Featured Recreational drug use

There's nothing to justify. God allows it, encourages it, that settles it.

Sorry...replied to the wrong thread. Meant to reply to Zaac's straw man of needing to justify it.

 

I don't agree with your strict prohibitionist stance on even light use of alcohol because it is extra-biblical. But I will give you this, there is wisdom and charity in considering the effect that consumption of alcohol can have on some individuals, families, churches and communities especially for those who are predisposed to addictions. And most of us do not know how to identify those people. We should be mindful of whether it is prudent to use our liberty in this way if it can cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble.


Certainly, Paul's letters have a lot to say about not allowing ourselves to be judged by another's conscience (1 Cor 10:29; Romans 14:1-9), but it also says a fair amount about not using our liberty as a stumbling block for the weaker brethren. (1 Cor 8:9-13; Romans 14:21).

 

Boy go on somewhere with all your strawman mess.

Using alcohol as an example:

The Body of Christ is supposed to be the lighthouse on a hill. When the lighthouse on the hill is partaking of something that is as sytematically destructive as this, it's a shame that we can come up with any reason why we partake of it. it's selfish and reason for some folks to get off the hill and down on their knees.



3 million violence victims a year report that their attackers were drunk.
Nearly 35000 deaths from it in a year.

http://recoveryfirst.org/alcohol-related-injuries-and-deaths-in-the-us.html/

But for some reason,, the lighthouse on the hill wants to be known as people who are okay partaking of this stuff?

It goes right back to 2 Tim 3. People will become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. We seek to bring glory to ourselves and our own desires and not to God. And thus will seek out any reason we can why our Christian liberty justifies us partaking of these things.

 

Like I said, your problem is with God.

 

I didn't give strict prohibitionist stance. Let the world do what they want. I'm saying the CHURCH should make the choice to not partake of it or anything else like it that brings the type of destruction that it does. You just cannot effectively tell someone not to get high if they've watched you partake of the same thing that they use to get high.

I agree. But not just with alcohol. From early teens to late in life, the destructive hand of this stuff can be seen.

Why do Christians keep looking for reasons to be okay associating with this stuff? Is it BENEFICIAL to the Christian to have such an association?

Again, I agree. But I'm speaking to the broader effect our liberty has on the unsaved world. Who are what are we witnessing of when we're doing what they do?

 

Yep, back to ignore.

 

Don't tease me like that.

If anything, your theological excrement is what needs to go on ignore.

 

Hey, I did not even say anything. LOL. Seriously, I think the biggest danger for a Christian in relation to drugs is pain killers following a major operation. Almost four years ago, I had a six way heart bypass. The sternum did not grow back properly and still pops and cracks, along with the lower back problems. Well, the doctor gives you probably lortab, maybe two a day at 10 mg. After a while, they do not work, and you ask for 3, and they give it to you. After a year, it takes four. It is like a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water. One does not even realize what they are doing to themselves. At some point, it ceases to be a pain issue, and becomes an issue of I cannot do without them. The wakeup call came for me when a prescription got lost in the mail. This is a road that no one wants to travel. Lortabs, in a quantity of four a day do not give you a high anyhow, but you want them. I bit the bullet and am now down to 1-2 a day.

That is my story. I think ANYONE who deliberately takes drugs for a buzz is an idiot. One day the supply will dry up and you will pay a price of pain physically and psychologically you cannot imagine, and you might do it in jail.

 

This is pretty much just an issue in the North American Church. Christians in many other countries see nothing wrong with a beer or glass of wine with supper.

However, their public drunkenness and drunk-driving laws are generally much more stringent than those in the USA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_law_by_country

 

Not you Saturn. :laugh:

SN, I told someobdoy else about an epidemic amongst the Church of using prescription pain pills. It has gone crazy but the very same people will look at folks who have a non=prescription drug problem as though they are the scum of the earth.

