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Spiritual Dangers of Recreational Marijuana · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast on this twenty fourth anniversary
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  Speaker 1: of nine to eleven. If you have not heard John
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  Speaker 1: Piper's nine to eleven radio interview, be sure to do
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  Speaker 1: so today. That's the title of it, and it's in
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  Speaker 1: the archive at aspastor john dot com. It's a very
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  Speaker 1: historically significant find that we added to the site not
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  Speaker 1: long ago, John Piper's nine to eleven radio interview from
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  Speaker 1: I believe it was the day after nine to eleven
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  Speaker 1: a radio interview. You really want to listen to it.
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  Speaker 1: But today is dedicated to another matter altogether. Over the years,
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  Speaker 1: we've talked a lot about alcohol, drunkenness, nicotine, smoking, vaping, chewing, tobacco,
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  Speaker 1: the misuse of caffeine, painkillers, morphine, and of course marijuana.
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  Speaker 1: Proverbs twenty three, verses twenty nine to thirty five frequently
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  Speaker 1: comes up in those conversations, and that text is in
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  Speaker 1: our Bible reading today. If you're reading the Navigator's Bible
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  Speaker 1: Plan with us, that's where we're at. Though Proverbs twenty
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  Speaker 1: three versus twenty nine to thirty five as a passage
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  Speaker 1: about drunkenness, his warnings apply broadly to many other substances,
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  Speaker 1: including the ones I just mentioned and the one we're
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  Speaker 1: focusing on today. I try to capture these types of
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  Speaker 1: shared principles in the APG book, as you probably noticed,
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  Speaker 1: bringing together a Bible text and showing how Pastor John
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  Speaker 1: you use it in various different contexts, and specifically here
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  Speaker 1: on substances in pages two sixty nine to two seventy six,
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  Speaker 1: you can see how these alts comes together. And today
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  Speaker 1: we focus again on pot. For a long time, various
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  Speaker 1: religions have used marijuana in pursuit of a spiritual high
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  Speaker 1: to create a divine connection or an altered state of
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  Speaker 1: consciousness that worshipers believe deepens their faith or opens their
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  Speaker 1: mind to the sacred. We're going to explore that mysticism
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  Speaker 1: next time because there's a lot to unpack there. And
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  Speaker 1: we're also not talking today about medical use of marijuana,
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  Speaker 1: which is now legal in thirty nine states. If you're
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  Speaker 1: using marijuana under a doctor's care, that's not an issue here.
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  Speaker 1: As you've said in the past, Pastor John, our focus
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  Speaker 1: today is on recreational use, which is now legal in
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  Speaker 1: twenty four states and Washington, d c. And Guam. In addition,
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  Speaker 1: several other states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts
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  Speaker 1: of marijuana, and you can kind of see where this
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  Speaker 1: trend is heading socially, Pastor John, just over a decade ago,
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  Speaker 1: recreational cannabis was illegal in all fifty states. No longer.
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  Speaker 1: With each passing year, this conversation becomes more pressing for
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  Speaker 1: Christians and for pastors, and for parents and for churches. So,
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, when you take all this in, what comes
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  Speaker 1: to your mind?
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  Speaker 2: What I want to draw attention to by way of
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  Speaker 2: exhortation and encouragement, even though it may sound pessimistic to some,
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  Speaker 2: is that this fact, the legalization of pot, draws attention
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  Speaker 2: to something that we need to be aware of and
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  Speaker 2: we need to adjust our thinking about, namely, that the
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  Speaker 2: Church for a long time has leaned too heavily on
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  Speaker 2: the overlap between the state and the church for the
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  Speaker 2: strength of our conviction concerning what is right and wrong.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, if the state has regarded something as
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  Speaker 2: wrong or illegal, then the church hasn't had to work
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  Speaker 2: very hard to teach any deep roots for the conviction,
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  Speaker 2: or any thorough biblical argumentation, or any conviction strengthening inspiration,
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  Speaker 2: because everybody just assumes that the behaviors out of bounds.
