Spartan Christianity

Temptation: The Devil’s Hit List

The Devil’s Hierarchy of Temptation. Remember to take everything with a Grain of salt, and always think for yourself.

Christianity is becoming more popular over time. Not “Spartan Christianity”. Primarily certain genres of Christianity like the “Health-Wealth Gospel”, which put the primary focus on the individual instead of on God. Or the emotionalism gospel, which again places the focus on oneself and one’s emotions. One problem with these types of gospel is that they all seem to emphasize ease of living and mental ease or peace of mind. That’s not what we are told in the Bible.

Jesus said he would not bring peace but a sword, and that he would bring division and set relatives against each other. He said we would have to take up our cross and follow him. That does not reflect the ease taught in these popular “gospels”.

We should be tempted constantly.

If we are not tempted, we are not valuable.

And these temptations do not give us mental ease or a constant emotional high.

I have an analogy that I think about with regards to how the devil tempts us. The devil has a hit list where he keeps the most valuable Christians. These are top priority targets. People who are the most valuable to God are the targets for the devil.

Think about how Jesus said to Peter that Satan had asked for him, that he might sift him as wheat. We know Peter, he was a high value target so the devil was willing to see to it personally that he was harvested. Satan lost that target. So there are some targets who are so high priority that the devil himself will tempt them. The prime example, of course, is Christ when the devil directly tempts Him in the wilderness. That’s another time that Satan lost.

I think of temptation in three tiers, or levels:

1) Ways the Devil Himself Tempts us (Active)

2) Ways Low rank or high rank Demons tempt us (Active)

3) Ways we tempt ourselves by our own desire (Passive)

Think of these levels as being normally distributed on a bell curve: most people fall in an around the average. That’s all the bell curve means, that most people are around the normal. In this we are going to say that half of the population falls into the first level.

-This simply means 60% of people are tempted by their own desires (Level 3).

-We will say 39.9% are tempted by various demons (Level 2).

-Only 0.1% of all Christians are so valuable that they make up the Devil’s hit list. These are people who are tempted by Satan himself (Level 1).

People can fall into multiple tiers at the same time. They can be tempted by demons in some cases, and then tempted by their own desires in relation to other sins. No one has to be stuck in one level completely.

Before we jump into the details, remember that this is pure speculation, and the way that I personally think of temptation.

3- We will start with the lowest tier. James 1:13-15 tells us that God doesn’t tempt us, but rather we are drawn by our own desires and enticed. Desire gets pregnant and gives birth to sin, which gives birth to death.

Imagine that, we literally tempt ourselves!

The devil loves this because he doesn’t have to waste time tempting us, nor do we waste the time of his demons. We do all the work for him.

When we place ourselves in situations where know that there will be temptation, we are tempting ourselves. When we crave what is wrong, we tempt ourselves.

-We are trying to stop drinking, but we go to a party where we know there will be alcohol. We convince ourselves that we are just there to ‘hang out’.

–We are trying to stay sexually pure, but we hang out alone with our boyfriend/girlfriend.

-We try to stop using profanity, but we hang out with ‘friends’ who have rainbow vocabularies.

These are just examples of how we do the heavy lifting for the devil by amping up the likelihood of our failure. We desire evil, put ourselves in proximity to that evil, then the desire gets pregnant and eventually we dive headfirst into the behavior we were trying to avoid. This is temptation level 3.

This is passive temptation.

2 – Level 2 is where demons tempt us. This is the thesis of Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. That book is one of the greatest satire works ever written. Screwtape is a high level demon who has many subordinate demons assigned particular targets. The book consists of Screwtape writing letters to one low level demon giving him advice on how to tempt properly.

The demon will give his target all kinds of opportunities to do what is wrong by attacking the weakest points of his nature. He tries to get him to be sexually active. He tries to get him to focus on politics instead of religion. He tries to get him to mistake his lust for love. Screwtape continues to give pointers and strategies, all of which reflect how we ourselves are tempted. Get the book to see how it ends.

