As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“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 Now if my phone is more than a year old or if I haven’t remodeled my kitchen in the past decade, I’m out of date.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
“Our analyses suggest that reading scripture for insights into attaining health and healing exacerbated the adverse effects of poor self-rated health on depressive symptoms, a finding consistent with an emergent literature on the ‘dark side’ of religious and spiritual coping…” - CToday
“Charles Dickens tells us in his Christmas Carol that Scrooge’s cramped vision hardly ranged from his counting house. He and the spirit wouldn’t need to travel far.” - IFWE
“Behind the campaigns, it’s harder to know how the nonprofits manage their money, and whether the message matches the work.” - Checking It Twice
“Two weeks after drawing praise for allowing congregants in need to take cash directly from his offering baskets, Pastor John Gray of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, is drawing flak for gifting his wife a Lamborghini Urus for their eighth wedding anniversary.” - CPost
“Evangelical churches and ministries saw an increase in giving in 2017, the highest increase since 2014, according to a new report by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.” - CPost
“Not everyone agrees with Ramsey’s advice, however. Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, says Christians should tithe no matter what their financial situation.” - Christian Headlines
Ask most people to describe materialism and you’ll hear references to big-screen TVs, computers, SUVs, spacious houses, and overpaid CEOs. A few might mention “consumerism” and “greed.” Most would agree with the idea that materialism has been a major obstacle to relieving world poverty. Some would say it’s the cause of that poverty.
Discussion