I find it odd that somebody would ask a theologian a legal question. This is very ineffective. Why wouldn't they instead ask him a theological question? For instance, they could have asked him how he felt the Bible dealt with intoxication in general, and then how that can be understood in light of what we read in the first part of Proverbs 31.
I am firmly against recreational drug use, and I'm a teetotaler, but I must admit that passage makes me think. I'd love to hear his opinion on that.
okay i might actually be coming around with this guy. I don't smoke weed, but I do think it should be legalized. I don't support gay marriage, but I think it should also be legalized. it comes down to this.... does our govt have the right to legislate morality? I would say NO!! Let them stick to legislating crime, but leave morality to the church. Ron Paul & John Piper FTW LOL
@Punisher4bmw That is about correct sir, your grandmother was a smart woman. The problem is that those suffering who start to take it as a medicine may begin to take it in such amounts that it becomes a poison simply because it is such a good medicine that they take it as a cure for their everyday difficulties. Anything (even water... with the exception of the Holy Ghost) when abused can become a poison. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing. That is the rule. MODERATION!
Honestly in my opinion, I see it this way. The only reason it's wrong for a Christian to be smoking weed (ya, I'm feeling to lazy to spell it out today) is that the government God has put over us has said no and so that settles it's rightness or wrongness. That said, if the government turned around and made it as legal to acquire and use as alcohol or tobacco, with similar restrictions, then there would certainly be nothing wrong with using it in moderation, but be mastered by nothing.
1This can be a long debate. My example of chair doesn't send you to only one chair but to an idea of what chairs are. You get that concepts are abstractions and you seem to get that they come from reality. Chairs were for example's sake. But let's go more in depth. Concepts are very powerful tools that allow you to integrate complexe knowledge. (I don't have to see all the chairs in the world to recognize one.) So let's take the example of the concepts of right and wrong. (+next)
2Sweep aside the ideas you might have from religion. You can say that some atheists have an idea of right and wrong, like they know it's wrong to kill, which doesn't come from god as we have no connection with him. Most etheists get their morality from society which is as bad as getting it from god. But some ask themselves: what in reality gives me the need of a code of value? Inanimate objects and animals don't have one, why would I need one? (animals are programmed to survive humans are not)
3The reason is that by nature, men don't have a code of value. They have free will. They don't know what's good or bad for them. Therefore to live and find happiness, they need a code of value to guide their actions (free-will could be shown here). Reason (to gain knowlege on reality) is the first virtue from which proceed, purpose, productivity, integrity, honesty,... The good becomes what's good for the life of a rational being, the evil what distroys it, here is the concept of right and wrong
4Now the concept of individual rights. They come from man's free will. To have free will he needs the right to his life. If not, then he's not pursuing the values his life requires. If he cannot pursue his values than he is not free. If he cannot possess the product of his virtues (virtue being the action by which one gain and keeps value) than he connot pursue his values. This is where those concepts came from. But I would agree most people get their concepts from authorities not from reality.
I miss understood what you wrote about universal laws. But let me explain to you what concepts are. Concepts are abstractions that allow you to grasp reality. When I say "chair" this concept englobes all chairs ever created whatever their shapes or matter as long as they are chairs. With one word “chair” I grasp millions of real objects. Than take the concept of “table”. They are many different tables but they fall into the same concept of “table”.
@maximemeis111 i agree. but ur missing that this analogy doesn't relate to our subject of of free-will and/or "inalienable rights" other than to support my point that they are both ineligible to be accepted universally as universal laws. Here: Concept (abstraction)----to grasp----chair (existent fixture in reality). That's logical. Concept (abstraction)----to grasp----freewill/inalienable rights (ALSO conceptual abstraction). That's organized confusion. The formula doesn't follow.
@dararebreed As concepts themselves, free will & inalienable rights (given that we all agreed on even the EXISTENCE of them as concepts worthy of contemplating) should be subject to each persons own perception, and therefore, DEFINITION. And the real world result we be that they both would be relegated to the realm of "opinions". And I'm sure u know what they say about those.
Now you pick both concepts. A table is not a chair. You join those concepts and you obtain the concept of furniture (that you can expand with whatever goes under the category “furniture”). It is how you build your knowledge: starting from reality, you build concepts and you integrate them without contradictions. You say that my concept of chair is irrelevant because it has no affect on the chair. My concept are BASED on reality. Conciousness doesn't affect reality, concepts either.
If you say that my concepts are irrelevant because they don't affect reality, it supposes yours do. Concepts are made from reality, they don't make reality. Otherwise a chair could be an elephant as it would be dependant on your will to think it true. And as I explained earlier, concepts like unalienable rights must be based on reality. They did not come from nothing. And they are based on the nature of humans.
1Concept are creation from the mind it's true, it's an abstraction. But concept are based or reality. My concept of a chair rests on the observations of reality so does any of my other concepts, to the most complex ones. Therefore if a concept is built proprely, it is valid as it is based on reality. You reject the idea of an idea of pre-existing all-powerful universal law but you acknowlege the law of cause and effect, don't you? How can you old such contradiction?
@maximemeis111 ur concept of the chair is irrelevant & insignificant because it has no affect on the chair or anyone else's experience with the chair. The chair exists in reality. How u choose to perceive it only affects how YOU interact with it.As it should be. To each his own & not conditioning others to adopt 1 man's perception as their own. When did I say I reject the ideal of pre-existing all-powerful universal law? Cause & effect, like the chair, exists & is self evident.
@dararebreed I miss understood what you wrote about universal laws. But let me explain to you what concepts are. Concepts are abstractions that allow you to grasp reality. When I say "chair" this concept englobes all chairs ever created whatever their shapes or matter as long as they are chairs. With one word “chair” I grasp millions of real objects. Than take the concept of “table”. They are many different tables but they fall into the same concept of “table”.
2My reasoning is based on the statement that existence exists. Any attempt to deny that statement implies existence. The first law of reality is the law of identity: A is A. Any attempt do deny that law is vain. To bring a proof that A can be non-A at the same time and in the same respect is vain. Your proof would be a non-proof and therefore you wouldn't be prooving anything. From this we can say that everything in nature as a nature and everything in nature must act according to its nature.
3”An animal is equipped for sustaining its life; its senses provide it with an automatic code of action, an automatic knowledge of what is good for it or evil. It has no power to extend its knowledge or to evade it. In conditions where its knowledge proves inadequate, it dies. But so long as it lives, it acts on its knowledge, with automatic safety and no power of choice, it is unable to ignore its own good, unable to decide to choose the evil and act as its own destroyer.”
4”Man has no automatic code of survival. His particular distinction from all other living species is the necessity to act in the face of alternatives by means of volitional choice. He has no automatic knowledge of what is good for him or evil, what values his life depends on, what course of action it requires.” From Ayn Rand. Men are not programmed another proof is that they can commit suicide and destroy their life unlike animals.
5 Unalienable rights are required by our nature, by the fact that we have free-will. A person like you who despises what makes him human will never earn any respect from any honest man. By rejecting what makes you human, you have lowered yourself under the level of the lowest of animals.
6 Free-will and laws are not contradicting as you say. “In any hour and issue of your life, you are free to think or to evade that effort. But you are not free to escape from your nature, from the fact that reason is your means of survival-so that for you, who are a human being, the question ‘to be or not to be’ is the question ‘to’ think or not to think.” Ayn Rand. Free will doesn't allow you to evade reality.
I have Hep C from intravenous drug use {25+ yr's} when I was young . I have smoked pot since I was 12 , I used to have astma very bad , Once I started smoking Pot, I never had another attack, And have continued smoking it for 40 now . Obviously it doesn't do all the stuff, the GOVT says it does to you { I'm Still Here }. Now I know! EVERY POTHEAD knows this BIBLE verse by Heart, I have given EVERY Green herb, to EVERY living thing, that has the breath of Life therein.....And it was GOOD.
@DefendYourRights1 Now whether you smoke it or eat it ,it still "crosses the lips". And Jesus said; What enter into a mans lips, CANNOT defile the man, It is that which issues forth FROM THE LIPS is that which defileth the man. DO YOU HEAR THAT CHRISTIAN CHURCH, who would rather cast stumbling blocks before the weak ,than to obey the WORD OF GOD ! Hypocrites and Whited Tombs !
@DefendYourRights1 Now let me make this VERY CLEAR .....My first drug of choice ,as is 99.9 % of the people who do drugs is....... ALCOHOL. Now I dont give a rat's furry behind what the GOVT tells you , the GATEWAY DRUG hands down is ALCOHOL ! Does GOD tell you to stay away from MJ? But he does warn you to STAY SOBER , MJ causes MEEKNESS , Alcohol cause Death and Heartache, Divorce , Poverty, BRAWLING ECT . Got time to watch TV, play Farmville on computer ? You got time to read BIBLE then !!!
@DefendYourRights1 I am not telling everyone to take up Pot smoking ! Fact of the matter is it's illegal , I know how it became that way...I know ! Our Govt was crooked as Hell when they passed this Law, When a Govt passes Laws contrary to the WORD OF GOD, WHO DO YOU OBEY , GOD OR MAMMON ? Like I said 40 yr's now and still kickin , P.S. the Guy I got HEP C from died 6 yr's ago, By the Grace and Word of God I'm free from those things now, I went to Methadone clinic 6 yr's, 1 addiction 4 another !
Yes it should be legal. Not for the reasons he talks about but in virtue of human nature. Man is a being a free-will. His rights by nature are life, liberty and proprety. He should be able to make his own choices by his own judgement (as long as he doesn't threaten others people basic rights.)
@maximemeis111 everything u just said, those concepts, were created from man's imagination. We made it up. It's not some kinda pre-existing all powerful universal law. There's absolutely nothing "free" about man's will. There would be no such thing as Law if so. There is a consequence for every action & an effect for every cause. I'm so tired of people saying "free-will" & "inalienable rights" as if we didn't just make that up the same way we made up Sponge Bob & break dancing.