Targets who are slightly valuable are targeted by demons who actively try to make them stumble and lose the faith. The demons present them with multiple opportunities for failure, and cater temptations to the weaknesses of their assigned targets. These Christians usually have to be hit in a weak area, or tempted while mentally weak in order for the temptation to be most effective. This is Level 2.

This is active temptation

1 – The top tier is where Satan himself tempts someone. “The Devil has got me!”. We overuse this statement. We attribute every temptation to the devil, as if we are important enough to warrant his full focus. The Bible doesn’t indicate that the Devil is omnipresent, therefore he can’t be multiple places at the same time. If he was omnipresent then why have the demons? Why would you need an army if you can do all the tempting yourself?

The Devil has limited time on earth, and he is not going to waste it on some low level target. The Devil spends his time on the best of the best, like Christ, Peter or Paul for example.

So when we say that the Devil is tempting us, we are probably giving ourselves way too much credit.

Take a good look and the mirror and ask yourself if you are the kind of Christian that would require the full focus of the devil. Odds are that you are not one of the 0.1%

I hear Some Christians brag about not being tempted or the ease of the Christian life.

Really?
You are never tempted?

Anyone who thinks this should consider the fact that they are not worth anything to the kingdom of God. In fact, they are worth so little that neither nor the devil nor his low level demons waste time on this individual. The devil already knows that he already has this person, even if they think they are faithful. These are the “Pew Warmers” who like to clock in and clock out of their Christian walk once a week or so. Those targets do not matter. Do not be a pew warmer.

Also, this Christian is simply a liar attempting to make himself look righteous. These people are also known as modern day Pharisees.

If you find yourself in epic struggle and temptation that does not come from your own desires, you should be glad, you are on the radar of the devil. James tells us to rejoice because of trials and temptations, because the testing of our faith brings forth patience (James 1:2-4). Be glad in temptation. Remember that you are not simply being tempted, you are being given the opportunity to train your patience for the purpose of reaching perfection. If you are not tempted, however, you should consider whether or not you really matter. Make sure you make the Devil’s Hit List.

Discipline

-There is no better fitting characteristic of a disciple than discipline. Discipline says, “I will do what I must without wavering. Regardless of convenience, regardless of how I feel in the present moment”.

-For some reason Christians have it in their head that they have to ‘feel’ a certain way in order to do something. They think they have to feel a certain way in order for their worship to be good or acceptable.

Last time I checked, the quality of our worship is not based on how we feel emotionally in the present moment.

Jesus said that those who would worship Him would do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Not spirit and emotion. Not emotion and truth. Spirit and Truth.

Spirit. Truth. These are the disciplines that comprise meaningful worship. Emotion may sometimes be useful, but it is not required. Emotion would be an extremely insecure and unstable foundation on which to base anything, yet for some reason we try to base our worship on these emotions. Jesus said that people would honor Him with their lips but have their hearts far from Him (Matt 15:8). When we focus on our own emotions in worship, we aren’t focusing on God, we are honoring Him with lips while our heart is focused on ourselves. That is undisciplined worship.

The quality of discipline is the ability to force yourself to do something good even when you don’t feel like it. Especially when you don’t feel like it.

There is no ‘when I feel like it’, there is only discipline. No ‘feeling’ like showing up to community outreach day is required, there is only showing up. There is no ‘feeling’ like singing “I’ll fly away” for the eight hundredth time, there is only singing it. You don’t have to be emotional to have a good attitude and to have discipline.

It is for this reason that when God commands us to do things, he doesn’t add caveats that require us to feel a certain way when doing them.

It would be a living nightmare if every time we had to do something we were required to feel emotion. Emotions are just chemical reaction in the brain anyways.

God made us, and He knew we wouldn’t get a dopamine rush every time we do what is right. He knew we wouldn’t be happy every time we sing “In Christ Alone”.

Because that’s what emotion is, a biochemical cocktail in the brain, and it’s not consistent.

We cannot guarantee that chemical mixture every single time we do something, that doesn’t work biochemically.

Sure, there are times when we do what is right and everything lines up perfectly. We feel like doing something, we want to do it and it goes well. Then we feel good afterwards and feel satisfied with what we did. But that doesn’t happen every single time. Sometimes we have to do what’s right simply because it’s what God said. And we must force ourselves to do it with discipline.

