our message at church today was "Learn To Be Content"

[bevoette]

this is a mainline protestant church, prolly considered 'liberal' by the far right, but Biblically based and definitely Christian

i love my church

he tied the message into the superbowl via the commercials, and the message was about measuring ourselves against this fabricated 'yardstick' of value, and no matter what we achieve, we always end up disatisfied and falling short - that yardstick goes on forever.

there was no plea for money. there was no guilt.
it was all about how to measure yourself against what God intended for you, and to be content in your material achievements...and eff that stupid 'yardstick' :) (okay...he didn't say it exactly like that, but that was the sentiment)

anyhoo...i'm okay for getting goofed for my faith, LOL...but i guess i felt like sharing because sometimes it's important to know that not everyone in a particular group fits a stereotype :hippie:

[BlooInBloo]

1. An excellent statement of the primary evil perpetrated by religion. Thanks!

[pnwmom]

14. Yeah, it's really evil to send a message against rampant materialism.

:sarcasm:

[BlooInBloo]

18. "be content".

[pnwmom]

20. Did you read beyond the subject line?

"and the message was about measuring ourselves against this fabricated 'yardstick' of value, and no matter what we achieve, we always end up disatisfied and falling short - that yardstick goes on forever. . .
to be content in your material achievements...and eff that stupid 'yardstick' (okay...he didn't say it exactly like that, but that was "the sentiment)"

[BlooInBloo]

32. Of course. And the rest is absolutely irrelevant.

[varkam]

44. Huh?

Sorry, even I'm having trouble buying this one.

[EraOfResponsibility]

2. Sounds like a good message!

[firedupdem]

3. There is nothing wrong with having faith. Being content with what

we have is something I know I struggle with, so this was a very good message! Thank You! Sounds like you belong to a great church!

[madeline_con]

5. Off topic comment. There's love and touching and a FAMILY in

the White House! :woohoo:

[firedupdem]

17. Ain't it great! It makes me happy too!

I feel like dancing when I think about it!

[peace13]

4. Thanks for that! n/t

[leftstreet]

6. Has your church ever talked about a 'Jubilee Year?'

Apparently it's where all debt was forgiven and people were given their land back.

This sounds cool!

:D

[Qutzupalotl]

16. Imagine if we all split the stimulus money evenly.

We'd spend it, keep our homes, and put money in the banks.

[timtom]

42. I've always wondered what ever happened to that...

[donco6]

46. It was never implemented

Even in the Bible.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. Not a bad message, on its face...

But it has a disturbing ring of Calvinism in it.

And quite frankly, Calvin was an asshole.

[LeftyMom]

8. That sort of message was and is used to keep oppressed people in line.

God doesn't want any better for you. What you have is all you deserve. Know your place.

Not terribly damaging if you're not going without much. Absolutely deadly to societal progress though, and of course hugely problematic when poor or oppressed people internalize that sort of nonsense.

Religion is a poison.

[BlooInBloo]

33. And everyone here is on board with their anti-human, anti-hope, anti-improvement evil. Fuck them...

I believe in people, and their ability to improve. Even when they don't.

[struggle4progress]

48. On the other hand, it is entirely possible to say that those who have enough need to be content with

what they have and work towards justice for those who don't have enough

[JNelson6563]

49. Yes, this is correct.

The writings of Paul where he advises slaves to be content with their lot in life cause paradise awaits in the next life, one of the oldest flim-flams in the world.

Julie

[sandnsea]

9. Don't get mad

whatever you do. Never that.

Sorry. The time for the 'be content' message is when everybody in a town is boasting about their wealth, not when it's easy because everybody is broke and you don't want the masses to riot. imho.

[angrycarpenter]

10. A good message for those who have everything they need.

For the rest of us not so much.

[kestrel91316]

13. It's a GREAT message, and has helped to keep me from stressing out

over things I can't change. When my income periodically fluctuates up, instead of spending it on useless crap, I am very careful where it goes.

