Materialism

“Jesus didn’t accuse the man of dishonesty, theft, or injustice…. He was living the life others dreamed of. What’s wrong with that? Then comes the big surprise: ‘But God said to him, “You fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?”’” - Randy Alcorn

“I trust you are giving gifts. At the same time, be a gift to someone else. Introduce others to the One who is the Gift today and in the weeks and months to come. The ‘stuff’ will all disappear, but our God will reign forever.” - Chuck Lawless

“Lifeway Research found those who attend church more than once a week are more likely to fall into consumeristic thinking. Those without evangelical beliefs and who attend church less frequently are less likely to be consumeristic.” - Lifeway

“Perhaps Solzhenitsyn was right in his Harvard address, that the Communist East and the Capitalist West were fundamentally the same–deeply materialistic at their core. If this is true, then this resurgent interest in religiosity or spirituality is simply a thin veneer that, when scratched, reveals the same old materialism and secularism.” - Mere Orthodoxy

“By taking our focus off the human receiver and putting it on the divine giver, Christmas can become a symbol of God’s giving heart rather than people’s grabbing hands.” - Randy Alcorn

“we do not need to be Christians for long before we learn that the greatest joy connected to wealth does not come from gaining but from giving. Hoarding wealth for ourselves gives far less lasting satisfaction than contributing wealth to God’s causes.” - Challies

“I recognize that the stated motive for the megachurch ministers will be evangelism, trying to make the unchurched think that by wearing cool clothing, they are creating the impression that Christianity is cool. But…” - Cranach

“He’s not trying to roast the pastors, but he just wants to raise a question.” - W. Examiner

“I’m not that old, but it seems like a lifetime ago that it was acceptable to keep things until they were broken. Now if my phone is more than a year old or if I haven’t remodeled my kitchen in the past decade, I’m out of date. Is there a moral right or wrong to this consuming of new and updated models of stuff?” - TGC

“In the open-ended question, Americans are mostly likely to say family is an important source of meaning (40 percent), and in the closed-ended question they’re most likely to report they find “a great deal” of meaning in spending time with family (69 percent)….almost a fourth (23 percent) find meaning in finances and money.” - Acton