We aren’t going to feel like keeping a lot of the commands, and that is why they are commands.

They go against what our flesh wants, they go against what we desire emotionally. This is why we have to deny ourselves. We have to avoid things that are otherwise desirable to our primal instincts.

We are commanded to avoid sexual immorality even though we really want sex with multiple partners. We are commanded to love our enemy, even though we feel like destroying him. We are commanded love our neighbor when we really would rather just ignore him. We are commanded to keep pure speech even though we would rather say every single thing we think.

Think about this: God gives a command that you don’t feel like keeping, but you keep it anyways through discipline.

That is the ideal. This is virtue: To know what’s right and do it even though you don’t want to and even in the face of massive temptation. This is also discipline.

If I feel like keeping the command, then so what if I keep it? I didn’t have to resist or force huge effort into being righteous, therefore I didn’t grow. There is no growth possible in anything without some form of discomfort. There is no discipline in doing what’s right merely when we feel like it. It’s what we do when we don’t feel like it that defines us.

Discipline keeps us faithful even when rationality runs dry.

Discipline keeps us on the straight and narrow. Discipline will outlast logic and reasoning and emotion.

-You aren’t always going to feel like reading your Bible. You won’t feel like singing, praying or being grateful. You won’t feel joyous, calm or enjoy listening to the sermon. Sometimes the only thing you have is discipline.

Discipline yourself to find meaning in the lyrics of the hymn you have sung thousands of times.

The Discipline to focus on the prayer when God “feels” absent from your life.

Discipline to read the Bible every single day without fail, without excuse.

The Discipline to hide the Word of God in our hearts every single day.

Discipline to be grateful even in times of lack.

The Discipline to be joyous in times of suffering.

These aren’t feel good statements, they are what we must do consistently. Every day even when and especially when we do not feel like it. This is discipline.

Christian Persecution?

“And then this guy called me a ‘Bible Thumper’. Boy, we sure are persecuted as Christians.”

“My coworker called me a Jesus freak! I’m just glad I get to suffer for the name of Christ.”

“You Christians are so weird!”
“Wow, I just get called all kinds of names for being a Christian, I’m really having a hard time”.

“They called me intolerant! The struggle is real”.

“Wow, there are gay people out there, and they want us to let them get married! Paul warned us about this persecution, I tell you what!”

Really? Are we serious?

Meanwhile, 2000 years ago men and women wearing that same name of Christ were fed to lions in the Coliseum and it was commonplace. So commonplace that the coliseum was the movie theater of the day. People actually brought their kids to see how many people would die, and how creative their deaths would be.

Christians were crucified by the hundreds by virtue of the name they wore. They dwelt in catacombs, in the tombs of the dead to avoid capture. Their home was the tomb of their rotting Christian predecessors.

The persecution was so massive that Paul advised Christians to remain unmarried in 1 Corinthians 7. Jesus lamented for the women who would be pregnant and nursing in those days of persecution.

The apostle Paul himself was responsible for the death of many Christians. Jews would throw stones at Christians until they were dead. Bashing their heads in with large rocks, breaking bones all over their bodies.

Many times families were forced to watch the deaths of their families before being subjected to the same fate.

Paul would later have his head cut off in Rome for the name of Christ.

John the baptizer had his head chopped of either by sword, ax, or saw. His followers and friends had to retrieve his headless, lifeless body from Herod’s prison and bury it.

Matthew the tax collector was killed by halberd, a spear-like weapon with a large blade portion at the end, at Nadabah in A.D. 60.

The Psychopathic Nero had Christians coated in wax and lit them on fire to illuminate his garden. The smell of burning hair, skin and fat and the screams of human burning seemed to be no problem. His enjoyment of the garden was unaffected, maybe even enhanced. The vile Nero also had Christians sewn into the skins of animals and fed to dogs and other beasts.

Under Roman emperor Domitian in A.D. 81, it is reported that ten thousand Christians were put to death. Ten thousand living humans killed for Christ.

In year 192, Christians were killed by having hot tar poured on their heads, were burned at the stake and were immersed in boiling water until dead.

