Air and water are the two most fundamental needs of human living. A person could live for over a month on just air and water.

"Bottled water is not a sin. But it is a choice."

You'll find this article thought-provoking - I recommend reading the whole Fast Company article, then spending a few minutes (or an hour if you have it) in prayer and meditation, and see what God says to you about this.

For those in a hurry (but do read the whole article!), some excerpts:

• Last year, Americans spent $15 billion on bottled water -- more than we spent on movie tickets. This year that is expected to be $16 billion.
• Water is basically free, and for now more or less abundant in most of the U.S.
• Buying bottled water is essentially buying convenience (and bending to marketing messages).
• 24% of the bottled water Americans buy is repackaged tap water created by Coke and Pepsi.
• Americans drink more bottled water than milk, or coffee, or beer.
• Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year, 167 for each person.
• Americans throw 38 billion water bottles a year into landfills. (Over $1 billion worth of plastic which could have been recycled -- only 1/4 of all the bottles are recycled by consumers).
• It's easier for most Americans to get as much drinking water from Fiji as they want, than it is for over half the people of Fiji, where the water is bottled yet safe drinking water for the local population is scarce.
• If the water we use at home were to cost what even the cheapest bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000. (Point is: we pay a lot for what is available for almost nothing.)
• Most of the world's bottled water is dominated by four companies: Pepsi, Coke, Danone, and Nestle.
• Within a decade, American consumption of bottled water is expected to surpass soda. Maybe that's a good thing. Is that a good thing?
  

• One out of six people in the world does not have a safe, dependable source of drinking water. That's a billion people.
• Each day, 3,000 children die from diseases caught from tainted water.

A few takeaways for me:

If we choose to hardly ever buy bottled water (which in itself sounds like a good idea), it won't help the one sixth of the world who lack drinking water. We need to not only refrain from something, but also contribute to a solution. Both are appropriate, with moral and spiritual implications.

(Another way of putting this important point is that Christians should be FOR things, not just AGAINST things.)

We can certainly choose to refrain from water we don't need, and drink the perfectly fine unbottled stuff, or refill some fancy old bottle if that makes us feel better.

But what about water we DO need? There's a great story about Jesus meeting a person at a well (the only source of water in most of the Middle East before modern day refrigerated bottles), asking her for some water, then making an offer with intrigue - living water, that permanently quenches thirst. Read the story here.

(A little while later in John 7, Jesus claimed, " Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within.")

And hats-off to Fast Company for an ethically, morally, spiritually engaging article that provokes not only cerebral contemplation, but also wise and responsible decisionmaking.

FC is a magazine about and for people who create commerce. It's brave and also respectable to publish stuff like this, outside the sacred borders of "profit." This article doesn't preach; rather it informs in a way that leads to conviction and hopefully some changes for the better.

Not to be cynical, but the overall odds on this one are probably in favor of bottled water consumption. That doesn't mean we all need to participate.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." I Cor. 10:31

"Test everything. Hold on to the good." I Thess. 5:21

"I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink." Matt. 25:35

P.S. Here's what the marketers are working on next: "Water that's got vitamins in it. Water that's got some immunity-type benefit to it. Water that helps keep skin younger. Water that gives you energy." Sigh.