In the past I’ve written at least one post about the problems of consumerism. If this is a topic that interests you, check out The Story of Stuff a short 20 minute online documentary which gives the complete story of the shocking life of consumer goods and the darker environmental and social economical side to consumerism which all too often gets brushed under the rug as no big deal.
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
~James 5:1-8 ESV
Notice anything strange about this passage? I just did and I was surprised that it took me so long to notice given the large number of chemistry classes that I’ve taken. James talks about gold and silver corroding on the rich, yet scientists classify gold and silver as part of the coinage metals which known for not rusting. So does James have his science off or does he know something about gold and silver which goes beyond what our science textbooks can teach us? Are gold and silver really as eternal and safe as we think them or are they just temporary enough that James can in good faith warn us about them corroding on us? In which case are we greatly overvaluing money and letting the American Dream instead of God’s Word define what is most important to us? As if money really is the most important thing to seek after, then why does James use such harsh language against those who trampled upon others in their efforts to get ahead and live in luxury at the expense of others. True wealth that really lasts is to the Christians God and not gold or silver, which comes in His timetable and not our own. Therefore I think with the eternal perspective in mind, even though gold and silver may not physically corrode, it makes no difference given that in the long term they are a really stupid thing to invest one’s life upon.
I originally wasn’t going to post this but after thinking about it so much since my last post I think I can safely say that it is not a rant but reflection. My recent family vacation ended up spurring my interest in simplicity and traveling light as the vacation was the complete opposite. I couldn’t believe how much was packed which included three bags of food and two large ice chests and two small six pack ice chests for cans of soda and numerous cases of soda to refill the coolers which were packed full. The four ice chests were a pain to pour out the water and replace with ice twice a day. And the real killer was that after packing all of that food we ended up eating out every meal so we only ended up using the smaller six pack ice chests for the cans of soda. The same held for the luggage which in addition to a suitcase for every person included three laptop computers. I found it sad that at the one fancy hotel that the contents of the van were too much for the bellhop to make a single trip with a large luggage cart. On the way home I couldn’t stop thinking about how much that we packed was really necessary and realized that that was probably the main reason why we don’t go on many vacations from how much of a hassle it is to pack and unpack at least twice. Such as the laptop computers as while it was nice to be able to stay current with my email and other online sites it wasn’t necessary and a single computer would have been more than enough. Given the heat and humidity during much of the trip I’d say that its hard to say if the ice chest of cold drinks was very nice or a necessity. Regardless the food as we ate less than one of the 3 large bags of snacks and only drank around half of the cans of soda that we packed so it was clearly too much. In the end I’ll have to say that the experience has me wanting to take a light trip either along or with a group where everyone travels as light as possible to experience the difference. In other news the trip has inspired me to finally start reading Richard Foster’s Freedom of Simplicity which has been sitting on my bookcase for close to a year unread.
I want to Zerns today (a local farmers market) and spent a few hours walking around looking at what the various stands were selling. Including walking through the flea market section in the side building that I rarely bother visiting. The stands that left the deepest impressions on me were the ones focusing on computers and toys from past decades piled up in heaps that looked more like junk than merchandise at first glance. Boxes of used video game cartridges careless piled on top of each other like the 5 for $1 foreign coin jar at the coin shop. Not to mention heaps of various types of toys especially action figures, many of which I recognized. Some of which I owned and are probably still around in a junk box in the basement, and others that I had wanted years ago but never got. Although now over a decade and the wear and tear there was nothing about them that looked attractive to me. Just like the computer stand which was selling surprisingly still working Commodore 64 computers and 386 computers running Windows 3.0 that I found funny that they were actually bothering to have them out for sale. But then again I’m sure 10 years down the road I might think the same if I saw my current Pentium 4 computer running Windows XP at Zerns. It really got me thinking about how much time and effort we waste on getting and maintaining various material things that in the end although it might take years to see are junk that diverted us from more important things. Although that is not to say that computers are bad even though they become useless with age, just that our computers should never become one of the most important things in our life.
