Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #68： The Bible's Position on Tattoos, Marijuana, and Alcohol

00:00:00.000 welcome to real christianity today we are talking about the bible's position on tattoos marijuana

00:00:05.220 and alcohol lots of questions around these topics they're kind of uh you can almost make a show out

00:00:14.860 of every one of them but we thought let's just do a brief um exposition on each one of them

00:00:20.780 really quick really brief yeah really brief and so um before we get started guys we just broke

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00:00:44.800 you just tap the stars. If you write something, great. If you just tap the stars, that's great

00:00:48.880 too. Um, if you guys haven't heard, uh, we opened enrollment, which is continuously open, uh, at

00:00:58.100 ultimate marriage.com. So you can start your six week marriage journey. If you wanted to just

00:01:02.880 really try to get a biblical marriage established in your home, if you're like, Hey, you know,

00:01:08.880 our marriage, we've just been kind of doing it our own way. Uh, it's time to really go back to

00:01:13.040 scripture and see how we could do this, how to strengthen our marriage, have a thriving marriage.

00:01:16.280 check out ultimate marriage.com. There's a great video there for you to watch for the next eight

00:01:20.960 weeks. Um, well actually first I should say Veronica's back. I'm back. Yeah. You've been

00:01:26.580 gone for two weeks. I have. You probably enjoyed that as your introvertness. Just a little break.

00:01:30.680 Yeah. Yeah. It was nice. So I'm glad to be back though. Also another point that I want to make

00:01:35.260 on ultimate marriage before you move on is for the people that are listening, that are engaged,

00:01:40.380 it would make a pretty good, uh, I guess, premarital type course to go through too.

00:01:45.780 There are definitely topics in there that are just for people who are married, but we cover a lot of ground, I think, that would really help those who are getting married.

00:01:55.920 Yeah. I think it's probably stronger than the average premarital course that people go through.

00:02:04.000 Yeah. And you just have to take it in consideration that these are some roles.

00:02:07.240 Yeah, it is for married people.

00:02:08.720 um yeah we've had a couple of people um who we've done their premarital counseling

00:02:13.420 and you know we obviously touch on a lot of those topics in the ultimate marriage program

00:02:17.580 and they're talking to their other friends who are in the same season of life who are engaged

00:02:22.740 and going through premarital and they're like we never talked about any all our all of my friends

00:02:26.660 have never talked about any of these things with their premarital counselors and i'm just like

00:02:30.120 it's crazy yeah we hit some deep topics and it's really fun and engaging and great questions and

00:02:37.920 discussions and it's only six weeks. So ultimate marriage.com, uh, for the next eight weeks,

00:02:43.020 actually after this episode, um, we're going to do a bunch of 30 minute episodes, 20 to 30 minute

00:02:49.860 episodes. Uh, Veronica is actually going to interview me, uh, from one topic of each of the

00:02:57.320 eight chapters of my new book, real Christianity, um, how to be bold for Christ in a culture of

00:03:02.880 Darkness. And that book is available at relearnchurch.org forward slash RC. And we're

00:03:11.800 going to just break down some of these topics. I think there's gonna be some really great episodes

00:03:14.820 in there. And we might also do a break in there to hit another off topic in the middle of it.

00:03:22.260 Who knows? But we are going to do several episodes talking about the book. And I think it'll be

00:03:27.480 edifying and hopefully encourage you guys to pick up a copy and take a read. It's not going to be

00:03:32.240 super promotional it's going to be really topical scriptural based on some really important issues

00:03:37.560 that we can bring in that i think make it relevant for the episode so just want to give you guys a

00:03:42.680 heads up on that okay so dropping dropping jumping into today i like dropping too jumping hey all

00:03:49.360 right anyway um jumping into today's topic um we're gonna hit tattoos first so we have several

00:03:56.580 christian friends who have tattoos and we get this question pretty common uh question asked

00:04:02.540 frequently if tattoos sorry i'm just getting very tongue-tied if tattoos are sinful or if they are

00:04:07.800 unbiblical um and just for the record dale and i personally do not have any tattoos i'm sure

00:04:14.020 several years ago we probably considered it um i've considered some really dumb tattoos

00:04:19.180 i've thought about it but i never like actually seriously thought about it i was like okay i

00:04:25.280 might do this because i was just too afraid to actually go through what it takes i was the guy

00:04:29.340 that almost got the stars in the back of my elbows oh my gosh i'm so glad you didn't do that yeah

00:04:34.160 um yeah lots of dumb ideas i'm sure that we uh you know the lord graciously allowed us to

00:04:41.300 escape to escape that um but since we don't have a ton of time we're just gonna dive straight in 0.65

00:04:47.000 So, Dale, what does the Bible say about tattoos, and should Christians get them? 0.86

00:04:54.640 Yeah. 0.99

00:04:55.280 So, first, if you have tattoos, don't worry.

