Posted on 11/02/2005 8:41:18 AM PST by kingattax
DENVER - Voters in Denver have passed a measure that makes it legal for residents over the age of 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana.
The measure, known as Initiated Question 100, was leading by a margin of 53% to 47% with 96% of the votes tabulated.
Opponents have said that it will have no practical effect because it would be trumped by Colorado state law.
However, 9News political analyst Floyd Ciruli says it would send a powerful message to groups around the country working to decriminalize marijuana.
He said one reason the measure passed may be because opponents presumed it didn't have a chance and were more focused on other campaigns like Referenda C and D.
Meantime, voters in Telluride narrowly defeated a proposal to move marijuana possession down the priority list of offenses for local law enforcement. Meantime, voters in Telluride narrowly defeated a proposal to move marijuana possession down the priority list of offenses for local law enforcement.
Final-but-unofficial totals show the measure failed 332 to 308
It's simple: Lawlessness. When you remove the restraint, lawlessness abounds.
Have you heard the doctrine of the Total Depravity of Man? It states that man will degenerate to the lowest state that God will allow. Since the laws restraining persons from intoxication in this manner have been taken away, the state of Colorado will experience an marked increase in lawlessness and degeneracy.
I see from your post that you believe the opposite will happen and that police will be able to focus on "real crimes". However the real crime of mankind is to willingly violate the Laws of God, intoxicating themselves on what is not profitable and not being filled with the Holy Spirit for which they had be created by God. Rather than dedicate themselves to righteousness: loving thy neighbor as thyself and raising children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, they will be given over to their own passions and desires.
My prayer is that this sin would accelerate, burn out, folks repent and asked to be delivered from such affliction as this will inevitably produce and that they and their land would be healed. For if it is not checked the affliction may be intergenerational.
So why not ban drinking alcohol since that is a base state of man? FYI the lord does not set the rules for the country. It is the US constitution.
I am glad that you asked. The answer is the same, and I post the scripture on which it is based. Thank you.
Ephesians 5:17-19 "So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual )songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord".
Being drunk and dissipated is not God's will for man, but that He be filled with the Spirit of God. It does not matter what the constitution says, but this is why man was created. Man was meant to be filled with the love of God through his spirit and worship God forever.
The tragedy is that so many more will take the "mess of pottage", through the intoxication these poisons promise, and miss eternal love and life through several generations if this is not checked..
FYI the lord does not set the rules for the country. It is the US constitution.
Thinking that the constitution overrides what God has said, one may be sadly mistaken when asked for an account of ones life before ones creator. Both nations and man will be accountable for all there actions in light of what God has said.
The truth be said, when before the creator, you do not want to try to justify yourself based on your own actions. Ones only plea is the blood of Christ and the only actions to mention are the ones he has done through you for rewards; all else is hay and stubble ready for the furnace rather than eternal love and eternal life.
So, you would agree then that the only reason pot is illegal, and alcohol is not, is because Jesus did not smoke pot?
The second part of your repsonse shows that you place greater emphasis in your life to the Bible, which is fine, that why we have freedom of religion. I, as an atheist, do not and believe the constitution as created in 1787 should govern our relationship with government. Render unto Caeser...etc.
Not everyone in this country believes in the same God. I even know many people that have found their current spirituality through the use of mind altering substances. Many other religions, even Native American religions have used these substances to become closer to their God(s). People are not dumb, and people know how to make good choices in their lives. You seem to have little faith in the will of man to do good and live fullfulling lives and avoid temptation.
Nothing there says we should imprison drinkers or pot smokers.
Romans 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools."
The idea that strong drink and intoxicating substances are good for men is the wisdom of this world and is founded on premise that there is no accountability for one's life and that God does not exist or does not care about what one does. But the scriptures clearly says that he does exist "I AM THAT I AM", and that he does care "So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God." Romans 14:12
Having mentioned the accounting that will be required of all of us. I tell you that no one, on that day before God, will want to hear "You wasted your life through drunkenness and being stoned rather than being filled with the Holy Spirit which I created you to be. The Eternal Life and Love which I offered you as a free gift which I offered through giving my only Son to atone on the Cross, you spurned. I gave you food and drink, air to breathe and restrained much evil from you every day so that you might live and turn to me and Live, but you did not. Away from all food and drink, love and pleasure shall you go and serve me as incense upon the lake of fire you shall."
Having been one who has served the Gods of pleasure and vice, and suffered much from their ills, I tell you that being filled with love and the Holy Spirit beats anything you have ever known. Turn away from the dung heap of intoxication and talk to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, tell him all your faults and call upon Him to save you from it and this whacked out world and hear His words to you "All that come to me, I will, in no wise, turn away"
Let me rephrase what you have said in several posts: BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAHBLAH BLAH BLAH
The only reason I'm doing this to you is to get your attention, knock you off your roll a bit, so you will pay attention when I say everything you have quoted from the Bible is negated by the fact that Jesus, his own self, made wine for wedding guests.
Read your Bible.
It is up for you to guess whether it was strong drink or not. All we know from the text was that it was called good (which is not surprising about what Jesus does).
Please accept my continued good wishes for your recovery.
Of all the arguments made by religious teetotalers, this is probably the silliest. The very idea that there existed some kind of distinction between fermented (strong drink) and unfermente drink has no historical basis at all.
Further, do you REALLY think that the city of Denver cares much about what glorifies Jesus Christ, even if your thing about "strong drink" were true? Civil law is to refrain and restrain wickedness, not to create a pure society. Divorce was permitted under the Mosaic code, yet remains one of the most destructive elements of any society.
