Functional Hypocrites

The other day I had a friend exclaim to a group of peers that they cried when they heard that Steve Jobs had died. I think he was expressing something that many of our generation felt. Technology is such a part of our daily lives (especially the I Phone, Pad, Pod, Touch, MacBook, Mini, Air, Thini, I Visible, I Verson, I Razor etc) that there was a weird void left for people when they realized that the man who had brought them these products would no longer be delivering the goods. We love our neat technology that makes life as convenient and simple as possible. The internet is at our fingertips, constantly, because of Steve Jobs. Now, Apple products aren't cheap. In fact their much more expensive than comparable products made by other companies. Other products may not be as sleek or well designed as Apple products but my laptop cost about 1/2 of what a comparable Apple laptop might cost. And Steve Jobs was incredibly rich because of this. He was a multi billionaire capitalist who gave relatively little to charity...but we don't care because 'I love my I Phone and my I Pad.' 'I couldn't live without it.'

I'm not critiquing Steve Jobs. Capitalism is not wrong. There is great good that comes from free market capitalism. Consumerism, can become idolatry, but the idea of people buying and enjoying products is not necessarily bad. Here's the issue. We are a generation of people who are celebrating their I Phone, their MacBook Pro and Steve Jobs, who are also attempting to Occupy Wall Street. We believe that "Capital Finance Ruins Lives" and "A Job is a Right, Capitalism Doesn't Work." We're functional hypocrites. We believe that capitalism is bad but we use the products of capitalism (Facebook, Computers, Phones etc) to organize our anti-capitalistic marches. We buy up a bunch of technology, cry about the death of Steve Jobs, and then attempt to lambaste everyone about how they don't give enough to charity. We decry our parents American dream but we've built a new American dream. We may not have the finances to own two homes (nothing wrong with it) but we'll spend the rest of our lives crawling further into the comfort of our "Netflix world"(John Piper).

As Christians, is it possible for us to be a generation who grows to use the products without worshiping the products? Can we be thankful for Apple Computers? Can we enjoy the free market as a blessing from God and within that live a simple life that gives glory to God by giving of our finances regularly to our local church? Can we own things and not let them own us? I'd love to hear your thoughts.