This is a video my brother made for the youth group he leads- Northe. It tells the story of the real St. Nick, and I think it's pretty rad.
Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Babel
I'm working on my last paper right now, and I thought I would upload a paper I finished last week. It's on the Tower of Babel. If you want to read it, download it from here. I think it's about 7 pages, and I reformatted it to be more readable. It probably sounds kinda snooty and scholarly. I hate it but it is kind of what is expected... Anyway, if you read it let me know what you think.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Some thoughts on consuming
Hey all, I wanted to follow up with some more thoughts on consumerism since this got some questions. I do have a tendency to make big blanket statements, assuming that everyone has the same background and same ideas running through their head, which obviously you don't! So here's a little bit about why I made some of those statements.
I'm not against buying things at all. I'm not saying to stop spending money, grow your own food, make your own clothes, build your own house. I'm not against capitalism. We should be thankful for the systems that are in place in this country that have given us such an amazing opportunity, but as Christians our first responsibility is to God's way of doing things. If something in our culture is against the things Jesus taught, we need to stand up for a better way of life and help others get there. This will make more sense when I give some specifics.
I think what scares me about consumerism is that we begin to think that we are consumers. I hear people call themselves consumers all the time. Do we really want to be people who consume everything around us? Who always need more and more and are never satisfied? The average American sees over 3000 ads a day, and they are all telling you to buy more. You will be happier with this thing, you need this to be safe, this will make you cool, you work so hard so you deserve this, this will make them love you...
Honestly, we all buy lots and lots of things we don't need and probably aren't good for us. I really really wanted to buy a new Nintendo cause I was playing with some friends, and I haven't played video games a lot in a few years. It's $250, which is cheap for something like that these days. I was all ready to do it, and then I started asking why I wanted it? Well, I'm too busy right now to play it right now cause of finals and papers. And when I go back to Colorado, I want to spend time with the people I haven't seen in months. And why did I stop playing in the first place? Well, cause it was a distraction and kept me from building good relationships with people and it sucked up too much time. And I wondered why I thought I needed it so much.
And I know there are lots and lots of times where those situations come up and I don't even recognize them. I am so used to buying things for myself cause I'm convinced I need more. And I'm realizing that consumerism makes us think we need more stuff to really be happy, which is really destructive. On top of that, we start to think that everything in the world is about us. Does this meet my needs? Is that what is best for me? This kind of thinking spreads beyond our buying patterns and gets into us even deeper. We get angry because someone is driving slow in "our" lane. We are mad because the lines at the grocery store are so long and we are going to be late. We want the pastor to meet all our needs and talk about the things we are interested in. And we become pretty selfish people.
That's why 2 billion people live in extreme poverty, which means that they cannot mean their basic needs of food, water, and shelter. They live on less than $1 per day, and will never get out of this cycle unless someone intervenes. Check out some stats that were accurate from about this time last year. I got these from a podcast sermon of Rob Bell's.
1.2 billion people live on less than $0.23 a day and half the world lives on less than $2 per day
The top 1 billion people make $70 a day
The 3 wealthiest people in the world are Americans, and their combined worth is greater than the GNP of the world's least developed countries (over 600 million people)
12% of the world uses 85% of the world's clean water
Every 6 seconds someone dies of hunger. Two thirds of the US is over weight.
The average America consumes 14 lbs of wood each day. The rest of the world averages 4 lb.
8% of the world owns a car.
US consumes 20 million barrels of oil each day (300 million people). China: 5.6 million barrels for 1.3 billion people.
Malaria kills more than 1 million people every year, even though we've known how to prevent and cure this disease for about 100 years. 70% are children under the age of 5.
I've heard that the amount of money it would take to completely eradicate extreme poverty from this planet is roughly equivalent to what Americans spend each year... one ice cream.
That is why I say that consumerism is anti-human. To be human is to represent God, as we are made in his image. America, a "Christian" nation, would rather get up at 4am to spend more money than it would to give a fraction of that to stop completely inhumane living conditions. That is why consumerism is anti-human. And in a globalized society the entire world sees this. They see the way we are never satisfied. They see the way we manipulate and steal from those who have so little so that we can have more. When the world sees a "Christian" nation so self-consumed and excessive, why would they want to hear anything about Jesus?