@dararebreed 1Concept are creation from the mind it's true, it's an abstraction. But concept are based or reality. My concept of a chair rests on the observations of reality so does any of my other concepts, to the most complex ones. Therefore if a concept is built proprely, it is valid as it is based on reality. You reject the idea of an idea of pre-existing all-powerful universal law but you acknowlege the law of cause and effect, don't you? How can you old such contradiction?
alcohol? well you cant have one without the other. and really folks, who cares what this guy really thinks about it, trying to "moralize" a plant. how absurd. some people make butter out of it then make food out of it, then it is a great analgesic. who cares why people want to use it. coffee is going to kill you also.
It is a sign of the times that "Christians" go to men to answer these questions. Rather than directly to the Word of God. Lets see what God has to say about the matter.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Is the fact that doing something is morally wrong enough to justify imprisoning its users? If so, why not imprison anyone who lies or doesn't tithe? A better question is: is putting nonviolent users of a substance into prison just? Does God's conception of justice involve putting hundreds of thousands of minority nonviolent drug offenders into prison for years and years and years? Clearly not.
God did not make weed. We did. Just like God did not make alcohol. We did. We created this and now we manipulate it so that it is "okay" to do it. WRONG! it is not okay, it is WRONG!
@rszymanski6 god did not make weed? do you realize how many varieties of naturally grown marijuana there are in this entire world.? you sir are a complete raving moron.
Here in Costa Rica (currently on vacation), the criminalization of narcotics in the United States causes serious problems. In fact, it causes problems for every country from Colombia through Mexico. Criminalizing narcotics in the US to demonstrate a love for our children ruins the lives of children in central america. Further, John Piper floats a red herring when he conflates legalization with a free-for-all lack of regulation.
Wow, never thought I'd hear Piper say that. I agree. There is a responsible usage for it and it has helped a lot of really sick people. Abusing drugs/alcohol isn't a prohibition problem, its a heart problem. Men are wicked and thus do wicked things. You can abuse cough syrup, but that doesnt stop us from selling it at Walgreens. We waste So much $ on the so called "war against drugs" putting ppl in jail and we have to pay the bill for their room& board and MTV. meanwhile I dont even have cable!
When Jesus went up to sick ppl. Did He offer them marijuana or pray for Gods power to heal them completely? He all must continue the work of Jesus as Christians. Deny your self pick up your cross and follow me. (By follow me Jesus means copy me) another translation says follow after me which means COPY. Jesus never told anyone they could use marijuana to ease the pain. He used His faith towards God and to give God glory through healing. Smoking weed doesnt give God glory for His healing..
Marijuana is not good man. God wouldnt pull me off of it for a reason. Marijuana made me the most selfish person alive and I felt strong convictions smoking it. 1 Corinthians 4:20 - "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." Theres no high like the most High.
@genkimachina Once what you consider to be moral is no longer based solely on the relief of suffering of conscious creatures, you are doing what the suicide bombers are; you think that you're doing something which is moral when it is not.
The thing is is that if we medicinalise it its kinda living in a lie as most people will state they need it for medical reasons but just want to get high :L
Decriminalising it is the first step, then regulation.
I am not adamantly against legalization because it is already so accessible in our culture, but I do believe that the church should preach that smoking to get high is a sin in the same way that drinking to get drunk is a sin.
Smoking pot makes one feel very good for a little while. Getting drunk makes one feel numb for a little while.
At the same time, listening to music makes one feel very good, just as enjoying a juicy steak makes one feel good. Even a long, restful night's sleep (when you could be awake preaching!) makes you feel extremely good the next day.
@SeedsOfHatred Let me clarify. The Bible is very clear about being wise and conducting one's self responsibly. This drug seems to have some legitimate medicinal purposes, but smoking for recreation inhibits judgement which clearly goes against pretty much the entire book of Proverbs.
@genkimachina There is no chemical or psychological difference between smoking pot recreationally and smoking it medicinally. I am a police officer and have encountered both medicinal and recreational users.
Either way, they're blazed out of their mind. The only difference is a matter of legality.
It should also be noted that medicinal use of many over-the-counter meds inhibits judgment as well.
this is such a tough one, perhaps it should be treated the way the Bible speaks about any other thing in this world, that it should not be abused but used in moderation and with responsibility, making sure that it does not rule ones life. And God made it, like he also made sex. Because how can anyone deny its positive value when it is a medicinal remedy for so many people? In my opinion, it would be legal if it was actually harmful to us. (research the illuminati/freemansons and their mission)
I don't think marijuana should be legalized. It is a mind expanding drug that intensifies all of ones perceptions. Not only does food taste better and music sound better, but ones spiritual awareness is expanded. This is why marijuana(among other drugs) is used to initiate people into different forms of witchcraft/Satanism.
WEED IS NOT A DRUG YOU IDIOTS, IT IS A PLANT, BUT IF YOU LIGHT IT, IT WILL AFFECT YOU, MAKE YOU SLEEPY, HUNGRY, HAPPY, TRUST I KNOW. DRUGS YOU GOTTA DO SHYT TO IT. WEED IS GROWN. SO STOP. AND I HATE HOW THEY CANT PUT A TAX ON IT. I WANT IT LEGALIZED. I KNOW PEOPLE SMOKE WEED, JUS ON THE LOW, ACT LIKE THEY NEVER TRIED IT, IM PRETTY SURE MANY PEOPLE WHEN THEY WERRE YOUNGER TRIED, JUS LIKE ME. I STARTED SMOKIN IT AT 13 AND BEEN DOIN IT FOR 7 YEARS, IM 20 NOW. IT AINT BAD. IT DOESNT MAKE YOU DUMB
@UMANEDAKIDD19 UM Heroin comes from poppies,which are "JUST A PLANT". Keep smoking weed ,and when you are 40 ,you can give it up , move out of your parents house and start looking for a job in Wendys.
I SMOKE WEED 24/7 BEEN SMOKIN IT SINCE I WAS 13 AND IM 20. I SMOKE WEED TO EASE MY PAIN, RELIEVE STRESS. I JUS HATE WHEN PEOPLE THINK CUS THEY HIT THE BLUNT ONCE THEY ALL OF A SUDDEN SMOKERS, I HATE THAT. THEY JUS SMOKE TO BE COOL OR CUS OTHERS ARE DOIN IT. BUT SHYT, LEGALIZE IT, IT DONT KILL YOU. YOU NEVER HEARD SOMEONE OVERDOSIN ON WEED. CIGARETTES, THEY KILL YOU. AT LEAST WEED ISNT DRUGS, WEED IS JUS A PLANT BUT WHEN YOU LIGHT IT, IT DOES AFFECT YOU. IT JUS MAKES YOU SLEEPY, HUNGRY, HAPPY.
Everyone who wants to smoke marijuana is already smoking it. We all know Prohibition was a marvelous idea (sarcasm). Legalize it and you just might save a couple hundred thousand lives in Latin America, save Mexico from anarchy, all while being able to regulate and tax it. Right now our "good intentions" have caused more problems than legalized marijuana ever will. In my opinion.
God created marijuana on this planet for his people to experience and decide for themselves about its effects on them. One persons view on marijuana can be completely different to another persons view and neither of them would be wrong, its their own personal experience with it
John Piper was balanced in his approach, although he should understand that certain biased perspectives against marijuana must be understood in light of many decades of study. First, marijuana is not addictive. I concede that it can be habit forming, but it is not a drug on which one can get "strung out" on. Secondly, advocates of the proper use of medical marijuana would not condone recreational abuse. That is a question discussed in the legalization of marijuana circles.
you sounded pretty confused near the end, marijuana does not cause brain damage, in fact i saw on a science show that marijuana puts a protective layer around your brain cells to protect them from damage like binge drinking. God made marijuana and wants us to have access to it, this is in genesis 1:29
1:50. Are you kidding me john?? do you really believe that thats what marijuana legalization advocates are fighting for? completely unrestricted, unrestrained unlimited marijuana for 13 year old kids??? Marijuana legalization advocates are trying to keep people out of jail for nonviolent drug crimes. our tax dollars shouldnt be spent keeping someone locked up for personally using a drug that is safer than alcohol. That was a ridiculous logical fallacy Mr. Piper and I'm disappointed.
I think most of you are forgetting the point me made about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes ONLY. Any legal substance can be abused like codeine, valium etc but despite all these substances being legal they are regulated and controlled. The same could be applied for marijuana especially in a by-product form if it is able to provide a health benefit as supposed to a hazard. Coca leaves are used in many products such as cosmetics so im sure similar things can be done with marijuana.
I think most of you are forgetting the point me made about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes ONLY. Any legal substance can be abused like codeine, valium etc but despite all these substances being legal they are regulated and controlled. The same could be applied for marijuana especially in a by-product form if it is able to provide a health benefit as supposed to a hazard. Cocaleaves are used in many products such as cosmetics so im sure similar things can be done with marijuana.
John - Thanks for your reasoned reponse - I found it impressive in general. However, you are incorrect re: the "terrible addiction" that you saw resulting from marijuana. Brother - and I believe you are in listening to you - please do the study needed to understand what God has created here. Can cannabis be abused? Yes. Can water be abused? Yes (it is called drowning...). Anyting can be abused including Bible study. I am available if your in interested in another of those "lunches".
@tony9L9L "Consulting God" ? You would have to be seriously off your tits to believe you could do that. This is why drugs are harmful. Stop while you can...............
@ilikezappa I don't take drugs. My point is that Piper has declared himself a mouthpiece of God and yet he is clearly making it all up. God has not advised him on this issue nor any other issue he pontificates on because God doesn't exist outside of our imaginations. I can't believe people listen to this top idiot.
@ilikezappa Believing you hear from god disqualifies any opinion you might have because someone who is arrogant enough to believe that is extremley deluded to begin with.
Can't stand the smug look on his face. Why doesnt anyone in his church challenge him?
