Why the Temple cleansing (etc) isn't your permission to always be fighting.
With the legalization of marijuana, there are a few things we should consider beyond whether or not it should be legal. Such as, why is everyone trying to escape so badly?!
"We want to calm down, rev up, ignore our problems, lubricate our relationships, reward ourselves, thrill ourselves, soothe ourselves, and manage pain of all sorts. And we are offered a vast landscape of consumable goods to do these things, each good promising relief, release, thrills, acceptance, belonging and satisfaction: not just wine and beer, but also sugar and fat and anti-aging creams and a non-stop stream of noise and distractions, affirmation and titillation, through our omnipresent screens. Now we have one more way of rewarding ourselves with the numbness of escape and the excitement of altering our brains. As as a society, we are willing to accept with only the quietest of protests that all we can do is join the rush of the masses pouring through that now open floodgate."
WHY WE ACTUALLY CRAVE THE WRATH OF GOD
"As followers of Jesus, when we read stories about Yahweh’s anger or wrath or judgment, we feel like we need to apologize to our friends or explain it away or hide this socially unacceptable part of God away in the back room, as if Yahweh needs a little PR help to survive in the modern world....
We need to live in the tension between love and anger. Most of us think of love and anger as incompatible. How can you love somebody and be angry at them? That just shows how much we still have to learn about love."
THE STRANGE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE CHURCH'S APPALLING HISTORY
The lives of our greatest heroes often undermined the gospel they so eloquently preached. What do we do with that?
10 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT $
"The goal of every moment is more than personal happiness. It is growth in holiness. What would it look like to spend your money with that in view?"
WHY CHRISTIANS DON'T GO TO CHURCH (AND WHY THEY MUST)
"I truly believe in the paradox of church attendance: While you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian, if you never go to church you probably aren’t a Christian. But I have a hard time speaking that truth to my neighbor."