{"id":6539,"date":"2013-10-10T16:13:15","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T20:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allandouglas.dougbittinger.com\/blog\/?p=6539"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:40","slug":"affluenza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/affluenza\/","title":{"rendered":"AFFLUENZA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Calvin<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>“Affluenza” is a make-believe word which could describe an ailment which afflicts us all at times.\u00a0 It could have its origin in the word, “affluence,” which means the over abundance of material things.\u00a0 Of course, there is no such word in the dictionary but the condition still exists.\u00a0 We can easily become obsessed with the need to have things and perhaps more and better things than anyone else.\u00a0 We find ourselves addicted to prosperity in such exaggerated proportions that it affects our mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.\u00a0 Our diseased “wanters” create an unhealthy ambition which has a devastating effect upon our physical stamina.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps there is no better way to describe this condition than to call it “affluenza.”\u00a0 It is a disease which has epidemic possibilities.\u00a0 “Affluenza” is highly contagious because it attacks our ego systems where greed, jealousy and snobbishness make us vulnerable to is infective power.\u00a0 Once the disease has invaded our need to feel important, we can no longer accept the prosperity of others.\u00a0 We develop a long list of folk we consider competitors because they have offended us by their affluency.\u00a0 We become locked into a disease which is fed by an arrogant spirit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Once the rat-race begins, few if any folk have the courage to forfeit.\u00a0 It is a matter of pride\u00a0even though our materialistic addiction spends us into bankruptcy.\u00a0 The economic structures of our society keep infecting us with “affluenza” in order to keep selling us things.\u00a0 We are gullible to the point of losing ourselves in an attempt to make an impressive display of what we do or do not have.\u00a0 It is so easy to become victims of our own fantasies and be caught in the web of our own ambitions.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The only cure for the exhaustion of “affluenza” is a commitment to Jesus who puts things in proper spiritual perspective.\u00a0 There is a spiritual dimension to prosperity which honors God with our affluency.\u00a0 Humility\u00a0 as well as integrity build up our immunity against “affluenza.”\u00a0 When Jesus is truly Lord, our need to impress others is lost in a sense of servanthood.\u00a0 We no longer feel superior because we have more.\u00a0 We find meaning and joy in the fact that to whom much is given much is required.\u00a0 There is a stewardship about life which cures our “affluenza” and adds greater value to everything we own.\u00a0 So, in everything we\u00a0give thanks.\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     “Affluenza” is a make-believe word which could describe an ailment which afflicts us all at times.  It could have its origin in the word, “affluence,” which means the over abundance of material things.  Of course, there is no such word in the dictionary but the condition still exists.  We can easily become obsessed with … Continue reading “AFFLUENZA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[27,57],"class_list":["post-6539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-financial","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19133,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6539\/revisions\/19133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}