07.30Shopping Centres + Brothels
Pornography is bad. Brothels are bad. Duh. Every Christian would agree. I suggested in a recent talk that catalogues and TV commercials are just as dangerous as pornography and that walking through a shopping centre can be like walking through a brothel.
We don’t just lust after flesh but we are also prone to lust after material things and stuff. The great danger of shopping centres and catalogues is that we don’t realise that they are dangerous. It’s normal to see products and want them, it’s normal to hang out at the shops and buy stuff whenever we want stuff.
Only when we understand how much our culture is shaped by consumerism, materialism, affluenza and the desire to get stuff will we understand how easy it is to be personally shaped by this mindset.
5 tips for fighting the idol of stuff:
- Know it’s dangerous
- “No junk mail” on your letterbox
- Limit visits to apple.com (note no hyperlink) to 2 per year
- Hang out somewhere other than the shops
- Serve One Master
Any other suggestions?
pic from here
Give so generously that there are things you would like to do/buy that all your Christian friends are doing/buying but you cannot afford to because you have given so much away.
Do as I say not as I do…
July 31st, 2008 at 9:34 am
[...] before you go there, go here and think about what Dave has to say. Be [...]
July 31st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
don’t buy it straight away. go home and think about it. chances are you only wanted it then and there, but when you think about it, you know you don’t really need it.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:10 pm
good call hayesy.
soph – i wish i applied that principle between 16 and 20… biggest impulse buyer… often had regret that i didn’t show more self-control.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Avoid ebay.
It is easy to think if it is a bargain it is not a problem.
August 1st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
very good call fox.
i made an “accidental” purchase a couple of years ago on ebay. i hurt row in doing so.
haven’t purchased anything since – and i don’t visit.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
If you stop believing in bronze age imaginary bullshit, you won’t be so concerned
August 8th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
not sure what the “bronze age imaginary bullshit” is??? But i’m guessing you’re having a dig at me believing in Jesus and being a Christian.
If that’s the case, you’re right. It’s because i believe that there is a good God with good purposes that i believe it matters what you do with your life. And Because Jesus rose from the dead, i have a hope for life beyond the grave.
But you are dead right… If Jesus didn’t die and rise again… christians are stupid and to be pitied more than all people for worshipping a crucified saviour who is still dead and buried.
If there is no God… Eat drink and be merry.
If there is a God… That changes everything.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am