Today Christians complain about burning their tongue on their $5 coffee.

(Source of Stats)

The things we call persecution in the 21st century are trivial. Absolutely trivial. We aren’t being nailed to crosses. We are not being boiled alive, lit on fire or having boiling tar poured on our heads. No one has their heads severed from their shoulders or gets shot by archer firing squads. Christians aren’t being fed to wild animals anymore.

We get made fun of a little bit, then call it persecution.

We get called a name or two and call it suffering. Reprehensible. We should be thankful for the peace and ease we have.

Is there real persecution out there for Christians? We don’t hear about it in America if there is. Sure, there’s the occasional Church shooter, but that doesn’t mean there is widespread persecution against the Church. There are shootings at secular events as well, Churches aren’t being singled out.

One day there could be true persecution again, but not today. Probably not tomorrow. Humans have actually become more peaceful over time.

The next persecution to arise will purge the weak. It is our job to make sure we aren’t weak, and that we don’t forsake the Church if and when it does arise. We could just as easily forsake the Church. We need to be mentally prepared to stay committed regardless of pain or death.

If there does arise another persecution against Christians, I dare you to find Joel Osteen and his sycophants.

I dare you to find him still “worshiping” God now that it is so longer convenient. I challenge you to find faithful Christians who were a part of the emotionalism movement of the second millennium. Emotionalism will not be able to survive persecution.

Jesus gave a parable about a sower (Matt 13), and one kind of seed fell on stony ground. It came up quickly and died because it had no strong roots. This represented people who would receive the Word with joy and endure for a while. But when persecution arises, they wither to nothing. This is the seed of emotionalism, it rises up then dies when the cross becomes heavy.

Thankfully for those seeds on the stony ground, there is no persecution.

It’s easy to be a Christian in America. No one kills us because we wear Christ’s name. No one crucifies us. Sure, we get called a name or two, or we get made fun of a bit, but that is the extent of our troubles.

We should be careful when we say we are persecuted for the Church or that we are suffering for the name of Christ, because I guarantee you that we do not even know the meaning of suffering.

Secular Reasons to Avoid Drunkenness

A lot of Christians believe it is sinful to drink alcohol. Some have good reasons for this belief, including scripture. Others simply take what their parents told them and parrot it back to everyone else with no rational thought of their own. But I think it is clear from scripture that it is not alcohol, but drunkenness that is the sin.

Nevertheless, I also believe it is important to create a list of reasons why you do not drink alcohol.

There are many times when people in the world ask Christians about their lifestyle choices.

“Why don’t you curse?”
“Why don’t you go to parties to meet people and have sex?”
Or “Why don’t you drink alcohol?“

And most Christians give poor answers for a number of reasons.

Number 1, they do not know why they do anything. They are living lives on autopilot.

Number 2, they give only Bible answers. For other Christians, a bible definition, a bible defense, and a bible answer is all we need in order to be on the same page. But when we are talking to people in the world, we need more than that because they may not agree with us that the bible represents authority by which one should live their life. In this case, it is critical to have secular, rational reasons that explain why you live the way you live.

In this article, I want to give you practical reasons to avoid drunkenness.

It’s not the alcohol molecule itself that is a problem, otherwise taking most forms of medicine would be sinful. Any compound with -ol or -phen- has alcohol. Acetomino-‘phen’ which is Tylen-‘ol‘.

When it comes to alcohol, it’s not drinking that is the problem, it is drunkenness. You better hope that a carbon attached to an oxygen attached to a hydrogen isn’t sinful, because you take them into your body all the time.

It’s not the alcohol itself that is the problem. Otherwise, Paul would have been recommending sin to Timothy when he tells him to have wine with his water for his stomach. That’s something we know Paul would never do.

It’s not Alcohol, it is drunkenness that is the problem. Almost anything taken to excess is sinful.

Generosity toward the homeless guy becomes enabling his drug addiction.
Eating Turns to Gluttony.
Being a good steward in excess turns to stinginess.
Being still and knowing that He is God can turn into lethargy.
Evangelizing to your neighbor becomes making yourself a nuisance.

