Minimalist blogs are often devoid of spirituality. Either that, or they’re focused on being very ‘mainstream’ and inoffensive towards anyone. Maybe a Buddhist teaching here and there… throw in a bit of “Zen” and occasionally, you’ll even see some Hindu theories. After all, with massive amounts of “Buddhas” being present in every dollar-store, the fat, smiling man with the long ears can hardly be called offensive to anyone.
Jesus is a little different. Although he has sometimes been portrayed as ‘the nice man who seeks peace on earth and loves everyone’ (or even ‘the baby’ who does just that), it’s not what the Bible teaches us about Him. After all, He was the one that got so angry once, that He turned over the merchant’s tables at the temple, calling their owners ‘thieves’. Back then, He was offensive sometimes. And now, in the year 2011, He still is.
So, with that in mind I’m going to write the next article. Although I know of a few minimalist bloggers that are Christians, I have yet to see a post dedicated to ‘minimalism in the Bible’. It’s a shame, because the Bible has many things to teach us on the concept of minimalism. Maybe not being a minimalist for the sake of it, but you can call it ‘simplicity’. Having enough in what you own and not seeking for more! More! More! constantly.
1. Tearing down your barns
The first piece of scripture I want to address is that written in Luke chapter 12, verses 15-21:
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.
And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
I would say that speaks for itself. Life does NOT consist in an abundance of possessions. What’s the point? Owning more things than the person next door doesn’t make your life better. If you remember that your life is not a destination, but a travel instead, it makes absolutely no sense at all to be envious of the size of another person’s luggage. Have you ever been in an airport and finding yourself jealous of the person-with-the-big-suitcase? Of course not! You’d probably feel sorry for him, having to carry around that weight the entire trip.
Then the text goes on and addresses exactly the problem we see so much nowadays. The rich man, who already has too much, has the “superb” idea of tearing down his sheds and building bigger ones to store his excess. While not many people nowadays are literally tearing down their sheds, they are desperately trying to figure out ways to store their excess junk. This is the exact reason that the number of storage spaces have skyrocketed in the last couple of years. Do you want to know the worst part of this? At least the ‘rich man’ in the Bible stored his excess grain. Food. Something useful. We, as a people, are storing excess junk. Useless objects.
Of course, the bible goes on and takes this to a spiritual level: What’s the use of owning so many things (and feeling good about yourself) if you’re going to die this night? Have you lived your life? Did you make good use of your time and your means? If you’re the kind of person that occupies his time with figuring out ways to store your stuff and in doing so, are not sparing effort or money… you’re a fool, simply put.
2. You can’t take any of it with you
Moving on to the next ‘lesson’. This one comes from gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses 19-21:
“…we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction”
In Holland, we have an ancient saying about this. It’s literally translated as “a death-vest has no pockets.” It means that it doesn’t matter how many physical objects you collected in your lifetime, there’s not one that you can take with you after death. People might be running around like a headless chicken, every thought occupied with ‘how to get more money to buy more stuff’. It’s the way we’ve been brought up. It’s only ‘natural’ to behave that way. But is it useful? Why would you want to work extra hours to earn money that buys… stuff?
People need food, drinks, shelter and clothes. The rest may be nice, but it isn’t necessary. I’ll be the last person saying we should all live like monks, having bread and wine for dinner everyday, but dedicating your whole life to acquiring more stuff is just stupid. And while you think you may live to be 80 years old (and figured out you have 15 years to enjoy yourself after you retire) – the reality is that you may not live to see the next day. The only thing you can bring to heaven when you die are people. Think about that.
3. It’s all meaningless in the end… even minimalism
Lastly, I’m sharing with you a small piece of the book of Ecclesiastes. This is from chapter 2, verses 8 and 11.