@tony9L9L I wouldn`t go so far. That also sounds arrogant. Some people who believe in God are much smarter than me and worthy of intellectual respect. I actually like Piper , he is funny, but his brand of evangelism is hard to defend when the evidence against it is so compelling. I think the message he sends out is to be challenged by people who have some respect for human learning.
@ilikezappa Having the ability to zealously believe in a self defeating concept like god is a sign of intellectual feebleness and deserves pity not respect.
I like Bugs Bunny, he's funny and I'd rather the buck-toothed rabbit for a guru than this fading Simpsons character.
Your last comment was perhaps a little clumsy - pray tell, who doesn't respect human learning?
@ilikezappa WEED ISNT A DRUG, ITS A PLANT, BUT IF YOU LIGHT IT, IT DOES AFFECT YOU. ALL IT DOES IS MAKE YOU SLEEPY, HUNGRY, AND HAPPY. THATS WHY PEOPLE BE LAUGHIN FOR NO REASON WHEN THEY HIGH, ESPECIALLY ME LMAO. WEED DONT KILL YOU. CIGARETTES WILL. YOU NEVER HEARD OF SOMEONE OVERDOSIN ON WEED. WEED IS NOT A DRUG. DRUGS YOU GOTTA DO SHYT TO IT. WEED IS JUS A PLANT THAT IS GROWN FROM THE GROUND
Pot may be "a part of God's creation"; just remember; this 'creation' has been bombarded with a curse; all creation has been corrupted, so just maybe God created Hemp and the curse let in hemp's creative side-effects.....just thinkin out loud.
with the illegalisation of marijuana, we are making sure that our kids ARE exposed to it. there is less booze in high school lockers then there is marijuana. as soon as the unscrupulous get there hands on a market, they dont care who buys it. if there were no profit in selling marijuana illicitly, there would be less sold to minors.
As harmful as drug use of any kind is, drug use and then being made into a criminal, instead of a human being is worse. People will unfortunately use drugs, whether they are legal or not. Do you want to pay to lock them up? It's cheaper to treat them as humans and rehab them. A criminal record will prevent a person from any real employment for the rest of their life. The real issue is that the prohibition of drugs is more dangerous than the drugs, and people are going to do them either way.
Look at the success other countries have had with decriminalization. Drug use goes down. Gangs dissolve sense they have no means to make money through the black market. You actually shrink the black market. That is a god thing. Mexican cartels, the terror groups over seas. They get the money to fight us, from America. Wanting to stop this "get stupid on crime" game to end. Lets get smart. Instead of getting tough, we got stupid. Lets not stay stuck there.
Non wants everyone to go around high on drugs all day, everyday. Drugs are illegal and people do them. If they were legal and controlled, monitored, regulated for safety, and taxed things would be better. People would still use, but the drugs would be safer. Instead of 100 billion spent every year on this drug war we would make money, and people who needed help could come forward without fear of criminalization. Let doctors, and therapist, not judges and courts help, not hurt those in trouble.
@antiUltimateInfinity Those cartels wouldn't go away, Much of the drugs purchased go to Europe and 2nd world nations where it is legal. The reason cartels exist is because of the highly addictive nature of these drugs that come from worn torn and unstable nations that supply to nations around the world, not just the US. MJ may not be much of an issue, but they would make the money on drugs like cocaine and heroin.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk There are no cigarette "cartels." There are no pornography "cartels." Whether or not something is addictive does not affect the extent to which cartels control its industry.
@strabes88 Cartel is not synonymous with gang. It's just a business contract. Cartels are fighting each other over money made from hard drugs like cocaine, not because it's illegal in the US. And there is a significant amount of crime and abuse in the porn industry, it's just largely ignored. Simply because you legalize something, that does not make it better for everyone.
@strabes88 Sure, there may not be gangs shooting at each other, but millions have died from lung cancer and women are routinely abused and trafficked like goods. I'm not against legal MJ like legal narcotics, but I am against the notion that legalizing all drugs is a moral thing to do.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk None of your comments make the argument that putting nonviolent drug users in prison is just. People are free to choose to smoke and must accept the health consequences. Perhaps the lives of all of those nonviolent cigarette smokers would be better if they were sitting in prison since government knows how run their lives better. The extent to which there is crime and abuse in the porn industry is the extent to which government has failed to protect its citizens' rights.
@strabes88 If it was as simple as"health consequences", like eating a big mac, then your argument would be just fine. However, that would throw out the years of documented research of how habitual drug users (heroine, cocaine, LSD) are extremely violent when they cannot get a fix because of how the drugs change body chemistry. They are a threat to public safety. The government has a vested interest in maintaining a sober public.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk Everything you said about drugs can be applied to vehicles. Cars are a threat to public safety. If there were no cars, no one would die in car accidents. However, it would obviously be silly to put people in prison for driving cars. What we DO put people in prison for is when they use their cars to violate the rights of others. The minute you get into a car with too much alcohol (and, as the law should be, drugs) you are a criminal.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk Using either substance in your own home is not an act of aggression i.e. it is not an initiatory use of force and therefore it should not be a crime.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk Yes, exactly, assuming you are using the phrase "acting aggressively" to describe "aggression" (two different things). Any other standard causes the government itself to become the aggressor rather than the protector.
@strabes88 Not to mention that any other standard is completely and fully arbitrary i.e. based on the whims of whoever can manage to secure power at the time.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk What other people do with and put into their bodies is none of your business. Do not try to take the moral high ground when you are the one pointing the gun at the rest of us (via the government) to make us conform to your moral code.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk I'm glad you asked. The role of government is not to force its citizens to conform to one group's moral code. This will inevitably devolve into mob rule and tyranny of the majority. To the contrary, government's role is to prevent aggression, i.e. the initiation of the use of force. Any time the government does more than this, it reverses its role and actually becomes the aggressor itself. A good, short, classic read on this issue is The Law by Frederic Bastiat.
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk If you believe using drugs is wrong (which I do also), then you must use persuasion to convince people to agree with you. The moment you use the government to force this view on others, you become an aggressor yourself.
@strabes88 then you just dont use any drugs mam, you should see what psych doctors are prescribing for patients these days and the long laundry list of precautions and warnings that accompany them.
@strabes88 if people could simply grow what they wish and use what they wish, cartels would have no more demand to bring vast quantities of a weed into this country. that business would be over.
Regulation is the key - legalize it and regulate the sale, just like alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol is the most damaging drug in American society - How often do you hear of a drunk going home and beating his wife???? How many pot heads do that?? lolololol the biggest threat from marijuana users is a empty refrigerator
@TheConstitutionMan I smoked it for years , it never made me believe I had a "relationship" with a jewish Zombie. Perhaps I wasn`t getting the good stuff.
quiet frankly i cant take advice or give much weight to the words of someone who would rather sit at home all day listening to pink floyd in an altered state of mind...
you would also probably make that lame arguement that too much of anything is harmful and everything in small doses is acceptable......why stand on such slippery ground..especially with something as addictive ,(with so much of an impact on your thought process and ability to make sound desicions) as cannabis or alcahol...pretty soon a little heroine wouldnt sound so bad either....
@pheonixconn333 Marijuana isn't addictive AT ALL. It's physically impossible to be addicted to marijuana. People smoke it because it's fun. There is no withdrawls nor can you over dose on it but just because it's harmless, it doesn't make it okay because it distracts the persons mind from more important things.
i dont think he was making a case against marijuana simply because it is not in accordance with the law of the land...cannabis might or might not be harmful (im not being a naive judgmental christian with a myopic mindset by saying it does.).........but as a recovering alcaholic with a history of drug abuse..NO GOOD COMES FROM IT...sure you can be that self absorbed, adamant guy and tel me YOU are benefited...but i can show you thousands of lives ruined owing to this.
Does he get caffeine buzzes? Ever smoked a cigarette? Gotten a little tipsy? Done something for an adrenaline rush? There's no difference. And pretending that there is means you are lying to yourself.
cannabis does not cause any brain damage what so ever. i was able to interview a harvard doctor who has a doctorate in psycotherapy and neurology explained to me every thing bad or good about cannabis. the only slight thing that might happen with cannabis is it has been shown to maybe cause a low sperm count. thats it. believe what u want but i trust a doctor of harvard who has been studying cannabis since 1967
@remusnigga Except you won`t turn up to meet God at the appointed place ,because you are too stoned ,if my taxi driver in Tobago is anything to go by.
Drugs mess with your head. If you take too many you will probably end up feeling pretty desperate , in which case you might take the ridiculous claims of Mr Piper seriously. Much better to stay clean.
@ilikezappa maybe if zappa had done the right drugs(natural psychedelics) the right way his music would be more like you know... music, and not the convoluted dissonant overrated mass that it is.no wonder his greatest disciple is steve vai, the virtuoso, and by virtuoso I mean master wanker.now if you excuse me I'll listen to some Hendrix and catch a fire if know what I mean...and to all of you who follow any one of the three desert death cults, you need to chill you neurotic loonies... peace.
@tothewestofyou Hmmm ,I think Frank was never much impressed with drugs, and one persons dissonant overrated mass is another`s Polyrythmic masterpiece. That is just music dude. Zappa himself said his music was not created for broad appeal. I listen to Hendrix as well , and admire his beautiful blues. Shame the drugs killed him , you never know what he would have evolved into. (I know evolution is a dirty word here,but I assume I am talking to someone who cares for the truth above superstition)
@ilikezappa now I feel bad about being a jerk with you, sorry man.you see, marijuana ain't that bad, I smoked some and I bet I more "christian" than this piper dude right now... and yes superstition annoys me to say the least... wich is really unfortunate for me, because I live in the biggest catholic coutry in the planet (brazil)...