00:04:57.120 I'm not going to call you a great sinner and that you have permanent sin on your body.

00:05:01.780 That's not what we're going to say here, so you can rest assured.

00:05:05.340 I am going to give you guys just a biblical perspective on that, and you get to do with it what you will.

00:05:13.160 Second, I don't think the discussion is really about sin.

00:05:16.460 I don't think it's necessarily a sin issue.

00:05:18.500 I think it's really more of a wisdom discussion.

00:05:22.420 And, you know, in order for something to be sin,

00:05:25.160 there needs to be really a scriptural command

00:05:27.060 prohibiting that activity within the covenant that we're in.

00:05:32.300 We're in the new covenant.

00:05:33.720 And I say that because in the old covenant,

00:05:35.380 there is a scripture that prohibits tattoos.

00:05:38.860 It's Leviticus 19.28.

00:05:40.340 It says,

00:05:40.680 you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you.

00:05:46.960 I am the Lord.

00:05:47.940 And this is in the Levitical law.

00:05:49.740 It's part of them being holy. 0.91

00:05:53.040 But again, you know, this is Israel's call to be a holy nation, to be separate.

00:06:00.300 And not that we're still not called to be that, but this is under the old covenant. 0.76

00:06:05.080 And so we are operating in the new covenant.

00:06:06.960 So we're not going to take a Levitical law and make that jurisdiction come over to the new covenant and call it sin.

00:06:15.120 So that's why I say it's I don't think it's a sin issue.

00:06:16.680 There's nothing in the New Testament that talks about tattoos.

00:06:20.620 I do believe the, you know, like the Ten Commandments.

00:06:23.960 I think those are still authoritative, even though those are in the old covenant.

00:06:27.500 But the Levitical law, which is different, which is the sacrificial system to make us righteous before God has been fulfilled in Christ.

00:06:34.180 That is what I'm talking about in that specific situation.

00:06:37.640 So now just because it's not wrong doesn't mean that it's right.

00:06:41.460 Just because something's not wrong doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do.

00:06:46.300 It just becomes kind of a neutral thing.

00:06:48.300 But I think the Old Testament does give us some interesting principles that we can think about.

00:06:52.060 If you're thinking about getting a tattoo or if you're thinking about getting more tattoos or if you just have this question about tattoos.

00:07:00.340 And so lots of Christians say they want to get scripture tattooed on their body.

00:07:06.080 They want to get a cross tattooed on their body.

00:07:08.040 They want to get some sort of statement or quote around their faith tattooed on their body.

00:07:13.880 And they almost want to do it kind of as a form of worship or their identification with Christ.

00:07:19.420 Like, hey, you know, yeah, I want everybody to know, like, it's my evangelism, right?

00:07:23.260 You know, like, it's on my body.

00:07:24.480 Or remind myself that, you know, these passages, they're written on my body.

00:07:29.420 Um, and I think this is the wrong way to think, you know, God tells us that there's a right

00:07:36.420 way to worship him.

00:07:38.260 Um, and it doesn't include tattoos.

00:07:41.300 Um, so it's one of those things where the, you know, I think it's kind of the right idea,

00:07:47.060 wrong way.

00:07:48.160 Um, if you want to go worship God, you don't need to tattoo something on your body to do

00:07:52.280 so.

00:07:52.900 Uh, the Lord is pretty clear on how to worship him.

00:07:55.400 He says to do so, you worship God in spirit and in truth.

00:07:59.220 It doesn't necessarily mean that you can't put a tattoo in your body,

00:08:03.920 but I don't think that's necessarily a great justification for a form of worship.

00:08:10.640 Yeah, there's a scripture that's actually referenced this idea in Deuteronomy 12, 4 through 5.

00:08:15.760 It says, you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way,

00:08:19.020 but you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes

00:08:24.120 and put his name and make his habitation there.

00:08:27.080 This idea and this principle here in Deuteronomy is saying that we don't want to worship God in the way that other religions worship their God.

00:08:38.460 And we don't want to worship God in our own way of worshiping God.

