we want your soul

Consumerism claims everything and in Western contexts is all-pervasive. But here’s the problem, God also claims everything (and is all-pervasive, all-knowing, and all-powerful.) This clash of loyalties causes the disciple some real discomfort and so it should. Here is a clip by Adam Freeland that artfully underlines the claim that consumerism makes on our souls.

HT to the ever revolutionary Ben Cheek

April 19, 2007 | Filed Under consumerism, pop culture |  

Comments

22 Responses to “we want your soul”

  1. Alan Hirsch on April 19th, 2007 12:59 pm

    Catchy tune too. I must buy it! :-)

  2. Sarah Rooney on April 19th, 2007 3:05 pm

    Yes indeed. Great clip. And it’s particularly relevant for me right now as I’ve been doing a study on all the things Jesus said about “the rich” and “the poor” and that sort of thing. As you know, Jesus says some pretty scary stuff, especially in Luke. I am in the process of asking Him how to live it out personally - do I sell my house and move to Africa where I can love the poor in deed and in truth? Perhaps, we’ll see what what He says. But He’s definately messing with my head! :) (Happily messing with it, that is!) Thanks for sharing!

  3. Josh on April 19th, 2007 4:55 pm

    yeah catchy, and so true. Just to add to what you said Sarah, I’m not about to sell my house which God blessed my wife and I with for very specific reasons, but i wonder also about the whole consumerism ploy of making safety the key.
    Buy the product, then keep it safe through insurance.
    this is something that I am struggling with at the moment? Do we take out insurance or not? I feel that the more I try to order and control, I take in my hands the direction that I feel God wants to take. Suddenly I’m trusting in the ‘goodness’ of my insurance company rather than in the goodness of my God.
    Is that going too far?

  4. Alan Hirsch on April 19th, 2007 5:00 pm

    Josh, you are not the first to have thoughts like that. “Risk management” always plays on our fears. A difficult one.

  5. Mak on April 19th, 2007 11:39 pm

    wow, that’s great.

  6. Peggy Brown on April 20th, 2007 6:56 am

    Yep…everything we have really isn’t ours–it’s God’s…we just have a hard time remembering it.

    Some things must be insured for legal purposes…I think the problem is not so much with the insurance as it is with the stuff. Are we insuring the “needs” of our circumstance: a basic car and a basic home and the life of the “breadwinner” and the family’s basic health and teeth…or are we insuring our “wants”…

    you can’t take it with you and it’s all so transient…what a time for wisdom, eh?

    And Sarah–you don’t have to go to Africa to love the poor in deed and truth…they may be closer than you think ;)

    Thanks for the reminder, Al…

  7. Mike on April 20th, 2007 2:37 pm

    Great clip… too true.

    Interesting too how we’ve adapted our language to accomodate our surrender to culture. I wonder if many of the things we consider blessings are actually curses.

  8. Sarah Rooney on April 20th, 2007 3:25 pm

    Thanks, Peggy. Isn’t that the truth! (Even the rich are often “poor in disguise” - rich in material things, but living in such spiritual poverty). I do feel a God-pull to Africa lately though. There is something about “great need” that makes the kingdom of God so accessible. I feel in some ways, the African Church is so much richer in the things of the kingdom. I want to learn from them. But, I’m getting off topic here. Thanks too for your comment “everything we have really isn’t ours-it’s God’s”. I want to be willing to invest all of my resources into eternity, even if it is sacrificial. (I find it so easy to give when it doesn’t really cost me anything - it’s just a sharing of the surplus God’s given me. Sacrificial giving is something I’m just starting to learn about. I’m not as accustomed to giving when it’s an expense to my own comfortable lifestyle).

  9. Taylor Burton-Edwards on April 20th, 2007 5:39 pm

    Powerful stuff…

    Kind of makes me see more wisdom in the three years of intensive preparation and two full weeks of exorcisms that were required as part of preparing for baptism in Apostolic Tradition (ca 215). When I look at Egypt a century or so later (Sarapion’s Prayerbook, ca 356), the themes of preparing for a life of serious tension and conflict with the surrounding culture are evident everywhere– as is the confidence that such a life, even ended by death, is true life, life in Christ the Lord of All.

    We have to work to learn how to live here (or anywhere!) without doing so entirely according to the terms of the dominating powers of “here” almost by default.