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  Speaker 2: The state expectations and the cultural mores overlap with Christian ways,
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  Speaker 2: and so we can just coast now, stop and think
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  Speaker 2: of the number of behaviors that were once illegal and
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  Speaker 2: are no more. Divorce was once illegal. Adultery and fornication
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  Speaker 2: were illegal. Homosexual practices were illegal. In decency was illegal
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  Speaker 2: in such a way that what's considered acceptable in movies
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  Speaker 2: and on beaches today would have been forbidden. Sabbath breaking
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  Speaker 2: was illegal, abortion was illegal in every state, and the
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  Speaker 2: list could go on and on. Now, the point is
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  Speaker 2: not that these things should or shouldn't be illegal. The
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  Speaker 2: point is that because they were illegal, the Church didn't
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  Speaker 2: have to think very hard, or work very hard, or
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  Speaker 2: teach very deeply, or inspire very effectively to inculcate convictions
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  Speaker 2: and attitudes and behaviors in our young people or in
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  Speaker 2: new converts. We simply could assume that our people wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: do these things because they were taboo and illegal in
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  Speaker 2: the culture. The church lean you could say, on the culture,
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  Speaker 2: for it's catechism, it's teaching, it's inspiration, it's conviction. So
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  Speaker 2: the church assumed so much overlap between culture convictions and
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  Speaker 2: Christian convictions that you didn't often hear teaching or preaching
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  Speaker 2: that taught the church how to be alien or strange
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  Speaker 2: or weird or maligned. And I use the word maligned
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  Speaker 2: because that's the word Peter uses in One Peter four,
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  Speaker 2: verse three when he says the time that is passed
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  Speaker 2: suffices for doing what the gentiles want to do, living
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  Speaker 2: in sensuality and passions and drunkenness and orgies and drinking
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  Speaker 2: parties and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are
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  Speaker 2: surprised you do not now run with them anymore, and
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  Speaker 2: they malign you. In other words, for most of American
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  Speaker 2: history there has been so much overlap between cultural mores
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  Speaker 2: and outward Christian behaviors that this text in One Peter
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  Speaker 2: four seemed designed for another world, Like, what does that
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  Speaker 2: text have to do with anything in America? For centuries,
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  Speaker 2: many Americans would go to church not in spite of
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  Speaker 2: being maligned, but because not to go would be maligned.
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  Speaker 2: So the so called Judeo Christian ethic shaped laws and
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  Speaker 2: churches to such an extent that the culture, as much
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  Speaker 2: as the church, discipled our young people. I grew up
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  Speaker 2: in that world anyway. When I was a kid, and
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  Speaker 2: little effort went into cultivating a mindset that Christians are
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  Speaker 2: not of this world, but are sojourners and exiles and
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  Speaker 2: will be maligned if they walk in step with Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: Little effort into helping Christians sink their moral roots deep
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  Speaker 2: into Christ and the Gospel and His word and His way,
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  Speaker 2: such that we would be able to take a stand
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  Speaker 2: for some truth or some attitude or some behavior when
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  Speaker 2: no one else is standing with us. That's a biblical, spiritual,
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  Speaker 2: parental church responsibility that has been significantly neglected, and that
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  Speaker 2: neglect is now being exposed by the speed and flagrancy
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  Speaker 2: of the cultural normalization of sin. So the destigmatization and
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  Speaker 2: legalization of attitudes and behaviors which are out of step
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  Speaker 2: with Christ can be I think a roundabout way of
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  Speaker 2: something good for the church. We should not have been
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  Speaker 2: leaning so heavily on the culture for support of what
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  Speaker 2: we held to be right and wrong. America Tribe Christians
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  Speaker 2: included to use the legislature to banish the misuse of
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  Speaker 2: alcohol by making alcohol illegal. Prohibition lasted from nineteen twenty
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  Speaker 2: to nineteen thirty three. It failed. My guess is that
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  Speaker 2: a better case could be made today to outlaw alcohol
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  Speaker 2: than to outlaw cannabis. Forty percent of all violent crimes
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  Speaker 2: involve alcohol. Forty percent of all fatal motor vehicle accidents
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  Speaker 2: involve alcohol. We may find that the legalization of pot
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  Speaker 2: puts it in that category, but maybe not. In fact,
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  Speaker 2: from what I read, it's not going to work that way,
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  Speaker 2: doesn't have those same kind of effects. My point is this,
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  Speaker 2: the focus and the moral energy of the Church, the
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  Speaker 2: great majority of our effort should not be on pursuing
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  Speaker 2: political and legal and cultural support for behaviors and attitudes
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  Speaker 2: we want to see in our children and in our churches.
