The Danes are Supposed to be the Happiest People in the World.

One of the surprising things I was met with when mingling with Americans earlier this year in Ca. was their recurrent remarks about Denmark as the happiest country in the world.  What I had read as a casual marginal note in our TV text news only, based on some superficial straw poll in 2007, had been spread all over in America.  I remember I got a little embarrassed when confronted with that stuff, but of course my US friends thought it would make me even more happy!

Generally speaking, the Danes are happy with their Welfare State, their good Christmas food, Christmas parties, Christmas games, Christmas displays, Christmas decorations, Christmas pixies and even, once a year, their Christmas church service, but they are usually also good neighbors, good colleagues, good at the dinner tables where they love to be sociable (contrary to the pragmatic Americans who usually just eat and then walk away), and they are good at being good to each other (according to their own self-concept), they are happy about their boosted “values”, not knowing, though, what those values really are , and they are self-fulfilling, which means that “self” is their religion and that God is irrelevant outside the church walls.

However, Søren Kierkegaard, our famous philosopher (1813-1855),  is right when he contends that deep inside, hidden behind the shallow façade of happiness, the human despair (which he called the deadly illness) has its choice hiding-place.

But of course the polite compliment of our supposed happiness should lead to a testimony of what true happiness is.  One of my philosophical, but not very happy co-patients at a Danish hospital 4 years ago argued that happiness is not in the Bible, so what I´d said about being a happy follower of Christ had no biblical foundation.  But he was wrong.  It is in the Bible abundantly.

When the Bible says “blessed”, it means exceedingly happy.  So if you are a Christian and happens to be a Dane met with the above mentioned American polite compliment about the happiness, you may truthfully say, “Sure enough, I´m very happy and may I tell you why?  “How blessed (meaning how exceedingly happy) is he whose transgression forgiven, whose sin is covered!” (Psa. 32:1), pointing to Him “who bore our sins in his body on the cross”  (1 Pet. 2:24).

Now, all true followers of Christ have of course the privilege of testifying of that exceeding happiness no matter what country we come from.

9.12.09

jn