I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces.Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
I love this book. The tone is so cynical it could have written by a modern journalist. Yet, it is from more than a thousand years before the birth of Jesus. (or 3000 years before our birth!) Think about this text, next time you’re making yourself crazy about something you want to buy. “everything was meaningless”. Yes, even those Vibram running shoes. Even that Macbook and even those 600 minimalist Ebooks. All of those are nice additions to life, if you are able to afford them, but none of them matter in the end.
The best lesson that the Bible has to teach us about minimalism is that we shouldn’t pursue minimalism just for the sake of it. You might laugh at the thought of people that are preoccupied with buying ‘as much stuff as the Joneses next door’, but really question yourself:
Are you preoccupied about getting rid of as much stuff as the Beckers or Babautas?Are you trying to compete with others when it comes to ‘living with less’? Are you counting your possessions because you’d like to have insight in the number of things you own, or so you can brag about how little you own on your blog? In the end, none of it matters. It’s all “meaningless and chasing after the wind”.
If minimalism frees up your time and means to pursue greater things, than that’s awesome!
Just don’t get caught up so much in the hype that ‘minimalism’ becomes the destination instead of the journey.
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21 Responses to 3 minimalist lessons from the Bible
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Een lijkkleed heeft geen zakken, dat zeggen mijn opa’s en oma’s. Mooi dat jij dat gezegde ook kent. Het is zo waar. Als je sterft, gaat je leven aan je voorbij. De mooie momenten. De geboorte van je kinderen. De keren dat je de zon zag ondergaan bij de zee en niet de keren dat je op alexandium was voor een nieuw bankstel.
Ik heb het op mijn blogje ook al eens gehad over het tellen van dingen. Leef gewoon met de spullen die handig voor je zijn en zie af van de rest. Who cares of je je boeken wel of niet mee telt….
Of het nu gaat om weinig, of juist veel spullen, ze zouden je leven en wat je doet niet moeten beïnvloeden. Ik gebruik wat ik heb. En heb wat zooi van mijn man, die hij niet weg wil doen. Het maakt hem blij. Dan is het toch geen zooi?
It’s not a challenge,, it’s a state of mind… En meer en meer mensen worden zich bewust!
Leuk dat je het gezegde kent! Het is inderdaad ‘n oudje. En de rest wat je schreef is inderdaad waar… je gaat niet terugdenken aan al die keren dat je bent wezen winkelen… Toch vreemd dat ‘men’ daar dan massaal de meeste vrije tijd in blijft steken hè?
great post. You nailed it on all 3 items.
“life does not consist in an abundance of possessions”
that says it all
Ben…
You’re right! That’s the verse that sums up the whole attitude! :)
Thanks for a great post and the reminder that in fact our live is just a journey, and we shouldn’t behave like greedy tourists collecting meaningless souvenirs, but we should rather collect memories of great moments and wonderful people that we come across along the way. This is what really matters.
In fact, I think every religion tells us the same thing, but it was great for me, as a Christian, to read those Bible quotes with your wonderful commentary on them.
I also love the question:Are you preoccupied about getting rid of as much stuff as the Beckers or Babautas? You may find more and more blogs where the main goal of the people seems to be the posession of 100 or 50 things, but there seems to be no philosophy behind it. This question will remind me about anwering the most important one to me: Why do you want to minimise?
I’m glad you liked the post! I recently read your blog with google translate and tried to comment on one of the posts… the thing is… I got stuck in the comment form! It didn’t let me registrate and google wouldn’t translate the options that I needed to fill in.. but maybe I can let you know on here that I really liked reading your posts, even if the translation by google was sometimes a little shabby.
Appreciated your use of scripture as opposed to the typical eastern religious quotes so prevalent on minimalism blogs! #2 from Matthew 6–so many good verses in this chapter! I like how verse 22 is worded in one translation, “If, then, your eye is simple, your whole body will be bright.” It’s all about focus, which is equally imbalanced if we are too focused on keeping down (opposite of keeping up, lol!) with the popular minimalists.