00:08:43.580 I mean, if we want to worship God in our own way, that's where we create idols.

00:08:46.220 That's where we create things that are outside of the way that God wants to be worshipped.

00:08:52.000 God gives us specific ways to worship him in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

00:08:56.460 And I think they're good principles that, again, I think nullify the idea of using tattoos as a way to worship God.

00:09:05.900 And so I'm not saying that it's necessarily a sinful thing to get.

00:09:09.300 I'm just saying is that don't do it because you want to worship or glorify God in that way.

00:09:13.700 I don't think that God wants to be glorified in that way.

00:09:18.780 But I also don't think that it's necessarily biblically sinful that you do so.

00:09:24.500 I'm just trying to correct the thinking around there.

00:09:26.460 Um, and I think, yeah, Veronica's got a verse to share about.

00:09:30.520 Yeah, I was making me think of the verse in, uh, first Corinthians chapter six,

00:09:33.620 verse nine through 20.

00:09:34.600 And it says, or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you,

00:09:38.940 whom you have from God?

00:09:40.260 You are not your own for you were bought with a price.

00:09:42.920 So glorify God in your body.

00:09:45.000 I think this verse actually has the stronger argument.

00:09:47.780 So I was trying to give some background on the principles here, but, um,

00:09:51.560 I feel like I use that verse all the time with the kids, but not related to tattoos.

00:09:55.340 related to how they're controlling their bodies.

00:09:58.180 Yeah, and this scripture can all,

00:09:59.920 it's the context of this passage in 1 Corinthians

00:10:02.400 is about sexual immorality

00:10:03.900 and the way that you use your body.

00:10:05.140 It's the temple of the Holy Spirit.

00:10:06.580 But to understand really the gravity

00:10:08.220 of what Paul is saying here

00:10:10.400 in regards to your body being the temple of the Holy Spirit,

00:10:14.600 you got to really understand the holiness

00:10:16.140 of the Old Testament tabernacle and temple.

00:10:19.100 And you got to really look at the extreme instructions.

00:10:22.480 I was actually talking about this at dinner last night.

00:10:24.160 like the extreme instructions on how the temple and tabernacle was put together i mean there are

00:10:31.440 chapters and chapters and chapters about the types of thread and the types of linen and the types of

00:10:36.440 you know stone and how they should look and how they should be designed and who should design them

00:10:40.180 and where they should be placed and how long they should be and how tall they should be and how deep

00:10:43.060 they should be it's just amazing at the level of holiness that is placed upon the old testament

00:10:52.560 tabernacle, which is the pre-temple, and then there's the actual temple in Jerusalem, and then

00:10:56.340 now our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And so, you know, people who defaced or entered

00:11:05.500 improperly or operated in the temple without respect were actually killed by God. Like, that

00:11:11.060 was a thing. So, you got to understand, again, when Paul says that we're the temple of the Holy

00:11:15.540 Spirit without an Old Testament context, he could just kind of brush right past that. To a Jew, this 0.67

00:11:21.820 is a massive deal. And it's important to have that. Every single element in the temple was to

00:11:29.480 honor God according to his instruction. If you did it your way, even if it was right thing,

00:11:35.300 wrong way, you'd get killed for it. And so this is just thinking about that, that it's his temple

00:11:44.720 according to his instructions. And you don't get to use the temple or the elements in any way that

00:11:51.220 you want to, right? The showbread had a specific purpose. It was to be used specifically for God's

00:11:55.860 purposes to glorify God. The altar had specific purposes. It wasn't to be used in other ways.

00:12:01.360 It was used to be used in this way to glorify God. And so the temple, all of its utensils,

00:12:07.040 all of its members were to be used in a specific way. And again, this is important just to kind of

00:12:11.760 have this perspective about our bodies, because there's absolutely a doctrinal parallel that's

00:12:18.620 going on here that the new testament writer paul expects you to understand of the old testament

00:12:24.100 when he says these words even though he's writing to a greek audience um he knows the old testament

00:12:29.200 scriptures are recorded so with this perspective it should at least give you pause um of putting

00:12:37.140 a permanent man-made sign on an eternal god-made temple because our bodies are eternal they are

00:12:47.340 eternal i know you know is your tattoo going to be in heaven with you probably not but the the

00:12:52.800 truth is is that we should at least be careful about thinking about defacing our bodies in that

00:13:00.120 way um and you know it goes on to say in that passage um you're not your own you were bought

