by Brian Hobbs | Jun 27, 2018
The people have spoken. On June 26, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 788, which was pitched as “medical marijuana.”
Ignoring reasonable voices of caution, including U.S. Senator James Lankford and Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore, as well as leaders from the business and medical community, Oklahoma has taken one giant leap toward marijuana with this step.
While this should sadden Christians, it should not completely surprise us. The way the measure was promoted, many people who approved it were not believing they were voting for a recreational use of this drug. They seemed to be acting out of compassion for those who suffer with protracted illness, even while opponents of SQ 788 demonstrated that the measure more resembled recreational than medical.
Nevertheless, now that so-called “medical marijuana” is coming to Oklahoma, what should Christians do? There are at least three things:
Wait & pray
It would be a mistake to overact to the passage of SQ 788. While efforts to push full recreational use are underway here in Oklahoma and elsewhere in the nation, we cannot panic. We need to pray for our leaders, whose job it becomes now to regulate and monitor this forthcoming law. We need to also pray that God would turn the hearts of people away from drunkenness and toward obeying the Holy Spirit.
Warn
The culture in America is increasingly in favor of marijuana use, and this state question gives marijuana a dangerous foothold in the Sooner State. Christians need to re-double our efforts on warning people—especially young people—about the spiritual and physical ramifications of these mind-altering, addictive drugs. We need to go back to the basics about why drunkenness is not only wrong and displeasing to God, but that it leads to a wasted life.
Win over
Ultimately, the “marijuana moment in America,” to borrow a phrase from Albert Mohler, is a sign of the times. The surge of marijuana legalization suggests a moral laxness. It also shows people seem to want license over laws. The Hippie movement of the 1960s, in that sense, is still in full bloom. That being said, no policy victories are permanent. If marijuana is truly dangerous and this law as poorly crafted as people warned, then the ugly side effects will begin to show up sooner or later. Until then, Christians must contend for our convictions in the marketplace of ideas, with confidence and standing on the Word of God.
As the marijuana moment marches on full speed for the time being, we know with confidence that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church will march on forever and ever.
by Brian Hobbs | Jun 26, 2018
I know someone who got one of those Virtual Reality computers for their home. To see this person wearing VR goggles on their head, riding a virtual roller coaster, is amusing in itself.
The person “on the ride” is giggling, raising his hands and even getting motion sick. Yet the sudden rise of VR as entertainment should tell us something about our society’s pursuits of happiness these days.
That very phrase—the “pursuit of happiness”—resonates with us, especially as we look toward Independence Day. This time of year, we think about Thomas Jefferson and the Founders timeless saying in the Declaration of Independence, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
If we could bring the American founders to our own day, I think many things would surprise them about how we are living out those values.
I think they would be shocked at how we devalue human life. With abortion on demand and the rampant abuse of women and children, the Founders would see that we are still far from achieving an America ideal in which all life is respected.
Many of the Founders—though sadly not all—would be surprised and pleased to see slavery is no more, and that more people live in freedom than in their time. We have moved toward liberty.
Lastly, I think the Founders would be shocked by the things we do to pursue happiness. From VR games to smartphone apps to simulated experiences, the Founders could see that we are entertaining ourselves to death. We are pursuing a virtual happiness instead of a real happiness.
On the upcoming Independence Day, we Americans can reflect on these values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We can pause to thank God and those who came before us that we do have freedom here in America, and that we can do our best to uphold these values.
And Christians can go one step further, taking this occasion to orient our lives toward life, liberty and the pursuit godliness. Because those values are never virtual but always real.
by Brian Hobbs | May 17, 2018
This month features a bevy of graduation ceremonies. Family members, friends, peers, teachers and others will be on hand to observe commencement ceremonies of all stripes.
One staple feature of these is the commencement address. While these speeches have a reputation for being drawn-out, boring speeches that no one pays attention to or takes seriously, there are some throughout history that still resonate today. Allow me to point out two.
// Solzhenitsyn at Harvard University
One such great speech was given at Harvard University in 1978 by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, whose classic book The Gulag Archipelago exposed the horrors of the Soviet Union and Communism.
A victim, survivor and critic of Soviet-style Communism, everyone at the speech expected to hear Solzhenitsyn criticize Communism and offer nothing but praise for the West and for Capitalism. Instead Solzhenitsyn offered a friendly, but constructive, criticism of the West and its systems of power and failings.
He said, “A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations.”
He added, “When the modern Western states were created, the principle was proclaimed that governments are meant to serve man, and man lives to be free and to pursue happiness. See, for example, the American Declaration of Independence. Now, at last, during past decades, technical and social progress has permitted the realization of such aspirations: the welfare state.”
He also said, “I have spent all my life under a Communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale than the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law, and never reaches any higher, is taking very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man’s noblest impulses.”
You can read the entire address here.