@tothewestofyou Dont feel bad , I used play with that stuff too. I used the believe that a cup of tea and a spliff was the breakfast of champions ! All it did was make me lazy, but it never made me believe that a dead Jew loved me ,or that the world was only four days old, or whatever the God folks have in their brains. Perhaps I never got the good shit ! My friend Al took LSD and thought there was a flying saucer in his attic. No weirder than believing the Book of Genesis I guess.
@ilikezappa you know what is really weird? if you read these "holy" books like you would read W.Blake or any other poetry, they are (parts of them) quite good, particulary the ones from India, the problem is when people go:"oh this is it! this is what was missing in my life, this has got to be the ultimate truth" them it hits the fan... as for the psychedelics, I've taken massive doses, never saw aliens, demons, elfs or heard voices in my head,I was always aware that I was diving in my own mind.
@ilikezappa First of all marijuana is not a drug. It's an all natural herb/plant that has effects. It's never killed anyone nor is addictive so let's not use the word drugs at a general statement because comparing marijuana to any harder drugs such as cocaine or heroin is just plain ignorant.
@AbM986 Marijuana never killed anyone ? Bullshit. Plenty of people have crashed their cars because they were bombed . It is also hard on the lungs ,especially when you toke hard and hold it in till you turn red. It makes you grow a beard and talk bollocks about flying saucers if you do too much, and you will still be living with your parents at the age of 40 .You will also think 20 minute long guitar solos are relevant.None of this is as bad as being a Christian though.You got problems then
The bible states not to be filled with drunkenness, which getting high is a state of drunkenness of a kind. It's not like having a beer or two, when you smoke weed you're doing it, for the intention of entering that medicated state of being high, and being intoxicated, drunk with THC. Those who smoke for non-medical purposes are no better than the prescription pill poppers. Yes God placed that plant here for medical reasons, not for smoking, or abuse. God's not glorified by lazy bums
@vanduiam88 Smoking marijuana is not at all a form of being drunk. It's an all natural herb unlike alcohol. Alcohol is an actual poison to the body which makes you drunk. Being high on marijuana makes you mellow, lazy, hungry, but is not addictive nor can you over dose. I'm not justifying it because it distracts a persons walk with God but to say it's okay to have a couple beers and not be able to drink alcohol is hypacritical.
Legalizing pot sounds like a grand idea. Most pot heads I know agree "legalizing mary jane is good cus we can tax it and no more crime would exist"...that seems thats the only argument these jolly half brained pot heads can come up with but if legalized, big corporations will begin to regulate growth, distribution, pump this gift of mother earth full of chemicals that will make them that much more addictive and deadly, if we want to legalize put down the joints, come up with a real plan
@hemptime123 Great stuff man, yeah you give the cause great hope, I'm on your side moron, Idiots like you make Cannabis look bad keep your homophobic comments to yourself.
@JuanOfaKind88 if you legalised ALL drugs like portegal there would be less gangs... less shooting.. instead of noticing u have an addiction and manipulate you the "drug dealers" would help you, considering they would probably just be your friends to begin with.. making this stuff illegal because they think its worse then crack is doing nothing but putting them in the hole. hows that for a pot head idea. num nuts. oh by the way.. if youve ever smoked pot you would know it helps you think ;)
@hemptime123 Look, I'm not going to get into a childish argument over trying to prove to you I've smoked "pot", I've no interest in you believing me or not and the whole theory of "legalizing will reduce gang crimes", is only that, a theory. Lets be realistic friend, gangs and crime go hand in hand with or without drugs.
@JuanOfaKind88 sure. but you know just as well as i do that if the government controlled some drugs there wouldnt be the big fat italian man who has your ilife in his hands behind the desk or the little nigger on the street with crack.. they would be friends HELPING you. wehre as if pot was legal, it wuoldnt change a damn thing, and people who don't smoke pot would be affected aswell. if we had a permit for a vertain amount of plants we could purchase yearly. this would be perfect for everyone.
@JuanOfaKind88 It's physically impossible become physically addictived nor overdose on marijuana so calling someone a pot head is ignorant and saying chemicals would make it more addictive or dangerous is too because marijuana is niether to begin with.
@AbM986 Well we can debate about the dangers of smoking anything, causing Lung cancer and other health related issues, so I wouldn't say Marijuana is not dangerous, less dangerous, perhaps. Anything, of course, if used in excess is not good for someones health. And how is calling someone a pot head "ignorant"? The term is used to describe someone who is a heavy user.
On top of his answer, I think we are wasting so much of the tax payers money enforcing this and putting people in jail for this. I don't agree with the use for it outside of medical use. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't hemp only illegal because it's a cheaper way to make paper, and it would have put paper companies out of business? Any ways, in Hammerstein I heard that they have lower amounts of hard drug users because they don't have other substances pushed on them.
The bigger issue is that the criminal government makes much more of a profit from marijuana when it is illegal. The biggest problem with churchmen is that they are extremely naive about governmental corruption. The same issue with marriage "license." We don't need permission from the government to get married.
@caveatemp Excellent point! And as long as the pulpits in this nation teach a perverted interpretation of ROMANS 13 which states that we must submit to and obey human authorities,no matter how corrupt,immoral,and criminal they may be.....the problem will continue to get worse.
@caveatemp "churchmen" must not need to kno too much about the government, seeing as how the government wants nothing to do with God.. God is our governer and thats all a christian should be concerned about.
@SwAnkTwO We are still called to be in the world even though we are not of it. In other words it is important that we are aware of issues around us. I would say that being aware of the laws is especially important because many of the laws in the US are oppressive and as Christians we should have compassion on those who are oppressed.
@caveatemp If you want tax benefits from said government yes you do. The government does give benefits to married peoples and they way they determine that is through a license.
I find it odd that somebody would ask a theologian a legal question. This is very ineffective. Why wouldn't they instead ask him a theological question? For instance, they could have asked him how he felt the Bible dealt with intoxication in general, and then how that can be understood in light of what we read in the first part of Proverbs 31.
I am firmly against recreational drug use, and I'm a teetotaler, but I must admit that passage makes me think. I'd love to hear his opinion on that.
ANewMindDotOrg 4 days ago
okay i might actually be coming around with this guy. I don't smoke weed, but I do think it should be legalized. I don't support gay marriage, but I think it should also be legalized. it comes down to this.... does our govt have the right to legislate morality? I would say NO!! Let them stick to legislating crime, but leave morality to the church. Ron Paul & John Piper FTW LOL
tjhollen 1 week ago
@tjhollen "leave morality to the church"?
Did I just hear that?
...Like, for real?
SeedsOfHatred 1 week ago
@spacitydrummer4JC what about all the poisonous plants with seeds?
falkenjeff 1 week ago
Answer - yes
What the hell does Piper know about pot.
chicraig6421 2 weeks ago
@chicraig6421 did you even listen? he agrees with responsible usage...
hagios9 2 weeks ago
@chicraig6421 I will repeat what the hell does Piper know about pot
chicraig6421 1 week ago
My good old grandmother always said alcohol in little dosages is a medicine and in big dosages is a poison:D
Punisher4bmw 2 weeks ago
@Punisher4bmw That is about correct sir, your grandmother was a smart woman. The problem is that those suffering who start to take it as a medicine may begin to take it in such amounts that it becomes a poison simply because it is such a good medicine that they take it as a cure for their everyday difficulties. Anything (even water... with the exception of the Holy Ghost) when abused can become a poison. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing. That is the rule. MODERATION!
WorshipInTruth 1 week ago
Does marijuana have seeds? Yes. Go read Genesis 1:29.
spacitydrummer4JC 2 weeks ago
Honestly in my opinion, I see it this way. The only reason it's wrong for a Christian to be smoking weed (ya, I'm feeling to lazy to spell it out today) is that the government God has put over us has said no and so that settles it's rightness or wrongness. That said, if the government turned around and made it as legal to acquire and use as alcohol or tobacco, with similar restrictions, then there would certainly be nothing wrong with using it in moderation, but be mastered by nothing.
Collidedatoms 3 weeks ago
1This can be a long debate. My example of chair doesn't send you to only one chair but to an idea of what chairs are. You get that concepts are abstractions and you seem to get that they come from reality. Chairs were for example's sake. But let's go more in depth. Concepts are very powerful tools that allow you to integrate complexe knowledge. (I don't have to see all the chairs in the world to recognize one.) So let's take the example of the concepts of right and wrong. (+next)
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
2Sweep aside the ideas you might have from religion. You can say that some atheists have an idea of right and wrong, like they know it's wrong to kill, which doesn't come from god as we have no connection with him. Most etheists get their morality from society which is as bad as getting it from god. But some ask themselves: what in reality gives me the need of a code of value? Inanimate objects and animals don't have one, why would I need one? (animals are programmed to survive humans are not)
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
3The reason is that by nature, men don't have a code of value. They have free will. They don't know what's good or bad for them. Therefore to live and find happiness, they need a code of value to guide their actions (free-will could be shown here). Reason (to gain knowlege on reality) is the first virtue from which proceed, purpose, productivity, integrity, honesty,... The good becomes what's good for the life of a rational being, the evil what distroys it, here is the concept of right and wrong
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
4Now the concept of individual rights. They come from man's free will. To have free will he needs the right to his life. If not, then he's not pursuing the values his life requires. If he cannot pursue his values than he is not free. If he cannot possess the product of his virtues (virtue being the action by which one gain and keeps value) than he connot pursue his values. This is where those concepts came from. But I would agree most people get their concepts from authorities not from reality.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
I miss understood what you wrote about universal laws. But let me explain to you what concepts are. Concepts are abstractions that allow you to grasp reality. When I say "chair" this concept englobes all chairs ever created whatever their shapes or matter as long as they are chairs. With one word “chair” I grasp millions of real objects. Than take the concept of “table”. They are many different tables but they fall into the same concept of “table”.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
@maximemeis111 i agree. but ur missing that this analogy doesn't relate to our subject of of free-will and/or "inalienable rights" other than to support my point that they are both ineligible to be accepted universally as universal laws. Here: Concept (abstraction)----to grasp----chair (existent fixture in reality). That's logical. Concept (abstraction)----to grasp----freewill/inalienable rights (ALSO conceptual abstraction). That's organized confusion. The formula doesn't follow.