  10. Alan Hirsch on April 20th, 2007 7:32 pm

    Taylor, you are reading Serapion’s prayerbook?? Man, you are a rare creature! Just don’t become a desert father will you? We need you in the cities! :-)

  11. Peggy Brown on April 21st, 2007 2:45 am

    Mike, you hit it, brother, with “I wonder if many of the things we consider blessings are actually curses.” I would say YES…many blessings become curses when them become idols.

    The Chinese house church leaders sometimes consider prison a blessing. Perhaps the idea runs both ways: I wonder if many of the things we consider curses may actually be blessings?

    Hmmm….

  12. Sarah Rooney on April 21st, 2007 4:08 am

    For sure! I think Mike and Peggy are absolutely right! Lu 6:20 -
    Blessed are you who are poor, for your is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
    Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.
    But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.
    Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.
    Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
    Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.

    That’s crazy talk. Or Kingdom talk. One of the two! ;)

  13. Cameron on April 21st, 2007 12:46 pm

    Sarah,

    You should check out this address(http://www.urbana.org/u2006.mediaplayer.pop.cfm?clip=132) by Oscar from Africa. It’s an interesting look at how to look at the global church as well as the church in Africa. The content at the start is a great introduction into the current status of the western church as well.

    And yes, that is crazy Kingdom talk. I remember once in a discussion, someone told me that there was no intrinsic benefit to being poor and that it is silly to think otherwise. I’m pretty sure I have to disagree with him (I think Jesus’ words do as well), but it raises the question of how poor is poor? To me, I think that is a question between you and God along with your community and God. Even when that level of living is determined, it is a hard thing to defend and maintain. Especially here in America as that video points out (I’ve never lived in Australia or other western nations so I won’t comment on that.)
    But, as we strive to follow Jesus and even become poor ourselves, the blessings do come as we get to live in and participate in the Kingdom! And that is priceless.

  14. Sarah Rooney on April 22nd, 2007 5:36 am

    Thanks, I will check it out. I know these verses open up a whole can of worms. And I’m not sure about the intrinsic value of being ‘poor’ verses being ‘rich’. I’m not convinced that it is more spiritual to be materially poor verses materially rich. I think it’s really all about our heart, and where our true treasure is. I do think that God wants to position believers at all levels of society - so some may be called to be wealthy in order to be salt and light in that sphere of society. In other words, I am just not sure exactly what Jesus was saying (much like his original disciples didn’t always understand at first), but I am seeking to understand what these verses mean for my own life. What they mean for others is probably between them and God and not for me to say. Thanks again for the website, I’ll go and check it out!

  15. Bob Carder on April 23rd, 2007 2:41 pm

    Jesus sure gets squeezed out. He wants our soul.

    Point well taken!

  16. David on April 23rd, 2007 8:15 pm

    Do you miss the point in asking where to draw the poverty line?

    Being poor, I think, is not measured by how little you have. It’s how much you give up.

  17. Taylor Burton-Edwards on April 24th, 2007 4:13 am

    A word of thanks to you, Alan…

    I’ve shown this video in two settings in the last three days– and it’s been a powerful reminder both of the power of the gospel and the ways in which this culture (in the US, where I am, for sure) does everything it can to drown it out.

  18. alan hirsch on April 24th, 2007 12:53 pm

    my pleasure Taylor. As in many cases, just passing things on. It is a good video.

    A

  19. Deb on April 25th, 2007 2:51 am

    When I watched the clip, the word addiction kept coming to mind.

  20. Peggy Brown on April 25th, 2007 4:17 am

    Yes, Deb…addiction is the word; sadly we are addicted to the wrong thing.

    Is it okay to say we need to be addicted to Jesus? ;)

    Co-dependently–or better yet–interdependently yours,

  21. Janet on July 1st, 2007 9:24 am

    The iphone is launched…
    “My Nokia is old-school ugly,” Demetrius Sharp, 33, of Atlanta said. “I’ve been suffering. I deserve this.”
    http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/06/30/1182624239503.html

    I think in a world where children die from lack of food, clean water and simple medicines Demetrius Sharp’s “suffering” is a little overstated.

    Christ have mercy.

  22. Peggy Brown on July 1st, 2007 9:33 am

    Indeed, Sister…time for by “need versus want” lecture to resurface ;)

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