 

The atrocities connected to drinking are pretty much universal. And I'm not talking about what Christians see as wrong based upon their need to exercise their liberties. I'm talking about Christians taking part in something that in every country leads to the same things: drunkenness, deaths, violence, other drug use, etc.

 

And in some other countries (Muslim nations) alcohol is banned completely. If your found with a bottle of wine it can land you a jail sentence. Third world jails are dreadful. You might not live long enough in one to see freedom again.

 

An incident in the Navy, we were in an Italian port on leave. One of the crew members got too drunk and hit an Italian citizen over the head with a wine bottle. He was arrested and thrown into an Italian jail. Although Italy is not a third world country, it still is not like a jail in the US or Canada. The jails in Italy are dirty and dangerous. They have no Bill of Rights like we do. One can languish in jail for years even on a minor charge before trial. Anyway, the ship delayed its departure to see if the diplomatic authorities could get him out, to no avail. The ship left the Italian port, and I have no idea what happened to him to this day.

 

Moved to general thread.

 

I have a "Budweiser, the King of Beers" bumper sticker on my truck, and regularly wear my trusty "Heineken, Open your world today!" t-shirt while running errands around town, and plan to take my Kendall-Jackson "A Taste of the Truth" wine to our subdivision's monthly wine tasting social. Would anyone object to me changing my profile pic to a bottle of my favorite scotch, Glenfiddich Scotch Whisky, "The Independent Spirit"? I don't drink to get intoxicated like some others here so there's no reason to fear it would send the wrong message to anyone, right?

 

Incredible....!

After reading Sister Judith's OP and every subsequent post in this thread I guess I'll toss my 2cents worth in the hat. I'll also mention that I'm not gonna dignify the closest previous post in this thread with a response. I am gonna shift gears and toss another iron into the fire/discussion. Alcohol has been the prime factor in the probable damnation and definite DEATH of numerous of my own loved ones and it is ONLY by the grace of God that it didn't get it's addictive and destructive "hooks" into me. I will say that it (drinking)was at least one of the "ingredients" in much personal shame and sin in my own life over the years. Some of the despicable things I did under the "influence" are forever unmentionable, but thankfully forgiven by my loving, merciful God.
That said, bless you sister Judith...you have it RIGHT. You too Zaac. Now, the other iron I'm gonna pitch into the fire is this....How can ANYONE who names the name of Christ as Lord and Saviour SPEND the money that He provides you to fatten the coffers of these modern day merchants of death and debauchery such as Anheuser-Busch, Miller brewing, or any of the liquor or wine brewers or dealers? Can you honestly do that with a clear conscience? I'm just gonna leave it at that. It is a sad day that we live in. "Come out from among them and be ye seperate..."

Bro.Greg:saint:

 

Will all due respect, I believe you missed the point of my post. (Sarcasm... hint hint).

 

My Apologies...!

Please accept my public apology Richard. I will say though that your sarcasm was almost a bit too convincing. Besides...there are probably some here (no names mentioned):tear: for whom that kind of a post would not have been sarcasm...but rather factual. I've been around here for awhile and have seen some unbelievable and incredibly stupid things said by folks who profess to be in the grace of God. Signs of the times we live in I guess.

Bro.Greg:saint:

 

You never know on this board. I think when you've had to bury a child...an entire family in your immediate family or community because of this stuff, any excuse for using it loses it's luster.

When you've seen marriages torn apart...when you've seen folks lose everything because they are nasty, vomit and go to the bathroom on themselves drunks...when you've seen wives nearly beaten to death...when you're the first one on the scene of that accident and bodies have been flung from the car and you smell the alcohol...when you go to the morgue to identify your child's body because he took his life and in his journal you see that the use of all the drugs started with that first drink...

Christians should be screaming for folks to stay away from that stuff.

But we're selfish. An an increase in our own personal wickedness will cause our love to grow cold.

 

Truth Is not always "Nice"

:thumbsup: Well said Zaac...well said.

Bro.Greg:saint: