Study 1 - Consumerism and the Good Life

Handout - Study 1 draft 3.docx

John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), founder of Standard Oil Company and widely considered one of the wealthiest people in modern history, was once asked by a reporter, “How much is enough?” Rockefeller answered, “Just a little bit more.”

"In a paper published earlier this year, he and his collaborators asked more than 2,000 people who have a net worth of at least $1 million (including many whose wealth far exceeded that threshold) how happy they were on a scale of one to 10, and then how much more money they would need to get to 10. “All the way up the income-wealth spectrum,” Norton told me, “basically everyone says [they’d need] two or three times as much” to be perfectly happy. " (The Atlantic, December 2018)

Discussion Starters: What do you think you need to live the “good life”, to be happy? How would you answer the question “How much is enough?”

1. What is the issue?

Video - Video Clip - Black Friday Shopping from "The Real Cost"

Consumerism is a lifestyle in which we seek more things and more experiences in the belief they will make us happier.

However, research suggests that life satisfaction (happiness) remains roughly constant as consumption levels rise in countries where people are able to meet their basic life needs. In other words, people who consume more do not feel any happier than those who consume less. One reason appears to be that we tend to measure our well-being relative to others: as long as we feel we are enjoying the same standard of living as our peers, we tend to feel satisfied. To maintain that feeling of satisfaction, we have to consume more just to keep up with peers who are consuming more.

Video: "Stuff - What is the problem?" (Baptist World Aid Australia, 5:14)

1. What does our culture communicate to us about what we need to have to live the good life but that we are missing or lacking ? In what ways is this message communicated to us? Do people in your circles have feelings of inadequacy and/or entitlement about any of the following: (a) experiences or participation in events (i.e. FOMO, or "fear of missing out"), (b) data/wireless connectedness, ready access to information, (c) model of smartphone/other communications technology that they currently own?

2. According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, the average Canadian house size in 1975 was 1050 square feet and had doubled by 2010. Canadians are second in the world for living space with 618 square feet per person. Why do you think this is? What are our perceptions about the amount of living space that people should have?

3. What things (appliances, house features, other possessions) have become normal for you that your grandparents didn’t have or that were considered to be for the well-off? Are there things we have come to accept as normal for each individual to have, rather than shared by a family or by neighbours? Do we feel the need for constant upgrades (smart phones, computers, cars, clothes)? Why?

2. What does the Bible say?

In your own words, explain what Jesus taught about the Good News (the “Gospel”). What kind of vision of the “good life” do you think the Gospel is about?

Video: Gospel of the Kingdom (The Bible Project, 4:45)

Video: Whiteboard Whole Church Whole Gospel Whole World (Jeff Maguire and Brian Hurst, 2:50)

What is the Good News of the Kingdom of God?

The good news of the kingdom of God was at the centre of Jesus’ teaching (cf. Matthew 4:23, Luke 8:1). It was a vision of the world restored by God - people restored to right relationship with God, people in right relationship with each other, secure in having enough for their needs, and people restored to right relationship with the earth as God’s image bearers, enjoying its beauty and sharing its abundance while carefully caring for it. This vision of the God’s re-ordering of the world was often spoken of by the prophets (cf. Isaiah 65:17-25).

What Jesus claimed was that the kingdom of God had already begun in his ministry, bringing spiritual restoration through the forgiveness of sins, healing bodies and minds, challenging injustice, and forming a new community characterized by love, equity and justice. Jesus did not call people to leave this world to “go to heaven”, but instead called people to join in on God’s re-ordering of the world until his return, when the re-ordering of the world would be made complete. His resurrection from death on a cross shows that God’s remaking of the world will not be accomplished through violence and physical force, but come about instead by sacrificial love and humble service.

Do these videos or this reading change or challenge the understanding you’ve had about the Good News?

4. Read the story of the rich fool in Luke 12:13-21. According to the story, what does the rich man seem to orient his life around? Why does Jesus call the rich man a fool? How does the rich man’s greed and consumerism dehumanize him, take him away from what God intended us to be? How might the rich fool’s life have been different if he had oriented it more with the Good News of the Kingdom of God?

Consuming and a Jesus-shaped Good Life

“Rather than assuming it is normal to acquire and consume more, we need to ask what we need to consume in order to love God, love our neighbor and thankfully steward the earth. We do need to consume – we need food to nourish our bodies; clothes to keep us warm, homes to shelter us from the weather and a place to practice hospitality; phones and computers to communicate; vehicles to get around; time out enjoying the beauty of the earth to renew our spirit. But seeing these as tools that help us love God, love our neighbor and steward the earth places consumption in proper perspective. It allows us to use our time, energy and resources to become ever more rich in the knowledge and worship of God; to expand our circle of loved ones to include the marginalized, the poor, and those in need; and to enjoy God’s good earth in a way that respects the right of others to do the same.” (from The End of Greed, Scott Higgins, p. 15)

What do you think of the place of consumption that is described in this reading (“Consuming and a Jesus-shaped Good Life")? What kinds of cultural or class assumptions might this vision make? Take this opportunity to revise this vision or articulate your own vision of how consumption fits in with the Kingdom of God and with our purpose as human beings made in the image of God.

3. How do we live it out?

5. Write down your main goals (top 3?) for the next 5 years. Where does seeking the kingdom of God (loving God, loving others and stewarding the earth) fit into your goals? Would you change any of your existing goals?

6. If seeking the kingdom of God is the focus of your life, how might this change what you spend money on or the activities you spend your time on? For those who are working, what might this change about your work?

Going Deeper

Questioning our assumptions about the role of consumption in our lives will also cause us to question the viability of a global economy based on ever-increasing consumption. What alternatives are there?

The Leap Manifesto: A Call for a Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another

Romans Disarmed (Resisting Empire, Demanding Justice) Biblical scholars and theologians Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh present a biblically based vision of an economics of care, rather than consumption (pp. 209-242)