Check out another review I have just written. This one is of Mark Sayers’ book, The Trouble with Paris. Very relevant especially over this holiday period as we continue to spend , spend, spend. What will it profit a person…
Category: Culture (Page 8 of 8)
In Australia this Christmas, we spent $1billion on unwanted presents. This further illustrates our society’s addiction to buying presents just for the heck of it at Christmas. As usual, the Murdoch press encourages people to have a whinge by prompting readers to tell them all about any shocker Christmas gifts they received. Thankfully only a couple of people have responded at the time of writing this post, and one of those was thankful for what they received.
It’s interesting that while we have returned so many presents, Boxing Day sales have been booming. One of the presents I received was Mark Sayers’ brilliant book, The Trouble with Paris. In this book, Sayers talks about ‘hyper-reality’ and the fact that, living in a consumerist society, we now believe the marketers who say that that next item is going to solve all our problems, and that retail therapy is all the panacea we need when we’re having a bad day.
This financial crisis is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the church to make a very loud statement about the failures and the lies of the promises of consumerism. In a society that values ‘having’ Jesus says that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. In a society that values image and individualism, Jesus asks what will it profit you if you gain the whole world but lose your self in the process? It also goes back further than that, to the prophet Samuel when God reminds him that people look at the externals but God looks at the heart. Nothing has changed except that which we worship. The void in the human heart needs to be filled. Where our treasure is there will our heart be also.
Will the church take up the challenge to proclaim the good news of Jesus in these times of turmoil for so many? Many people will be disillusioned by these times, not least many in the church who have bought the message of health, wealth and prosperity. Now is the time for the church to be the prophetic, counter-cultural community that so distinguished itself in the 1st century. Jesus’ message is good news indeed for he comes to free us from our slavery to stuff so we are no longer conformed to the pattern of this world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
I’ve found that the best remedy for regaining that inner quiet and peace is by choosing to do the right thing. We’re such impulsive people. Whatever we have, we always want something better. I long for the day when, like St Paul, I can consistently say that I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstances. John the Baptist said the same thing when he told the crowds to “be content with your pay.”
No matter what we have we always want something else. If we find this attitude within ourselves, then the advertisers have succeeded and we have become a victim of the prevailing culture. We are no longer in control of our impulses. They now control us. The goal of advertising is to create the impression of a vacuum that doesn’t really exist in order to make a dollar.
The Gospel is counter-cultural and transformational. Romans 12:1 says ‘no longer be confromed to the pattern of this world.’ Jesus said “What will it profit you if you gain the whole world but lose yourself?” How I need to take that to heart and be transformed by the One spoke these words of life so many years ago.
Our hearts are restless. We consistently feel wired and discontent. As Douglas Adams, in The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, put it so brilliantly,
“This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper.”
In these times of financial hardship for so many, the words of Jesus are more relevant than ever.
I’ve been thinking about the impact this crisis is having on those who have been sucked into the prosperity gospel idea. I wonder what they are thinking now as they lose their investments. One of the reasons the prosperity gospel is so disastrous is because, when events like this come along, they will turn alot of people away from God as they become disillusioned with what they have been taught about God’s apparent desire for them to be wealthy. Hopefully the good that will come out of this will be that people will begin to see the prosperity gospel for what it really is – a heresy and idolatry. Jesus’ words that you cannot serve both God and money have never been more relevant.
Soon after this issue arose, I also felt uneasy about the media frenzy associated with it. Recently one of the commercial TV channels in Melbourne ran a documentary about how to survive the crisis and keep from losing your investments. The response of bailing out the banks in the US (and now elsewhere) with the extraordinary amount of hundreds of billions of dollars is the same. It reflects on our society’s self-interest and priorities. As Bono said recently,
“I find it extraordinary that the US Government can find $700 billion to bail out the banks, but the entire G8 cannot find $25billion to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.”
I think the prophets of old would be turning in their graves at the immorality of bailing out the banks with this amount of money. I also think of the rich man who ignored Lazarus. I think this idea is obscene and an insult to the world’s poor.
What this crisis also reveals is the destructive nature of unregulated market capitalism. The idea that the market knows best has always been misguided, especially for the poor. The nature of capitalism is that there always has to be a loser. I reckon this is what Jesus meant when he said “the poor you will always have with you.” He knows what human nature is capable of.
Mention has been made during this crisis of the movie, ‘Wall Street’, where Michael Douglas’ character, Gordon Gekko, utters the infamous words, “Greed is good.” People have been referring to this because of the reasons this crisis has eventuated. The unregulated market has allowed the greedy to get away with murder, and now may nations are paying the price. In stark contrast to the ‘greed is good’ mantra espoused by many, Gandhi once famously said that there is enough in the world for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.
This is a time when the voice of the church needs to be heard from the mountain tops, a time when part of God’s kingdom coming on earth involves speaking out against greed and excess. Following Jesus and living a kingdom lifestyle involves living recklessly for others. The life of Jesus and the early church give us the best example of how to do this. In Acts we are told that “all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.” (Acts 2:44-45)
Some useful articles about a Christ-like response to the crisis:
Jubilee on Wall Street: Reimagining God’s Vision in Action
Orgy of Greed, Action Without Forethought
The wage of sin is the death of the market
Photo by Jorge Vicente (http://www.sxc.hu)
This article in Eureka Street highlights once again the insidious nature of the consumer culture that we live in. It also highlights to me the addictive nature of what we fall for. We don’t control it; it controls us. Our lives are no longer our own (they’re never really our own anyway. Our lives belong to to God of the universe, but you know what I mean).
Daniel Donahoo and Tania Andrusiak make a brilliant point in this article as they observe the intrigue of their child –
“Our children are not our children. They, like all of us, live in a world saturated in brands, commercialism and all manner of hyped-up toys”
Mark Sayers has alot to say about this in his book, The Trouble with Paris. The good news is that the gospel is also good news to the rich. And that is us.
This article by Mal Fletcher is brilliant. After the Mike Guglielmucci scandal broke a few weeks ago, I remember thinking that, of all the feedback and commentary on this tragedy, I didn’t see anything that spoke about the absolute betrayal and devastation that porn addiction brings. Fletcher’s article highlights the issue with sensitivity and reality.
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