Thursday, July 19, 2012

Religion of Consumption

What has taken the place of religious commitment is the "economy" in the form of an even greater consumption of the goods that science in the service of technology and industry delivers. Combined with an ever more malleable and mercurial "self" defined in terms of the fufillment of material desires, the urge for infinite acquisition has become the default religion even of believers. This "religion" prevails even though in acting it out Christians violate their own religion's claims that self-love and covetousness are close to the essence of sin. The religion is that of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," or, more recently, "Whatever."
Dale Van Kley, professor of history at Ohio State University

The Long-range Point of View

The long-range point of view is the best solution to the immediate problem.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Worry

"The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destroy one's spirit by worrying about them too far in advance." Cicero

Sovereignty of Christ

"No single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"
Abraham Kuyper