dararebreed 3 weeks ago
@dararebreed As concepts themselves, free will & inalienable rights (given that we all agreed on even the EXISTENCE of them as concepts worthy of contemplating) should be subject to each persons own perception, and therefore, DEFINITION. And the real world result we be that they both would be relegated to the realm of "opinions". And I'm sure u know what they say about those.
dararebreed 3 weeks ago
@dararebreed I have answered but the answer is pretty long. Sorry for not making it shorter. Check it out and tell me what you think.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
Now you pick both concepts. A table is not a chair. You join those concepts and you obtain the concept of furniture (that you can expand with whatever goes under the category “furniture”). It is how you build your knowledge: starting from reality, you build concepts and you integrate them without contradictions. You say that my concept of chair is irrelevant because it has no affect on the chair. My concept are BASED on reality. Conciousness doesn't affect reality, concepts either.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
If you say that my concepts are irrelevant because they don't affect reality, it supposes yours do. Concepts are made from reality, they don't make reality. Otherwise a chair could be an elephant as it would be dependant on your will to think it true. And as I explained earlier, concepts like unalienable rights must be based on reality. They did not come from nothing. And they are based on the nature of humans.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
1Concept are creation from the mind it's true, it's an abstraction. But concept are based or reality. My concept of a chair rests on the observations of reality so does any of my other concepts, to the most complex ones. Therefore if a concept is built proprely, it is valid as it is based on reality. You reject the idea of an idea of pre-existing all-powerful universal law but you acknowlege the law of cause and effect, don't you? How can you old such contradiction?
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
@maximemeis111 ur concept of the chair is irrelevant & insignificant because it has no affect on the chair or anyone else's experience with the chair. The chair exists in reality. How u choose to perceive it only affects how YOU interact with it.As it should be. To each his own & not conditioning others to adopt 1 man's perception as their own. When did I say I reject the ideal of pre-existing all-powerful universal law? Cause & effect, like the chair, exists & is self evident.
dararebreed 3 weeks ago
@dararebreed I miss understood what you wrote about universal laws. But let me explain to you what concepts are. Concepts are abstractions that allow you to grasp reality. When I say "chair" this concept englobes all chairs ever created whatever their shapes or matter as long as they are chairs. With one word “chair” I grasp millions of real objects. Than take the concept of “table”. They are many different tables but they fall into the same concept of “table”.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
2My reasoning is based on the statement that existence exists. Any attempt to deny that statement implies existence. The first law of reality is the law of identity: A is A. Any attempt do deny that law is vain. To bring a proof that A can be non-A at the same time and in the same respect is vain. Your proof would be a non-proof and therefore you wouldn't be prooving anything. From this we can say that everything in nature as a nature and everything in nature must act according to its nature.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
3”An animal is equipped for sustaining its life; its senses provide it with an automatic code of action, an automatic knowledge of what is good for it or evil. It has no power to extend its knowledge or to evade it. In conditions where its knowledge proves inadequate, it dies. But so long as it lives, it acts on its knowledge, with automatic safety and no power of choice, it is unable to ignore its own good, unable to decide to choose the evil and act as its own destroyer.”
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
4”Man has no automatic code of survival. His particular distinction from all other living species is the necessity to act in the face of alternatives by means of volitional choice. He has no automatic knowledge of what is good for him or evil, what values his life depends on, what course of action it requires.” From Ayn Rand. Men are not programmed another proof is that they can commit suicide and destroy their life unlike animals.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
5 Unalienable rights are required by our nature, by the fact that we have free-will. A person like you who despises what makes him human will never earn any respect from any honest man. By rejecting what makes you human, you have lowered yourself under the level of the lowest of animals.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
6 Free-will and laws are not contradicting as you say. “In any hour and issue of your life, you are free to think or to evade that effort. But you are not free to escape from your nature, from the fact that reason is your means of survival-so that for you, who are a human being, the question ‘to be or not to be’ is the question ‘to’ think or not to think.” Ayn Rand. Free will doesn't allow you to evade reality.
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
I have Hep C from intravenous drug use {25+ yr's} when I was young . I have smoked pot since I was 12 , I used to have astma very bad , Once I started smoking Pot, I never had another attack, And have continued smoking it for 40 now . Obviously it doesn't do all the stuff, the GOVT says it does to you { I'm Still Here }. Now I know! EVERY POTHEAD knows this BIBLE verse by Heart, I have given EVERY Green herb, to EVERY living thing, that has the breath of Life therein.....And it was GOOD.
DefendYourRights1 3 weeks ago
@DefendYourRights1 Now whether you smoke it or eat it ,it still "crosses the lips". And Jesus said; What enter into a mans lips, CANNOT defile the man, It is that which issues forth FROM THE LIPS is that which defileth the man. DO YOU HEAR THAT CHRISTIAN CHURCH, who would rather cast stumbling blocks before the weak ,than to obey the WORD OF GOD ! Hypocrites and Whited Tombs !
DefendYourRights1 3 weeks ago
@DefendYourRights1 Now let me make this VERY CLEAR .....My first drug of choice ,as is 99.9 % of the people who do drugs is....... ALCOHOL. Now I dont give a rat's furry behind what the GOVT tells you , the GATEWAY DRUG hands down is ALCOHOL ! Does GOD tell you to stay away from MJ? But he does warn you to STAY SOBER , MJ causes MEEKNESS , Alcohol cause Death and Heartache, Divorce , Poverty, BRAWLING ECT . Got time to watch TV, play Farmville on computer ? You got time to read BIBLE then !!!
DefendYourRights1 3 weeks ago
@DefendYourRights1 I am not telling everyone to take up Pot smoking ! Fact of the matter is it's illegal , I know how it became that way...I know ! Our Govt was crooked as Hell when they passed this Law, When a Govt passes Laws contrary to the WORD OF GOD, WHO DO YOU OBEY , GOD OR MAMMON ? Like I said 40 yr's now and still kickin , P.S. the Guy I got HEP C from died 6 yr's ago, By the Grace and Word of God I'm free from those things now, I went to Methadone clinic 6 yr's, 1 addiction 4 another !
DefendYourRights1 3 weeks ago
@DefendYourRights1 Alcohol was the First thing I altered my perseption with , Good ole' Alkeehal ,Gauranteed to take you to Hell !
DefendYourRights1 3 weeks ago
Yes it should be legal. Not for the reasons he talks about but in virtue of human nature. Man is a being a free-will. His rights by nature are life, liberty and proprety. He should be able to make his own choices by his own judgement (as long as he doesn't threaten others people basic rights.)
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
@maximemeis111 everything u just said, those concepts, were created from man's imagination. We made it up. It's not some kinda pre-existing all powerful universal law. There's absolutely nothing "free" about man's will. There would be no such thing as Law if so. There is a consequence for every action & an effect for every cause. I'm so tired of people saying "free-will" & "inalienable rights" as if we didn't just make that up the same way we made up Sponge Bob & break dancing.
dararebreed 3 weeks ago
@dararebreed 1Concept are creation from the mind it's true, it's an abstraction. But concept are based or reality. My concept of a chair rests on the observations of reality so does any of my other concepts, to the most complex ones. Therefore if a concept is built proprely, it is valid as it is based on reality. You reject the idea of an idea of pre-existing all-powerful universal law but you acknowlege the law of cause and effect, don't you? How can you old such contradiction?
maximemeis111 3 weeks ago
alcohol? well you cant have one without the other. and really folks, who cares what this guy really thinks about it, trying to "moralize" a plant. how absurd. some people make butter out of it then make food out of it, then it is a great analgesic. who cares why people want to use it. coffee is going to kill you also.
jamesraymondsmith 4 weeks ago
It is a sign of the times that "Christians" go to men to answer these questions. Rather than directly to the Word of God. Lets see what God has to say about the matter.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And all God's people said...
Search4Truth 4 weeks ago
@Search4Truth i used to quote this to my mom when i was 16 and i was poopooed. what do you believe,, that is the question.
jamesraymondsmith 4 weeks ago
Is the fact that doing something is morally wrong enough to justify imprisoning its users? If so, why not imprison anyone who lies or doesn't tithe? A better question is: is putting nonviolent users of a substance into prison just? Does God's conception of justice involve putting hundreds of thousands of minority nonviolent drug offenders into prison for years and years and years? Clearly not.
strabes88 1 month ago
God did not make weed. We did. Just like God did not make alcohol. We did. We created this and now we manipulate it so that it is "okay" to do it. WRONG! it is not okay, it is WRONG!
rszymanski6 1 month ago
@rszymanski6 god did not make weed? do you realize how many varieties of naturally grown marijuana there are in this entire world.? you sir are a complete raving moron.
jamesraymondsmith 4 weeks ago
Illegitimate words from an illegitimate teacer
greyswans 1 month ago
People who are sick can get a prescription for Marinol, which is synthetic marijuana. So why smoke the stuff?
harvestsoulfly 1 month ago
@harvestsoulfly you never truly know the side effects of a synthetic medication. Also you do not have to smoke marijuana.
Kharkiv85 1 month ago
23 police officers watched this video.
Autumn6 1 month ago
Here in Costa Rica (currently on vacation), the criminalization of narcotics in the United States causes serious problems. In fact, it causes problems for every country from Colombia through Mexico. Criminalizing narcotics in the US to demonstrate a love for our children ruins the lives of children in central america. Further, John Piper floats a red herring when he conflates legalization with a free-for-all lack of regulation.
