My Notes:
My Notes:
List of Clean and Unclean Animals: http://www.ucgstp.org/lit/booklets/clean/animals.html
For the distinction between clean and unclean animals various origins have been suggested; though few of them seem to have fully satisfied any one but their own originators. Omitting the most ancient ones (Origen, "Contra Celsum," iv. 93; ed. Migne, xi., col. 1171; Theodoret, on Lev. ix. 1, ed. Migne, lxxx., col. 299, and others, analyzed in Vigouroux, "Dict. de la Bible," i. 615 et seq.), only the most popular ones in our own day need be mentioned. According to Grotius, on Lev. xi. 3; Spencer, "De Leg. Hebr. Rit." i. 7, 2; S. D. Michaelis, "Mosaisches Recht," iv., § 220, etc., the distinction between clean and unclean animals is based on hygiene: it is a sanitary law.
Health Reasons
In 1953 Dr. David I. Macht, one of the primary proponents of biblical scientific foresight, conducted toxicity tests on more than a hundred species of mammals, birds and fish. He reported that in every case, extracts from meat of unclean mammals, birds, and fish inhibited the growth of lupin seedlings more than those the Old Testament called clean. Macht's methodology, known as phytopharmacology, has not been widely used by other researchers and is regarded as outdated and unreliable by modern mainstream science.
A 1985 study by Nanji and French found that there was a significant correlation between cirrhosis and pork consumption. Modern day swine raising is very different from earlier times with greater exposure to toxins but reduced exposure to pests and disease.
Pathogens
Improperly cooked meats pose a health risk because of the numerous pathogenic organisms they might contain. Only in modern times have technologies improved to the point where we can be assured that meats have been sufficiently cooked to kill these pathogens. Even today in societies where these methods are unavailable parasites are a major problem.
Jane Cahill reported in Biblical Archaeological Review that the toilets of a Jewish household in Jerusalem were examined and no parasites or infectious agents were found. A similar study done regarding Egyptians systems revealed eggs from Schistosoma, Trichinella, wire worm and tapeworms, all found in pork.
Symbolism
According to others, the law was a national one, intended to separate Israel from the neighboring nations, Arabians, Canaanites, and Egyptians (Ewald, "Antiq. of Israel," pp. 144 et seq.), and partly a sanitary one (Rosenmüller, "Scholia in Vetus Testamentum"—Leviticus). According to Keil, "Handbuch der Biblischen Archäologie," pp. 492 et seq., the law is a religious one, intended to deter men from the vices and sins of which certain animals are the symbols, which view is a mere variation of the allegorical interpretation proposed by Philo ("De Concupiscentia," 5-10).
In 1966, British anthropologist Mary Douglas published the influential study Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. In Purity and Danger, Douglas first proposed that the kosher laws were not, as many believed, either primitive health regulations or randomly chosen as tests of Jews’ commitment to God. Instead, Douglas argued that the laws were about keeping symbolic boundaries. Prohibited foods were those which did not seem to fall neatly into any category. Her theory was that pigs were declared unclean in Leviticus because pigs' place in the natural order was ambiguous since they shared the cloven hoof of the ungulates, but did not chew cud.
No other God before me
Of these explanations the first two have been refuted by Sommer in his "Biblische Abhandlungen," i. 187-193; Keil's opinion has been opposed by Nowack, "Lehrbuch der Biblischen Archäologie," i. 117, and others. The most popular theory at the present day is perhaps that offered by the late W. Robertson Smith, in his article "Animal Worship and Animal Tribes Among the Ancient Arabs" ("Journal of Philology," 1880), according to which the unclean animals were forbidden because they were totems of the primitive clans of Israel. This theory has been accepted by Cheyne ("Isaiah," i. 99; ii. 123-124, 303) and Stade ("Gesch. Israels," i. 408), but by Dillmann is either entirely and without discussion rejected ("Genesis," p. 382), or restricted to the prehistoric times of Israel, as being a survival of the old totem-worship and totem-clan organization, resembling in historic times the case of the horse in England, which anthropologists say is not eaten because it was once sacred to Odin, and thus tabooed (Joseph Jacobs in his "Studies in Biblical Archeol." p. 89, and similarly Salomon Reinach, "Les Interdictions Alimentaires et la Loi Mosaïque," in "Rev. Etudes Juives," xli. 144)
Other uses for the animal:
The things that God created may have been used for something other than what God created them for. Point, a Buzzard was created to scavenge the land and clean the dead and rotting carcasses.
Animals such as pigs, bears, vultures and raptors can eat (and thrive) on decaying flesh. Predatory animals such as wolves, lions, leopards and cheetahs most often prey on the weakest (and at times the diseased) in animal herds.
When it comes to sea creatures, bottom dwellers such as lobsters and crabs scavenge for dead animals on the sea floor. Shellfish such as oysters, clams and mussels similarly consume decaying organic matter that sinks to the sea floor, including sewage.
