Archived Posts For Crazy Idealism
Entitlement - the roots of our consumerism
Posted on May 19, 2008 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Crazy Idealism, Discipleship, Emerging Questions | Leave a Comment
Over at my personal blog (TheGeoffRe(y)port), I’ve taken on a bit of a theme around the misplaced feeling of entitlement that is so engrained as an enabler for our consumeristic mindset in the west (”The Ongoing Redefinition of Wealth“, “India to US - Shut up Fatty” and “Lobbyist, Possibly The Funniest Profession In The World” - if you’re interested). And the more I write about these ideas, the more obvious it becomes to me that if we are genuinely serious about this kingdom of God thing and finding out what that means in our culture, then it’s time we addressed this issue very, very seriously.
We have to recognise that we have this deeply misplaced feeling of entitlement to our lifestyle; and at times we in the church are perpetuating the dangerous myth that this is OK. When we expect that we have a right to drive as much as we like, in whatever car we like - we’re giving our devotion to that stuff. My problem is not so much that people have these things (necessarily), but that we feel “entitled” to that. We feel as though we “deserve” that.
When Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, they weren’t to have anything.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
Matthew 10:5-10 (NIV)
A Christianity that follows the man who said this, needs to be able to imagine this methodology as a possibility. I’m not suggesting that Jesus is telling you to get rid of all your possessions: but I am suggesting that the horror such a prospect invokes in you is part of the problem here. Because deep down, through the gradual indoctrination of our culture, we believe that we deserve to have the things we own.
I firmly believe that we are called to take the call of Jesus seriously, and to act counter-culturally in this area. What if our pre-requisites for working missionally in an area was to go with nothing in the bank, and nowhere to live? Now I’m going extreme, but the fact that I don’t know a culturally equivalent example to the passage quoted above seems to me to say something about the way we’re operating.
Now, I realise that I’m doing the thing that infuriates my good friend Paulie: asking questions but not really offering a solution. But I think we need to be getting this stuff out there, because I firmly believe that these feelings of entitlement and getting what you deserve are harmful to the gospel in Christians.
And I am the chief of these sinners.
josh brown on consumption
Posted on February 25, 2008 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Crazy Idealism, Culture | Leave a Comment
You should definitely get yourself over to IAmJoshBrown.com and check out his most recent post on consumption:
I don’t watch television. The only show I watch is LOST. So maybe 2 hours a week. Tops. I tell myself I’m an intellectual and that I’m a better person for reading books rather than watching American Idol or Dancing With The Stars or insert any other reality show here. I am a saint. I tell myself this myth to make me feel better about my self. It’s a shame that we bought a $600 flat screen HD television to watch LOST and play the Wii. And I spent more time on my computer than 10 average people combined. I am a hypocrite. I am my own worst enemy.
I don’t think this post needs you to comment. But have a read of the whole post, and it’s worth taking a really good look in the mirror on this stuff.
do you like stuff?
Posted on December 10, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Crazy Idealism, Culture | 3 Comments
The video that the below clip is from is perhaps the best description I’ve heard of for why there’s something deeply wrong with the consumption-centric system that our economy is based on. It puts out the big picture for what Brian McLaren describes in his new book “Everything Must Change” as “the suicide machine”. So please - set aside 20 minutes to watch the whole video here, and understand what’s wrong with the system that our world economy is centered around. The Story Of Stuff
a bit of a dream for advocacy
Posted on October 25, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Crazy Idealism, Emerging Questions | 18 Comments
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ lend to ’sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
- Luke 6: 32-36
I know that I said I was finished with the feminism conversation for the time being, but stick with me, that’s not what this is primarily all about. But in interacting with that discussion there were two, fairly obvious and unsurprising general trends:
- The strongest, loudest pro-feminist voices were primarily women
- The most reluctant voices with regards to feminism were from men
I realise that about now you’re wanting to award me the Nobel Prize for Pointing-Out-The-Blatantly-Obvious, but stop being so rude and let me finish. What if we, as followers of the man who spoke the words in the quote above, chose to live to a higher standard? What if our most passionate responses came in defence of causes that cannot benefit ourselves? This isn’t a potshot at those in either category 1 or 2 above - that’s just how I got here. But what if we passionately got behind the issues that mean letting go of our own control.
Imagine if the church’s loudest feminists were men? If the loudest advocates for the poor came from financially prosperous backgrounds? If the advocates for Aboriginal Australians came from the white people? What if we were able to give up the causes that could benefit ourselves the most, in place of those which benefited us the least?
OK, now if you’re willing to put up with one more rhetorical question: what if the loudest voices for improving homosexual rights came from the Christians who believed that homosexuality is a sin? What a church that might be.