00:13:08.960 at a price therefore glorify god with your body um that's just listen to that those words you're

00:13:16.820 not your own uh you were bought at a price you're owned by somebody by the lord glorify god with

00:13:25.160 your body and so honestly i think getting a tattoo is your decision it's it's or i should say it's

00:13:31.040 not your decision it's jesus's decision do you really think that jesus is going hey yeah you

00:13:37.420 know what i think this is a good idea i think you should get that tattoo and put on your body

00:13:40.120 permanently um and you have to ask yourself that question i don't want to be the arbiter of the

00:13:46.280 holy spirit in your life you get to do that um is tattooing historically a christian and holy thing

00:13:53.900 or is tattooing historically a unholy and worldly thing um if you just look up the history of

00:14:02.400 tattoos you will see that it's the latter and so it's just something to consider uh does it make

00:14:08.680 you more like christ or does it make you more like the world um you know christ obviously didn't have

00:14:15.060 any tattoos that we know of but i don't think he's having any tattoos so um my my just caution

00:14:24.520 is to think about that they're important questions to ask so i don't think we can call it sin i don't

00:14:30.060 think that's the thing that we're talking about here um i personally just don't think that it's

00:14:35.580 wise um you know if you have tattoos don't worry about it i'm not i don't think i'm i'm not trying

00:14:42.680 to condemn you um but what you know what's done is done in that matter but i would seek the lord

00:14:48.480 on this matter and further tattoos i think that i think that's something worth checking out

00:14:53.220 yeah especially if you've already if you've now heard this information yeah um yeah this actually

00:14:59.260 makes me think of a friend of ours he had actually i don't know probably a couple of years ago had a

00:15:05.740 uh he had an outline of a full sleeve done and half of it was complete but the other half was

00:15:12.320 incomplete and in the midst of that uh i don't know few week time period of him going back in

00:15:20.140 to finish it he had a personal conviction um about about tattoos and he actually decided

00:15:26.420 to not finish his sleeve and to just allow it to be a testimony of change that of the change

00:15:33.160 that god had done in his heart and so our perspective is that it's a yeah it's a sit

00:15:38.800 before the lord kind of issue um but uh the new testament isn't direct on the issue but we do have

00:15:47.340 a variety of principles to use in making that decision yeah um so let's go ahead on to the

00:15:53.660 next section and talk about alcohol um we have had lots of friends who grew up in churches that

00:15:58.780 are that completely prohibited alcohol um and if you wanted to have a glass of wine at dinner you

00:16:04.840 had to actually go over into the next county to the liquor store over there so you're not seen by

00:16:09.560 anybody uh to buy a bottle of wine and almost like hide it um and then we know christians who

00:16:16.400 were far too tolerant of alcohol and they have several drinks every night don't really think

00:16:23.420 about it it's just a way of life for them now um so what does the bible really say about drinking

00:16:29.240 alcohol yeah i think showing those two groups right there's like the we don't drink at all

00:16:33.520 it's a sin for everybody don't do it and then like it's not a sin like let's go and you know

00:16:37.960 have drinks and let's go party and let's you know grace grace grace and so there's there's both sides

00:16:43.180 of that that parallel and i kind of want to talk about what i think jesus is talking about which

00:16:48.320 is in the middle my mom was an alcoholic for many years she died at the age of 54

00:16:52.740 in not in my care for that last moment but in our care for the last couple years of her life

00:17:01.120 um and she had liver disease that was just too far by the time we we started caring for her

00:17:08.740 so we are fully aware and for just for the record for everyone who doesn't know her story

00:17:15.680 she had actually decided to stop drinking she was sober by the time she passed away but by then the

00:17:21.500 damage had been done yeah um and so she died of of the damage that she had done yeah the

00:17:27.240 consequences yeah so she was forgiven but the consequences in the flesh were still there and

00:17:32.760 she did I really get a chance to baptize her and see her come to the Lord in the last couple years

00:17:38.260 which is great so but she did pass away and I also just understand all the train wreck carnage

00:17:46.420 that comes with alcoholism so I just I get it so just know that I'm speaking from real example

00:17:52.600 around this topic.

00:17:54.780 I do think it is theologically impossible

00:17:57.840 to build a case that drinking is a universal sin.

00:18:01.640 And I'm going to break that down for you.

00:18:03.840 So drunkenness is a sin.

00:18:08.120 Alcoholism is absolutely bondage to sin.

00:18:13.200 You know, Scripture really teaches this principle

00:18:16.220 that our bodies are never to be mastered by anything.

