Dodging The American Dream
Original Airdate: September 2, 2008
On this week's podcast episode, Dion wonders if the big house, the giant SUV, and the luscious lawn is really what God is calling us to pursue. Is this "American Dream" mentality a good thing? Or is it more like a stalker, slowly trying to become a part of our lives. We talk about whether this is just a 'suburban' issue or if and how it applies to urban living as well. All that and more on this week's SuperAverage Podcast.
Questions
Great soul searching conversation! We struggle with this in our house too.
Love Matt's questions about using God's blessings in order to bless those around us, locally. Here are a couple of questions that have come up for us:
- How can we use the home God has blessed us with? Offering hospitality and a place for community for groups of people? A place for ministry? In Dion's case of whether to move to a house, I think I'd ask whether it might provide added stability for him and his family, as he works long and demanding hours, and whether he might be able to better offer hospitality and fellowship with more space. (ie. It takes time and energy to take kids to playgrounds instead of playing in a yard.)
- Why would God want to provide us with such plenty? Maybe so we have resources to offer as we see human needs in daily life? Resources for ministry? Stability in one area of life, so we have strength and focus to serve elsewhere? How much does God want us to give to others, and how much does He plan to bless us so we can be more of a blessing in other ways? We need to be ready to accept either explanation!
- Does God want us to do with less - and are we willing to do with less if He shows us that? What do we think we really need for happiness? Do we pursue more, or is God blessing us for His own purposes? Should we refuse it or be thankful God's entrusting it to us?
I don't mean any of this as an excuse or cop out for keeping blessings for ourselves or pursuing them. I guess I'm just trying to say that perhaps God does have his reasons and that we need to be constantly asking what they might be - and watching for the opportunities He is putting before us.
Above all, doesn't it come down to knowing that it all belongs to God anyway, and our job is to use/share it as He leads us. Guess that's what Dion's trying to do! Thanks for your leadership in the journey!
Stuff is amoral
Stuff is not good or evil. It is amoral.
It all depends on where your heart is. If we did not live in a little suburban town in a 3 bedroom house for the 4 of us, we would not have had the space to sanely house my father in law for these last few months.
If we didn't have the large van, we would not have been able to loan it to my brother when he had to haul his wife and kids across the country to visit his in-laws.
I have to admit that I really did not care for the tone of much of this episode. I understand what you were trying to say, but you all really came off as anti-suburbia snobs that didn't think we can serve Christ effectively living in a 3 bedroom split level with 2.3 kids and a dog.
bigger than suburbia
after listening to the episode again, I thought it was a very good episode. Though I did feel remiss that so much of it was focused on "suburbia". That's my context and I was sharing my personal struggle so we got stuck on suburbia, but I think these battles are found anywhere. It just so happens that I live in suburbia and can easily identify the dangers of the suburban forms of materialism (and more notably consumerism).
I'm not sure that I can go along with the idea that stuff is not good or evil in and of itself, Jesus warned that 'stuff' has great power and that we should be especially cautious with it. Jesus' extensive warnings about money and possessions seem to indicate that they aren't exactly benign, definitely aren't neutral. I think in the western world we've thrown caution to the wind when it comes to possessions, no longer believing that they have a power to lead us astray, and actually believing that they've got the power to fulfill us. We're clearly suffering for it. The headlines of the last week underscore that fact. The unprecedented dissatisfaction with life in people all around us speak volumes.
Perhaps those people who live in cities or in rural areas could explain how this manifests itself there, and if anyone wants to chime in, I'd love to hear it. I just know that American suburbia is built on the idea that you can and should have everything you want and that you shouldn't have to share with anyone (a direct reaction to communism which focused on 'shared' stuff). It's a dangerous proposition for people who are so easily swayed by "stuff"
That was my point, i think by the challenge i eventually got around to it. The goal was to have people take a hard look at themselves. I hope that happened. I also hope you can take anything that you heard as mean spirited with grace. thanks.
1 Tim 6:10 For the love of
1 Tim 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Not money, the love of money.
The camel can't go through the needle gate unless it is willing to be unloaded.
The rich man couldn't get to heaven, not because he had stuff, because he wasn't willing to give it away.
I guess we'll just have to disagree on this.
OK. I just finished
OK. I just finished listening to the last 5 minutes of the podcast and boy is my face red. (Lunch ended yesterday before the podcast did.)
That last five minutes added A LOT of balance and really changed the tone of the whole thing and brought the real issue back into focus.
Thanks. I'll try to listen to the whole thing before I "go off" on you guys again.