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July 13, 2006

Grand Illusions: Too many suburban Christians are in the world—and also of it.

This is a great little article at Christianity Today.....

Quote:

In his telling, suburban life revolves around competing for what Goetz calls "immortality symbols"--"the four-bedroom home with the Pottery Barn colors, the L.L. Bean underwear and outerwear, the fuel-guzzling truck, the purebred dog, the family pilgrimage to Disney World, and the athletic and scholarship-bedecked college-bound freshman."

For Goetz, the defining ethos of suburbia is catering to "the overindulged self" in an "environment of security, efficiency, and opportunities," all of which create a faux spirituality among Christians who live there. According to Goetz, their faith is really little more than busy avoidance of reality. The false image of the "good life" offered by the suburbs creates what Goetz calls a "bloated, tiny soul." Goetz's harsh judgment is tempered by his admission of his own acute sensitivity to what others think of him and his guilty joy in finally getting that SUV.

I so identify...I so see these things in myself. The home, with the right furnishings, the right clothes, degrees on the wall....I am so guilty of all of this, and so wanting to fight it as well....Reminds me of Paul's words in Romans 7:

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Ugghhhhh. The struggle. I don't think that these things in and of themselves are bad....but when they become our identity and what we strive for, especially over and against Christ.....major problems ahead. I just know that I'm quick to jump on suburban life, though I live there...I know I'm quick to jump on materialism, though I'm materialistic.

Can anyone relate?

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Posted by rhett at July 13, 2006 10:19 AM

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Comments

Ugh! Conviction!

Thanks for the reminder to keep striving for the stuff that REALLY matters!

Posted by: transitionpete [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 13, 2006 10:50 AM

I can relate! Living life with an eternal perspective means that things are just things and people are people and the people are what lasts.

I do not agree that living in a hut makes your soul larger, however. Wealth and humble means do not define our "level" of spirituality. The truth is that if you do not know where a meal will come from, you are likely to pray. (Been there!) If you have 50 choices, then you might pray afterwards from the guilt of your indulgence.

Things just are not the way they are supposed to be this side of heaven.

Posted by: Rich Kirkpatrick [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 13, 2006 10:50 AM

Goetz' description of a "bloated, tiny soul" sounds like an apt description of "greed" too. Also, I agree with the commenter who wrote "I do not agree that living in a hut makes your soul larger..." It reminded me of something I read just last night with a group of friends. It's from the book "Uprising" by Erwin McManus, in the Chapter entitled "Endless Wellsprings":

..."I was striving to be a monastic, convinced it was the only option if I were not to be a materialist. I knew that greed was a corrosive, and that endless wanting is one of the surest ways of corrupting your soul. I wanted to be free from greed and live freely. In my sincerity, I misdirected the trajectory of my life course. I had concluded that the opposite of greed was poverty and that the solution to wanting was not having. But I would soon discover that the opposite of greed is not poverty, but generosity. While it is no small challenge to learn how to live without, it is an even greater challenge to learn to live with..."

Posted by: Billy Linnehan [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 13, 2006 12:40 PM

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