Understanding spiritual things

“Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.’” Matthew 22:29
Throughout history there have been people who claim to be Christians, but who demonstrate by their stance on various issues that they don’t know the Lord and they don’t know or understand the Word of God. Recently I had to marvel at the comments on a secular news site, which was discussing the issue of marijuana. There were a number of people who wrote something along the lines of ‘Well I’m a Christian and I smoke it, I don’t see anything wrong with it, after all God made it so it must be good for you’ etc. While it is true that the word ‘marijuana’ does not appear in the Bible, the Bible does speak against being under the influence of substances, which is encompassed in the word ‘pharmakia’ (from which we get the word pharmaceuticals) – translated ‘sorcery’ (e.g. Gal. 5:19-21, Rev. 9:21). On another forum, people were debating whether homosexual couples should be allowed to marry. Those in favour cite human rights and a progressive society as the reasons why they should. Those against cite the natural law of reproduction requiring a male and female, and the Bible – which is instantly shot down by those in favour, even those who say they are Christians. The comments that rile me the most are those who say, ‘Well Jesus loved everybody, it’s all about love, these people love each other so they should be allowed to marry’. The Bible makes no bones about homosexuality being a sin (Lev. 20:13, 1 Cor. 6:9-10). Another recent news article went along the lines of, over 90% of churches are opposed to homosexual marriage, but... and then the rest of the article quotes two extremely liberal ministers (one of them female) of churches that have had a reputation for supporting non-Biblical doctrine, and denying Biblical doctrine (for example the deity of Christ).
We should not be surprised. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see [perceive, understand] the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). Paul wrote, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Understanding spiritual things requires a relationship with God.