“Christians living in the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, the powerhouse of global capitalism, are daily subjected to the most sophisticated enticements ever devised—enticements not just to buy certain products but to buy into a certain way of looking at and living life. It is a way of life that ascribes inordinate value to the acquisition of material goods and indeed thrives on the creation of the new “needs” and businesses’ cutthroat competition to fulfill those needs. If Christian ethics is following Jesus, it must involve a clear-eyed analysis and finally repudiation of an economic ethos that ratifies the deceitfulness of wealth and makes Mammon the national idol…
I think of lives ruined by this ethos: those who deteriorate into essentially soulless creatures pursuing the latest goodies with zombie-like intensity, going deep into debt to pay for what they do not need; those who have no access to adequate work and no way to provide for their families; those around the world who live in squalor and misery; those whose lives could be turned around by a small commitment on the part of unhappily prosperous people who will never pause from their quest for the latest redemptive gadget to consider the needs of the least of these. This is a condition that has been called “affluenza,” and according to Jesus, it is terminal. Even today, Jesus beckons us instead to seek first His kingdom and it’s justice, for our own redemption and redemption of the world is at stake.”
David P. Gushee in “The Economic Ethics of Jesus” in Faithful Economics: The Moral Worlds of a Neutral Science, ed. James W. Henderson and John Pisciotta (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2005) 129-130.
These words mark the conclusion of Gushee’s essay on “The Economic Ethics of Jesus” and “Amen!” seems like an inadequate response. Consequently, I resolve to model and teach others to adopt an alternative lifestyle: one that is Jesus-centered rather than Mammon-centered, simplicity-driven versus spending-driven, and one that challenges the rich to shift from serving themselves to serving the poor and needy in the name of Jesus.