Families – Threats – Materialism

From our Introductory Post:

“The righteous have sat back and allowed the wicked to take over our relationships to God, families, churches, governments, schools and colleges, journalism, entertainment, sports, sciences, and a whole litany of other endeavors in our society.”

Families – Threats – Materialism

In our previous post we considered the topic of Threats to Families, specifically Negative Influences of the Media. We will now take a look at another threat to the family, Materialism.

It almost seems un-American NOT to be a materialist and collect as many TOYS as possible. However, we discover from the Bible, a founding document of our American nation, that at the root of materialism is covetousness.

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:17)

“And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15)

We would do well to consider the dictionary definition of materialism.

“materialism, noun.1. the belief that all action, thought, and feeling is made up of material things and not of ideas. Ex. In the latter half of the 1800's, materialism severely challenged the traditional spiritual view of man (Science). 2. the tendency to leave out or forget the spiritual side of things; worldliness. Ex. Our materialism has produced too much dependence upon industry (Atlantic). 3. the ethical doctrine that material self-interest should and does determine conduct.” (World Book Dictionary)

Some pretty good advice comes from a surprising source, Disney Family.com. This from what appears, on the surface, to be an organization dedicated to covetousness and “making dreams come true.”

“What do you do when you notice that your child is right -- she really is the only one at school without an iPod?”
• “avoid competitive ‘Keep up with the Joneses’ thinking”
• “set the stage for the discussion by explaining that each family is different”
• “learning to cope with disappointment is an important growth skill.”
• “Tell him (your child) that you'll make sure he has what he needs, but beyond that it's a process of negotiation.”

http://family.go.com/parentpedia/preteen-teen/behavior/teen-materialism/ (Disney)

The obvious solution to this threat to our families is “Thou shalt not covet.”

Summary

This post has examined Materialism as a major threat to families. We discovered that the solution is obedience to the commandment of God not to covet. Our next post will take a look at another threat to families, Absentee Fathers.

I remain yours in the name of Jesus Christ, the Creator and Name above every name.

“Mr. Phil”