I have had the opportunity for discussion and to hear talks about Affluenza as well as how that relates to people in our community. A number of things concern me about this and the one that concerns me the most is, is Affluenza becoming the new orthodoxy. The reason that it concerns me is that the values that attracted me to moot seem to be increasingly left by the wayside. I left the evangelical church because it lacked the things that I valued most like acceptance, an outlet for ideas as well as affirmation and an inclusion of those that were at different stages of faith than those in the community. I feel that Affluenza perhaps is influencing some community members world view, that the world is an oppressive place and that we are doomed to live a life of soulless money-making repitition unless we adopt the (In my view fairly extreme) lifestyle that Oliver James suggests will fulfill us. I feel that the message being pu across is that unless we actively doing something about social injustice we are active participants in our “oppressive” culture as well as being less than christian. I think we must ask ourselves, who is this message aimed at? also that would we be inclusive of people with wealth, if someone of that background turned up at one of our services, would they be welcome? Anyway I think I have said all I have to say on the matter, but if that changes then you know where to look.
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