Sex, Drugs, and Going Home

While in deep conversation with my roommates last night (which happens fairly often), we came to question of whether or not sex, or at least the pleasure of sex, will be present in the everlasting kingdom of God. There really weren't many deep conclusions made (especially since none of us have actually experienced sex), it was just three guys casually talking about the undefined, but it did trigger some thoughts in my head about the pleasures and experiences of this world, including sex, and how that connects to the kingdom beyond.

I have heard many times that feelings that generate pleasure or a gratifying feeling, such as through sex, psychodelic drugs, or even after exercise, can often be connected to the same bodily release of chemicals, giving us either a feeling of pleasure, gratification, or a feeling of being "high". However, this feeling is often described as having a deeper feeling or meaning to it, sometimes described as being similar to the feeling of returning or going to your true home. What if this "going home" experience really is true? What if the release of this release of pleasure really is a gateway to something deeper, a gateway to the sense of belonging that we all long for?

This question has been asked many times and sometimes these feelings of pleasure are not only described as a gateway, but also an end in themself. Many have preached that psychodelic drugs bring us a step closer to a broader reality and should be embraced (Aldous Huxley, Dr. Timothy Leary, and Daniel Pinchbeck are a few names that come to mind). But perhaps we have found a clue, but we are looking down the wrong track. I sincerely believe that these experiences do have deeper significance rather than merely being pleasurable firings in our nerves and that God ordained them to be there, but perhaps we are straying from the real place where we can go home, the arms of Jesus Christ. Only Christ can fulfill our true longings to go home, infinately more than what we can obtain through a psychodelic experience or through sex outside of marriage. These experiences may be a clue to what we are missing but they are by no means the source. It all seems to be very human of us, searching for sincere truth in all the wrong places...

When we truly realize that the grace of God is our true home, I believe that the pleasure that realization will unlock will be even more than we can imagine, deeper than a limited sexual encounter or a hit of LSD.

War (Or What We Think It Is)

I really think war is one of the most difficult concepts to accurately portray because of it is so charged with different depictions through the media, current and ancient culture, as well as reality. Thoughts like this have come from my current study of the Vietnam war and its complicated nature, as well since it was experienced by people who were around my age when they were there (around 19-23 years old). In reality, on many levels, war is a manifestation of immense individual and structural sin of humanity, when people cannot agree so they resort to mass violence and destroy the lives and property of both combatants and innocents. On the other hand culture and the media can give a very different picture, especially when presented to young men.

I have especially felt this conflict within myself whenever I am presented with images and stories of war, conflict, and combat. In depths of my heart, I know that at its root war is a flaw of mankind and mass destroyer of life, but from time to time the idea of combat can still swell my heart with excitement and a hunger for adventure of danger. I still remember my days of being a cadet in high school and my year of ROTC and the excitement of learning combat formations and movements, crawling into mock ambushes in the tall grass during war games, my heart racing with excitement and my senses tuned to pinpoint precision. To some degree that promise of excitement and adventure was part of why I began training for the military. Later I left because I realized that I just was not meshing with the military culture and that I realized that I was ultimately being trained to kill people, but I still hate it so much whenever from time to time I long for the adventure of combat and "noble battle".

Let me just say that I in no way have experienced real combat do I claim to identify with those who have gone into and participated in hostilities during war. However, I can I identify somewhat with the "glamourous" side of combat and how we are shown that much more than the harsh and ugly realities. I know that there really is no "individual" that can be blamed for this, but I do know that it something that many people needed to healed from. I know that I do.

Dreams

Dreams have always fascinated me and made me wonder about their significance. Are they just our brains firing randomly about images and experiences from throughout the day or is there something deeper there to experience and interpret? I have been thinking about this recently because of a recent bout of very memorable dreams that I have had in the past couple of days (I don't know if the medication that I have been on has been a contributer to my experience, but that is hard to tell). One of these dreams in particular made me a little unsettled, mainly because it almost seemed prophetic, and have been making me wonder about the importance of dreams and how much we really should read in to them.

Part of what makes me wonder about my recent dreams is because I have experienced divinely inspired dreams, including one that affirmed that I would have more visions in the future, but one of the divine mysteries of our God is that He provides just enough for us to keep us on the right track, and maybe to some extent just enough to keep us wondering so that our only choice is to completely rely on Him. At the end of the day, I have to realize that if a dream is meant to be something more, I need to give God time to reveal its importance and significane. The least I can do is let God work in my life, and if a dream is meant to influence my actions or thoughts, I have to trust God to give me the right perception to act on that. In the meantime, it looks like I need to hang on and see what God will do with the things that he reveals to me, whether I am awake or in the weird medium we refer to as sleep......