I dont smoke, i dont drink as much as it would take to feel the alcohol effects, cause we know that if a man gets drunk he doesn't know what he's doing.. and this doesn't please God.
That isn't entirely true. Some people do drink to the point that they have "blacked out" and are doing things they will not remember in the morning. However, someone will never act outside of their nature while drunk, just like someone will not act outside of their nature under hypnosis. A person who is not violent
at all will not act violently while drunk. A person who has no interest
at all in sex will not want to have sex while drunk. The problem is, most people
do have the desire for sex and the desire for violence in our nature, we just are usually smart enough to control our "baser nature". Far too often people will do things under the influence of alcohol that they would have thought of doing while sober, but not acted upon.
About caffein.. i dont think it changes my perception of reality, it just helps me keep awake.
You can certainly think that, but the way it acts to make you feel more awake is the same way that alcohol works to make one feel drunk: it locks into receptors in your brain. Caffeine does the same thing you accused cannabis of doing, "fooling the body" into feeling something.
Well, I'm not against drugs used as cures. that's ok. even though i'd rather see people takin anti-depressive find their healing and serenity in Jesus.
Jesus helps those who help themselves. I am sure that almost all of the people who take anti-depressants would much rather be able to feel "normal" without them. I know that I sure would! But, the fact is, such chemical imbalances don't often just disappear, no matter how much one prays. Thus, for many people, it is important to have both the medicine and Jesus. It isn't a choice between one or the other, after all.
Well, as I said, smoking marijuana is a way to distort one's perception of and reaction to reality.. which is not the same as with music. (subliminals and hypnotic music go beyond what we're discussing here)
Obviously, music doesn't effect people the same way cannabis use does. Just like bicycling doesn't effect people in the same way swimming does. But, I feel, they are comparable in that both are things that can effect great changes in the listener/user, and both are things that people use to feel closer to God.
Proverbs 23:31-33, "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things."
I think it would be better to include the entire paragraph, at the very least:
Proverbs 23:29-35:
"Who has trouble? Who has sorrow? Who is fighting? Who is complaining? Who is hurt without a reason? Who has eyes that have become red? Those who stay a long time over wine. Those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it shines in the cup, when it is smooth in going down. In the end it bites like a snake. It stings like the bite of a snake with poison.Your eyes will see strange things. Your mind will say the wrong things. And you will be like one who lies down in the center of the sea, or like one who lies above a ship's sail. "They hit me, but I was not hurt. They beat me, but I did not know it. When will I wake up? I will look for another drink.""
I think it is pretty obvious that this verse is encouraging people to not become alcoholics (who are beaten, pass out, then wake only to look for more to drink) not telling them to never drink. Jesus told his disciples to drink of wine, which was His blood. And He turned water into wine for that wedding feast. Obviously, wine use is okay according to His actions. But it shouldn't be used excessively and one shouldn't become an addict (or should stop using if they do, at least, with help if needed).
The same goes, in my opinion, for other mind-altering substances which can be responsibly used: they should be used occasionally, not used to excess, and if one becomes addicted, they should quit.
Just like wine, I guess that if one smokes marijuana may do things he'll later regret.
Well, given that sober people often do things they regret later, I suppose that is true. But, no matter how much cannabis is use, there is no level at which a person could be said to not really be "in control" of themself, because most habitual users state that they can "overcome the high".
Alcohol effects people very differently from cannabis, for all that they are both mind altering substances.
Also, I'm female, since you seem a bit confused. *wink* I miss my icons that told everyone exactly what I am (married, female, and all of that). I wonder if we'll ever get them back?
