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Originally Posted by turmeric  I have to second what JD Wiseman & Steve say about psychedelics, both from experience and from reading up on them. The ancient Greeks (from whom we get the word pharmakeia,) used ergot grown on a specific grass which grew at Eleusis (near Athens) in order to celebrate the Eleusinian mysteries. It was definitely a "gateway" drug in the sense Steve was referring to. I began my study of ancient Greek religion because of the desire to use these substances for spiritual purposes. God sovereignly intervened in my use of these things, (I was actually making a pretty powerful concoction of marijuana butter) to reach me and draw me to Christ, however I don't recomend them for that purpose. Medicinal marijuana seems alright where it's deemed legal. |
Main Entry: er·got
Pronunciation: '&r-g&t, -"gät
Function: noun
Etymology: French, literally, ****'s spur
1 : the black or dark purple sclerotium of fungi (genus Claviceps) that occurs as a club-shaped body replacing the seed of a grass (as rye); also : a fungus bearing ergots
2 : a disease of rye and other cereals caused by an ergot fungus
3 a : the dried sclerotia of an ergot fungus grown on rye and containing several alkaloids (as ergonovine and ergotamine) b : any of such alkaloids used medicinally for their contractile effect on smooth muscle (as of the uterus and or blood vessels)
Never heard of Ergot, so I thought I'd post the definition. Again, I think it is a matter of eisegesis to suggest that the use of marijuana -- in every case -- is equatable with sorcery. I still insist that its use generally falls under all biblical prohibitions against dissipation, whether from alcohol or any other substance used for that purpose. As in a court of law I think intent matters (see Ergot above) and your buttery spread was for a purpose only a Rastafarian could appreciate. It was your desire that put you at odds with the truth and not the drug per se. Thankfully you say God intervened, but was that before or after buttering and ingesting your toast? I'm just wondering, because Steve was pretty insistent that God cannot intervene when under the influence of marijuana.
I also don't agree that legalization will usher in unprecedented demonic warfare, etc., etc. That's pure hysterics and reminds me of Conservatives who use AIDs as a means to promote abstinence as if HIV was another STD. There are plenty of good biblical reasons for a heterosexual not to engage in premarital sex and AIDs isn't one of them. FWIW and if you talk to any kid in a public High School, marijuana is defacto legal now as it was a long time ago when I was in High School (and then the drinking age was only 18). Prohibition is not the answer to the drug problem (or any intemperance problem as the 1920's should have taught us). The preaching of the gospel is -- and that is NOT to include that putrid, anemic Arminian version.