That man is rich whose wants are few. If you think folks with lots of money are happy, come to Los Angeles and see what a pathetic mess their lives are. My unhappiest clients, the biggest whiners and complainers, are the ones with all the money and fancy cars and big houses and expensive crap.

Our consumer culture survives only by convincing people that they can't possibly be happy if they don't have (insert name of whatever trendy, expensive toy is in the news now). Sad that so many DUers have bought into that line of crap.

[angrycarpenter]

19. Being content is much like having faith.

I have none in god and little in man. I know the message was to be content with less but to someone who has experienced poverty it rings pretty hollow.

[pnwmom]

21. True -- I assume it wasn't aimed at people really struggling with poverty,

but more middle class and up.

[kestrel91316]

26. You assume correctly. And many Americans may think they are poor,

but compared to millions if not billions of people, they have unfathomable wealth.

[bevoette]

30. see #29 below

exactly the point

[kestrel91316]

24. I am barely above the poverty level at times, and it doesn't ring hollow to me.

I look around at how many people have SO much stuff, and yet it just seems to make them LESS happy.

I read the book "Living More With Less" years ago, and the saying "Live simply, so that others may simply live" really hit home. When we use up resources, we make them more expensive for the next guy, who may have less ability to pay than we do. So by making do with less, we can in theory make life a little easier for those less fortunate than ourselves. I may not have much money or cheap plastic chinese crap, and I may drive an old car, but I live like royalty compared to BILLIONS of other people.

[angrycarpenter]

31. Knowing you have it better than people in other countries.

Is cold comfort when your lights are turned off. I really shouldn't have replied to your thread. I am a bitter person who has had a difficult life. Contentment is something I have rarely known. I am sorry for my gloomy outlook and I really should have not brought it to what is a very nice and timely post.

[grasswire]

36. I am sincerely sorry.

Some days I think I should be more bitter than I am. So many things are wrong. I'm very sorry about your life. So many people have such tragedy and sorrow. You are not alone, unfortunately. It's the human condition, eh?

[BeFree]

38. Eh?

You show precisely why our country can't be content.
The reality is that as a mass of people, have it better than any other mass of people in the history of mankind.

And we want more. We are not content. We. Want. More.

That's the mass, and we're a mess.

[angrycarpenter]

40. I already lived a simple life without a lot of stuff.

I had everything I needed and this depression came along and took my ability to earn a living. Most of the starving people around the world are that way simply because their leaders are corrupt criminals. There is no more reason for them to be in poverty any more than any American. Should any poor person seek contentment with less? I know America's poor have it better than the poor in other countries but until I can afford to go to the doctor if I am sick or fix my car if it is broke down I personally have no intention of being content. I can't speak for anyone but myself.

[kestrel91316]

45. My life hasn't exactly turned out the way I had hoped, so I could be bitter, too.

But it wouldn't help me to feel that way, so I just try to make the best of it. Living simply and rejecting uber-materialism helps me sleep at night.

[rwheeler31]

11. Hmmm can we stop getting the message.

[kestrel91316]

12. I don't know who said it first, but I subscribe to the belief that:

"That man is rich whose wants are few".

IOW, stuffitis makes you feel poor, even when you're not. American consumer culture is specifically designed to make us dissatisfied with ourselves and our lives, and spend money buying "stuff" we think will make us happy.

Once I hit 50 and realized I was on the downslope of life, I looked at my stuff and thought it might be time to start getting rid of it instead of accumulating more. Downsizing from the 2-BR house (with office) to the 1-BR apartment was cathartic. The few things I want, I actually NEED: a sofa, a new comforter and sheets, and a new (to me) car. Craigslist is my new friend - wish more people were in a buying mood, though!

[Skittles]

15. to have more, desire less

it's a good thing to learn

[pilsner]

22. Moses to Hebrews (in Egypt): "Learn to be content."

Hebrews to Moses, "Screw you, Moses."

Religion has been way to individualized. Christianity should be all about standing up to Empire and Power.

