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Denisse Franco
English 113 CE
Professor Sung
6 February 2016
Christianity vs Carpe diem
Carpe diem is another word for seizing the day. This concept has been used for many
centuries, but todays society ties seizing the day as a way of life that means living in the
moment and pursuing our pleasures. As Christians we follow a biblical worldview which means
that we try to follow gods messages in the bible in order to reach eternity. In evaluating societys
definition of carpe diem, there are good and bad ways of how a Christian might view seizing the
day. It may be viewed negatively as when relating to time and desires, but it can be seen positive
when comparing Christians ultimate goal to get to eternity and our purpose in life.
There are many perspectives that a Christian could take in order to define carpe diem. In
the book of Eclessious the writer claims that everything is meaningless in this life. Therefore,
everything that we work for essentially does not matter because we are all going to die someday.
In the book of Ecclesiastes the writer main purpose was to show that we are nothing but a speck
of dust that will die soon, Everything is meaningless. What do people gain from all their
labor at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go but the earth
remains forever (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4) A Christians main goal is to have eternal life when they
die. Based on the view of carpe diem we should be able to do whatever we desire because we are
not here on earth for a long time. When we die no one will rember us.

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As believers of Christ, we need to put into perspective our Lords desires for us.
Therefore, we can do what society portrays us to do when talking about carpe diem, but we need
to do it in the light of practice of Jesus Christ. Everything we do in this life is practice for
eternity in heaven. Therefore, when the second coming of Jesus Christ comes he will see our
how each one of us has behaved or what we have done in this life to benefit him. Then God will
either invite us or deny us a passage to heaven. Therefore, everything we do in this life is not
meaningless because as Christians our main desire is to go to heaven, but it matters because god
judges our doings in this life in order to get to eternity. In the book of Revelations John writes
that god will come back and judge us accordantly to our works And, behold, I come quickly;
and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revolations 22:
12) Everything we do here is just a practice of what should be done in heaven. The idea that we
are going to die someday is one of the main principles of carpe diem that is portrayed in a
biblical world view.
Carpe diem can be viewed as a way of making the most out of our lives by pleasing god.
People want to achieve great things in this life, for instance the short story called Winter
Dreams. The main character Dexter longed to be the center or attention and rich. However as
Christians, we need to make the most out of this life by trying to please god. We need to do what
god as called us to do or be during this life time because he already has a plan for us in eternity.
Our main purpose in life is to serve god. Some examples of serving god is by working, becoming
a pastor and giving money to the poor. Jesus wants us to serve him like Apostle Paul who was
ship wrecked and stone for believing in Christ, but he did not give up on spreading the Gospels.
In the book of 2 Corinthians chapter verse 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was
pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea.. He

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wants us to follow good deeds and examples from the bible in order to get to sit next to Jesus and
his father in heaven. Therefore, by following societys perspective of carpe diem we will not be
able to walk the path of god because seizing the day is portrayed as a doing negative things in
society.
Living in time will disconnect us from god. If we are remembering our past and our
mistakes we are distancing ourselves from god. In chapter 1 of Purity of Heart Is to Will One
Thing the author Sren Kierkegaard wrestles with the idea of sin and time. Then he comes to
the conclusion that ...means that at any given moment a living person could look at life as if he
himself did not exist, were merely a past event that held no more present tasks for him as a living
person, as if he, as a living person, and life were cut off from each other within life, so that life
was past and gone,.. (Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing) Jesus wants us to focus on what is
happening now. He wants his children to be always trying to reconcile with him and repentance
for our sins. If we are living in the past then we are constantly repeating the same mistakes we
did the day before. Carpe diem and Jesus is beliefs are similar because they both call people to
live in the moment. Even though they both have different context, they still have the same
purpose. For instance in the bible Apostle Paul was originally a persecutor of Christians before
his conversion from Saul to Paul. During his conversion to Paul Jesus told him He fell to the
ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4)
However once his conversion he became a preacher or messenger of Jesus. This section in the
bible shows that god does not care about our paths he mainly focuses on how we act in present
and future time.
Instead of seizing the day Christians should seize the eternal life. God has called us to do
certain things that will be practice for us in the future after we die. We do not have to live life day

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by day because Jesus Christ has other plans Christians in eternity. Even though he has other
plans for us during judgement day he will see how we used living this life as a tool that will
benefit us in heaven. Seizing the day is similar to a biblical world view in the sense that they deal
with time and living in the moment. However, it should not be a Christians style of living
because of the way society describes carpe diem. Instead a Christian should focus on ways to
represent god and do what he has called us to do.

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Work cited
Ecclesiastes. Bible Gateway, Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Kierkegaard, Sren, and Douglas V. Steere. Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing: Spiritual Preparation
for the Office of Confession. New York: Harper, 1956. Print.
"Revelation 21-22." BibleGateway. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.
"Acts." BibleGateway. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.