Even good, righteous behaviors become poor strategic maneuvers if they are taken to excess.

If I haven’t said it enough – Alcohol itself is not the problem, Drunkenness is the problem.

It’s what drunkenness does to the character of the individual. I could give you the typical spiritual reasons covered in every other emotional article for why you should not be getting wasted, but only stupid people think that secular people actually listen to reasons like that.

You need strong internal motivating factors that go beyond spirituality. Because as sad as it is to say it, people don’t care about the spiritual anymore, even people who wear the name of God.

Here are some solid secular reasons why you should not get utterly plastered.

1 – Alcohol is a waste of time while drinking and also makes us waste time later while we nurse our hangover.

Every moment spent drinking could be spent improving yourself and making moves in your life. And it does not just waste time while we drink, but it also wastes our time the next day. Did you ever know a man to create a great invention, advance in his career, develop his thinking system, or hit a personal record on a squat while he had a hangover? Me either.

2 – Drinking makes us stupid and lazy.

Alcohol kills neurons. And you most likely are not going to grow those back. If you want to be as sharp and powerful as possible, you have to be sober. There is no way around this.

Here are some scientific studies demonstrating this reality:

Long-term alcohol exposure impairs neurogenesis, leading to cognitive dysfunction and memory deficits commonly observed in individuals with alcohol use disorder.
Source: Nixon, K., & Crews, F. T. (2002). Alcohol and the adolescent brain: Hippocampal neurogenesis and related issues. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 14(3), 185-195.

Alcohol’s metabolic byproducts generate reactive oxygen species, leading to cellular damage, inflammation, and neuronal death.
Source: Rahman, I., Kode, A., & Biswas, S. K. (2006). Assay for quantitative determination of glutathione and glutathione disulfide levels using enzymatic recycling method. Nature Protocols, 1(6), 3159-3165.

Alcohol alters the release and reuptake mechanisms of neurotransmitters such as glutamate, GABA, and dopamine, disrupting normal brain communication and contributing to the cognitive and behavioral impairments observed during alcohol intoxication.
Source: Lovinger, D. M. (1999). Serotonin’s role in alcohol’s effects on the brain. Alcohol Health and Research World, 23(3), 200-206.

Alcohol disrupts normal brain development, resulting in structural abnormalities in brain regions critical for learning, memory, and executive functions, which may have long-term cognitive and behavioral consequences.
Source: Goodlett, C. R., & Johnson, T. B. (1997). Neonatal binge ethanol exposure using intubation: Timing and dose effects on place learning. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 19(6), 435-446.

3 – Alcohol stops us from burning fat, possibly by overproducing acetate, a chemical byproduct of alcohol metabolism.

Acetate is a cheap fuel that the body can break down very quickly but leaves you feeling terrible, this is where the hangover effect comes from.

Here are some studies demonstrating this reality:

Alcohol impairs the liver’s ability to synthesize new fatty acids and reesterify plasma non-esterified fatty acids, leading to an imbalance in triglyceride synthesis. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying alcohol-related fatty liver disease.
Source: Diraison, F., Moulin, P., Beylot, M. (1997). Contribution of hepatic de novo lipogenesis and reesterification of plasma nonesterified fatty acids to plasma triglyceride synthesis during non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Diabetes & Metabolism, 23(4), 293-300.

Alcohol disrupts the function of sterol-regulatory element-binding proteins, key regulators of lipid synthesis and storage in adipocytes. This impairment leads to abnormal lipid accumulation in the liver and contributes to the development of alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Source: You, M., & Crabb, D. W. (2004). Molecular mechanisms of alcoholic fatty liver: Role of sterol regulatory element-binding proteins. Alcohol, 34(1), 39-43.

Alcohol affects lipid oxidation and storage, contributing to the dysregulation of fat metabolism. These changes have implications for the development of alcohol-related metabolic disorders.
Source: Eckardt, M. J., File, S. E., Gessa, G. L., Grant, K. A., Guerri, C., Hoffman, P. L., Kalant, H., Koob, G. F., Li, T. K., Tabakoff, B., et al. (1998). Effects of moderate alcohol consumption on the central nervous system. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 22(5), 998-1040.

