Featured Recreational drug use

Don't be swayed Greg. What you're seeing is hedonism at its worst. It is consuming the inside of the church as it has the outside.

The restraining force of wickedness that is the Holy Spirit doesn't work through SELFISHNESS.

And I believe this is where Christians mess up. They will say that drinking is not a sin and will use that liberty to, in their minds, justifiably do so. But in their need to make a point ,they do sin by having no regard for their witness and what brings glory to God because they are too busy making sure that you know they have a Christian right to drink "in moderation" if they choose.

Alcohol, like most mind altering drugs, can puff you up and have you so full of sinful pride that you miss that you're already sinning as a result of this stuff while focusing on your Christian liberty.

 

Anybody holding to platonism, christoplatonism or gnosticism will always label the false charge of hedonism.

 

Never said anything about those who do not drink are less spiritual. If you want me to take YOU seriously, please follow along.

 

To add a twist, I'm going to go against my personal beliefs here and say there is a good point brought up when people say that Jesus drank wine.

Because he obviously did. I have my own thoughts on that, as in it was common then, weak, as in purified water and not wine that was fermented enough to get drunk on. It is said to use wine for people who are sick, who are depressed, so maybe that meant stronger wine, but it says strong wine is a mocker, when it is red, so that says that fully fermented wine is bad. That's what it sounds like to me.

So imo, it sounds like using it to clean water or medicinally is fine, so I see no difference between that and using marijuana medicinally.

Which leaves us with it not being okay to use either one recreationally.

But if you say using alcohol is okay for fun, I just don't get why you can't use marijuana a bit for fun. You CAN use just a little. You can ingest a little, or smoke just a little. If you want it to be classy, stick it in a fancy dessert or smoke it in a fancy pipe or however people smoke it and stick your pinky out and voila, ya got class if that's your problem with it. You can rub cocaine on your gums instead of snorting it. Ever read or watch The Scarlet Pimpernel? The way they snorted it in that was full of class! Total pinky usage.

 

People who want to justify their "buzz" (drunk) always bring up Jesus drinking wine as if it is the same thing as what is being done today.

 

And much like alcohol usage, will the average person look at you using a little bit and think that you only do a little or a lot? Or will they think that person is doing the same thing that I'm doing?

That's why again, I believe we go right back to personal holiness. Christians have a very bad tendency of seeing just how close they can get to the edge with their Christian liberties instead of staying as far away from the edge as possible and being beyond reproach.

Christian liberty focuses on us whereas the Christian witness is about God and others.

 

Web, you are wasting bandwidth on the like's of Zaac (and others). Since you quote him I can't help but read his assertion that we are sinning if we drink moderately because we "have no regard for our witness". Yeah....I'd like to see scripture on that one!

I noticed that no one responded to my experiences with witnessing to people and the alcohol question. I will start to share the gospel and some have said,

"Where do you go to church?"
I will answer, "Bloomington Baptist Church".
"Oh, you're a Baptist. You think drinking is a sin. That's weird."

At this point teetotalers, should I respond, "Yes, drinking is a sin." And then tell them why they need Jesus in their life? How far will this approach get with these people?

This has happened to me three times in the past couple of years.

 

How about you take the conversation back over and tell them that you want to talk to them about Jesus and not about drinking?:jesus:

 

Wine gladdening the heart of man was the same in 2013 B.C. as it is today. Lot and Noah were drunk, just feeling the affects is not considered drunk

 

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
--All things are not "expedient." (profitable)
--You had the smell of alcohol on your breath when you left a restaurant which prohibited you from giving a tract to a police officer; instead the police officer told you to get out of the car and go through a variety of tests for sobriety's sake. It was a bad testimony no matter which way you look at it. Drinking was not profitable; expedient. It was not good for your Christian testimony.

Years ago I saw a picture in a newspaper of college students trying to witness to people on a beach. These students were in bathing suits, (some of them very immodest). A couple of them had a cigarette in one hand and offering a tract in another hand. What kind of testimony is that?
Is there any difference between a beer in one hand a tract in another while witnessing? IMO, no. They are both terrible vices. You approach the person with your cigarette or beer, try to give them a tract, and at the same time say: "Hi, I am from Bloomington Baptist Church." I am sure that will go over well.
How is your church any different than the local bar? They smoke and drink there. And they confide in their local counselor, the guy behind the bar. He knows his congregation--the regulars in the bar, and dispenses advice to them all. It's also a much more relaxing environment where your not likely to come under conviction of the Holy Spirit.

At this point I will hand them a tract that says "Reformer's Unanimous" and invite them to it. If they have any addiction of any kind they are welcome to come. It is held every Friday night, and even if you don't have an addiction, please give the pamphlet to someone that does. We all know people that have addictions.

 

Anyone that thinks that the wines of today are the same as in Biblical times has not done their homework are doomed to remain in blissful ignorance, unless they take the time and effort to do some study on the subject.

 

Of course its not....to those who want to justify it. But to everyone else...

 

DHK, you have any bread? webdog has already served the baloney.

 

You have no clue on how wine was made then compared today. There are still wineries that only use the ancient method. Take your own advice.

 

Better yet, you made the silly connection, you justify it. Using your logic a sandwich that kills hunger pangs is the same thing as gluttony.

 

Here's some background music to listen to while typing up your next justification...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8j8v_beastie-boys-fight-for-your-right_music?start=41

 

Yes it's an ugly thing when Christians get so caught up in what they have liberty to do that they forget about loving Jesus and others.

As DHK stated, not all things are profitable. And there simply is no witness for Christ that can be made through the use of drugs recreationally.

Given what study after study keeps presenting, why would any Christian want their witness for Christ to be associated with the use, moderate or otherwise, of this stuff?

But when liberty to drink alcohol supersedes one's desire to present a right witness for Christ, you're worse off than an alcoholic in my opinion.

 

I have taken my own advice and I have studied. I also have several books on the subject. It is sad to see those who will not study this subject out with any open mind at all. It seems as if they simply want to justify their vice.
Here are parts of a link (one of many) you ought to read:
http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/Bible/Doctrines/Holiness/Drugs%20&%20Alcohol/Wine-Drinking%20in%20New%20Testament%20Times.htm

Robert H. Stein is associate professor of New Testament at Bethel College, St. Paul, Minnesota. He has the B.D. from Fuller Seminary, S.T.M. from Andover Newton Theological School, and Ph.D. from Princeton Seminary.
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To speak of the wine of today and compare it to the wine of the time of Christ is apples and oranges. There is no comparison.


As his illustration points out if the wine is at a 3:1 ratio, one would have to drink an equivalent of 22 martinis before he could consume enough alcohol to be drunk. It is impossible. Other bodily functions take over well before that time.
As an added note, MacArthur believes the ratio was 8:!, even more diluted.
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Buzzed driving is drunk driving!

 

As is the norm, you assume way too much. I studied this angle for years, comparing all 244 instances the Bible mentions wine or other strong drink. Supplying a commentary of someone just as wrong as you proves nothing more than the ability to find those you agree with. The jews have clebrated Passover the same way for thousands of years. No dilution of wine has ever been used. It would have been nearly impossible to get drunk, yet people did in the Bible. Go figure.