Celtic Odyssey

“I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.” — C.S. Lewis I started this series because I wanted to bring together pipe smoking and theology. In the first posts, I focused on the pipe portion while the last couple of posts have been about the theology. In this post, I’ll conclude the theological part. So let’s turn our attention to another passage that speaks to the art and science of pipe smoking. Well… Not really… But it does play into the view that pipe smoking is not a sin, much to the chagrin of some of my friends. In Matthew 15, Jesus is recorded as saying, “It’s not what people put into their mouths that makes them unclean. It’s what comes out of their mouths that makes them unclean.” ( v. 11 ; adapted). 1 He goes on to explain— “Sure...

Romans 12.1-8 (NCV; adapted): 1 So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. 2 Don’t be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you’ll be able to decide what God wants for you; you’ll know what’s good and pleasing to him and what’s perfect. 3 Because God has given me a special gift, I have something to say to everyone among you: Don’t think you’re better than you are. You must decide what you really are by the amount of faith God has given you. 4 Each one of us has a body with many parts, and these parts all have different uses. 5 In the same way, we’re many, but in Christ we’re all one body. Each one is a part of that body, and each part belongs to all the other parts. 6 We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us. The person wh...

“I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.” — C.S. Lewis In the last post , we started the theological portion of this series. Today, I’d like to continue our journey on the theological portion. While I stated previously that there aren’t any biblical passages that support pipe smoking, I’d like to turn our attention to a very familiar story found in John’s Gospel. John 2:1-11 (MSG; adapted): 1 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guest, too. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.” Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.” She went ah...

Matthew 15.[10-20] 21-28 (adapted): [Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, “Listen and understand. 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you just said?” 13 Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be pulled up. 14 Leave the Pharisees alone. They’re blind people who are guides to blind people. But if a blind person leads another blind person, they’ll both fall into a ditch.” 15 Then Peter spoke up, “Explain this riddle to us.” 16 Jesus said, “Don’t you understand yet? 17 Don’t you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes eventually out into the sewer? 18 But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And that’s what contaminates a person in God’s sight. 19 Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murd...