Is it wrong to keep a potty mouth and chew tobacco?
- Is it wrong to love and follow Jesus while keeping a slight potty mouth and continuing to chew tobacco?
- Does the Bible call gambling a sin?
Third 'is this wrong?' case: can a host love and follow Jesus all his days while keeping a slight potty mouth and chewing tobacco? The room works through Christian liberty at length — the 'does it own you' slavery test, the body-as-temple passage, gambling (the Bible never calls it sin; the ancients cast lots), Noah's drunkenness (which Scripture doesn't belabor), swearing as cultural rather than inherently crass, and the stumbling-block principle. Verdict: not wrong in itself, but keep everything on the table before God, since the Holy Spirit roots things out and sin defends itself.
More on Holy Spirit
-
'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
-
Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
- Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
A host asks whether following Jesus should feel more comfortable as time goes on — noting the low-level tension many feel around am-I-doing-enough and the stigma that contentment equals laziness.
-
Do accountability partners actually work?
- Do accountability partners actually do anything?
Mike raises his accountability-partners question: the standard dude-circle advice to get a buddy to hold you accountable for Bible reading, porn, church attendance, and drinking.
From No. 598 · Emphasis | Accountability, Worship and Praying with Strangers
-
Mike frames the question: are more people hearing from God?
- Does it seem like more and more people are hearing from God — and is that real or a lie and a huge distraction?
Ben asks Mike for a two-sentence framing; Mike says listening to the book of Job while mowing made him furious when Bildad 'received a word from the Lord,' turning a bad human argument into an unarguable divine claim.
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God