My thoughts exactly. These buddhist wisdoms are all nice and everything. (And you may know how much I like the parable of the raft!) but what matters for me is what the Bible teaches us. It’s nice to see that it isn’t silent on ‘modern’ issues. (but really, what is modern.. there’s nothing new under the sun) :)
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Jurino,
I appreciate you approaching this from a biblical standpoint. I am not sure how it is in the netherlands, but these scriptures wouldn’t be preached much in the United States. The *First Church of America* likes its stuff. It makes me physically ill to pull into a church parking lot and see it full of $50,000 SUVs. We have luckily found a church that thinks a little differently and focuses more on helping those in the community. We actually don’t have a big fancy building, but rent space in a local high school.
Thanks for sharing with us!
Bernice
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Genesis had a music video years ago, called ‘Jesus, he knows me’. It made fun of all the televangelists doing it for the money. Although many christians were offended, I thought it was spot-on! :)
Jurino, thanks for another great post. I’m going through several transitions in my life at once — the acceptance of growing older, a shift toward minimalism or at least simplicity, and and a growth spurt in my faith. All of things seem to be intertwined for me: I’ll make a change toward simplicity, then read a verse that clarifies the vision of my direction even further. It seems it’s the same for you. Thanks for sharing your journey — you’re an encouragement to me!
thanks for your comment! You’re right, these two things do seem to go hand-in-hand. If you’re convinced by a part of scripture, you’re usually humbled (over and over again) – a lifestyle full of excess doesn’t fit in that way of thinking. (and vice versa)
Hi Jurino,
I’m not a Christian but I’m open minded towards lots of faiths including Christianity. I really enjoyed this post. I’ve always wondered why Jesus owned so little and seems to have spoken against amassing wealth (I’m not well read on it so I can’t quote scripture) and yet many versions of modern Christianity seem to gloss over that fact completely.
Even so many of the churches (here in America at least) seem to be so huge and wealthy with their parishioners driving suv’s and living in McMansions.
I love your take on it! I especially got a kick out of your last point about minimalists falling into the trap of keeping up with the Beckers and Babautas! It put a smile on my face. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been reluctant to post my numbers from the 100 Thing Challenge.
Cheers,
Tanja
Thanks for stopping by! Churches have absolutely lost their way in hoarding money and purchasing extremely large buildings and such. There’s an entire ‘prosperity gospel’ trend going on. Supposedly, if you become a Christian these days, the Lord will bless you with a great job, a loving family, perfect health and above all… lots and lots of money! It just seems ridiculous to me, especially since Christians should know that none of those things are written in scripture. But people love it, so these churches grow immensly.
Good point. I also love Proverbs 21:9 “better to live on a corner of a roof than share a house with a contentious wife.” The point of the text being: better to have a little in peace and quiet than a surplus with strife.
I choose the little along with the peace and quiet, and I’m thankful to have discovered your blog!
I especially liked #3. Thanks for sharing.
Jesus was indeed a minimalist, although like many simple minded people today, he did not refer to himself as one. Christian or not, one can certainly appreciate and learn from the simplicity that was in Him.
Jurino it is my first time here. I have decided to come back and visit you again.
Thank you for being so down to earth, and indeed a bit different from other “minimalist” blogs.
Until next time,
Rafael
[...] It has its roots going back thousands, yes, thousands of years. We see the ideas of minimalism in the Bible, and especially with the establishment of Zen Buddhism in the 7th [...]
A little bit of zen here and there? There’s lots of spiritualism in the minimalism movement. Just because something is zen doesn’t mean it’s devoid of soul. If Christ says “what” to do (don’t get bogged down in possessions), Buddha says “how” to do it (by paying attention).
Please don’t confuse Budai with Buddha.
God bless.
Love this article, thanks! I’ve been drawn to minimalism for a while now and have read many good things about it. I see the good in it, but I think I see the danger in it to. For just as our life does not consist in many things, it neither consists in few things. It consists in one thing, Christ! I wrote on my blog about this in a few posts on Minimalism. I referenced this post of yours for good too. Keep up the good work!