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Connor Neuhoff
Brian Morris
ENG 113
October 10, 2016
Carpe Diem Evaluation
Christians live a lifestyle of Biblical practices and beliefs, meaning we abide by the Bible
and use it as a set of guidelines to help us on a path of eternal life. Sin is breaking Gods law and
violating his law would create moral impurity, eventually obstructing us as Christians from
living eternal life in Heaven. The idea of Carpe Diem would not be the ideal lifestyle for
Christians to live if the goal is to spend eternity in Heaven. I will give an evaluation on the
concept of Carpe Diem and why it would be a bad idea as Christians to live life by the notion of
Carpe Diem.
The Biblical worldview of Christianity rejects the idea that we should pursue wealth and
fame and other temporary items for our own self gain. This conflicts with the concept of Carpe
Diem and the notion that we should live life self-centered and only engage in things for our own
personal gain. The Bible reads, Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. (Eccles. 1:2NIV), this passage explains to us that without eternity than yes, everything that is merely
temporary is in-fact meaningless. Christian beliefs tell us to live our live in Gods glory, in other
words to live life with eternal in mind. In addition, if we remain conscious of our actions and live
life with the understanding that everything we do in the future, past, or present will be judged by
God, then we can live life by Christian Biblical worldview. The concept of Carpe Diem is living
without worry of the future or past. This hinders us from practicing the Christian values that
everything we do will one day be judged by God. How we handle our life, and our pursuit of our

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dreams will eventually be judged by God, ultimately giving our life meaning and conflicting
with the idea of Carpe Diem.
Another principle of Carpe Diem that opposes Christian belief is that we should live our
life in the present giving little thought to the future and past. In Albert Camuss book The Myth
of Sisyphus he writes, What I know, what is certain, what I cannot deny, what I cannot rejectthis is what counts (477). This supports the thought of Carpe Diem by explaining that we can
only be sure of the present. This conflicts with the Christian belief that God is eternal and living
in the present separates us with eternity. In Soren Kierkegaards story Purity of Heart Is to Will
One Thing he says, Only the Eternal is always appropriate and always present, is always true.
(2). Christian belief teaches that not only the present matters but all moments of life. Kierkegaard
goes on to describe that to only exist in the present is sin, and that if our life has a past then we
have not encountered the eternal. Carpe Diem claims we must seize the day in other words seize
the present. Whereas, according to Kierkegaard, Christianity requires seizing eternity and putting
all faith in God as well as remaining conscious of all chapters in our life.
Finally, as Christians we establish goals to achieve of variety of things but in doing so we
adjust our lives to take a path that honors God and eternity. Albert Camuss concept of Carpe
Diem describes that living a life with hopes and dreams is living a life of slavery. Christianity
involves adjusting our lives to achieve goals and we do so with the Bible as a guide. We use the
Bible to determine the right way to achieve these goals and the wrong way. Carpe Diem involves
taking in as many of lifes experiences as we can, without making any preconceptions as to
whether they are right or wrong. This is proven by Camuss quote from his book The Myth of
Sisyphus, For the mistake is thinking that that quantity of experiences depends on the
circumstances of our life when it depends solely on us. (486). Christian beliefs differ from this

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idea because we strive to live a life without sin by keeping the eternal in mind and the ultimate
goal of entering heaven. Christianity assists us on the path to accomplish our goals by setting
boundaries on the right way to live our life and the wrong way which we would not be able to do
if we strictly abided by the concept of Carpe Diem.
As Christians, our definitive purpose is to live a lifestyle that would honor God and grant
us eternal life in Heaven. We stray from breaking Gods law and committing sins so that we may
someday be graced to an eternity is Heaven. Carpe Diem conflicts this by practicing the concept
of living in the present and not paying any attention to the consequences of our actions.
Christianity would not be possible living the life of Carpe Diem as it would create too many
opportunities for sin.

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Works Cited
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus. New York, Knopf, 1955. 1st American edition.

Kierkegaard, Soren. Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing; spiritual preparation for the office ofconfession. New York, Harper & Row, 1956, c1948

New International Version. Biblical, 2011. BibleGateway.com,

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1&version=NIV