Posts Tagged ‘Economy’

Freedom came when I gave it all away…

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

TED is a very interesting site that I can recommend. The site features videos from the annual TED conference that…

… brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

I found this one particulary interesting in my latest bit of surfing I did…

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz’s estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

What he talks about touches on a lots of subjects, and ofcourse I automatically connect to what he says at the end about income redistribution and interprit everything in the light of the ideas and thoughts I have about simplicity vs. consumerism etc.

But I think the biggest question this one sparked is the one the young girl ask in the album version of the song at the end of the post.

What is freedom anyways?

My defenition would have something to do with being slaves under sin and then being freed from that through Jesus. But is being a slave to God, as Paul puts it, a state where one is more free? If the life God wants for us is anything like the Benedictian vows, would it qualify as a life full of freedom? I can’t see it as freedom if it is about having a multitude of choices, and being able to do exactly what you want, when you want, which is the common defenition, no?

I give you a question, no straight answer this time. You have my permission to use the comment function to add your thoughts.

How would you define freedom?

This awesome piece of CCM Rock history touches on the subject. I give you the song I took the post’s title from, White Heart with Independance Day.

Edit: Video changed since the better version of the music video was removed from youtube by angry lawyers. If you have Spotify, here’s the link.

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I’m not buying…

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Throw it here or throw it youself?

Nice clip showing the absurdity of our consumer-cult society.  I especially like it when they boy wants to keep his bike, how silly of him! His mother obviously need to try harder to raise him to become a good consumer.

Yes, it is exagerating, we don’t throw away stuff right after we buy it, but close enough. Check out the Story of stuff website for a little more indept view on the issue. The consumer-cult is no accident, it is by design, and the designers themselves said…

Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… we need things consumed, burned up, replaced, and discarded at an ever-accelerating rate.

Me, I’m not buying it. The title of this post comes from the song “Cult of Cool” by The O.C. Supertones…

It’s just another lie to sell to me
But I’m not buying
To live the way they do on MTV

Yeah you’re trying just a little too hard and we can see through
There’s a guy in a suit and he’s trying to tell you
What you should like and what you should do

To them you’re just a number on a page
A target market
Try it out on somebody your age
And hope you buy it

There is a decision to be made
Will you conform?
That is how the companies get paid
Or are you transformed?

You pay somebody to poison your mind
Will you be a target marker or will you be a gold mine?
There’s a brainwash store and they’re waiting in line
Will you fall in with the world?
Or will you say:

We won’t pay for a lie
Get away, right away
I want Christ, and Christ alone
Christ to call me His own
We won’t play by your rules
Here is one you won’t fool
I think it’s dumb
I won’t succumb to the cult of cool…

Jesus said you can’t server two masters, and I want to serve him so.

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Principles…

Monday, September 8th, 2008

I’m actually gonna break my monthly schedule here and comment on a five day old article from Dagen, a swedish, chrisitan newspaper. Having some difficulty finding a song to use for the post-title, but maybe I’ll find one once I’ve finished writing this.

The article is about a bank in Norway, that supposedly is modelled after christian principles. As I was reading, I started wondering which principles these were. I couldn’t find that many concrete examples in the article. Maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough, but the article mainly spoke about how fast they had expanded and how they were going to work alot towards churches and other organisations, and not think as much about their own profit as other banks appearantly.

I really don’t want to judge their efforts or anything, and I’m sure they have the best of intentions and all that, but as I was reading, a few bible passages and ideas came to mind, some that could be said to contain a few christian principles that might be applied to banks in general. So here are a few concrete principles I’d apply to a christian bank.

Matt 6:19

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…

First thing that came to mind, perhaps because saving money is what most people think about when asked about banking. Well, that is out I guess for a christian bank? Guess we can close down the business before we even started. But oh well, lets say we take a look at some other things before we decide to do that.

Luke 6:35

… lend to them without expecting to get anything back.

Second thing banks do, lending out money. Going by the principles here, I’d say a christian bank wouldn’t need much assurance from their customers before lending them what they ask for. Perhaps not the wisest principle to follow if you want to run a successful business, but hey, Jesus told us to do that, who am I to disagree.

Then I started thinking about jewish traditions, and the many great principles and rules they had. Alot of which were about economy and wealth. I can’t see why a christian bank should not follow atleast some of them?

Exodus 22:25

If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender, charge him no interest.

No interest then, on lending or saving. I guess you could apply this rule only to christian customers, given the “one of my people” phrase, but who’s to judge that really?

There’s also the jubilee-principle. Which basicaly meant that every 50-th year all depts were removed. Great principle for a christian bank to follow in my humble opinion. I’m sure there are many more, but I need to go to sleep now. Maybe the few of you who actually read this can help me find more great principles from the bible. Also, struck blank on a song this time, so you guys could help me come up with that too.

One last thing, when talking about banks and christian principles, I would just like to mention JAK Medlemsbank, which comes really close to being a bank based on the principles above.

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