I read this blog post last week that is written from an ?American Christian? perspective but I challenge you to find the difference between our Christian culture and theirs. Here is some terrific and convicting insight from Pastor Dave:
Yesterday, I read a report about an Ohio State University study involving 900 adults ranging in age from 18 to 90 which claimed that young Americans place such a high value on their sense of self-worth that they crave praise and compliments more than food, friendship, and sex! The study also observed that this craving is akin to an addiction. It is insatiable. The participants in the study are not all narcissists, of course, but they?re kissin? cousins.
The professor who conducted the study identified the 1969 book The Psychology of Self-Esteem as the launching point for a generation of Americans obsessed with self-esteem. He concluded that the obsession is only going to get worse ? ?as each new generation enters a culture that puts a premium on self-worth, younger Americans spend more time craving and searching for self-esteem boosts?and less time thinking about others. All that time spent thinking about yourself not only contributes to depression, but it makes society a less kind and gentle place.?
The seismic shift that began in 1969 has resulted in the tsunamis of Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, reality TV shows and life-enhancement church services. Americans just can?t seem to get enough of being true to self, expressing self, fulfilling self, improving self and advancing self. This addiction has had an enormous impact on the Christian community. Choosing a church to attend is no longer a matter of finding where the Word of God is taught and where people are striving to live in a manner that pleases God. It is now a matter of finding a church that has the best programs, preferred music, and activities.
American Christians have become consumers rather than practitioners. We look for the?most enjoyable services, the most convenient schedules, the most engaging presentations, and the programs that fulfill our desires to the greatest degree. We seem drawn to the churches that are most like the world. Our primary concern about church is not how we can serve the church body, but how the church body can serve us.
Churches that are preaching that Christians are deserving of and entitled to good things, happiness, blessings, and personal fulfillment are bursting at the seams. Churches that preach poorness in spirit, mournfulness for sin, meekness, purity in heart, and a hunger for righteousness, are struggling to find people willing to listen. Are we witnessing the fulfillment of Paul?s warning to Timothy, ?For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.?
We can?t be hungry for righteousness and addicted to self at the same time.
Source: http://www.theanchor.ca/2012/are-you-a-consumer-rather-than-a-praciticioner/
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Carolyn Pairitz:?The commodity?cocoa, refers to cocoa beans, which are the dried seeds from the,?Theobroma Cacao, or cocoa tree. The tree is native to the Americas, specifically the Southern Hemisphere, and has been a major part of the area?s history, though now the vast majority of the trees exist in West Africa. In fact, cocoa beans were used as a common currency in many areas prior to the Spanish conquest. Now, cocoa is used all over the world to create chocolate, and other products such as cocoa butter. Many consume cocoa beans because of the benefits associated with them, as they are thought to have positive effects on cardiovascular health among other things. As an investment, cocoa has become a popular?commodity?for investors looking to cash in on the sweet gains it can provide?[for more cocoa news and analysis subscribe to our?free newsletter].
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Written By Carolyn Pairitz?From CommodityHQ??Disclosure: No Positions.
The researcher was Kevin Dutton, a psychologist at the University of Oxford (and friend since we met at a wacky science-religion powwow funded by the Templeton Foundation in Cambridge in 2005). Dutton?s new book is The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies and Serial Killers Can Teach Us about Success (Scientific American/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux), which is as funny and fascinating as the title suggests.
Psychopaths are often charismatic, cheery, fun to be around. In their presence, Dutton said, you feel like ?anything is possible.??Dutton has never met a psychopath who regretted being a psychopath. Psychopaths tend to be happy even when locked up in prison or facing the death penalty. Rather than fearing the consequences of their actions, psychopaths focus on potential rewards, and they feel little or no regret when things go bad.