StormTrek 1 month ago
Pr. John really disappointed me now =/ Though I still like his videos
m4tbr 1 month ago
Wow, never thought I'd hear Piper say that. I agree. There is a responsible usage for it and it has helped a lot of really sick people. Abusing drugs/alcohol isn't a prohibition problem, its a heart problem. Men are wicked and thus do wicked things. You can abuse cough syrup, but that doesnt stop us from selling it at Walgreens. We waste So much $ on the so called "war against drugs" putting ppl in jail and we have to pay the bill for their room& board and MTV. meanwhile I dont even have cable!
kimmykimko 1 month ago 9
When Jesus went up to sick ppl. Did He offer them marijuana or pray for Gods power to heal them completely? He all must continue the work of Jesus as Christians. Deny your self pick up your cross and follow me. (By follow me Jesus means copy me) another translation says follow after me which means COPY. Jesus never told anyone they could use marijuana to ease the pain. He used His faith towards God and to give God glory through healing. Smoking weed doesnt give God glory for His healing..
yrtsiniMsllaWoN 1 month ago
@yrtsiniMsllaWoN *We all must continue the work..
yrtsiniMsllaWoN 1 month ago
Marijuana is not good man. God wouldnt pull me off of it for a reason. Marijuana made me the most selfish person alive and I felt strong convictions smoking it. 1 Corinthians 4:20 - "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." Theres no high like the most High.
yrtsiniMsllaWoN 1 month ago
@genkimachina Once what you consider to be moral is no longer based solely on the relief of suffering of conscious creatures, you are doing what the suicide bombers are; you think that you're doing something which is moral when it is not.
samcarr6 1 month ago
The thing is is that if we medicinalise it its kinda living in a lie as most people will state they need it for medical reasons but just want to get high :L
Decriminalising it is the first step, then regulation.
xaxie1 1 month ago
I am not adamantly against legalization because it is already so accessible in our culture, but I do believe that the church should preach that smoking to get high is a sin in the same way that drinking to get drunk is a sin.
genkimachina 2 months ago 2
@genkimachina Might I ask why this is sinful?
Smoking pot makes one feel very good for a little while. Getting drunk makes one feel numb for a little while.
At the same time, listening to music makes one feel very good, just as enjoying a juicy steak makes one feel good. Even a long, restful night's sleep (when you could be awake preaching!) makes you feel extremely good the next day.
Are these things sinful as well?
SeedsOfHatred 1 week ago
@SeedsOfHatred Let me clarify. The Bible is very clear about being wise and conducting one's self responsibly. This drug seems to have some legitimate medicinal purposes, but smoking for recreation inhibits judgement which clearly goes against pretty much the entire book of Proverbs.
genkimachina 1 week ago
@genkimachina There is no chemical or psychological difference between smoking pot recreationally and smoking it medicinally. I am a police officer and have encountered both medicinal and recreational users.
Either way, they're blazed out of their mind. The only difference is a matter of legality.
It should also be noted that medicinal use of many over-the-counter meds inhibits judgment as well.
Are THEY sinful?
SeedsOfHatred 1 week ago
this is such a tough one, perhaps it should be treated the way the Bible speaks about any other thing in this world, that it should not be abused but used in moderation and with responsibility, making sure that it does not rule ones life. And God made it, like he also made sex. Because how can anyone deny its positive value when it is a medicinal remedy for so many people? In my opinion, it would be legal if it was actually harmful to us. (research the illuminati/freemansons and their mission)
hawksma1 2 months ago 11
I don't think marijuana should be legalized. It is a mind expanding drug that intensifies all of ones perceptions. Not only does food taste better and music sound better, but ones spiritual awareness is expanded. This is why marijuana(among other drugs) is used to initiate people into different forms of witchcraft/Satanism.
selfdied 2 months ago
@selfdied ha ha. thanks for the laugh!
ttufan2315 2 months ago
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WEED IS NOT A DRUG YOU IDIOTS, IT IS A PLANT, BUT IF YOU LIGHT IT, IT WILL AFFECT YOU, MAKE YOU SLEEPY, HUNGRY, HAPPY, TRUST I KNOW. DRUGS YOU GOTTA DO SHYT TO IT. WEED IS GROWN. SO STOP. AND I HATE HOW THEY CANT PUT A TAX ON IT. I WANT IT LEGALIZED. I KNOW PEOPLE SMOKE WEED, JUS ON THE LOW, ACT LIKE THEY NEVER TRIED IT, IM PRETTY SURE MANY PEOPLE WHEN THEY WERRE YOUNGER TRIED, JUS LIKE ME. I STARTED SMOKIN IT AT 13 AND BEEN DOIN IT FOR 7 YEARS, IM 20 NOW. IT AINT BAD. IT DOESNT MAKE YOU DUMB
UMANEDAKIDD19 2 months ago
@UMANEDAKIDD19 UM Heroin comes from poppies,which are "JUST A PLANT". Keep smoking weed ,and when you are 40 ,you can give it up , move out of your parents house and start looking for a job in Wendys.
ilikezappa 2 months ago
@ilikezappa I BEEN MOVED OUT MY PARENTS HOUSE 2 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS 18. AND I HAVE ME A JOB. IMA KEEP SMOKIN MY WEED.
UMANEDAKIDD19 2 months ago
@UMANEDAKIDD19 Some people deal with it ok . I smoked it for years ,but it can slow you down. I never got my shit together when I was stoned
ilikezappa 2 months ago
@ilikezappa I DEAL WIT IT FINE, IT JUS MAKES ME HAPPY, SLEEPY, HUNGRY. I SMOKE BEFORE AND AFTER WORK AND I STILL GET MY SHYT DONE.
UMANEDAKIDD19 2 months ago
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I SMOKE WEED 24/7 BEEN SMOKIN IT SINCE I WAS 13 AND IM 20. I SMOKE WEED TO EASE MY PAIN, RELIEVE STRESS. I JUS HATE WHEN PEOPLE THINK CUS THEY HIT THE BLUNT ONCE THEY ALL OF A SUDDEN SMOKERS, I HATE THAT. THEY JUS SMOKE TO BE COOL OR CUS OTHERS ARE DOIN IT. BUT SHYT, LEGALIZE IT, IT DONT KILL YOU. YOU NEVER HEARD SOMEONE OVERDOSIN ON WEED. CIGARETTES, THEY KILL YOU. AT LEAST WEED ISNT DRUGS, WEED IS JUS A PLANT BUT WHEN YOU LIGHT IT, IT DOES AFFECT YOU. IT JUS MAKES YOU SLEEPY, HUNGRY, HAPPY.
UMANEDAKIDD19 2 months ago
these are some crazy weird questions, but john piper is the man.
aquabat104 3 months ago
Everyone who wants to smoke marijuana is already smoking it. We all know Prohibition was a marvelous idea (sarcasm). Legalize it and you just might save a couple hundred thousand lives in Latin America, save Mexico from anarchy, all while being able to regulate and tax it. Right now our "good intentions" have caused more problems than legalized marijuana ever will. In my opinion.
lioneagle86 3 months ago
The majority of people wanting marijuana legalised are substance abusers.
gilbert4321 3 months ago
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gilbert4321 3 months ago
a simple no would suffice
Yeeeooo000 3 months ago
God created marijuana on this planet for his people to experience and decide for themselves about its effects on them. One persons view on marijuana can be completely different to another persons view and neither of them would be wrong, its their own personal experience with it
Shmellix 3 months ago
@Shmellix God didn`t create marijuana ,it evolved from more primitive lifeforms ,such as John Piper
ilikezappa 3 months ago
@ilikezappa HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
IFUCKINGLOVEYOUTOO 2 months ago
medicinatl function is fine BUT IT SHOULD NT BE SMOKED maybe in a tea or tincturee
49jubilee 3 months ago
John Piper was balanced in his approach, although he should understand that certain biased perspectives against marijuana must be understood in light of many decades of study. First, marijuana is not addictive. I concede that it can be habit forming, but it is not a drug on which one can get "strung out" on. Secondly, advocates of the proper use of medical marijuana would not condone recreational abuse. That is a question discussed in the legalization of marijuana circles.
ijp88 4 months ago
you sounded pretty confused near the end, marijuana does not cause brain damage, in fact i saw on a science show that marijuana puts a protective layer around your brain cells to protect them from damage like binge drinking. God made marijuana and wants us to have access to it, this is in genesis 1:29
dwilson520 4 months ago
1:50. Are you kidding me john?? do you really believe that thats what marijuana legalization advocates are fighting for? completely unrestricted, unrestrained unlimited marijuana for 13 year old kids??? Marijuana legalization advocates are trying to keep people out of jail for nonviolent drug crimes. our tax dollars shouldnt be spent keeping someone locked up for personally using a drug that is safer than alcohol. That was a ridiculous logical fallacy Mr. Piper and I'm disappointed.
btimes33 4 months ago
I think most of you are forgetting the point me made about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes ONLY. Any legal substance can be abused like codeine, valium etc but despite all these substances being legal they are regulated and controlled. The same could be applied for marijuana especially in a by-product form if it is able to provide a health benefit as supposed to a hazard. Coca leaves are used in many products such as cosmetics so im sure similar things can be done with marijuana.
parafangs 4 months ago
I think most of you are forgetting the point me made about legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes ONLY. Any legal substance can be abused like codeine, valium etc but despite all these substances being legal they are regulated and controlled. The same could be applied for marijuana especially in a by-product form if it is able to provide a health benefit as supposed to a hazard. Cocaleaves are used in many products such as cosmetics so im sure similar things can be done with marijuana.
parafangs 4 months ago
John - Thanks for your reasoned reponse - I found it impressive in general. However, you are incorrect re: the "terrible addiction" that you saw resulting from marijuana. Brother - and I believe you are in listening to you - please do the study needed to understand what God has created here. Can cannabis be abused? Yes. Can water be abused? Yes (it is called drowning...). Anyting can be abused including Bible study. I am available if your in interested in another of those "lunches".
Aner2557 4 months ago
Does John have an opinion on EVERYTHING or just things he knows nothing about?
