An Interesting Topic Came Up On A Blog I Visit

The topic of pot came up on one of the blogs that I visit.

One question is "can a Christian use pot recreationally?"

My answer is why would a Christian want to?

 Christians are not commanded to use marijuana in the Bible.

James 3:11 says:
 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

In Context he is speaking about what a person says.

But it can also pertain to what direction we choose to take in our walks with the Lord.

Do we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit or filled with the influence of pot?

Can both fill us together?

Should they fill us together?

I borrowed some stuff from the net that fits nicely with where I am going with this...

The key to rightly living the Christian life is being controlled by the Holy Spirit, who provides energy for walking "worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Eph. 4:1). 

Unless you are controlled by the Spirit of God, you can never walk in humility, love, unity, light, and wisdom. 

The life of God in the soul of man is the only way anyone can live a righteous life.

 To walk without the Spirit is to walk without wisdom (cf. Eph. 5:15 -17).

Do  we want to be controlled by pot?
 
Ephesians 5:18 contains this imperative from the Apostle Paul: "Be filled with the Spirit." This concise, straightforward injunction is loaded with significance for you if you're a believer.

 An understanding of the Greek for "be filled," plerousthe, quite clearly reveals the correct meaning of Paul's command in Ephesians 5:18. 

A literal translation of the verb would read something like "be being kept filled."

 The idea is one of keeping yourself constantly filled, as you yield moment by moment to the leading of the Spirit. It fits perfectly with the process of walking by the Spirit.


When we use the word fill in English we normally think of something being placed into a container such as milk being poured to the brim of a glass, water being run into a bath tub, or gasoline being pumped into a gas tank.

 But none of those examples conveys precisely the meaning of to fill or be filled as does the Greek pleroo, a form of which is used in Ephesians 5:18 .

Pleroo has three shades of meaning that are helpful in illustrating the scriptural meaning of Spirit-filled.

The first carries the idea of pressure.

 It is used to describe wind billowing the sails on a ship, providing the impetus to move the vessel across the water.

 In the spiritual realm, this concept depicts the Holy Spirit providing the thrust to move the believer down the pathway of obedience.

A Spirit-filled Christian isn't motivated by his own desires or will to progress. Instead, he allows the Holy Spirit to carry him in the proper directions.

 Another helpful example of this first meaning is a small stick floating in a stream.

 Most of us have tossed a stick into a creek and then run downstream to see the twig come floating by, propelled only by the force of the water.

 To be filled with the Spirit means to be carried along by the gracious pressure of the Holy Spirit.

Pleroo can also convey the idea of permeation.

 The well-known pain reliever Alka Seltzer illustrates this principle quite effectively.

 When you drop one or two tablets into a glass of water, they instantly begin to fizzle and dissolve.

 Soon the tablets are transformed into clear bubbles throughout the glass, and the water is permeated with the distinct flavor of the Alka Seltzer.

In a similar sense, God wants the Holy Spirit to permeate and flavor our lives so when we're around others they will know for certain we possess the pervasive savor of the Spirit.

There is a third meaning of pleroo, actually the primary one in the New Testament, which conveys the sense of domination or total control.

It is used by the Gospel writers to indicate that people were dominated by a certain emotion.

In Luke 5:26, after Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and healed the paralytic, the people were astonished and "filled with fear."

 In Luke 6:11, when Jesus restored a man's hand on the Sabbath, the scribes and Pharisees "were filled with rage."

When our Lord told the disciples that He would soon be leaving them, He told of their reaction: "sorrow has filled your heart" (John 16:6).

 Each of those uses reveals an emotion so overwhelming within the people that it dominated their thoughts and excluded every other emotion.

Most people are able to balance their emotions from day to day.

 But there are times when the emotional balance is tipped to one extreme or another.

 Such occasions might include a wedding, the death of a close family member, or an extreme emergency or trial. 

When someone is totally dominated by a particular emotional reaction in secular contexts, it can be foolish, sinful, a waste of time, or even frightening and physically harmful. But in our spiritual lives we are commanded to yield to the total control of the Holy Spirit, so every emotion, thought, and act of the will is under His direction. 

That kind of complete spiritual control is for our benefit and totally in line with God's will.

A directly parallel passage to Ephesians 5:18 is Colossians 3:16, which explains in a slightly different way the meaning of the command "be filled with the Spirit." 

The Apostle Paul says, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you." 

One can be filled with the Spirit only when controlled by the Word.

 It is knowing truth and obeying it.

So if being filled with the Spirit means being pressured, permeated, and dominated by the Spirit and God's Word, what can you expect to happen in your life as a direct result? 

And what would be the result of allowing pot to control us? 

Both should not be flowing from the fountain of our lives.

James 3:11 says:
 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

John 7:38
 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

It certainly does not say, smoke pot and out of you will flow rivers of living water.

It is a matter of choice.

Meanwhile, Pastor Kenny Luck of Every Man Ministries had this to say,

“Here’s the blunt truth: People who use marijuana for ‘enjoyment’ are dancing with the devil with an addictive drug that compromises your health, vitality and ability to protect and provide for those who rely on you.” 

I have known one Christian man who has smoked pot recreationally  since the day I first met him in 1972.

I have seen him in church with bloodshot eyes and obviously stoned on pot.

I always wondered to my self how he could justify being stoned in church.

 

John Piper, the renowned theologian and author, has been urging Christians to be sober-minded since 2014, 

"’Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?’ states the passage.

And that has been ‘an immovable barrier between me and self-destruction,’ Piper shares.

 Christians need to ask, ‘Is this making Jesus look like the treasure He is?

’ Piper adds,‘I would ask this that about smoking, about drunkenness, about recreational marijuana, about sedentary indolence, about overeating, about banal TV watching, and lots of other things.’"