Recently, one of our regular readers made an incredible contribution to the blog in the “comment” section. I thought his input should be read by all (since I KNOW not all of you go to the comments). Tony Woodall nails it here, so enjoy his thoughts:
Tony Woodall Says:
June 3rd, 2007 at 7:11 pm e
Consumers or Creators
I was able to be in audience last night for this message….awesome!!!
Adam came “home” to speak at The Edge, a ministry born out of Fountain of Life Church in Lombard, IL. His topic: “Consumers or Creators”. I have so many thoughts; I will try to make sense.
In Not Of
The Bible tells us to be in the world but not of it. This is a mandate from scripture that leaves a lot of us thinking “Okay, so how do I do that?” And I think this is where we go wrong. We want to know how to DO “in not of” before giving thought as to how to THINK about it. We use our behavior as a gauge to determine our “in not of” balance. How much beer can I drink before I’m drunk? How much media can I consume before I’m being ungodly? Is this R rated movie pornography? For so many of us (myself definitely included), the “in not of” mandate becomes a behavioral management exercise that either ends in fleshly failure or passionless religion. A “consumer of culture vs. a creator of culture” proposition gets us out of this trap (Thanks Adam). This is how I took the talk last night, as a great starting point to get at the “in not of” dilemma.
Points from “Consumers vs. Creators” that really stuck with me:
1.) A consumer of culture is someone who “goes with the flow” allowing external stimuli to define his thoughts and actions, and as such, his identity. The consumer is defined by the external.
2.) A person is coerced into consuming culture when prompted by external cues (advertising, peer pressure, observing social status, etc.) to express one’s self. Self-expression is the driving motivator for the consumer. This gives them the illusion of self-will and choice. Ironically, most consumers end up expressing themselves just like everyone else in their psychographic profile (for more information on how consumers are defined by psychographic profiles, go to www.buxtonco.com). They end up being different, just like everybody else.
3.) In short: Culture Consumers exchange measured units of their life (money & time) for beliefs and stuff. The motivation for these exchanges is the need to express one’s self. Their self-identity is the sum total of what the culture tells them to believe and what their stuff tells them they are.
The creator of culture is a spirit-filled believer whose identity is found in the person of Jesus Christ. They “consume” Christ through the word, prayer, study, fellowship and worship. This makes them creators of culture in two ways:
1.) They are not void of self-identity or in need of self expression when they engage culture, in fact…
2.) The culture creator actually brings an alternative consumable good to the culture, namely a belief system (complete with every presupposition needed to combat any worldview) and an identity defined by the person of Jesus Christ.
Now, returning to my main point, this offering from Adam helps us to get out of the “behavior management” trap of “in not of” because it helps us to think about it in a new light. When we love God through Christ with our whole mind, body and soul, our self-identity is defined in pursuit of truth; we no longer need to express ourselves through the exchange of money/time for beliefs/stuff. In this way, we consume for the sake of living, not for the sake of identity. And we bring the living bread to Public Square as an alternative food source for those desperately seeking to be filled.
(Adam, if I didn’t get the gist of this please correct me. Most of my intentions at paraphrasing you are for clarity from your end.)
Thanks again for a great word! We’ll meet again soon I’m sure.
Adam,
Thank you for posting this. I know that Tony’s words have been helpful for me.
the not so garden state
June 14th, 2007
Рекламный центр “Престиж” - официальный дистрибьютор письменных принадлежностей LECCE PEN на территории России. Всегда в наличии, на складе в Москве, огромный ассортимент всего модельного ряда продукции LECCE PEN. Собственное производство по нанесению фирменной символики. Рекламным агентствам и посредникам – БОЛЬШИЕ СКИДКИ! Для регионов – бесплатная доставка до транспортной компании.
Продукция LECCE PEN – результат передовых исследований в области проектирования и сырья. Большую роль в компании LECCE PEN уделяют охране окружающей среды и экологии. В производстве используют материалы, типа пластика A B S, пригодного для повторного использования, без кадмия и не содержащего свинца пластмассы. Созданы даже ручки, основанные на 100%-ом разлагаемом микроорганизмами крахмале кукурузы – это первая полностью экологически чистая ручка в мире.
Все виды деловой сувенирки
“CENTER OF ADVERTISING GIFTS PRESTIGE ”makeall kinds of business gifts for any holidays! All kinds of business gifts wholesale. Own printing and engraving facilities.
CENTER OF ADVERTISING GIFTS PRESTIGE ” Sell wholesale dairy Yezhe ,and with your logo, we are an official supplier of business gifts to Kremlin Cup and Device Cup,
We sell wholesale: gift sets, clocks, goods , document cases, table gifts ,business gifts, ,print by our facilities different kinds of firm logos by methods: silk-screen printing , tampo printing, laser engraving, stamping, dekole, pouring epoxy , embroidery of logos, sale dekole ware wholesale,
engraving, laser engraving, dekole mugs, lamination, airfrasheners, press of brochures, stamping, duplicating on risograph, manufacturing of labels, manufacturing of folders, gifts souvenirs by the gross, manufacturing of cards, offset, fleksopress, silk screen printing. CATALOGUE OF ADVERTISING GIFTS. We make and sell wholesale vip gifts. We put on the gifts various kinds of firm symbolics by method silk screen printing. We sell dekole mugs wholesale , lamination. Printing manufacturing of folders. We make
all kinds of tampoprinting .Gifts frommetall.We have sets of business gifts for different spheres,for example: the Foodstuff, Alcohol you can order gifts from us for even mayor of your city! Multichannel phone in Moscow: 8(495)729-57-79
lecheenlechetg
October 24th, 2008
All greetings! I have fallen in love today:)))))
I wish to shout about love to all world !
Love this magnificent feeling:)))))
mitsEdild
October 24th, 2008
. . Everything is allowed to you nowadays . At those dark times people didn’t know how to make children before their marriage Nowadays the situation is quite different . Today people are not divided into normal, that is reserved and restrained and those who have special inclinations . Different people have different preferences in this sphere . Don’t deceive yourself and pretend that you are not interested in this sphere . That is why, if are fond of adult sites you must be grateful to your fate that you live now . Your secret wishes exist and are haunting you everywhere and can’t ignore them . This sphere is one of the most topical today and gives people a wonderful opportunity to look in themselves and understand what they want
free young asian porn
muntrobinec
October 24th, 2008
There has come winter
It became cold and cloudy!
Mood very bad
Depression Begins
DDDepressionnn
November 20th, 2008
Depression Depression Depression aaaaaaaa
HEEEEELP
I hate winter! I want summer!
DDDDepressionnnn
November 21st, 2008
I very much love summer
Someone very much loves winter
I Wish to know whom more
For what you love winter?
For what you love summer? Let’s argue
wintervssummer
November 29th, 2008
Hi!
I’ve found your message to be very useful, though the information is not new.
I’m your permanent reader now!
p.s. BTW, what happened to your site template? Or is it just my browser?
http://www.youtube.com/user/samsungln46a650
samsung LN46A650
December 16th, 2008
Hi
As a fresh borderlandsweb.com user i just wanted to say hello to everyone else who uses this bbs B-)
DabQueuem
December 19th, 2008
transharbouration viagra joining
fumbAdmibia
December 27th, 2008