He clearly has not consulted God on this issue.
tony9L9L 4 months ago
@tony9L9L "Consulting God" ? You would have to be seriously off your tits to believe you could do that. This is why drugs are harmful. Stop while you can...............
ilikezappa 4 months ago
@ilikezappa I don't take drugs. My point is that Piper has declared himself a mouthpiece of God and yet he is clearly making it all up. God has not advised him on this issue nor any other issue he pontificates on because God doesn't exist outside of our imaginations. I can't believe people listen to this top idiot.
tony9L9L 4 months ago
@tony9L9L Anyone who tells you they know the mind of God will inevitably produce some rubbish evidence. John Piper is no exception.
ilikezappa 4 months ago
@ilikezappa Believing you hear from god disqualifies any opinion you might have because someone who is arrogant enough to believe that is extremley deluded to begin with.
Can't stand the smug look on his face. Why doesnt anyone in his church challenge him?
tony9L9L 4 months ago
@tony9L9L I wouldn`t go so far. That also sounds arrogant. Some people who believe in God are much smarter than me and worthy of intellectual respect. I actually like Piper , he is funny, but his brand of evangelism is hard to defend when the evidence against it is so compelling. I think the message he sends out is to be challenged by people who have some respect for human learning.
ilikezappa 4 months ago
@ilikezappa Having the ability to zealously believe in a self defeating concept like god is a sign of intellectual feebleness and deserves pity not respect.
I like Bugs Bunny, he's funny and I'd rather the buck-toothed rabbit for a guru than this fading Simpsons character.
Your last comment was perhaps a little clumsy - pray tell, who doesn't respect human learning?
tony9L9L 4 months ago
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@ilikezappa WEED ISNT A DRUG, ITS A PLANT, BUT IF YOU LIGHT IT, IT DOES AFFECT YOU. ALL IT DOES IS MAKE YOU SLEEPY, HUNGRY, AND HAPPY. THATS WHY PEOPLE BE LAUGHIN FOR NO REASON WHEN THEY HIGH, ESPECIALLY ME LMAO. WEED DONT KILL YOU. CIGARETTES WILL. YOU NEVER HEARD OF SOMEONE OVERDOSIN ON WEED. WEED IS NOT A DRUG. DRUGS YOU GOTTA DO SHYT TO IT. WEED IS JUS A PLANT THAT IS GROWN FROM THE GROUND
UMANEDAKIDD19 2 months ago
I drink and do drugs for medicinal purposes only......the buzz is just a pleasant by-product...............
KingdomUploader 5 months ago
Pot may be "a part of God's creation"; just remember; this 'creation' has been bombarded with a curse; all creation has been corrupted, so just maybe God created Hemp and the curse let in hemp's creative side-effects.....just thinkin out loud.
KingdomUploader 5 months ago
with the illegalisation of marijuana, we are making sure that our kids ARE exposed to it. there is less booze in high school lockers then there is marijuana. as soon as the unscrupulous get there hands on a market, they dont care who buys it. if there were no profit in selling marijuana illicitly, there would be less sold to minors.
zebb1111 5 months ago
As harmful as drug use of any kind is, drug use and then being made into a criminal, instead of a human being is worse. People will unfortunately use drugs, whether they are legal or not. Do you want to pay to lock them up? It's cheaper to treat them as humans and rehab them. A criminal record will prevent a person from any real employment for the rest of their life. The real issue is that the prohibition of drugs is more dangerous than the drugs, and people are going to do them either way.
antiUltimateInfinity 5 months ago 2
Look at the success other countries have had with decriminalization. Drug use goes down. Gangs dissolve sense they have no means to make money through the black market. You actually shrink the black market. That is a god thing. Mexican cartels, the terror groups over seas. They get the money to fight us, from America. Wanting to stop this "get stupid on crime" game to end. Lets get smart. Instead of getting tough, we got stupid. Lets not stay stuck there.
Peace to you all!
antiUltimateInfinity 5 months ago 13
Non wants everyone to go around high on drugs all day, everyday. Drugs are illegal and people do them. If they were legal and controlled, monitored, regulated for safety, and taxed things would be better. People would still use, but the drugs would be safer. Instead of 100 billion spent every year on this drug war we would make money, and people who needed help could come forward without fear of criminalization. Let doctors, and therapist, not judges and courts help, not hurt those in trouble.
antiUltimateInfinity 5 months ago
@antiUltimateInfinity As far as the cartels go, their money is made from cocaine and heroin.
polycarp256 1 month ago
@antiUltimateInfinity Those cartels wouldn't go away, Much of the drugs purchased go to Europe and 2nd world nations where it is legal. The reason cartels exist is because of the highly addictive nature of these drugs that come from worn torn and unstable nations that supply to nations around the world, not just the US. MJ may not be much of an issue, but they would make the money on drugs like cocaine and heroin.
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk There are no cigarette "cartels." There are no pornography "cartels." Whether or not something is addictive does not affect the extent to which cartels control its industry.
strabes88 1 month ago
@strabes88 Cartel is not synonymous with gang. It's just a business contract. Cartels are fighting each other over money made from hard drugs like cocaine, not because it's illegal in the US. And there is a significant amount of crime and abuse in the porn industry, it's just largely ignored. Simply because you legalize something, that does not make it better for everyone.
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@strabes88 Do you really want to use the ethics of the Tobacco and Porn industry as some sort of example?
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@strabes88 Sure, there may not be gangs shooting at each other, but millions have died from lung cancer and women are routinely abused and trafficked like goods. I'm not against legal MJ like legal narcotics, but I am against the notion that legalizing all drugs is a moral thing to do.
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk None of your comments make the argument that putting nonviolent drug users in prison is just. People are free to choose to smoke and must accept the health consequences. Perhaps the lives of all of those nonviolent cigarette smokers would be better if they were sitting in prison since government knows how run their lives better. The extent to which there is crime and abuse in the porn industry is the extent to which government has failed to protect its citizens' rights.
strabes88 1 month ago
@strabes88 If it was as simple as"health consequences", like eating a big mac, then your argument would be just fine. However, that would throw out the years of documented research of how habitual drug users (heroine, cocaine, LSD) are extremely violent when they cannot get a fix because of how the drugs change body chemistry. They are a threat to public safety. The government has a vested interest in maintaining a sober public.
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk Everything you said about drugs can be applied to vehicles. Cars are a threat to public safety. If there were no cars, no one would die in car accidents. However, it would obviously be silly to put people in prison for driving cars. What we DO put people in prison for is when they use their cars to violate the rights of others. The minute you get into a car with too much alcohol (and, as the law should be, drugs) you are a criminal.
strabes88 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk Using either substance in your own home is not an act of aggression i.e. it is not an initiatory use of force and therefore it should not be a crime.
strabes88 1 month ago
@strabes88 So, as long as someone isn't acting aggressively against someone, then they ought to do be allowed to do it?
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk Yes, exactly, assuming you are using the phrase "acting aggressively" to describe "aggression" (two different things). Any other standard causes the government itself to become the aggressor rather than the protector.
strabes88 1 month ago
@strabes88 Not to mention that any other standard is completely and fully arbitrary i.e. based on the whims of whoever can manage to secure power at the time.
strabes88 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk baloney, you are still in the 1930s, and i dont think you are really that old. people dont have marijuana fixes,, sheesh,,
jamesraymondsmith 4 weeks ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk What other people do with and put into their bodies is none of your business. Do not try to take the moral high ground when you are the one pointing the gun at the rest of us (via the government) to make us conform to your moral code.
strabes88 1 month ago
@strabes88 Then who's moral code are we to fit to, then?
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk I'm glad you asked. The role of government is not to force its citizens to conform to one group's moral code. This will inevitably devolve into mob rule and tyranny of the majority. To the contrary, government's role is to prevent aggression, i.e. the initiation of the use of force. Any time the government does more than this, it reverses its role and actually becomes the aggressor itself. A good, short, classic read on this issue is The Law by Frederic Bastiat.
strabes88 1 month ago
@LetOurLittleLadyTalk If you believe using drugs is wrong (which I do also), then you must use persuasion to convince people to agree with you. The moment you use the government to force this view on others, you become an aggressor yourself.
strabes88 1 month ago
@strabes88 then you just dont use any drugs mam, you should see what psych doctors are prescribing for patients these days and the long laundry list of precautions and warnings that accompany them.
jamesraymondsmith 4 weeks ago
@strabes88 if people could simply grow what they wish and use what they wish, cartels would have no more demand to bring vast quantities of a weed into this country. that business would be over.
jamesraymondsmith 4 weeks ago
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LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
@antiUltimateInfinity *war torn
LetOurLittleLadyTalk 1 month ago
Regulation is the key - legalize it and regulate the sale, just like alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol is the most damaging drug in American society - How often do you hear of a drunk going home and beating his wife???? How many pot heads do that?? lolololol the biggest threat from marijuana users is a empty refrigerator
TheConstitutionMan 5 months ago
@TheConstitutionMan I smoked it for years , it never made me believe I had a "relationship" with a jewish Zombie. Perhaps I wasn`t getting the good stuff.
ilikezappa 5 months ago
quiet frankly i cant take advice or give much weight to the words of someone who would rather sit at home all day listening to pink floyd in an altered state of mind...
pheonixconn333 6 months ago
you would also probably make that lame arguement that too much of anything is harmful and everything in small doses is acceptable......why stand on such slippery ground..especially with something as addictive ,(with so much of an impact on your thought process and ability to make sound desicions) as cannabis or alcahol...pretty soon a little heroine wouldnt sound so bad either....
pheonixconn333 6 months ago
@pheonixconn333 Marijuana isn't addictive AT ALL. It's physically impossible to be addicted to marijuana. People smoke it because it's fun. There is no withdrawls nor can you over dose on it but just because it's harmless, it doesn't make it okay because it distracts the persons mind from more important things.
