Purity & Pleasure
Dan Davis 10.25.09
Guide by Andrew Goff
Select 5-6 of the following items for your group, and/or come up with some of your own.
CONNECT
1. Are you, or have you ever been a “partier?”
2. Describe your perfect “celebration?” Where are you? Who is there? What are people doing?
3. What stigmas did drinking carry in your family growing up? In your church/community?
DISCUSS
Ecc 8:15 So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.
4. Dan discussed how over the years many scholars and church leaders have down played the importance of Ecclesiastes as “anti-wisdom.” Why do you think that has been the case? In your opinion, were they wrong to do so?
5. Dan discussed his own personal relationship with alcohol and how when those closest to him expressed a concern with his abundant consumption he instituted systems and restraints to check his heart on the issue. Have you ever reached this point with a temptation in your life? Does anyone have a temptation in their life they would like help being accountable for?
Martin Luther, 4th of the 8 Sermons at Wittenburg, 1522: No one can deny that the images are evil because they are abused, nevertheless we must not on that account reject them, nor condemn anything because it is abused. That would result in utter confusion. God has commanded us not to lift up our eyes unto the sun, that we may not worship them, for they are created to serve all nations. But there are many people who worship the sun and the stars. Shall we, therefore, endeavor to pull the sun and stars from the skies? Nay, we will not do it. Again, wine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him. Shall we, therefore, kill all the women and pour out all the wine? Again, gold and silver cause much evil, shall we, therefore, condemn them? Nay, if we would drive away our one worst enemy, who does us the most harm, we would have to kill ourselves, for we have no greater enemy than our own heart
6. Dan used the above quote by Martin Luther to illustrate the follies of taking prohibitive measures against earthly pleasures just because they have the potential to be abused. Do you believe that we should prohibit substances (i.e. alcohol, marijuana, caffeine) that can be addictive? Do you agree with the point Luther is making?
7. Holy crap! This week we had wine in church (not a communion cup’s worth either)! Who green-lighted that crazy idea? How did you feel about this weekend’s “celebration” at Catalyst?
CHALLENGE
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, 1953, pp. 168-69: But, to put it plainly, for a man in his wife’s arms to be hankering after the other world is, in mild terms, a piece of bad taste, and not God’s will. We ought to find and love God in what he actually gives us; if it pleases him to allow us to enjoy some overwhelming earthly happiness, we must not try to be more pious than God himself… “For everything there is a season” (Eccles. 3:1)
8. Make an extra effort this week to enjoy life. Plan an out of the ordinary event and indulge yourself a little.
9. What is your group doing for Halloween? Should you do it together?