This systematic review by Sayon-Orea, Martinez-Gonzalez, and Bes-Rastrollo examines the relationship between alcohol consumption and body weight. It highlights the impairment of fat oxidation during alcohol metabolism, which leads to increased fat storage and weight gain. The review consolidates evidence from various studies, shedding light on the mechanisms underlying alcohol-related weight-related issues.
Source: Sayon-Orea, C., Martinez-Gonzalez, M. A., & Bes-Rastrollo, M. (2011). Alcohol consumption and body weight: A systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 69(8), 419-431.

4 – Beer/wine is empty calories, a gateway into having your temple look like garbage.

Because the body is so busy breaking down alcohol byproducts, it will just store all the sugar. Not good for anyone.

5 – The brain isn’t the only organ that gets drunk, the entire body gets drunk.

The cells get drunk, and the liver and kidneys have to pull double shifts to filter that nonsense out of you. This is great if you want to die ten years earlier than you need to.

6 – Alcohol prevents you from having good character and integrity in your actions.

A great way to lose business or miss out on getting a raise is to act like a primate during a drunken stupor. People are watching you and recording you. Opportunities for success are going to pass you by while you are busy being a drunken idiot.

Have you ever seen someone act like a fool while drunk and thought, “I bet this guy is a great employee; I bet he is a great father and husband; This is a gentleman of character, one I would want to manage my assets; I think I’ll approach him with the business deal of a lifetime”?

7 – Alcohol makes us lose our mental edge and focus which allows us to dominate in the workplace.

Again, a hangover is a great way to have poor job performance. It’s a great way to miss out on that raise or on landing those new clients. No one ever drank their way to success.

Don’t drink your life away then wonder why you aren’t ahead in life. You aren’t ahead because you are an intoxicated loser.

8 – Alcohol drops natural testosterone production.

That is going to damage your sex life whether you are a man or a woman. No one in their right mind wants that. This reduction in testosterone is going to be another factor keeping you from burning fat, losing that weight, and getting in shape.

Here are some scientific studies demonstrating this:

This study demonstrates that ethanol intoxication suppresses the release of LH and impairs testosterone production. These findings contribute to our understanding of alcohol-induced disruptions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.
Source: Välimäki, M., Tuominen, J. A., Huhtaniemi, I., & Ylikahri, R. (1984). The pulsatile secretion of gonadotropins and growth hormone, and the biological activity of luteinizing hormone in men acutely intoxicated with ethanol. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 19(1), 19-23.

This study shows that while acute alcohol intake may initially elevate testosterone levels, chronic alcohol consumption leads to a subsequent decrease in testosterone production. These findings emphasize the negative effects of long-term alcohol use on endocrine function.
Source: Sarkola, T., & Eriksson, C. J. P. (2003). Testosterone increases in men after a low dose of alcohol. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 38(4), 369-373.

This study demonstrates alterations in testosterone metabolism, leading to testosterone deficiency and the development of alcohol-related hypogonadism. These findings highlight the negative impact of alcohol on hormonal balance and reproductive health in men.
Source: Pandey, G. N., Janicak, P. G., & Davis, J. M. (1987). Altered testosterone metabolism in male alcoholic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44(3), 259-264.

This study reveals that chronic alcohol consumption is associated with reduced semen quality and changes in reproductive hormones, including decreased testosterone levels. These findings provide evidence for the negative impact of alcohol on male reproductive function.
Source: Jensen, T. K., Gottschau, M., Madsen, J. O. B., Andersson, A. M., Lassen, T. H., Skakkebæk, N. E., Swan, S. H., Priskorn, L., Grandjean, P., Weihe, P., et al. (2013). Habitual alcohol consumption associated with reduced semen quality and changes in reproductive hormones; a cross-sectional study among 1221 young Danish men. BMJ Open, 3(3), e002964.

9 – Alcohol is an absolute waste of money.

Of all the different things you could spend money on, don’t waste it on a chemical designed to relieve you from the burden of existence that also kills you, reduces your testosterone, and impairs your fat metabolism. Use your money to serve God, take care of your family, and make yourself better through books and training.

