Will the Psychedelic Question Become another Protestant Experiment?
Protestantism is the Laboratory of the Larger Church.
Today's video is part 2 of my commentary on the @jordanbpeterson @PageauJonathan @vervaeke_john @BishopBarron conversation. Wasn't able to do the whole 2nd hour at once partly because of the psychedelic conversation.
This is a busy week for me as a pastor: more work (an additional service) less prep time (family time Thu, Fri, Sat) with kids in town. Almost didn't post this one. I have that regularly.
.@PageauJonathan @BishopBarron and I are very much on the same page in this
I think @anadromist speaks with a lot of authority about this in terms of psychedelics and the church first time around.
At the same time @jordanbpeterson is correct that it appears the church will need to engage with it, especially if the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries begin to find therapeutic usages for them.
As with many things in Christianity the test will be in the instantiation in the church. My skepticism about the efficacy of the use of these substances is that I don't think you can build a stable community upon their use.
I'm pleased that serious study is being done on these substances, although I wouldn't volunteer for a trial. I appreciated Michael Pollan's book on them and learned a lot. https://www.amazon.com/Change-Your-Mind-Consciousness-Transcendence-ebook/dp/B076GPJXWZ I wouldn't volunteer for a cancer drug trial either because I don't have cancer.
One of the functions of Protestantism is as the laboratory of the church. Bad ideas go out to Protestant land to die, sometimes in ugly, horrible ways. Other ideas survive and are taken up by the rest of the church.
These "experiments" might last mere decades, but often last for centuries. There are a number of them running right now. Women in leadership, same-sex marriage, and perhaps this is another. In time "we" will see through the church.
The Truth in @vervaeke_john 4-P Knowledge is revealed by the church, sometimes in a negative way. Sometimes the church shows what is NOT the truth in failed experiments over very long periods of time.
Another feature of the Protestant laboratory is that not all of us need to participate in every theological trial.
I would argue that protestantism at least the forms that I grew up with are more like The prodigal son and less like a scientific experiment.... Yes it can be argued that both are seeking truth but one of them is rebelling against established knowledge and eventually will stagger home pennyless and abused...