[vadawg]

23. being content with yourself is the secret to happiness

if you can be happy with who you are, were you are and everyday feel that content, then you are not going to far wrong. My old man always told me that no matter how bad stuff gets simply find one thing that makes you happy and be content with that, when i asked him what he held onto he laughed and told me that his father before him had taught him that the best moment to hang onto was having a good dump and i gotta say having a good dump is something that hopefully i will always be able to enjoy.

[RJ Connors]

25. Well that is the message that Christianity is suppose to be teaching

However, that is not the message of the radical right of which I feel no compunction or remorse for calling them what they are. Liars!!!

While I myself am not a Christian, America is a country where everyone has freedom of religion. However, while others have their right to practice their religion, I likewise have the right to question it, particularly when it puts our country in jeopardy. Mainstream Christians tend to practice their religion and let others practice their's without interfering with the others right to practice as they see fit. The biggest thing I would fault mainstream Christians for is that while the radical right was promoting their hate filled and violent ideology about Jesus, which essentially brought the Bush regime to power, mainstream Christians were virtually silent.

I find it difficult to believe that is what the Bible advocates. While I may think they have not carried out their obligation to their religion, which is just my opinion although it is an opinion I have a right to have, there can be no doubt they shirked their obligation to their country.

[ferrous wheel]

27. The subliminal message is "do not question ecclesiastical authority

or you will burn in hell."

[timtom]

43. I love it!

"All looks jaundiced to the jaundiced eye."

[panAmerican]

28. Glad to give you that 5th star. I needed to be reminded.

Too often, we reach a goal, and immediately make a new one, creating a neverending cycle of discontent. My thoughts have been trending in the direction of the topic of contentment these last 2 weeks, so I'm glad you shared.

[bevoette]

29. i'll elaborate a little...

it was pointed out that if we (meaning, anybody in the room) make more than $1080 a year, we are making more than 80% of the world's population

and if we make the median for this area, we are in the top 1% of the world

there was a lot of discussion about CEOs and Wall Street, and greed, and how greed by it's nature causes disatisfaction. he used a lot of current examples.

i detected nothing even hinting at trying to 'keep us down', i really don't think that was intended at all :)

[nichomachus]

34. Christianity is a religion

originally sold to slaves -- be content with what you have, obey your masters, accept what you're given by your betters, don't make trouble.

[pilsner]

35. Christianity shouldn't be forfeited to the right-wingers

The Gospels are a warning about the dangers of imperialism – whether Roman or American.

Check out this: God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now
By John Dominic Crossan

http://www.amazon.com/God-Empire-Jesus-Against-Rome/dp/0060843233

[leftstreet]

37. If Jesus was against empire, why are Christian countries uh...Empires?

Do these churchgoers not read this book of which you speak?

[pilsner]

39. Because Christianity and the Bible has been perverted

Do you know of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Father Berrigan? There are many examples of people who have exercised their faith in a way to organize people to resist power and empire.

[Subdivisions]

41. 'it was all about how to measure yourself against

what God intended for you'

Who is this God you speak of?

[Silent3]

47. A little discontent is good.

Not that I disagree with the basic premise that there's a lot of artificially-generated discontent produced by the shallow and materialistic aspects of mass culture.

I suppose the best kind of discontent to have is discontent with injustice, discontent with the suffering of others. To be honest, for my own part, I feel my own needs much more keenly than the needs of others. I'm fairly selfish. But I try at least to give a little of what I have, and being a Democrat is my way of supporting policy that's more about collective good and the good of those less fortunate than it is about me.

Discontent with the status quo was a very important part of getting Obama elected -- I'd say that's a very healthy and necessary kind of discontent.

As for what some deity expects of me... I'd have to believe in one to care. I can easily imagine a god whose standards are even tougher to live up to than the standards of commercial mass culture.

[Evoman]

50. I would have written that on a note and stuck it in the collection plate.

But thats just me.

[Sandrine for you]

51. what about a chinese cookie ?