Christians love pointing fingers at the alcohol molecule as “evil”. But it’s all the subsidiaries that come with drunkenness that make alcohol dangerous.

Probably only one in a thousand Christians can even tell you what the alcohol molecule looks like chemically. If people don’t even know what it is, how can they be trusted when they tell you it’s bad? It’s only bad for them because they are fearful of what they do not know.

The alcohol that most people drink is a two-carbon compound called ethanol, and it’s poisonous. But in truth, everything is a poison, it is just a question of dosage. All alcohol molecules are poisonous [such as methanol, propanol, butanol, etc.], ethanol just kills us the slowest and provides the intoxicating effect that people crave.

The problem with the majority of arguments against alcohol is the fact that most of them can be applied elsewhere.

And once they are applied elsewhere, they become illogical. This transference test is a good way to determine if you are thinking on a logical basis or not.

Every argument against alcohol can be turned against lack of sleep, for example, and now in the 21st century, there is scientific evidence to back it up.

Most of these examples below comes from Mathew Walker, one of the foremost sleep science experts today, and the rest is common sense. Get his book “Why We Sleep” here.

1 – Lack of sleep is not treating the body as the temple.

It is poor stewardship as it leads to deterioration in every part of your function and it damages your body’s physiology if done chronically.

2 – Lack of sleep causes the same reduction in cognitive function as drunkenness.

For every hour you go sleep deprived, you have the same loss of function as if your blood alcohol level increased by 0.05%

3 – Lack of sleep causes anger and stupidity, the same as alcohol.

4 – Lack of sleep causes us to be poor stewards of our time by making wake time less efficient. It also reduces our lifespan, the same as alcohol.

The real problem with alcohol is it causes us to not be sober and vigilant, as does lack of sleep. Alcohol is not the only molecule with that effect.

Therefore, applying the transference effect, is depriving yourself of sleep, willingly or unwillingly, not also sin? If it has similar physiological and psychological effects as alcohol, is it not a sin? And if drunkenness is a sin, would not something that causes you to be in a similar state of drunkenness not also be a sin? If you are going to be intellectually honest and consistent with your attacks on the alcohol molecule, you would have to say it is certainly a sin.

But truly, who is going to sit around and say someone committed a sin because they rolled around all night?

You can make similar arguments against caffeine due to its psychoactive effects. But of course, that molecule is not sinful because all the Christians got together and voted and no one can give up their coffee. Right?

Caffeine is a stimulating mind-altering [because it is known to induce anxiety] and sobriety-canceling [There is such thing as caffeine intoxication] drug as anything else.

Here’s a quick study for this:

This study by Childs and de Wit examines the acute effects of caffeine on anxiety levels in healthy volunteers. It demonstrates that caffeine administration leads to an increase in subjective anxiety levels and alterations in physiological measures associated with anxiety. These findings provide evidence for the anxiogenic effects of caffeine.
Source: Childs, E., & de Wit, H. (2008). Effects of acute caffeine administration on subjective anxiety and physiological measures in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 197(4), 595-604.

But of course, we can’t argue against it just because it’s not at intense of a high as cocaine, or because society says it’s legal. Maybe that’s a weak argument, but it is something to consider and is no weaker than 95% of the arguments that Christians make.

Where do we draw the line? At what point does a drug become a sin? Who is the person who gets to decide which chemical structures are sinful and which ones are not?

Did some random Ph. D decide that wherever two or more carbon hydroxyl groups are gathered that there will be a sin?

When Christians get together and vote, does that change the law of God? No. Judge among yourselves to determine which molecules are sinful. But you better look in the mirror as well at your own actions, because you may be ingesting some sinful molecules yourself.

Know that you’ve been told your whole life that the alcohol molecule is a sin, but do you have any logic for believing that? Why is an alcohol molecule a sin but a caffeine molecule is not?

Caffeine is in the same chemical family as methamphetamine.

And meth is sinful if it’s made on the street, but not sinful if you give it to your ADHD kids [who really need outdoor play and discipline]. Who decided that?

