Another important question remains, though—in the realm of minimalism, why is it only a select culture of people who get to define what is and isn’t a healthy internal and external reality?
A New Asceticism: Learning to be Grateful
The roots of minimalism are well-founded; something must be done to stem the tide of thoughtless consumption which threatens to drown us all.
The Prophet of Consumerism
How can you let the Bible read you today, rather than merely the other way around?
Enough
I sometimes dream about what it would look like if we could collectively shift from a scarcity/abundance mindset to one that recognizes enough. I don’t know how we can make that shift as a society, unless it is as a change that starts with individuals and families, slowly building to a critical mass.
Consumerism vs. Calling
When it comes to job or career choices, consumerism often makes us feel lesser than because of what we don’t possess, and it can tell us that we need to make more money to feel better about ourselves.
What’s So Bad About Porn?
Porn turns sex into something that is all about me, and so warps my view on healthy sexuality in ways that make it difficult to engage in mutual, consensual, healthy sexuality.
Consumerism and the Church
A church “in the world” must grapple with the dominant spirits of the age, yet still be “but not of it” by keeping the gospel from being swallowed up by those spirits. So, is the “Fear Not” shirt a good example of the former or the latter?
Christ, Consumerism, and Christmas
Maybe the real crime against Christ and Christmas occurred when the Savior of the world somehow got wrapped up in our consumerism in the first place. What if Jesus is actually relieved every time his name gets removed from one more cultural liturgy or marketing ploy?
The Endless Cycle of Want
The endless cycle of want, symbolized by the spell commercials cast over children, can make us wonder: are any of our wants “normal” and inherently human, or are they all created in us by the world of advertising and its wizards behind the curtain? How should we, as Christians, live in a world that is caught in this cycle?
A Farmer’s Perspective
The disconnect between food producers and consumers increases every year. Most North Americans and Europeans live in areas either non-cultivatable or too congested for growing food. When you add in the fact that our populations continue to increase (for example, the U.S. just reached 300 million people) and that tillable land is only 1/32 of the earth’s surface, then we must be mindful that we need to do a very good job with the resources God has provided.