00:18:18.980 The only thing to be mastered by is by the Holy Spirit

00:18:21.000 by Christ, right? We're no longer slaves to our sin and bondage to our sin, but we're actually

00:18:26.000 slaves to Christ, slaves to righteousness. So we're not to be in bondage to anything in that way.

00:18:31.780 But the Bible does permit drinking alcoholic beverages. And I'm going to talk about that.

00:18:38.080 I'm not saying this so that you, you know, I'm giving everybody permission here. I'm actually

00:18:40.820 saying this to give you a sober perspective on what it does say. And then I'm going to give you

00:18:45.540 two reasons that scripture says that you shouldn't drink um so i'll give you both both sides here

00:18:51.500 you know psalms uh 104 14 through 15 states that god gives us wine that it makes glad the hard

00:18:57.540 event uh the proverbs talk about drinking wine from your own vineyard is a blessing uh jesus

00:19:02.580 turns water into wine in john chapter 2 it says every man at the beginning sets out the good wine

00:19:07.680 and when the guests have all well drunk then the inferior you have kept the good wine until now

00:19:14.680 And no, Jesus didn't turn it into non-alcoholic wine.

00:19:18.980 Okay, this argument.

00:19:21.000 It wouldn't make any sense in that verse where it says,

00:19:24.640 and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.

00:19:27.160 You can see what's really going on there is that they've already been drinking a bit

00:19:30.980 and they won't recognize the crappier wine usually.

00:19:34.800 And Jesus actually gives the best wine for last.

00:19:37.780 And so, yeah, it's not a non-alcoholic wine there.

00:19:41.440 1 Timothy 5, 23, Paul tells Timothy, he says,

00:19:45.300 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.

00:19:50.940 A blog that I found yesterday when I was doing some prep for this, DoctrineAndDevotion.com,

00:19:56.440 this guy does an article called The Theology of Wine.

00:19:58.780 I thought it was pretty fascinating.

00:20:00.440 He says, There are over 247 references to alcohol in Scripture.

00:20:04.520 40 are negative, you know, warnings about drunkenness, potential dangers of alcohol, etc.

00:20:09.340 145 are positive signs of God's blessing, use in worship, etc.

00:20:14.900 And 62 are neutral.

00:20:16.560 These are people, you know, falsely accused of being drunk, vows of abstinence, and so forth.

00:20:20.660 But the Bible is anything but silent on the issue of wine, end quote.

00:20:25.280 So I thought it was just a fascinating thing.

00:20:27.720 Yeah, it's not silent.

00:20:28.980 It's actually very clear about the matter. 1.00

00:20:31.400 But again, there's two reasons why a Christian shouldn't drink wine or drink alcohol. 0.97

00:20:38.860 And I'm going to break those down for you here. 0.87

00:20:40.900 The first is if it violates your conscience.

00:20:45.060 You can read Romans 14 to learn more about the role of your conscience in your faith.

00:20:49.000 It's actually a really fascinating chapter to check out.

00:20:51.320 But James 4, 17 says,

00:20:52.900 Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him, it is sin.

00:20:55.780 And this means that what might not be sin for you could be sin for another person.

00:21:01.860 And you've got to recognize that.

00:21:03.480 There's things that are universal sin, and then there's things that are actual specific issues based off the conscience, based off conviction, that some people have freedom in and some people don't have freedom in.

00:21:14.860 And so you need to realize that.

00:21:16.500 And if you feel convicted about drinking alcohol, then for you, it is a sin to drink alcohol.

00:21:22.780 And if you feel convicted, don't drink it.

00:21:25.080 That's just the easy answer for you there. 0.99

00:21:28.780 The second reason a Christian should not drink alcohol is if your freedom to drink alcohol 0.78

00:21:34.080 actually causes another person to struggle or another person who struggles with drinking to sin.

00:21:40.240 And this concept is called love limits liberty.

00:21:43.940 It means that your love for others will limit your liberties of your own journey.

00:21:50.940 journey. And 1 Corinthians 8-10 is a really, it's the principle there. 8-10, you can read those

00:21:56.300 chapters. It's a really good study. 1 Corinthians 8, 9-13 reads, but beware, lest somehow this

00:22:04.260 liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have

00:22:10.820 knowledge eating in an idol's temple, this is the issue that they're talking about, but let's just

00:22:15.540 change that with drinking, okay? If anyone sees you with knowledge, meaning that you actually

00:22:20.220 if they have permission, you understand that Christ is Lord

00:22:22.300 and that you have grace in these matters.