A common denominator of many of the animals God designates as unclean is that they routinely eat flesh that would sicken or kill humans. When we eat such animals we partake of a food chain that includes things harmful to humans.
Dr. Russell asks, "What is so good about 'clean' meats, and what is so bad about 'unclean' meats?" He explains that "the flesh of clean animals such as beef, and fish that have scales and fins, is ideal for the health of humans-just as we would expect from the hand of a loving Creator . . . Many land animals God designed for food provide an additional benefit in that they generally eat grasses and grains that were also designed for food" (Russell, pp. 73-74).
In contrast, David Meinz summarizes the potential health risk of eating creatures the Bible classifies as unclean. "Almost all of the creatures on the unclean list are scavengers," he notes. "In many cases they don't hunt for their own food; they eat the dead and decaying matter of our environment. A catfish does that at the bottom of a pond; lobsters and shrimp do it in the ocean. A pig will eat anything. Vultures, almost by definition, are known for their scavenger habits" (Meinz, p. 225).
I believe that God said that he made everything that was created and that it was good. Gen 1.24
Sources:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=531&letter=C
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unclean_animals
http://creationwiki.org/Clean_and_unclean_animals
Does it apply to us today?
Some say yes but most look at these scriptures and say no.
Acts 10:9-19:
9-13The next day as the three travelers were approaching the town, Peter went out on the balcony to pray. It was about noon. Peter got hungry and started thinking about lunch. While lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the skies open up. Something that looked like a huge blanket lowered by ropes at its four corners settled on the ground. Every kind of animal and reptile and bird you could think of was on it. Then a voice came: "Go to it, Peter—kill and eat."
14Peter said, "Oh, no, Lord. I've never so much as tasted food that was not kosher."
15The voice came a second time: "If God says it's okay, it's okay."
16This happened three times, and then the blanket was pulled back up into the skies.
1 Cor: 10:25-28
25-28With that as a base to work from, common sense can take you the rest of the way. Eat anything sold at the butcher shop, for instance; you don't have to run an "idolatry test" on every item. "The earth," after all, "is God's, and everything in it." That "everything" certainly includes the leg of lamb in the butcher shop. If a nonbeliever invites you to dinner and you feel like going, go ahead and enjoy yourself; eat everything placed before you. It would be both bad manners and bad spirituality to cross-examine your host on the ethical purity of each course as it is served. On the other hand, if he goes out of his way to tell you that this or that was sacrificed to god or goddess so-and-so, you should pass. Even though you may be indifferent as to where it came from, he isn't, and you don't want to send mixed messages to him about who you are worshiping.
Romans 14:14
13-14Forget about deciding what's right for each other. Here's what you need to be concerned about: that you don't get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is. I'm convinced—Jesus convinced me!—that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it.
15-16If you confuse others by making a big issue over what they eat or don't eat, you're no longer a companion with them in love, are you? These, remember, are persons for whom Christ died. Would you risk sending them to hell over an item in their diet? Don't you dare let a piece of God-blessed food become an occasion of soul-poisoning!
17-18God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake. It's what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you'll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Orignal Sin and Help me understand the arguments against Evolution.
My Notes on this discussion:
If Adam and Eve never sinned what happened?
Adam and Eve’s did Sin:
Gen 2: 15-17
15 GOD took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
16-17 GOD commanded the Man, "You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don't eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you're dead."
Genesis 3
1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"
2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"
4-5 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did "see what's really going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
8 When they heard the sound of GOD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from GOD.
9 GOD called to the Man: "Where are you?"
10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."
11 GOD said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"
12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it."
GOD said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"
13 "The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
21 GOD made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
I battle everyday with Evolution, as it is something that is taught more and more each day. I know there are flaws in the belief but what are they exactly so I can fight it?
Society today is being lead to believe that evolution is a proven fact and that belief in the Creation account is only for ignorant religious followers. Although what is not known is that there is a wealth of information that point to significant scientific flaws in the theory of evolution.
Here are a few.
Gaps in fossil record
There are significant gaps in the fossil record. Lots of them
Dna Genome
The theory of evolution further proposes that billions of these mutations created all of the life forms we see today. An initial self-replicating molecule spontaneously formed. It evolved into single-cell organisms. These evolved into multi-cell organisms, which evolved into vertebrates like fish, and so on. In the process, DNA structures evolved from the asexual single-strand format found in bacteria today into the dual-strand chromosomal format found in all higher life forms. The number of chromosomes also proliferated. For example, fruit flies have five chromosomes, mice have 20, humans have 23 and dogs have 39.
Evolution's mutation mechanism does not explain how growth of a genome is possible. How can point mutations create new chromosomes or lengthen a strand of DNA? It is interesting to note that, in all of the selective breeding in dogs, there has been no change to the basic dog genome. All breeds of dog can still mate with one another. People have not seen any increase in dog's DNA, but have simply selected different genes from the existing dog gene pool to create the different breeds.
