Posted on 09/22/2003 7:18:18 PM PDT by missyme
11/28/2002: "Letters: Where in the Bible does it state that marijuana use is prohibited?" To be honest with you, there is no place in the Bible that prohibits the use of cannabis. We are warned against drunkenness, but to drink in moderation is not prohibited. In fact, many would say, as a seed bearing plant, cannabis was created on the third day and given to man for use on the sixth, with no stipulations as to how to use it.
Unfortunately, in reference to cannabis or marijuana as you refer to it here, the church is filled with apathy and ignorance, quoting scripture that simply does not apply in support of ideology that can not be justified biblically. While it is true that we are told to obey our leaders, it is also said in Isaiah "Woe to those who make unjust laws and issue oppressive decrees". Christians do not realize that we bear responsiblity for these laws being in existence and share in those woes. They do not see that making laws that criminalize something that God does not condemn is actually plotting harm against our neighbor, which we are explicitly told not to do, Proverbs 3:29
I confess, I have no clue as to how the body of Christ has been deceived into getting on the war on drugs bandwagon. On every other issue we have viewed government information and motivation with a critical eye. Not this one. Jesus told us to visit people in prison, not to put them there, Matthew 25:31-46. Paul told us that the rules of "hold not, taste not and touch not" were destined to perish with use because they were based on human teachings and only had the appearance of wisdom, Colossians 2:20-23. Yet we have charged on, not even bothering to see if our position is scripturally valid or is something we can say we are doing in the name of Jesus.
There are a number of denominations that are recognizing that the laws that prohibit and criminalize cannabis use and other illicit substances, really does cause more harm than good. And this is only by earthly accounts. The active and unanimous Christian support of these laws have have caused more eternal harm than can be believed.
Hopefully soon we will all wake up and remember the second greatest commandment, Love your neighbor as yourself, Matthew 22:34-30, and that love does no harm to its neighbor, Romans 13:10 and we will just as actively and unanimously end our support of the war on drugs, an unholy war on people.
I know alot of Christians who also have and do drive under the influence of alcohol,
Irrelevant to the discussion at hand. The fact that Christians drink and drive is rephrehensible in my mind, but not relevent to the discussion whether or not Christians may smoke pot.
unfortunately I think alcohol causes more deviant behavior in our society that Pot can or ever will.
Only by sheer magnitude.
But there's a difference between alcohol and pot. It is possible to responsibly enjoy alcoholic beverages without getting falling-down drunk. To my knowledge, it is not possible to enjoy a joint without hallucinating.
Unless it violates the Scriptures (e.g. Daniel, the Apostles), yes.
The Apostle Paul makes it clear he agrees with me.
1 ¶ Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.If you rebel against the lawful authority, you do not rebel against men, but against God.
2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.
7 ¶ Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
Romans 13:1-7 [NASB]
You may not like the Rockefeller drug laws. You might think them draconian and harsh. Fine. Work within the system to change it by lawful means rather than disobedience. When you disobey the authorities God established, you disobey God.
(Incidentally: this was written about the absolutely insane and utterly evil Nero. I don't think our government has EVER approached the level of depravity of Nero. So, if the Romans had to submit to Nero's lawful decrees, surely we can submit to our governments.)
Define "halucinating." I used a lot of pot in college, and I never "halucinated" anything. Perceptions of existing things can be altered, but I never had sensations of things that did not exist.
SD
"My drug is OK, yours is not!"
WTF???The coca and poppy plants were created on the third day just like the canibis plant...
If that is the case, it is evident that the problem lies with your knowledge of the effects of THC.
missyme seems kind of stupid in saying that since cannibis is not mentioned explicitedly in Scripture then smoking it is OK. Neither is drunk driving or cruelty to animals. I suppose if cannabis was mentioned, then missyme would say "crack cocaine is not prohibited..." and somehow justify that. Since the Bible is not supposed to be an exhaustive tutorial in describing each and every right and wrong thing, we were given discernment, Biblical Principles, and counselors. Missyme seems to not have any of those tools at her disposal. But for fine folks like you who point out that there is a connection between drinking and getting polluted on cannabis, let me offer this from Proverbs:
Prov 31:4-7 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; Lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Missyme seems to be a person who wants to fall under the category of "Loser", or as the Bible puts it "who is perishing...and bitter of heart, in poverty and miserable."
I'll avoid for now the Biblical koine greek term for "witchcraft" where we get the term pharmacy. The principle of, who do you want to be, a King or a Loser should help answer that question.
Ps. 104:14-15
Actually, Paul wrote Romans 13 during (and in reference to) the Quinquennium Neronis, the "five good years" at the beginning of Nero's reign during which Nero essentially deferred all domestic policy matters to Seneca (possibly the greatest Prime Minister ever to serve his sovereign?) -- Regulations were alleviated; Taxes cut; the Bureacracy reduced; Corruption in the Provinces uprooted and harshly punished; Merit rewarded; Public Trust restored; Justice enforced.
In short, the five conditions by which Paul defines the responsibilities of a Good Government -- the punishment of Murder, Adultery, Theft, Fraud, and Covetous Abuses against the Neighbor -- were all in a position of general fulfillment, satisfying the descriptive criteria of Romans 13:1-10; a Government which punishes the Civil Evils proscribed by the Decalogue.
It was not until after Nero decided to Rule in his own right, ordered Seneca to kill himself (Seneca dutifully obeyed), and took the reigns of power into his own (moderately insane) hands, that the "golden age" of Seneca's Quinquennium Neronis was replaced by a Tyranny as brutal as it had formerly been beneficial.
None of which contravenes the peaceful witness of the Martyrs; it is sometimes appropriate, especially when resistance would endanger the lives of others, to refrain from resisting even a Bad government. But it is not always appropriate to obey a Bad government; it can be appropriate (even dutiful) to resist a Bad government which fails to punish the Civil Evils of the Decalogue, or especially one which rewards and encourages the Civil Evils -- see the Dutch and Danish Resistance Protestants, and Serb Orthodox, who fought against the Nazi occupation of their countries.
It can be appropriate to resist a Bad government, because Saint Paul never endorsed the moral authority of a Bad Government. This is a misconception -- but Seneca's Quinquennium, which earned Saint Paul's approval (and to whose Laws he himself appealed) was NOT a bad government, but an exceptionally good one (especially compared to the Direct Rule by Nero which followed).
Paul never endorsed a Bad Government, but rather a Good Government -- a Government which punishes the Civil Evils. And Paul defines the Civil Evils within the very same passage, Romans 13, in terms of the Second Table of the Decalogue.
Government Power does derive its Moral Authority from God according to Romans 13; but within the context of the punishment of Civil Evils. We might say that the Second Table of the Decalogue constitutionalizes the Government's "authority from God". When Government -- any Government -- departs therefrom, it is acting "unconstitutionally" from the constitutional duties established in the Bible; its "Moral Authority" diminishes in direct proportion to its distance therefrom.
Theonomic rant, over. That was all intended as a commentary on Romans 13, not the Article.
The Article's premise is just silly -- and I say that as a Christian who is politically libertarian on the question of Trespassing onto a neighbor's property and shoving a gun in his face to prevent him from self-intoxication. The religious veneration of Buddha is legal, and should remain legal; that doesn't mean that God approves thereof.
Not all Sins are subject to punishment by the State (in fact, a great many are not; unless they bring harm to another or the property of another, etc.) -- many Sins are pretty much subject to punishment by Church and Presbyter only. However, they are still Sins.
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