This isn't intended to be attacking, and I'm certainly not condemning anyone. This has been something that has been on my heart and mind for 18 months and I am grieved by how selfish my habits still are. I am only inviting you to join this struggle with me, because I don't think anybody who reads this wants to be selfish. We just so often can't even see how blinded we've become. We don't have to stop buying all together, and I don't think we are supposed to deny all the good things God has given us. God isn't asking everyone to be miserable. But can we ask God to help us give more and more instead of taking more and more? Can we pray for a heart that isn't overwhelmed with guilt by these stats, but breaks in love for these individual souls. Can we ask God how we can be better representatives so people will see the way we live for others. The way we give our lives away. The way we love. Then maybe they will want to know more about the God we represent.
I'm not against buying things at all. I'm not saying to stop spending money, grow your own food, make your own clothes, build your own house. I'm not against capitalism. We should be thankful for the systems that are in place in this country that have given us such an amazing opportunity, but as Christians our first responsibility is to God's way of doing things. If something in our culture is against the things Jesus taught, we need to stand up for a better way of life and help others get there. This will make more sense when I give some specifics.
I think what scares me about consumerism is that we begin to think that we are consumers. I hear people call themselves consumers all the time. Do we really want to be people who consume everything around us? Who always need more and more and are never satisfied? The average American sees over 3000 ads a day, and they are all telling you to buy more. You will be happier with this thing, you need this to be safe, this will make you cool, you work so hard so you deserve this, this will make them love you...
Honestly, we all buy lots and lots of things we don't need and probably aren't good for us. I really really wanted to buy a new Nintendo cause I was playing with some friends, and I haven't played video games a lot in a few years. It's $250, which is cheap for something like that these days. I was all ready to do it, and then I started asking why I wanted it? Well, I'm too busy right now to play it right now cause of finals and papers. And when I go back to Colorado, I want to spend time with the people I haven't seen in months. And why did I stop playing in the first place? Well, cause it was a distraction and kept me from building good relationships with people and it sucked up too much time. And I wondered why I thought I needed it so much.
And I know there are lots and lots of times where those situations come up and I don't even recognize them. I am so used to buying things for myself cause I'm convinced I need more. And I'm realizing that consumerism makes us think we need more stuff to really be happy, which is really destructive. On top of that, we start to think that everything in the world is about us. Does this meet my needs? Is that what is best for me? This kind of thinking spreads beyond our buying patterns and gets into us even deeper. We get angry because someone is driving slow in "our" lane. We are mad because the lines at the grocery store are so long and we are going to be late. We want the pastor to meet all our needs and talk about the things we are interested in. And we become pretty selfish people.
That's why 2 billion people live in extreme poverty, which means that they cannot mean their basic needs of food, water, and shelter. They live on less than $1 per day, and will never get out of this cycle unless someone intervenes. Check out some stats that were accurate from about this time last year. I got these from a podcast sermon of Rob Bell's.
1.2 billion people live on less than $0.23 a day and half the world lives on less than $2 per day
The top 1 billion people make $70 a day
The 3 wealthiest people in the world are Americans, and their combined worth is greater than the GNP of the world's least developed countries (over 600 million people)
12% of the world uses 85% of the world's clean water
Every 6 seconds someone dies of hunger. Two thirds of the US is over weight.
The average America consumes 14 lbs of wood each day. The rest of the world averages 4 lb.
8% of the world owns a car.
US consumes 20 million barrels of oil each day (300 million people). China: 5.6 million barrels for 1.3 billion people.
Malaria kills more than 1 million people every year, even though we've known how to prevent and cure this disease for about 100 years. 70% are children under the age of 5.
I've heard that the amount of money it would take to completely eradicate extreme poverty from this planet is roughly equivalent to what Americans spend each year... one ice cream.
That is why I say that consumerism is anti-human. To be human is to represent God, as we are made in his image. America, a "Christian" nation, would rather get up at 4am to spend more money than it would to give a fraction of that to stop completely inhumane living conditions. That is why consumerism is anti-human. And in a globalized society the entire world sees this. They see the way we are never satisfied. They see the way we manipulate and steal from those who have so little so that we can have more. When the world sees a "Christian" nation so self-consumed and excessive, why would they want to hear anything about Jesus?
This isn't intended to be attacking, and I'm certainly not condemning anyone. This has been something that has been on my heart and mind for 18 months and I am grieved by how selfish my habits still are. I am only inviting you to join this struggle with me, because I don't think anybody who reads this wants to be selfish. We just so often can't even see how blinded we've become. We don't have to stop buying all together, and I don't think we are supposed to deny all the good things God has given us. God isn't asking everyone to be miserable. But can we ask God to help us give more and more instead of taking more and more? Can we pray for a heart that isn't overwhelmed with guilt by these stats, but breaks in love for these individual souls. Can we ask God how we can be better representatives so people will see the way we live for others. The way we give our lives away. The way we love. Then maybe they will want to know more about the God we represent.
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