AbM986 4 months ago
i dont think he was making a case against marijuana simply because it is not in accordance with the law of the land...cannabis might or might not be harmful (im not being a naive judgmental christian with a myopic mindset by saying it does.).........but as a recovering alcaholic with a history of drug abuse..NO GOOD COMES FROM IT...sure you can be that self absorbed, adamant guy and tel me YOU are benefited...but i can show you thousands of lives ruined owing to this.
pheonixconn333 6 months ago
Does he get caffeine buzzes? Ever smoked a cigarette? Gotten a little tipsy? Done something for an adrenaline rush? There's no difference. And pretending that there is means you are lying to yourself.
billb380 6 months ago
@billb380 there's more to it then the few things u stated. Why does someone want to do it so bad? It's a heart issue, not a substance issue
OreoSoleil 6 months ago
cannabis does not cause any brain damage what so ever. i was able to interview a harvard doctor who has a doctorate in psycotherapy and neurology explained to me every thing bad or good about cannabis. the only slight thing that might happen with cannabis is it has been shown to maybe cause a low sperm count. thats it. believe what u want but i trust a doctor of harvard who has been studying cannabis since 1967
cavs608 6 months ago
there is a religion called rastafarian which believes that smoking weed (ganji) will bring you closer to God.
remusnigga 6 months ago
@remusnigga Except you won`t turn up to meet God at the appointed place ,because you are too stoned ,if my taxi driver in Tobago is anything to go by.
ilikezappa 6 months ago
lol nothing to do with getting high? how in the hell did it give him relief? oh yeah that new no-high but relieving weed...lol
dawgpost90 6 months ago
Drugs mess with your head. If you take too many you will probably end up feeling pretty desperate , in which case you might take the ridiculous claims of Mr Piper seriously. Much better to stay clean.
Darwin bless you all.
ilikezappa 6 months ago
@ilikezappa maybe if zappa had done the right drugs(natural psychedelics) the right way his music would be more like you know... music, and not the convoluted dissonant overrated mass that it is.no wonder his greatest disciple is steve vai, the virtuoso, and by virtuoso I mean master wanker.now if you excuse me I'll listen to some Hendrix and catch a fire if know what I mean...and to all of you who follow any one of the three desert death cults, you need to chill you neurotic loonies... peace.
tothewestofyou 6 months ago
@tothewestofyou Hmmm ,I think Frank was never much impressed with drugs, and one persons dissonant overrated mass is another`s Polyrythmic masterpiece. That is just music dude. Zappa himself said his music was not created for broad appeal. I listen to Hendrix as well , and admire his beautiful blues. Shame the drugs killed him , you never know what he would have evolved into. (I know evolution is a dirty word here,but I assume I am talking to someone who cares for the truth above superstition)
ilikezappa 6 months ago
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@ilikezappa now I feel bad about being a jerk with you, sorry man.you see, marijuana ain't that bad, I smoked some and I bet I more "christian" than this piper dude right now... and yes superstition annoys me to say the least... wich is really unfortunate for me, because I live in the biggest catholic coutry in the planet (brazil)...
tothewestofyou 6 months ago
@tothewestofyou Dont feel bad , I used play with that stuff too. I used the believe that a cup of tea and a spliff was the breakfast of champions ! All it did was make me lazy, but it never made me believe that a dead Jew loved me ,or that the world was only four days old, or whatever the God folks have in their brains. Perhaps I never got the good shit ! My friend Al took LSD and thought there was a flying saucer in his attic. No weirder than believing the Book of Genesis I guess.
ilikezappa 6 months ago
@ilikezappa you know what is really weird? if you read these "holy" books like you would read W.Blake or any other poetry, they are (parts of them) quite good, particulary the ones from India, the problem is when people go:"oh this is it! this is what was missing in my life, this has got to be the ultimate truth" them it hits the fan... as for the psychedelics, I've taken massive doses, never saw aliens, demons, elfs or heard voices in my head,I was always aware that I was diving in my own mind.
tothewestofyou 6 months ago
@ilikezappa First of all marijuana is not a drug. It's an all natural herb/plant that has effects. It's never killed anyone nor is addictive so let's not use the word drugs at a general statement because comparing marijuana to any harder drugs such as cocaine or heroin is just plain ignorant.
AbM986 4 months ago
@AbM986 Marijuana never killed anyone ? Bullshit. Plenty of people have crashed their cars because they were bombed . It is also hard on the lungs ,especially when you toke hard and hold it in till you turn red. It makes you grow a beard and talk bollocks about flying saucers if you do too much, and you will still be living with your parents at the age of 40 .You will also think 20 minute long guitar solos are relevant.None of this is as bad as being a Christian though.You got problems then
ilikezappa 4 months ago
Once again...well said and truly balanced--the fact that you give SPECIFIC and very RELEVANT examples really helps substantially!!!
widemanoranges 6 months ago
The bible states not to be filled with drunkenness, which getting high is a state of drunkenness of a kind. It's not like having a beer or two, when you smoke weed you're doing it, for the intention of entering that medicated state of being high, and being intoxicated, drunk with THC. Those who smoke for non-medical purposes are no better than the prescription pill poppers. Yes God placed that plant here for medical reasons, not for smoking, or abuse. God's not glorified by lazy bums
vanduiam88 6 months ago
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AbM986 4 months ago
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@vanduiam88 Smoking marijuana is not at all a form of being drunk. It's an all natural herb unlike alcohol. Alcohol is an actual poison to the body which makes you drunk. Being high on marijuana makes you mellow, lazy, hungry, but is not addictive nor can you over dose. I'm not justifying it because it distracts a persons walk with God but to say it's okay to have a couple beers and not be able to drink alcohol is hypacritical.
AbM986 4 months ago
i agree
thedonegan 7 months ago
They should legalize it and put an age limit just as they do with Liqour
chrisfromjerzy 7 months ago
Legalizing pot sounds like a grand idea. Most pot heads I know agree "legalizing mary jane is good cus we can tax it and no more crime would exist"...that seems thats the only argument these jolly half brained pot heads can come up with but if legalized, big corporations will begin to regulate growth, distribution, pump this gift of mother earth full of chemicals that will make them that much more addictive and deadly, if we want to legalize put down the joints, come up with a real plan
JuanOfaKind88 7 months ago
@JuanOfaKind88 more addictive?? are they addictive to begin with, doctor faggot?????"|?
hemptime123 7 months ago
@hemptime123 Great stuff man, yeah you give the cause great hope, I'm on your side moron, Idiots like you make Cannabis look bad keep your homophobic comments to yourself.
JuanOfaKind88 7 months ago
@JuanOfaKind88 if you legalised ALL drugs like portegal there would be less gangs... less shooting.. instead of noticing u have an addiction and manipulate you the "drug dealers" would help you, considering they would probably just be your friends to begin with.. making this stuff illegal because they think its worse then crack is doing nothing but putting them in the hole. hows that for a pot head idea. num nuts. oh by the way.. if youve ever smoked pot you would know it helps you think ;)
hemptime123 7 months ago
@hemptime123 Look, I'm not going to get into a childish argument over trying to prove to you I've smoked "pot", I've no interest in you believing me or not and the whole theory of "legalizing will reduce gang crimes", is only that, a theory. Lets be realistic friend, gangs and crime go hand in hand with or without drugs.
JuanOfaKind88 7 months ago
@JuanOfaKind88 sure. but you know just as well as i do that if the government controlled some drugs there wouldnt be the big fat italian man who has your ilife in his hands behind the desk or the little nigger on the street with crack.. they would be friends HELPING you. wehre as if pot was legal, it wuoldnt change a damn thing, and people who don't smoke pot would be affected aswell. if we had a permit for a vertain amount of plants we could purchase yearly. this would be perfect for everyone.
hemptime123 7 months ago
@JuanOfaKind88 It's physically impossible become physically addictived nor overdose on marijuana so calling someone a pot head is ignorant and saying chemicals would make it more addictive or dangerous is too because marijuana is niether to begin with.
AbM986 4 months ago
@AbM986 Well we can debate about the dangers of smoking anything, causing Lung cancer and other health related issues, so I wouldn't say Marijuana is not dangerous, less dangerous, perhaps. Anything, of course, if used in excess is not good for someones health. And how is calling someone a pot head "ignorant"? The term is used to describe someone who is a heavy user.
JuanOfaKind88 4 months ago
On top of his answer, I think we are wasting so much of the tax payers money enforcing this and putting people in jail for this. I don't agree with the use for it outside of medical use. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't hemp only illegal because it's a cheaper way to make paper, and it would have put paper companies out of business? Any ways, in Hammerstein I heard that they have lower amounts of hard drug users because they don't have other substances pushed on them.
MinorCheese777 7 months ago
@IHavAUTubeSadly Thats Not True. Marijuana Does Not Imiedeatly GEt You Toasted, At All.
GabrielProductions1 7 months ago
The bigger issue is that the criminal government makes much more of a profit from marijuana when it is illegal. The biggest problem with churchmen is that they are extremely naive about governmental corruption. The same issue with marriage "license." We don't need permission from the government to get married.
caveatemp 7 months ago 14
@caveatemp Excellent point! And as long as the pulpits in this nation teach a perverted interpretation of ROMANS 13 which states that we must submit to and obey human authorities,no matter how corrupt,immoral,and criminal they may be.....the problem will continue to get worse.
orangewizard 6 months ago
@caveatemp ...continue to teach.....(I should have written)
orangewizard 6 months ago
@caveatemp "churchmen" must not need to kno too much about the government, seeing as how the government wants nothing to do with God.. God is our governer and thats all a christian should be concerned about.
SwAnkTwO 6 months ago
@SwAnkTwO We are still called to be in the world even though we are not of it. In other words it is important that we are aware of issues around us. I would say that being aware of the laws is especially important because many of the laws in the US are oppressive and as Christians we should have compassion on those who are oppressed.
nbkbauer 5 months ago
@caveatemp If you want tax benefits from said government yes you do. The government does give benefits to married peoples and they way they determine that is through a license.
Augcliffe 4 months ago
That's true
bobbyraejohnson 8 months ago