Materialism, Etc. in Christian Culture

This essay is based off a quote from an article about a young man who was off-put from Christian culture because of the “Ugly way students at his high school treated one another. He didn't like the fighting, the way people took advantage of each other, the materialism, the competition to be �cool.’” http://www.wardheernews.com/News_07/september/10_Americans_converting_to_islam.html

The quote from this young man portrays his view of Christian society as immoral. He was strongly put off by the “fighting, the way people took advantage of one another, the materialism, the competition to be cool” in his high school, which reflects on Christianity as it was a Christian community. These people don’t reflect Jesus’ teachings, or they would have been more compassionate, so I think we have lost a sense of Christian purpose that we do need to not just learn Jesus’ teachings but reflect them every day when we communicate with others.

Christians take the teachings of Jesus seriously because we sometimes think of the teachings of Jesus as something he did for us. We forget, or don’t think to emanate these teachings, by following them. Teachings such as “love thy neighbor” are agreed with… and then we continue with our lives without fully understanding or following this teaching. The reason Jesus taught us these values was to practice them out in the world, not to keep them to ourselves. The only way to take these teachings seriously is practicing them, as it shows a true belief in them. If you would do something yourself, you think that it’s important enough to do, which all Jesus’ teachings should be.

The young man quoted says that there was a “competition to be cool” in his school. Most people have experienced this longing to be accepted by the “cool” crowd, but it is against Jesus’ teachings. Wanting to be accepted by a group of people means you crave their approval, but Jesus teaches to crave no approval but God’s. In John 5:41,44 Jesus says, “Men's approval or disapproval means nothing to me .... How on earth can you believe (in me) while you are for ever looking for each other's approval and not for the glory that comes from the one God?” When Christians focus on the approval of others they forget what merits approval from God. The values of others they are conforming to could reflect poorly on their religion.

Materialism is another reason the young man was led to break away from Christian society into Islam society. Jesus teaches us, in Matthew 6:19-21, "Don't pile up treasures on earth, where moth and rust