// Churchill at Harrow: Never give up!
What has to be the best commencement address ever delivered, though, comes from Sir Winston Churchill. After leading the British to victory, from their darkest hours to their finest hour in World War II, the great Churchill spoke years later at Harrow, his old school.
This champion of freedom, now in his elder years, looked out over those graduates and said simply, “Never give up, never, never, never.”
As the late historian Dr. J. Rufus Fears said, you will never hear a better commencement address or a more practical piece of life advice. At every point in life, we are tempted to quit. From grand endeavors like marriage or careers, to everyday temptations to sin, giving in or giving up is a universal problem.
Churchill’s advice—“Never give up”—should be heard and heeded by each one of us, not just high school or college graduates.
I, for one, am thankful for commencement addresses. Even though most of them probably will be long, boring and unimportant, every now and then, one comes along that speaks across the ages, from the likes of a Solzhenitsyn or Churchill.
P.S. Congratulations to the Class of 2018. May the LORD be with you in all your endeavors, as you seek Him, and may you never give up!
by Brian Hobbs | May 10, 2018
“Boredom is the illness of the modern age,” I once heard.
With summertime nearing, many parents already can hear this phrase coming from their children’s mouths: “I’m bored!”
But it’s not just kids. Look around you, and you’ll see that many grown-ups seem bored too. People often try to cure boredom through a variety of means, these days primarily by consumer entertainment options and electronics.
But these media tend only to delay boredom, not cure it. Therefore, I’d like to offer three ideas for curing boredom that will leave you more fulfilled than empty hours spent on Netflix or Facebook.
- Pray and read the Word
In his new book, “How to Ruin Your Life,” LifeWay’s Eric Geiger explains the spiritual significance of boredom. “When we are bored, we are not looking at Christ because He is never boring and always quenches and satisfies,” Geiger said. “And when we are not looking at Him, we are looking at something else that can pull us to our own demise.”
Geiger goes so far to say that many major sins, such as indulging in pornography, were preceded by moments of mere boredom. The next time you feel bored, pull out a copy of the Scripture and spend a few moments in prayer and in the Word of God.
- Exercise
“Action is the antidote to despair,” a wise sage once said. If you are feeling bored, go do something. Take a long walk or go run a mile. Or drop and do 20 push-ups and 10 sit-ups. You might be surprised at how undergoing physical activity can cure boredom and remind you that you’re alive. Then, you can even turn this into a daily practice.
- Work
The Bible says that Jesus came “not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom” (Mark 10:45). Whether at work or home, there’s always something more you could do. The next time you have spare time, look around and see how you can help another person at work or home. By not wasting little moments, you may feel less bored—and more importantly, imitate God, who created men and women to work.
In addition to these suggestions, there are others. You could read a novel on “dead tree,” do some yardwork, call a family member just to talk or more. Every day from God is a gift. So the next time you or your kids say, “I’m bored,” know that’s your cure to redeem the times with something positive, instead of something destructive. Who knows? Your thoughts might go from “I’m bored” to “I’m blessed.”
by Brian Hobbs | Apr 24, 2018
If you have been anywhere near Instagram or Facebook in the last week, you’d know that many schools just had their proms. The school where my older children attend has a dance-like function this month, as well.
Seeing all this dancing, I am reminded that one of the biggest reasons I am Baptist is that people never expect you to dance anywhere or anytime. But seriously, though, I was never, nor could I ever, be a good dancer. I’m could not, for example, become a Fred Astaire, and I would not (thankfully) be a Kevin Bacon in “Footloose.” To put it bluntly, I am more of a “loose-foot.”
That being said, there seems to be joy to be found in appropriate dancing and “a time to dance” (Ecc. 3:4), even this Baptist can admit. The best kind of dancing, of course, is done unto the LORD as worship (2 Sam. 6:14; Psalm 149:3). It is also a special joy to see when children, even the youngest, enjoy moving to music in Sunday School class and other settings (Even fundamentalist Christians who oppose dancing entirely seem to be okay with young children dancing).
Other kinds of dancing that inspire include ballet and other classical expressions. Other forms, like waltzing or square dancing, many Christians would argue, can be harmless fun and lead toward innocent happiness.
On the other side of the equation, we know about dancing that is base and low, appealing to all that is worst in men and women. I don’t need to go into detail about dirty dancing and other forms of dancing that no Christian should abide.
All of this talk of dancing, though, makes me wonder, will there be dancing in heaven? I am not alone in this. MercyMe’s Bart Millard, in his mega-hit song, “I Can Only Imagine,” says:
“Surrounded by You glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in your presence
Or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah
Will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine”
Until we all get to heaven, we will just have to imagine. For now, I am content being a “loose-foot” Baptist that will never be asked to dance. In the here and now, I and my two left feet will simply applaud from the sidelines those who are dancing well and unto the Lord.