Consumerism
I read recently where an Amish father of 20 children, while renting a farm for 20 years, accumulated $400,000 which he then used as a down payment to purchase his own farm. (Money Secrets of the Amish, Lorilee Craker). The secret of the Amish - "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without." Another advantage this farmer had is that because he doesn't watch TV, he missed the recent Cadillac commercial with actress Kate Walsh in a dark, alluring dress, driving a car at high speed and asking, "The real question is, when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?" The farmer didn't need a Cadillac, but that was not the purpose of the commercial. The purpose of the commercial was to speak to deep emotional needs, and with clever imaging, manipulate the farmer into buying something that he didn't want or need.
Not everyone is so fortunate.
In faith,
Pastor Tim
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"Consumerism is not simply about money and finances. It is a way of life, and as such, it is a powerful idolatry that deceives and captures the human heart. We will not be freed easily from bondage to it."
George Stroup, Columbia Theological Seminary
"The most important fact about our shopping malls, as distinct from the ordinary shopping centers where we go for our groceries, is that we do not need most of what they sell, not even for our pleasure or entertainment... Little in them is essential to our survival, our work, or our play... Our appetites are stimulated so that the product will be consumed, and thus we are incited to possess for the sake of possessing. We "must have that", when we see it, even though we do not need it."
Henry Farile, British journalist and essayist
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