00:22:24.380 If anyone sees you with knowledge having a drink at a bar,

00:22:29.540 and then back in the scripture,

00:22:30.980 will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to have a drink at the bar?

00:22:36.200 And because of your knowledge,

00:22:38.160 shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?

00:22:41.280 But when you thus sin against the brethren,

00:22:43.380 you wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

00:22:47.780 Therefore, if, it says food,

00:22:49.620 But if alcohol makes my brother stumble, I will never drink lest I make my brother stumble.

00:22:55.940 That's another way to kind of read it.

00:22:57.380 You can go read those verses.

00:22:58.360 Again, it's 1 Corinthians 8, 9 through 13.

00:23:00.460 But that concept is there.

00:23:02.080 And that applies to a whole bunch of issues that you can make somebody stumble.

00:23:06.440 If you've got a guy that just got off of, you know, intense porn addiction,

00:23:13.380 don't take him to the beach in Southern California in the summer. 1.00

00:23:18.160 It's just filled with half-naked women. 1.00

00:23:20.640 You know, it's thinking about other people. 1.00

00:23:22.440 What could possibly stumble another brother or sister?

00:23:29.520 1 Corinthians 10, 23-24, another popular verse or well-known verse is,

00:23:35.180 All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful.

00:23:38.420 All things are lawful, but not all things build up.

00:23:40.500 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

00:23:44.620 Romans 14, 12-13 says,

00:23:46.640 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

00:23:50.800 Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this,

00:23:55.520 not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.

00:24:02.060 You got to really be careful about this perspective with alcohol.

00:24:07.960 Romans 14, 21.

00:24:09.660 Son, it is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

00:24:18.000 Like, this is all over the New Testament, caring for your brother in this way.

00:24:22.860 And I feel like it's just kind of absent in the church.

00:24:25.440 We just kind of, like, belligerently walk in this freedom that we have and not thinking about anybody.

00:24:32.240 So the bottom line is, drinking is not universally sinful.

00:24:36.840 drunkenness is sinful um where's the line my thought is if you can't clearly and properly

00:24:45.100 present the gospel um you've had too much to drink if you can't defend the gospel and and

00:24:52.900 with clear conscience talk about christian living and holiness and pray um and memorize the word of

00:24:59.520 scripture and recite scripture you've had too much to drink um you know if you're the person that

00:25:04.840 needs a drink every night when you get off work you got a problem um i'm not necessarily saying

00:25:11.300 that you're quite an alcoholic yet but you really need to watch what's happening there like oh man

00:25:16.420 i need a drink that word need um you know just like food wine is a blessing um but just like

00:25:23.440 anything else it could become sinful if you don't exercise it with self-control yeah dale and i

00:25:29.620 probably have you could probably count on one hand the amount of drinks that we have per year

00:25:33.720 um but we didn't used to always be that way no but we've we've shift shifted over the years

00:25:40.560 because of just this perspective yeah and um we also have made the decision a couple of years ago

00:25:46.180 to no longer post any pictures of us online drinking any alcoholic beverages um just in

00:25:52.300 case someone who is struggling with drinking is encouraged by our freedom um so if you're starting

00:25:59.120 to drink daily we would encourage you to check your heart on that and evaluate if alcohol if

00:26:04.860 alcohol has become a coping mechanism for you and then see if you're allowing alcohol to take place

00:26:13.080 of the work that only christ can do in you yeah actually we had a friend recently come into town

00:26:19.300 and he said yeah i found myself all of a sudden just having a whiskey every single night

00:26:22.860 and then uh his wife just came up to him said hey you're having whiskeys every single night

00:26:28.940 and he said yeah you know you're right and he stopped having whiskeys every night like it was

00:26:33.300 that simple so if you're seeing your spouse do that or someone in your life do that just like

00:26:38.200 hey looks like you're kind of drinking a lot lately you should maybe just kind of pull that

00:26:41.720 back and you get defensive then that almost is a evidence evidence that maybe you should actually

00:26:48.480 check your heart on on the issue yeah um so next let's talk about marijuana and cbd um some states

00:26:55.220 like our state lovely organ here um have legalized these substances and they're causing discussions

00:27:02.900 all throughout the church um so are these substances that christians should be engaging

00:27:11.180 with um if people can drink why shouldn't they be able to use marijuana um what does the bible say

