[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Freepers Still Love war Parody ... Jump / Trump --- van Halen jump "The Democrat Meltdown Continues" "Yes, We Need Deportations Without Due Process" "Trump's Tariff Play Smart, Strategic, Working" "Leftists Make Desperate Attempt to Discredit Photo of Abrego Garcia's MS-13 Tattoos. Here Are Receipts" "Trump Administration Freezes $2 Billion After Harvard Refuses to Meet Demands"on After Harvard Refuses to Meet Demands "Doctors Committing Insurance Fraud to Conceal Trans Procedures, Texas Children’s Whistleblower Testifies" "Left Using '8647' Symbol for Violence Against Trump, Musk" KawasakiÂ’s new rideable robohorse is straight out of a sci-fi novel "Trade should work for America, not rule it" "The Stakes Couldn’t Be Higher in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race – What’s at Risk for the GOP" "How Trump caught big-government fans in their own trap" ‘Are You Prepared for Violence?’ Greek Orthodox Archbishop gives President Trump a Cross, tells him "Make America Invincible" "Trump signs executive order eliminating the Department of Education!!!" "If AOC Is the Democratic Future, the Party Is Even Worse Off Than We Think" "Ending EPA Overreach" Closest Look Ever at How Pyramids Were Built Moment the SpaceX crew Meets Stranded ISS Crew The Exodus Pharaoh EXPLAINED! Did the Israelites Really Cross the Red Sea? Stunning Evidence of the Location of Red Sea Crossing! Are we experiencing a Triumph of Orthodoxy? Judge Napolitano with Konstantin Malofeev (Moscow, Russia) "Trump Administration Cancels Most USAID Programs, Folds Others into State Department" Introducing Manus: The General AI Agent "Chinese Spies in Our Military? Straight to Jail" Any suggestion that the USA and NATO are "Helping" or have ever helped Ukraine needs to be shot down instantly "Real problem with the Palestinians: Nobody wants them" ACDC & The Rolling Stones - Rock Me Baby Magnus Carlsen gives a London System lesson! "The Democrats Are Suffering Through a Drought of Generational Talent" 7 Tactics Of The Enemy To Weaken Your Faith Strange And Biblical Events Are Happening Every year ... BusiesT casino gambling day -- in Las Vegas Trump’s DOGE Plan Is Legally Untouchable—Elon Musk Holds the Scalpel Palestinians: What do you think of the Trump plan for Gaza? What Happens Inside Gaza’s Secret Tunnels? | Unpacked Hamas Torture Bodycam Footage: "These Monsters Filmed it All" | IDF Warfighter Doron Keidar, Ep. 225 EXPOSED: The Dark Truth About the Hostages in Gaza New Task Force Ready To Expose Dark Secrets Egypt Amasses Forces on Israel’s Southern Border | World War 3 About to Start? "Trump wants to dismantle the Education Department. Here’s how it would work" test "Federal Workers Concerned That Returning To Office Will Interfere With Them Not Working" "Yes, the Democrats Have a Governing Problem – They Blame America First, Then Govern Accordingly" "Trump and His New Frenemies, Abroad and at Home" "The Left’s Sin Is of Omission and Lost Opportunity" "How Trump’s team will break down the woke bureaucracy" Pete Hegseth will be confirmed in a few minutes Status: Not Logged In; Sign In Religion See other Religion Articles Title: Is It Okay for Christians to Use Marijuana (Cannabis) and Other Drugs? Source: godandscience.org/d URL Source: http://www.godandscience.org/doctrine/marijuana.html Published: Jun 22, 2015 Author: Rich Deem Post Date: 2015-06-22 21:39:36 by Gatlin Keywords: None Views: 1847 Comments: 14 A number of young Christians these days use marijuana and other recreational drugs. Some of them write to ask if this kind of behavior is acceptable for Christians. Click here for the remainder of the article. Poster Comment: I think a Christian does not approve of the taking of illegal drugs, including recreational drugs and all those which can alter the mind. What do you think? Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread   Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 5. #3. To: Gatlin (#0) Here is what I think: (1) From a traditional viewpoint, the Catholic Church says that drug use is sinful, so it's sinful to the extent that the Catholic Church has the power to decide such things. If the Church has the power to make moral laws, then it's sinful for Christians to use drugs. If the Church doesn't, then the fact that the Church says it's a sin doesn't make it a sin. (2) From a Scriptural viewpoint, the question is not answered in the Bible. On the one hand, God gave man dominion over all of the plants, for his use. And he did not give men dominion over other men, so men do not in fact have the authority to restrict other men from exercising the freedoms God has given them, and further, when men DO assert such authority, through lawmaking, the act of making laws that purport to take away the liberties God gave is ITSELF a sin, and everybody who enforces such laws or supports them is a sinner for doing so, but the man who disregards those immoral laws in order to exercise the liberty God gave him is not a sinner. On the other hand, God warns in several place of the dangers of excess alcohol use, Based on that, some Christians have made up a tradition of morally prohibiting ALL alcohol use. However, those Christians sin by doing so, for they have added a tradition that exceeds what God imposed, and the effect of that tradition would have been to deprive the Apostles of being able to drink of the cup of wine at the Last Supper. (The notion that Christ and the Apostles, Jews at Passover, were drinking non-alcoholic grape juice is risible.) Drug use is not home free, however, because of a problem arising on the very last page of Scripture, twice! Twice God lists the sins that will result in a man failing judgment, and twice the Greek word that is traditionally (and wrongly) translated as "sorcery" appears. The word, however, is "pharmakeia", and what it MEANS is the particular practice among the ancients of "pharmacons" selling drugs to induce altered mental states which were said to be magical, and were said to channel demons. Seeing all of the violence that comes with drug use, and all of the mental instability, I personally