Unbelievers are really not very impressed with our teetotalling morality, any more than they are impressed with the moral scruples of a Hindu vegan who won't eat meat because it might be Uncle Henry.
Just an aside. During a time when our society was WAY WAY WAY more influenced by the gospel (the era immediately after the Great Awakening) under the preaching of George Whitfield, Johathan Edwards, Frelinhuysen, Samuel Davies, Shubal Stearns, and Deveraux Jarrett, it was common for preachers to BE PAID IN CORN WHISKEY. These men who shook a continent for God would have been amused a the idea that someone thought alcohol inherently sinful.
Smoking pot is a different kettle of fish, but alot of the principles are the same.
Calling me names does not endear me to your position. Slandering and demeaning one through name calling is not necessarily virtuous. But that I do not mind, other that the saying that there has been no historical basis at all of folks discussing strong drink and intoxication. It has been an issue in society for generations. Prohibition, which is widely denigrated, was a huge discussion in its time.
The abuse of alcohol and other substances has produced more deaths, more family breakups and more poverty than one would imagine. I personally have seen a dead person on the road from alcohol and I personally know of a least three personal acquaintances who lost their marriages and families through substance abuse.
The scriptures bring light upon this dark subject and the believing of them can free thousands from substance abuse slavery. This is why I've spend my time on this thread in the hopes that even one person, trapped in the slavery and substance abuse may call upon the name of the Lord and be delivered from addiction and the dementia that swirls around this subject.
It is caring, to care for one's fellow man. Jesus, on dealing with the Pharisees, on the issue of good works on the Sabbath day referred to the law on delivering a donkey from a pit on the Sabbath day and asked them if a man was worth more than a donkey? Is a man worth more than a donkey to you? Is it a worthwhile task to stand in the gap against vice and show deliverance from slavery? But before I leave you, to that question, I leave you with one more scripture; again thanking you all on this thread for bringing up the subject and the opportunity for addressing it, for perhaps the benefits of hundreds if not thousand. For believing one peace of scripture can benefit one for their entire lives and their entire lives to come. Thus I leave you with this little proverb:
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
Be wise, turn away from a lifestyle of intoxication and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, place your life upon him. He alone has the power to deliver from addictions and degradations which are far worse than many think.
Is the law of God good? Absolutely. Is all law based in the morality ultimately to be derived from God and his law? Yes. Does that mean that the commands to individual Christians should be enshrined in civil code? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Let the law do what it is designed to do, which is restrain the unfettered madness of men. I don't think smoking pot is one of those things that should have been made "illegal" in the first place (By the way, I am not a pot smoker).
You misapply the law of God.
Does that mean that the commands to individual Christians should be enshrined in civil code? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
The Law states "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your Heart, with all your Mind and your neighbor as thyself". When folks come to heaven, before the judgment seat and the impact being in the presence of the most powerful being in the universe, many will have to confess, "I did not love you in my life, I did not love my neighbor as I loved myself".
Some will say, "I planted my affections in money, sex, power and things I could do to my body and I suppressed the knowledge of you and your love in my mind so I could do as I pleased. I wasted my life rather than laying up my treasures in heaven and now, I have nothing."
For before the creator of the universe, there will be no hiding, no defenses, and no way to excuse oneself. For all one's life will be as an a video playing in the background and the evidence too overwhelming to deny.
Others will say "I have no plea, but the sacrifice of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ on my behalf. I commend to you the good works he did through me, and the work of the Holy Spirit which you so freely pour out upon me. My own works I count as lost. You alone are worthy of praise and my soul knows it right well!".
So my question is to you, which of these will God receive into heaven, and which will go to the trash heap?
For truly, I say to you, God did not give us the Law for no reason. He will not abrogate it on the whims of man. You may say to me "I am assuming you would support legislation to prosecute those not sufficiently filled with the Holy Spirit?" but what will HE say to that? That, is the question.
For those without Christ, the answer would be that there would be None of the Holy Spirit in their lives; none of the indwelling presence to cheer and to guide; no sense of God's intimacy and personal love. It is not there there is not enough, but that there is NONE.
If you are a Christian, I tell you that intoxication is a good way to drive away the presence of the Holy Spirit; it dulls the senses to the "still small voice" calling you to pray; it muddles the mind so that one does not ask for things one really needs: Love, Peace and Joy.
When the smell of the banqueting feast, prepared before the foundation of the world for those who love God, is in the air, the smell of marijuana and the incense to try to cover it up would be as vomit before it.
Those who can, will rush to the banqueting table saying "This is what I have waited for all my life! This is what real food is all about, nothing compares to the Wine of God's love and the pure water which flows from His throne!".
Those one the trash heap will say "I can't believe I missed it, please just one drop of water! Warn my friends and my family not to come to where I am!", to which they will hear "They have have the Law of Moses and the witness of creation, it is enough".
Choose Life, my friend. Turn away from promoting the things of this earth - for they are passing away. Promote instead the Love of God, Eternal Rewards, and God's most excellent word - which shall never pass away.
The interest rate of God is beyond comprehension in this life.
Yours Sincerely,
sr4402
You may contact me via private reply if you wish.
I am in agreement with all you stated about the surpassing glory that awaits. The question here, though, is what role the law of God has in relation to our civil codes and further, what place, if any, do materials in this world have to "make the heart merry." I have already said I don't smoke pot. The question is not "is it wrong" but "should it be illegal?"
Let me ask you a question then, The Law says "Thou shalt not commit adultery" and that the punishment is to be taken outside the village and stoned to death by all your neighbors. Why should this not be enshrined in civil code? What is the result that we have not done so in our society?
For what you are getting at here is the purpose of the "Law" and I need to know where you stand.
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