From the Archives – Standard of Living?
One of the most telling characteristics of our culture is how we collectively determine an individual’s standard of living. The concept of a “standard of living” is something like a high-jump bar by which we gauge the quality of our daily lives. Some people cannot clear the bar and we say they experience a “low standard of living.” Others clear the bar with considerable room to spare and we declare that they enjoy a comparatively “high standard of living.” Those who fall between these two sub-sets keep jumping, but never seem quite sure if they clear the bar or not.
Discussion
The Church Treasurer: From Kluge to the Cloud
Read the series.
Kludge. Also kluge: “’An ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole’ (Granholm); esp. in Computing, a machine, system, or program that has been improvised or ‘bodged’ together; a hastily improvised and poorly thought-out solution.”1
Discussion
Behind the Instagram account calling out evangelical pastors for $1,000 shoes
Body
“He’s not trying to roast the pastors, but he just wants to raise a question.” - W. Examiner
Discussion
Is It Morally Okay to Keep Updating My Things?
Body
“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 Now if my phone is more than a year old or if I haven’t remodeled my kitchen in the past decade, I’m out of date.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
Discussion
Americans are more likely to find their ‘meaning in life’ in money than in faith
Body
“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
Discussion
Why a ‘Health and Wealth’ Approach to Scripture Leaves Us More Depressed
Body
“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
Discussion
How Scrooge Mistook Money for True Flourishing
Body
“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
Discussion
World Vision’s link to a terror-sponsoring Islamic charity shows the need for transparency in a season of giving
Body
“Behind the campaigns, it’s harder to know how the nonprofits manage their money, and whether the message matches the work.” - Checking It Twice
Discussion
Pastor draws flak for gifting wife $200K Lamborghini Urus for anniversary
Body
“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
Discussion