The iPhone, what a phone!

I cannot afford one, especially now that my wife and I are one the Dave Ramsey budget.  Although I am a tech geek when it comes to electronics, I don’t think I buy one even if I wasn’t on a budget.  Why you may ask?  Because it cost way too much for me personally to justify it as a Christian.  I know a lot of Christians have one and I am not saying they are wrong for owning one.  If I made more money and was able to give more freely with my money to those in need, then I would very seriously think about getting one. 

 

Especially now in light of the country’s economic state we find ourselves in, I don’t see how buying a sleek-do-all phone that lets me text and listen to music all at the same time is a worthy purchase.  The media and the marketing world have conned us into thinking that these gadgets are a necessity rather than a luxury.  If you think about it we made out just fine fifteen, twenty years ago without all that a mobile phone can do now days.

 

As Christian’s, we should be a little leery about the iPhone and it’s rival the blackberry (know by many as the crackberry) anyway.  The Bible talks a great deal about coveting and for some it’s the seduction that draws many of us to want a phone like that in the first place.  Because we think it will make our life easier or we see someone else have it and we don’t yet, we purchase the lie so that we will be happier, more available, and more informed.  Then once the newness wears off, Apple comes out with a newer version to draw us back into their web. 

 

Then there’s this theme that runs throughout the Bible that says live simply and rely on the Lord.  One of the reasons why I think we are called to live simply is so that we can give more to those who are in need.  But how can I give if I just laid down $300 for a phone? 

 

I am however a product of my culture. I have a lot of useless crap laying around my house that I bought on a whim.  And for the record I think the iPhone is the coolest gadget ever made.  So often I find myself not buying the latest and greatest gadget only because I have a thin wallet and not because of my convictions. 

 

For a lot of us Christians who have the lack of funds to buy into the seductive marketing of the iPhone, we might need to ask ourselves – I’m I happy with life?  Is a mobile phone really going to make me that much happier with whom I am and how I live my life?  Will I really want to hear a chime go off in my pocket letting me know I have an email from my boss?  Am I really going to be that much closer to my friends if I can access Facebook anytime I want?  Do I need to be a slave to technology?  And ultimately is the iPhone going to make me a better person, a person more like Jesus?