believe that illicit drugs, and also legal drugs used for psychiatric treatment, DO open up the brain and weaken the resistance, and open up the person to demons. But then, so does alcohol and lust. Drugs appear to be PARTICULARLY potent, however. So, is illegal drug use "pharmakeia"? I would say probably not, as such. Drug peddlers today sell drugs for money, and people use it to get high. Nobody thinks they're doing magic or channeling demons or casting spells. Mental intent matters when it comes to mortal sin. Drug peddlers know they're selling things that kill people, though, and the violence inherent in the trade edges such people towards violence that will itself land a man in the Lake of Fire. But is it a cut-and-dry slam dunk? No, it is not. Fact is, if something is important, God - both YHWH and Jesus - hammer the point home over and over and over again. So if we're trying to find a doctrine by taking one word, a difficult word that is usually translated oddly, and then make a doctrine of Hell out of it, we're working too hard. If it's IMPORTANT, God makes it plain. He wants people to follow him and be safe and happy. He doesn't play "hide the football". On balance, then, I'd say that Scripture doesn't answer the question definitively. The drug PEDDLER certainly has more to worry about in terms of direct condemnation than the user, but the user needs to worry about being open to demons. And that brings us to (3) "All is permitted, but all is not good for us." Drug users probably don't go to hell for that alone, but what they do under the influence of drugs may. And anyway, we know that drugs are bad for us. Cigarette smoking doesn't send anybody to hell, but it's certainly not good for the health. If something is bad for the health, that's a reason in and of itself to avoid doing it. After all, when God gave the kosher food laws he didn't say that it had spiritual meaning. Rather, he said that if the Hebrews followed those laws he would not afflict them with the diseases they suffered in Egypt. So, God was concerned with their hygiene and physical health, and not simply with their souls. Bottom line: I think drugs let in the demons and ruin health, and that means that one should not do them. Whether they're a deadly sin or not I cannot say. That they're physically and mentally destructive is self- evident and reason enough to teach against their use. Teaching hell fire and brimstone is exaggeration and asserting what is not revealed. That's bad in an of itself. I'd say that people - Christian or otherwise - should avoid strong drugs because they alter the mind, damage it, and open the person up to demons. They don't lead to health or happiness, and they're stronger than the weaker stuff such as alcohol, which isn't a sin in moderation, or tobacco or caffeine. The reasons not to use drugs are practical and self-interested - will God throw into Hell the miserable addict who uses drugs to mask horrible mental pain from things inflicted on him or her, simply for the fact of using drugs? There is no Scriptural basis for asserting that, and were God to do that under such circumstances he would be very different from the God who revealed himself in the Bible. It's not a slam dunk issue like, say, murder. It's a facts and circumstances question. Potatoes and carrots are better for you and me than drugs. So we should stick to those. Vicomte13  posted on  2015-06-22   22:27:09 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply   #5. To: Vicomte13 (#3) So, is illegal drug use "pharmakeia"? I would say probably not, as such. Drug peddlers today sell drugs for money, and people use it to get high. Nobody thinks they're doing magic or channeling demons or casting spells. Mental intent matters when it comes to mortal sin. Wrong ¦¬Á¼±º¿½ (pharmakon, magic) can mean “medicine” or even “poison” in certain contexts but here refers to the use of “magic potions” in religious rites in the Greco-Roman world. It is interesting that John did not use the more general term ƱÁ¼±ºµ¯± (pharmakeia) for “sorcery” or “magic” but rather chose the term that describes the potions used in the rites. John wants to condemn not just the general practice of magic but everything involved in it (i.e., the paraphernalia as well as the rite itself).17 Magic was a major problem for early Christianity. One of the signs of victory over paganism occurred when the sorcerers at Ephesus burned their magic scrolls in public (Acts 19:19). Paul listed “idolatry and witchcraft” together as “acts of the sinful nature” (Gal. 5:19–20), for most acts of “sorcery” occurred in the atmosphere of idolatrous worship (note again the connection of idolatry and demonic activity). In the Apocalypse, using magic is how Babylon “led the nations astray” (18:23), and all who practice it will be cast into the lake of fire (21:8; cf. 22:15). In the first century magic was based on the belief that both good and evil spirits (called gods) involved themselves in the affairs of people. Using religious rituals involving incantations and “commands” given to the spirit-gods, people would try to get the “gods” to work on their behalf, such as for success in business or athletics, sexual liaisons, or healing (see Arnold, DLNT 701–4). Aune (1987: 481–501) argues that one of the major purposes of John in this book is to counter the prevalence of magic at Ephesus and the province of Asia and to present Jesus as the answer to all such demonic acts. Grant R. Osborne, Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 387. GarySpFC  posted on  2015-06-22   22:50:36 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply   Replies to Comment # 5. #11. To: GarySpFC (#5) Gary, I don't think you understood what I wrote. You said I was "WRONG", but then you went ahead and published an essay that made the very point I did, about biblical "pharmakeia" not being the same thing as simple modern-style drug use. Vicomte13  posted on  2015-06-23 14:29:31 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply   End Trace Mode for Comment # 5. Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register]  Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com