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  Speaker 2: That is a misplaced focus. I'm not saying there's no
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  Speaker 2: role for Christians in politics or legislatures where they can
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  Speaker 2: make their case for what they consider to be healthy
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  Speaker 2: for society, but I am saying that effort should never
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  Speaker 2: never even come close to being the primary focus of
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  Speaker 2: pastors and parents. The primary focus should be to do
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  Speaker 2: what only the Bible, and only the Gospel, and only
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  Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit and the Truth and Jesus can do
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  Speaker 2: in transforming human beings into the kind of Christ exalting,
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  Speaker 2: spirit dependent God, glorifying people who freely choose not to
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  Speaker 2: use drugs, whether caffeine or alcohol, or cannabis or cocaine
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  Speaker 2: or myth or heroine, not to use drugs to escape
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  Speaker 2: into a world where Christ is less clearly perceived, and
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  Speaker 2: the scriptures are less understood and precious, and the Spirit
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  Speaker 2: is less personal, and the glory of God is less satisfying,
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  Speaker 2: and the way of righteousness is less defined, and the
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  Speaker 2: path of obedience is less compelling. We want people Christians
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  Speaker 2: who freely reject anything that would put them in that
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  Speaker 2: kind of mindset to be a Christian. A true Christian
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  Speaker 2: is a very radical thing. It's a miraculous thing. It's
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  Speaker 2: a supernatural thing. It requires not a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: effort while we try to get the world on our side,
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  Speaker 2: which by definitions, never going to happen. It requires the
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  Speaker 2: whole focus of the pastoral ministry, evangelizing and preaching and
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  Speaker 2: worshiping and counseling and teaching and setting radical examples for
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  Speaker 2: the people. It requires focus, spirit dependent, Bible saturated efforts
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  Speaker 2: of parents to call down the miracle through their parenting
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  Speaker 2: and through the Church of the creation of young people
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  Speaker 2: who are joyfully willing to be out of step with
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  Speaker 2: the world. So that's the message I think God is
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  Speaker 2: sending us in the destigmatization and normalization and legalization of
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  Speaker 2: behaviors and attitudes and drugs that we think are out
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  Speaker 2: of step with the gospel call to be the church
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  Speaker 2: and to be the home.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the rapid legalization and normalization of recreational marijuana exposes
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  Speaker 1: how deeply the church has relied on cultural and legal
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  Speaker 1: support for moral standards rather than cultivating deep biblical convictions
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  Speaker 1: in believers. Just calling pastors, parents, and churches to refocus
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  Speaker 1: on forming Christ exalting spirit dependent people who joyfully live
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  Speaker 1: out of step with the currents of the world. That
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  Speaker 1: is so well, said Pastor John. Thank you. And there's
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  Speaker 1: a lot to say about substances. On the podcast. We
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  Speaker 1: have talked about alcohol, drunkenness, nicotine, smoking, vaping, chewing, tobacco,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: misuses of caffeine, painkillers, morphine, and of course marijuana. And
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: you can see a digestive all those episodes on substances
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  Speaker 1: in the APJ book on pages two sixty nine to
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  Speaker 1: two seventy six. And talking about adjusting our conscious states.
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier that we're going to look at mysticism
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  Speaker 1: next time, and we are. We're back on Monday to
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  Speaker 1: look at missusism on Tony Rinky. Will see then