00:27:16.820 about these things yeah um how many marijuana plants do you think that are around our house

00:27:21.800 right now oh my goodness hundreds of thousands yeah so there there's hemp fields everywhere

00:27:28.220 everywhere so they're not marijuana yeah they're hemp um but it still smells so strong because we

00:27:35.820 live out in the country yeah and so even though we don't have any on our property and even the

00:27:41.880 properties touching our property don't have any drive down the road a quarter mile a half mile

00:27:47.360 and they're everywhere yeah and then you come out in the morning after it's been a dewy morning and

00:27:51.800 there's moisture in the air and it just like punches you in the face how strong the odor is

00:27:55.560 yeah so it's it's something where it's around everywhere up here um there's like probably a

00:28:01.800 thousand dispensaries it seems like all over our town in terms of just that came up within the year

00:28:07.960 that it got legalized yeah they're just all over the place yeah so there's just there's marijuana

00:28:11.920 everywhere here in Oregon. And so it's a constant conversation. Um, I'm going to first talk on

00:28:17.600 marijuana. Then I'm going to talk about CBD. And so I want to make sure that people understand

00:28:21.880 how marijuana is different from alcohol because they are, they're two different substances. 0.90

00:28:27.280 And sometimes Christians again, want to put them in. It's like, Hey, if you can drink alcohol, 0.83

00:28:30.260 then why can't you smoke marijuana? You know, what's the, what's the difference here? Especially

00:28:33.440 there's all these other consumption formats now, you know, I can drink it. I can drop it in my eye,

00:28:37.440 whatever you know um and you know the the main thing is that you can consume alcohol and not

00:28:44.860 be drunk you can't smoke marijuana and not be high and so that's the major distinction there

00:28:53.340 that uh you need to recognize is that they are they are different in terms of their consumption

00:28:59.480 um and sobriety uh formats in terms of you know what it actually does to your body

00:29:05.360 um you know so my personal take is that marijuana is is a substance that removes sobriety

00:29:11.460 and there's so many scriptures first peter chapter one chapter four chapter five first

00:29:17.240 timothy three tells christians to be sober-minded um so i i just i look at it differently than i

00:29:22.780 look at alcohol um so for for that reason i can't really vouch for marijuana as being okay

00:29:30.480 for the christian um i would say that um that in some cases for recreational uses it's i think it

00:29:38.520 would be sinful because you're you're removing your sobriety um and uh you know i i know that

00:29:46.320 some people take it for like legitimate medical reasons that exist out there i think those are

00:29:50.920 the exceptions and i'm not talking about those people i'm talking about recreational use for

00:29:54.500 people um and so i don't even want to get into the details of that conversation necessarily

00:29:59.420 so if you happen to be one of those people that uses it recreationally you know or uses it

00:30:05.720 medicinally i think a lot of people have abused that and you know oh you know i got a pain in my

00:30:12.680 left foot marijuana makes it feel better you know i think it's just kind of become this thing and i

00:30:17.520 do think there are some science i've read that has some like legitimate science for a handful of

00:30:23.380 specific diseases that actually relieve certain parts of really terrible symptoms.

00:30:30.160 But again, I don't think that's the mainstream.

00:30:32.540 I think that's just for those specific groups of people. 0.90

00:30:36.020 The second reason I wouldn't endorse Christians to use marijuana is because it's currently 0.91

00:30:39.120 federally illegal, even though it might be legal in your state. 1.00

00:30:42.420 I just think that's an above reproach thing.

00:30:44.320 Romans 13, 1 through 2 says,

00:30:45.820 let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except

00:30:50.780 from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists

00:30:55.840 the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

00:31:01.120 So I just say be careful in terms of, you know, especially if it's not legal in your state.

00:31:07.680 Again, I'm not endorsing anybody to use marijuana. I don't think that you should. I think that it's,

00:31:13.180 Again, I land the side. I think that it's sinful. I think that it steals your sobriety away.

00:31:18.800 I think I haven't seen a lot of fruit come out of people that use marijuana on a regular basis.

00:31:28.000 I don't see historically the church using marijuana. I don't see, you know, the Jesus and any reference referencing it to this.

00:31:38.520 I don't think that it's a, you know, God made it so it's good.

00:31:41.580 I'm like, well, you know, there's all types of stuff on the planet that are that the Lord made and they're not necessarily good for our bodies just because it's created doesn't mean it's good for our bodies.

00:31:49.940 And so I think there's a lot of conversation to happen there in regards to CBD, which, again, is a THC free version of marijuana.

