Theology Pub – Can a Christian Smoke Pot?
The embedded video is part 1 of a series of videos that can be accessed here.
Earlier this month Missio Dei hosted an event, as part of our monthly Theology Pub, where we discussed the Biblical position on marijuana. It was a fascinating discussion that was not only provocative but challenging and fruitful. There were over 50 people at the event, many of whom did not share our worldview, but left pleasantly surprised as to how the discussion was led. If you weren’t able to attend the event we have provided some video footage of the discussion that can be accessed here.
Join us next month for Theology Pub as we discuss the Biblical position on homosexuality.
Was Jesus Macho?
There is a lot of talk in Christian circles today about how the Church has emasculated (in the figurative sense of course) the men. And while I absolutely agree with that assessment, I’m not sure our idea of masculinity is all that accurate either.
Cole NeSmith wrote an excellent article for Relevant Magazine that I would like to share here. (more…)
What does it mean to be missional?
Ed Stetzer briefly explains the concept of missional…it’s pretty simple really.
What Does It Mean to Be Missional? from The Resurgence on Vimeo.
Building a Missional Workplace
Jim Tyson who blogs at Redeemer’s City to City blog wrote this article about living missionally at work – it’s worth your read. (more…)
Video – Can a Christian Smoke Pot?
In preparation for our next Theology Pub conversation we interviewed a fairly wide cross section of Fort Collins, asking them, “Can a Christian Smoke Pot?”
Can a Christian Smoke Pot?
Each month Missio Dei hosts an event called Theology Pub at Mulligan’s Pub (a local Irish Pub).
If that wasn’t controversial enough, we’ve chosen one of the more polarizing topics facing the Church presently for next month’s discussion:
Or maybe a better question is, “should a Christian smoke pot?”
Many Christians will immediately declare, “absolutely not, it’s illegal!” Which is a great point, for the Bible is clear that we should honor the governing authorities because those authorities have been placed there by God (Romans 13:1).
But what about the 13 states (including Colorado) that have now legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes? What about cities like Breckenridge, CO. that have legalized the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use?
In those cases, which will quickly become the norm rather than exception, it’s not illegal and therefore the only grounds for prohibition would be the mind altering effects that follow marijuana consumption – God’s Word commands us to be sober minded (1 Peter 1:13) and to abstain from drunkeness (Ephesians 5:18) which would certainly apply to the use of drugs. But what about marijuana use in the case of treating various illnesses and chronic pain? How is that treatment any different than mainstream prescription medications like Vicodin and Oxy-Contin? Certainly those drugs produce serious mind altering effects and carry with them debilitating side effects and result in tragic addictions, as was the case for famous radio talk show personality Rush Limbaugh.
The Church (at least in large part) does not prohibit the use of prescription pain killers, but without blinking an eye Christians forbid the use of marijuana in any instance.
Is it really that cut and dry?
It’s our desire at Missio Dei to think through difficult issues like this from a Biblical perspective, divorcing ourselves from tradition or preconceived notions.
As people who view life through a Christian worldview and a gospel grid – what should our position be on this topic?
The gospel of Avatar
Director James Cameron had this to say about his new movie, Avatar,
“When people have an experience that’s very powerful in the movie theatre, they want to go share it. They want to grab their friend and bring them, so that they can enjoy it. They want to be the person to bring them the news that this is something worth having in their life.” (Quote is via Luke Simmons of Second Mile Church in Gilbert, AZ.)
This tells me a few things…
1. We are passionate about things that capture our heart. Has Jesus truly captured our hearts? Why do movies and fiction books move us in a way that the gospel and the Bible rarely do?
2. We talk about what we’re passionate about. I’m not trying to be legalistic here, just simply stating a fact. If I’m passionate about football, I talk about it, If I’m passionate about the environment, I talk about it…you get the point. And we don’t just talk to others who share our passions, we find ways to weave those things into everyday conversations. Shouldn’t this be equally true of Jesus and gospel?
The Avatar movie has taken our world by storm – I actually haven’t seen the movie yet so I’m clueless as to what all the hype is about. However I do know this. No movie, or book, or experience of any kind is greater than Jesus, and so my reluctance to to speak of Him at every opportunity only further reveals my idolatrous heart.
Turn to Jesus Tiger
Brit Hume, on Fox News, encourages Tiger Woods to turn from Buddhism to Christianity.
Heart for the City
During our gatherings on Sunday nights we are studying through the book of Nehemiah. One of the reasons I chose to teach through Nehemiah as we are establishing The Bridge here in Fort Collins is due to Nehemiah’s heart for the city of Jerusalem. When Nehemiah heard the news of Jerusalem’s plight he sat down and wept for many days. His heart broke for the condition of his city.
When was the last time your heart broke for the condition of your city? Nehemiah was simply displaying the heart of His God. A heart that compelled Jesus to humble Himself by taking on human flesh and then willingly become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). This was Jesus’ mission…to restore humanity and all of creation back to its created goodness (Gen. 1:31 cf. Rev. 21:5).
It is my desire to plant a church here in FoCo that is on this same mission with God (John 20:21). A church with a heart that bleeds for the city, a city filled with broken and devastated people who desperately need to be restored and redeemed by their Creator.
Will you join God on this mission?
Here is a poem written by Francis DuBose that really captures the heart of what it means to be missional (Thank you to Tommy O’Keefe for making me aware of this great piece).