Try a mirror out for size and make sure you aren’t being a hypocrite in the things you say. And your kid is probably just a poorly behaved, snot-nosed brat as well, not ADHD. Meth won’t make him better, a paddle applied to his posterior will.

We need to logically consider what we believe so that we don’t end up looking like fools when it comes to what is right and to what the Bible teaches. Drunkenness is the problem. The alcohol molecule is fine.

Be extremely intense with yourself, and extremely kind to other people. This is a chance to be extreme on yourself.

Here are some related articles on rational, practical reasons why we should be avoiding the sins outlined in scripture.

The Practical Consequences of Adultery

Monkeypox: A Practical Consequence of Homosexuality

The Practical Consequences of Sin

Endure The Pain of Change

The pain barrier breaks us down every time. The pain barrier makes us stop writing when we have 500 more words in our mind. It makes us stop running when we can go faster. It makes us stop lifting when there are a dozen more potential reps. Pain makes us binge watch on Netflix or eat sugar when we are emotional. It makes us fall back into comfortable addiction of sloth and lust.

It makes us do these things because we let it.

The pain embodies itself in the darkness, and in the isolation of quiet thought it attacks. When there are no other thoughts in the mind, the darkness will rush to fill it. Pain crashes upon the mind with an onslaught of vicious lies. It gags the mouth of positive reason and gouges out the eyes of hope in an instant. Pain slays the rational mind. Darkness tells you that the end result is not worth the renovation of character.

Still, most pain only exists in the mind. We suffer primarily in our imaginations, not in reality. The fear of pain is itself a pain so great that it shuts down any movement towards growth.

1 – The process of change is painful. The first instance of pain is the blow dealt to the ego that is the result of acknowledging a wrong. Change cannot begin until one realizes that some portion of his current character is insufficient. Humility must come into the mind before any change can begin. The ego is injured, it must take a seat.

To begin the change, you must suffer the pain of humility

2 – The second part of pain is beginning to shift away from ingrained behaviors that are the results of thousands of mindless actions. Mindless eating, video games, television and social media reading. The Mindless chatter of small talk. Mindless laziness and lies. All these things become automatized and take on a mind of their own in the unconscious and subconscious.

The automaton of habit is alive, and to engage it in battle is painful. You sustain injuries. The automaton was built by your actions over time. To destroy it is to destroy a part of yourself, this is painful.

Many stop fighting right here. When you stop fighting, you die.

Eventually you see the light at the end of the tunnel, if you persevere. The tables turn and the process of change swings to your favor. The automaton weakens and shrinks. His energy source is your personal weakness and it begins to vanish away. You see the value of perseverance and discipline. You begin to see the fruits of all your labor.

To defeat yourself, you must endure the pain of repeated failure and perseverance.

3 – If you destroy the old habit, you have to build a new one through conscious effort and discipline. Consistent Discipline over long periods of time. Actions should be consciously taken until they can be done without thought, this is habit. You are the New Being of character.

Building this character requires that you suffer the pain of patience.

4 – Even though the new character trait you have build is automatic, it still must be maintained. Joints must be lubricated and cleaned. Energy sources must be maintained. Parts and pieces must be adjusted, upgraded or replaced. The new character must never be left totally unsupervised. Because at any instant, one small action can send you spiraling back to the original behavior that you worked so hard to change. Character and habit have to be sustained over the lifespan.

To do this you must suffer the pain of endurance.

The pain of a change is for a moment, and maintaining a new habit requires much less effort. The benefits of positive change last a lifetime, and are worth the pain it took to build it from the ground.

Change is not the inspirational quote from a cheap devotional book. You cannot buy discipline from a devo book that roots itself in emotionalism. Emotions will not maintain your change for the long term. This is why mankind lacks the character refinement of the past.

There is no refinement without fire, and there is no fire in society today.

We have minimal persecution, non-existent problems. We have everything we need and still think we have it hard. There is no fire, so we have to provide our own. The fire is going to burn out the impurities of character, but it is also going to hurt us.

However, do not let the pain or the fear of pain scare you away from the gigantic potential for personal growth. Walk through the fire of change today if you want to know the peace of character tomorrow.

Spartan Christianity

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