00:31:58.280 It's, you know, hemp and THC is the chemical compound that really makes you feel high.

00:32:04.800 And that's removed for the hemp plants. I don't think there's really any sin there.

00:32:08.560 I think that if you want to use CBD oil, I think that's fine.

00:32:11.980 I do think you need to be careful on sharing it publicly because still in this time where there's a transition era of like people becoming comfortable with the legality of marijuana, people using CBD could imply to some people that if you endorse CBD, that for some reason you can endorse marijuana.

00:32:32.840 um that's definitely not the case with me but i'd again you just want to be careful that

00:32:37.680 your actions aren't necessarily teaching somebody that you're endorsing something else that's

00:32:44.560 similar and so i just think you just need to be careful about that so i think the whole conversation

00:32:50.240 is wrapped up in um you know do they make you more like christ um and thinking of others before

00:33:01.100 yourself i think those two themes are really important around tattoos alcohol and marijuana

00:33:07.680 so hopefully that helps you guys make some good decisions and that this can be a resource for

00:33:11.300 people that are asking that question because we get it pretty often i wanted to close with this

00:33:17.180 episode's real christianity resources and so we've been partnering with a variety of publishers

00:33:23.140 just getting different resources that are i think are higher thinking we're just like veronica and

00:33:30.240 i get sent lots of books and some of these books are just like like they're just the run of the

00:33:36.120 mill like everybody's saying the same thing not really profound not really bringing much fruit

00:33:45.260 middle of the road kind of christian stuff that's just kind of being pumped out of the machine

00:33:49.560 and not that the lord's not using that stuff but we were starting to look for higher thinking

00:33:55.120 deeper theological dense content for our audience so what what kind of publishers publish that stuff

00:34:03.000 and so i have a couple resources i want to show you i'm going to pick them up off the table right

00:34:06.320 here so there um if you're watching the video you can see these um these are the geneva series

00:34:14.660 commentaries of a few books that i got here and this is from banner of truth and so we're

00:34:20.180 partnering with banner of truth for this month and they have some really great resources this

00:34:23.820 banneroftruth.org and you know you've used commentaries when you've prepared messages

00:34:29.560 before uh how like how how have they helped you oh i love looking at commentaries it helps me

00:34:34.500 understand the passages the history way more than i would have known otherwise if i would have just

00:34:41.200 read it yeah it is and you veronica's used blue letter bible and you know online things like that

00:34:45.760 i like some of these print versions so you know i have the ephesians one here uh that again it's

00:34:50.920 just a verse by verse commentary and it's just you know one person's commentary so there's a

00:34:57.380 handful of places that you can find a variety of commentaries i love it when a bunch of commentaries

00:35:03.000 align in the same interpretation on a verse because it really makes me feel like okay that

00:35:07.140 definitely is the right interpretation um i always say when when you know when someone from the 1400s

00:35:14.200 1500s 1600s 1700s 1800s five different guys from five different generations who've never

00:35:20.800 met each other interpret this verse the exact same way it's probably the right interpretation

00:35:26.480 and so i have first timothy and titus here first and second timothy and titus here as well and then

00:35:33.240 i have romans which again is just great when you want to pull out one verse and you want to just

00:35:38.500 look at you know the context man just so rich and deep and dense so they have a whole bible the

00:35:44.920 entire bible done in this geneva series of commentaries and so it's been around for a while

00:35:49.820 Again, you can see the Romans version.

00:35:51.080 If you guys want to pick up any of the commentaries,

00:35:53.560 they have several commentary sets.

00:35:55.080 You can just go to banneroftruth.org

00:35:57.600 and use the code realchristianity.

00:36:02.700 They'll give you 30% off.

00:36:04.360 It's not going to last forever.

00:36:05.880 So if you're listening to this several months or years later,

00:36:08.320 it might not work right now.

00:36:09.980 But it does work right now if you want to order them soon.

00:36:13.660 And it's cheaper than you're going to get them on Amazon.

00:36:15.260 So fill your library with good theological resources

00:36:19.440 and stop reading kind of the run-of-the-mill stuff there's so much greater content out there

00:36:24.760 usually it's written a couple hundred years ago too so on that episode or on that note

00:36:31.120 this is the end of this episode and thanks for joining us we'll see you guys next week see ya

Dale Partridge - October 23, 2019

Real Christianity #68： The Bible's Position on Tattoos, Marijuana, and Alcohol

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