I choose the city…
Not simply to live in it,
to see it,
to hear it;
But to touch it;
yes, to embrace it,
to hold it,
To feel the wild glory of its
pulsating soul,
To move over its wide,
hurried broadways,
To stand stilled and sobered
at the nowhere of its dead-end streets,
To be trapped with it in its
pain and problems,
To be at once chilled by its ill
and covered with its confetti.
I choose the city because I choose God,
Because I choose humanity,
Because I choose the divine-human
struggle–
The struggle which will be won
Not in the serene path through
meadow and wood,
among the bees and birds, and flowers,
But in the city street
Made by the hand of man
Through the gift of God–
Main Street: the final battle field,
The scene of the ultimate struggle,
Where man chooses right
Because he is free to choose wrong.
Babylon, dirty and daring–
Babylon, yes–
Babylon today–
Tomorrow…
The New Jerusalem!
A Worldly Christianity?
I wanted to pass along the latest entry in The Spurgeon Fellowship Journal, written by Dr. Art Azurdia
It’s called “A Worldly Christianity?” and it’s very good.
“The title of this issue of The Spurgeon Fellowship Journal—even posed as a question—may arouse a bit of consternation in some. In truth, it is not my intention to be provocative. It is my intention to capture a dialectic that defines the essence of authentic Christianity.
What do I mean? On the one hand, as followers of Jesus Christ we are exhorted to keep ourselves “unstained from the world” (Ja 1:27). Moreover, we are informed that “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (Ja 4:4). On the other hand, none of us can deny that God Himself loves the world (Jn 3:16). Nor can we ignore Jesus’ repeated self-identification as the one whom the Father has “sent into the world” (Jn 10:36, et al).
Do these statements seem a bit antithetical? Contradictory, perhaps? The apparent contradiction becomes even more glaring when one considers the various expressions of the Great Commission (each of which—it would do us well to remember—was uttered by the resurrected Christ):
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Ma 28:19)
Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation (Mar 16:15)
. . . the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations . . . you are witnesses of these things (Lu 24:46-48)
As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you (Jn 20:21)
. . . you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8)
At the risk of seeming pedantic, I draw these obvious references to your attention to establish the basis for a clear and simple assertion: the commission of Jesus Christ is to a worldly Christianity. In His mind, at least, these are not mutually exclusive concepts. To the contrary, as His followers we cannot hope to be authentically Christian without being meaningfully worldly. Acknowledging this, however, requires us to recognize that evangelicals in nearly every generation (including ours!) have repeatedly succumbed to two practical distortions that have severely undercut our influence in the world.
The first distortion is cultural gluttony. It is sinful compromise with the world—the consequence of being missional without being theological. Often masked in the guise of desiring to win the world, we rabidly pursue likeness to the world. Over time, unfortunately, the world’s values, objectives, and desires, become our values, objectives, and desires. Cultural gluttony is the act of consuming the culture until it forms us. The present condition of American evangelicalism serves to handily prove our susceptibility to this distortion.
The second distortion is cultural anorexia. It takes the form of a radical and decided withdrawal from the world—the consequence of being theological without being missional. Since we are determined not to let the world shape us, we isolate, insulate, and withdraw. Before long the Church evolves into a kind of enclave, a ghetto, an island of irrelevant piety, and eventually we lose the ability to speak to non-Christians. Worse yet, our hearts become filled with a compassionless indifference toward such people. Arrogance eventually emerges. Missionary endeavor finally disappears.
Can you identify with this experience? To succumb to such a distortion is an amazingly simple and subtle phenomenon. It often occurs unintentionally in the life of a pastor who, over time, becomes consumed exclusively with church ministry. The tyrannous demands of the pastorate allow him no time for meaningful engagement with unbelievers. Not uncommonly, this replicates itself in his congregation, which sadly comes to exist as a haven from the world rather than as leaven within the world.
Allow me to remind you, dear brothers, just as I must remind myself: The sphere of our mission is the world. At the very least this must mean that our reaction to cultural gluttony must never take the form of cultural anorexia, precisely because Jesus Himself commissions us for the world. It is, then, our great task as pastors to persuade our people away from fear; to convince them that it is a great day to be a Christian. We are alive at a time when people are being destroyed by sin as never before, and the truth belongs to us—the truth that can conquer any perplexity modernity or postmodernity may set before us. We have the gospel. We have the promise God made to Abraham that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. We have the fulfillment of that promise in Revelation 5, where we read that Jesus purchased human beings for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. Consequently, we must seek to inculcate into our people the biblically-informed confidence of the hymn-writer:
This is my Father’s world;
O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world;
The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
and heaven and earth be one.1
At this critical moment in history we must not allow our congregations to lose their nerve and flee the culture, justifying themselves in expressions of pseudo-piety. We must convince them that it is Jesus Himself who sends us into the culture; not in service to the culture—in the sense of helping it achieve its own ends—but in a divinely subversive way, infiltrating the culture with the kingdom of God and the gospel.
As you are about to discover, all the features contained in this issue of TSFJ (articles, sermon, interview, historical reflection, quotes, book reviews) seek in some way to address this exceedingly complicated responsibility facing the church of Jesus Christ. Its conclusions/suggestions may not prove comprehensively satisfying. It is my prayerful hope, however, that they will stimulate your own critical thinking regarding this important matter . . . for the glory of God, the reformation of the church, and the good of the world.
So bear with the title—“Worldly Christianity.” Why? To imitate Jesus means a commitment to be authentically Christian and meaningfully worldly.”
You can read more of the Spurgeon Fellowship Journal here.
For a more developed look at this topic I recommend the book Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian