Jesus' death killed the consumer
Just occasionally the Resurgence blog comes out with something insightful and thought-provoking. This is one of those:
God’s action in the world never revolves around the immediate satisfaction of wants and needs. His action is focused on reconciliation. The amazing news is the God of the Bible incurred all the cost of reconciliation himself. He paid our debt in full to restore us to his family. And when we see the God of the heavens lay aside his wants and needs to serve us, we can make the much smaller sacrifice of laying aside our own.
Contextualising this into a consumerist culture, you could argue that Jesus allows himself to be consumed on the cross - the price for our consumer debt - in order for us to be free of the dissatisfaction of a life bound by consumerism.
Don Miller (writer of Blue Like Jazz) has also been posting some interesting ideas on Consuming vs. Creating on his blog this week.
For some of my own thoughts on consumerism, see my dissertation from last year: Christian Community in a Consumerist Culture.
Christian Community in a Consumerist Culture
My dissertation for those who were interested in reading it.
Christian Community in a Consumerist Culture - James Henley
Recently watched The Joneses again on DVD (we caught it when it was out at the cinema). Bearing in mind my dissertation was on consumerism, I think this film is a really interesting, timely social commentary on the shallowness of consumerist interaction - and how people are (perhaps) crying out for a deeper connection with one another. It’s also a prophetic warning - asking the question, just how far should you go in order to market your products effectively?
Ok, so the plot is slightly Hollywood, but still worth watching.
Who are you? from Indexed.
