Atonement and Consumption: Part 3 (Consumerism: the Original Sin?)

From the standpoint of a Christian community, I remorse in seeing how the church, by and large, has ignored this problem and quite frankly has “bought into it,” thinking that adapting to consumer capitalism will enable us to engage the world. What has been missed is the fact that as an ethos, consumerism wants to maintain the effects of the fall. Loneliness and a lost sense of identity marks fallen humanity, especially in our contemporary situation. Consumerism idealizes this dissatisfaction because ultimately its survival and growth depends on the perpetual unmet “needs” of humanity. And how many references do you see in any Christian bookstore about how to respond to this problem? (Or am I way off base here?)

Have you ever thought about the idea that the first sin in Genesis is a sin of consumption? Consumerism has its roots as early as the Fall! The solution of “living to consume” is living in the sin of the first Adam. Humanity was given everything needed in order to live and grow in right relationship with God, neighbor, and creation. Staying within the boundaries of obedience to not eat of the forbidden fruit is a way of “consuming to live,” which Clapp called “consecrated consumption.” [i] The yielding to temptation to “consume” what shall not be consumed is what he referred to as “living to consume” (see previous post). This consumerism is illustrative of and how alienation (broken relationship with God and others) displays itself. The problem is not consumption itself. The problem is the belief (trust, we might insert) that what is being consumed will deliver the goods that humanity did not even know they needed. It is a livelihood marked by seeing and taking, not giving and receiving.

It is in creating new needs in the mind: a.) in Adam and Eve, that they could become like God; b.) in the contemporary world, that we need more than we already have. It is in promising the fulfillment of the new desire: a.) in Adam and Eve, that consuming the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would make that happen; b.) in the contemporary world, that consuming the product will make it happen. The serpent did not deliver; neither does consumerism. What a predicament! Who shall deliver us from this belief that has brought death and perpetual dissatisfaction? (Romans 7:24)

...to be continued...

References:
[i] Clapp, “Why the Devil Takes Visa,” 31.