. Enjoy a Good Day

7. Maintain a Good Health

8. Attain Good Success

Part III: SERVE WELL

9. Do Good Works

10. Be a Good and Faithful Servant

11. Display an Attitude of Gratitude

12. Rejoice Always

EPILOGUE

ENDNOTES

Foreword

M

y wife Rozelle and

I were in China in 2019. We enjoyed the trip of our lives by visiting such major cities as Beijing, Shanghai and specially the Great Walls of China. It was not long after that news broke out of the emergence of COVID-19 from the city of Wuhan. This wicked disease has since spread to all the continents of the world infecting over 2 millions and killing hundred of thousands.

Unfortunately COVID-19 is also present in the United States causing enormous health and economic damages. In the midst of this pandemic, I seem to hear the cry of of David "my soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? (Psalm 6:3). We are all wondering how long it will take to return to the normal life we are accustomed to? How long will prevail the uncertainties of COVID-19?

This book is designed to equip you with the appropriate weapon to face and defeat COVID-19. No soldier with common sense ever goes to war without being fully armed. We note some of the sanitary weapons used against this horrific disease: testing, gloves, ventilators and social distancing. I applaud and pray for the health care workers who put their own lives on the line to save others. Yet be assured that to win this COVID-19 war, we ought to also use first and foremost spiritual weapons. From our spiritual arsenal, let me highlight the weapon of hope.

Hal Lindsay rightly says that Man can live forty days without food, three days without water, eight minutes without air but for only one second without hope. The apostle Paul showed us how he used hope to cope with a situation so critical that he despaired even of life. He depended on God who delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers (2 Co. 1: 10-11). COVID-19 is a deadly threat to our well-being to be defeated through DEPENDENCE on God and INTERDEPENDENCE on each other’s prayers. We ought to uplift one another through encouraging words and prayers by using the telephone, internet, social media as tools to keep HOPE ALIVE.

Health and government officials emphasized over and over the need to follow strict measures for treatment and prevention against this virus. In a parallel move, this book bids you to embrace and follow God’s direction and instructions for optimal well-being. Be persuaded that the Lord guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way (Psalm 25:9). Leaning on this everlasting truth, rise up to engage with God in well-doing to conquer all threats to your well-being in these seasons of distress and grief.

Prologue

T

he enjoyment of well-being

is an endless human quest. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, posited that humans are driven by the pleasure principle, instinctively seeking pleasure and avoiding pain in order to satisfy biological and psychological needs. In twenty-first century language, well-being is defined as the state of being well, including being happy and experiencing self-esteem and life satisfaction.¹ Indeed, we all aspire to well-being. We need, however, to take the necessary steps of well-doing to achieve that worthwhile state.

Throughout history, the quest for well-being has been sought through philosophy, science, and religion. Well-being was originally associated with Aristotle who called it happiness or the good life. His focus was on the reality of what was known to the Greeks as eudaimonia, that is good fortune with special emphasis on external prosperity. For Aristotle, however, happiness—the state of well-being—was the highest of practical goods. In his view, happiness consisted in the perfect practice of virtuous activities.

Beyond Aristotle, the Stoics saw character, duty, discipline, and virtue as the supreme good of life. Later, in the eighteenth century, Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, ascertained that to attain the good life, one should have good will, that is the commitment to fulfilling your duty simply because it is your obligation to do so. A human act is morally good when it is done for the sake of duty.²

In the shadow of the Industrial Revolution in England, Jeremy Bentham endorsed the philosophy of Utilitarianism in which an action is held to be right if it tends to promote happiness, not only of the agent but everyone affected by this act. Bentham applied this philosophy in his quest to discover the principles of legislation. He asserted that the object of all legislation must be the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

In France, the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment believed that human well-being on earth was possible through their optimistic faith in progress and scientific development. They professed a full, if not blind, confidence in human reason to solve any problem. Their great optimism was shared by some of the leaders of the American Revolution, namely Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, who made the pursuit of happiness an integral part of the Constitution of the United States.

The quest for the good life has moved from the traditional frontiers of philosophy into the realm of scientific inquiry. Positive psychology evolved as a scientific discipline focused on finding what makes for optimal human functioning and what gives meaning to life. Social scientists conduct surveys, studies, and interviews, and they place the source of happiness outside of our being, correlating happiness with external factors that are often far beyond our control. It is assumed, for instance, that certain categories of people can experience the good life based on their sex, race, age, marital status, and other features. Happiness is also pursued through status, career choice, success, education, harmony with nature, and so forth.

More recently, the Yale Center for Faith and Culture has been engaged in a project to determine the connection between joy and the good life. This project aims to conduct research and facilitate interdisciplinary conferences and other gatherings to build a transformative movement driven by a Christian articulation of the joy that attends the flourishing of human life.

Notwithstanding the value of these various pathways to the good life, this book proposes a new gateway. It seeks to empower you with the conviction that well-being is closely linked to well-doing. Rather than a quest, well-being is experienced through day-to-day acts and behaviors that are intrinsically tied to one’s worldview. According to a recent New York Times article, Everyone has the power to make small changes in our behavior, our surroundings and our relationships that can help set us on course for a happier life.³ The changes proposed here are virtuous activities based on timeless principles. The fundamental message of the book—stemming from the Greek biblical concept of agathos—is that well-being can be enjoyed through well-doing.

Some critics would argue that Christianity does not promise or guarantee happiness. That criticism has merit. The cross is the prime symbol of Christian discipleship, and it has a rather negative connotation. Nevertheless, Christianity helps us develop what is best in our nature and sets us in the right orbit for our well-being. Happiness or unhappiness, according to an insightful saying, depends more on the way we meet events than on the nature of those events themselves. Christ empowers us to fulfill our potential for well-being through well-doing.

The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible defines agathos as good. It is an adjective most commonly used to describe or appraise the beautiful feature, desirable quality, or useful purpose of a person, a thing, or an event.

Used in a moral sense, agathos applies to God, who is essentially and absolutely good, and it relates to people and their actions. Well-doing correlates with the noble standard set by a good God. Well-being can be experienced by doing good at three specific levels. In the first place, we