Mammal evolution Speed
Here is another example of the speed problem. Current fossil evidence indicates that modern humans evolved from a species called Homo erectus. Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago. Looking at the skull of Homo erectus, we know that its brain size was on the order of 800 or 900 cubic centimeters (CCs).
Modern human brain size averages about 1,500 CCs or so. In other words, in about 2 million years, evolution roughly doubled the size of the Homo erectus brain to create the human brain that we have today. Our brains contain approximately 100 billion neurons today, so in 2 million years, evolution added 50 billion neurons to the Homo erectus brain (while at the same time redesigning the skull to accommodate all of those neurons and redesigning the female pelvis to let the larger skull through during birth, etc.).
Let's assume that Homo erectus was able to reproduce every 10 years. That means that, in 2 million years, there were 200,000 generations of Homo erectus possible. There are four possible explanations for where the 50 billion new neurons came from in 200,000 generations:
· Every generation, 250,000 new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain (250,000 * 200,000 = 50 billion).
· Every 100,000 years, 2.5 billion new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain (2,500,000,000 * 20 = 50 billion).
· Perhaps 500,000 years ago, there was a spurt of 20 or so closely-spaced generations that added 2.5 billion neurons per generation.
· One day, spontaneously, 50 billion new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain to create the Homo sapiens brain.
None of these scenarios is particularly comfortable. We see no evidence that evolution is randomly adding 250,000 neurons to each child born today, so that explanation is hard to swallow. The thought of adding a large package of something like 2.5 billion neurons in one step is difficult to imagine, because there is no way to explain how the neurons would wire themselves in. What sort of point mutation would occur in a DNA molecule that would suddenly create billions of new neurons and wire them correctly?* The current theory of evolution does not predict how this could happen.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/ (Web site with a wealth of information and PowerPoint’s that delve deeply into the subject).
http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php
If Adam and Eve never sinned what happened?
Adam and Eve’s did Sin:
Gen 2: 15-17
15 GOD took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.
16-17 GOD commanded the Man, "You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don't eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you're dead."
Genesis 3
1 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"
2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"
4-5 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she'd know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did "see what's really going on"—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
8 When they heard the sound of GOD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from GOD.
9 GOD called to the Man: "Where are you?"
10 He said, "I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid."
11 GOD said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?"
12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it."
GOD said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?"
13 "The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
21 GOD made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
I battle everyday with Evolution, as it is something that is taught more and more each day. I know there are flaws in the belief but what are they exactly so I can fight it?
Society today is being lead to believe that evolution is a proven fact and that belief in the Creation account is only for ignorant religious followers. Although what is not known is that there is a wealth of information that point to significant scientific flaws in the theory of evolution.
Here are a few.
Gaps in fossil record
There are significant gaps in the fossil record. Lots of them
Dna Genome
The theory of evolution further proposes that billions of these mutations created all of the life forms we see today. An initial self-replicating molecule spontaneously formed. It evolved into single-cell organisms. These evolved into multi-cell organisms, which evolved into vertebrates like fish, and so on. In the process, DNA structures evolved from the asexual single-strand format found in bacteria today into the dual-strand chromosomal format found in all higher life forms. The number of chromosomes also proliferated. For example, fruit flies have five chromosomes, mice have 20, humans have 23 and dogs have 39.
Evolution's mutation mechanism does not explain how growth of a genome is possible. How can point mutations create new chromosomes or lengthen a strand of DNA? It is interesting to note that, in all of the selective breeding in dogs, there has been no change to the basic dog genome. All breeds of dog can still mate with one another. People have not seen any increase in dog's DNA, but have simply selected different genes from the existing dog gene pool to create the different breeds.
Mammal evolution Speed
Here is another example of the speed problem. Current fossil evidence indicates that modern humans evolved from a species called Homo erectus. Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago. Looking at the skull of Homo erectus, we know that its brain size was on the order of 800 or 900 cubic centimeters (CCs).
Modern human brain size averages about 1,500 CCs or so. In other words, in about 2 million years, evolution roughly doubled the size of the Homo erectus brain to create the human brain that we have today. Our brains contain approximately 100 billion neurons today, so in 2 million years, evolution added 50 billion neurons to the Homo erectus brain (while at the same time redesigning the skull to accommodate all of those neurons and redesigning the female pelvis to let the larger skull through during birth, etc.).
Let's assume that Homo erectus was able to reproduce every 10 years. That means that, in 2 million years, there were 200,000 generations of Homo erectus possible. There are four possible explanations for where the 50 billion new neurons came from in 200,000 generations:
· Every generation, 250,000 new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain (250,000 * 200,000 = 50 billion).
· Every 100,000 years, 2.5 billion new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain (2,500,000,000 * 20 = 50 billion).
· Perhaps 500,000 years ago, there was a spurt of 20 or so closely-spaced generations that added 2.5 billion neurons per generation.
· One day, spontaneously, 50 billion new neurons were added to the Homo erectus brain to create the Homo sapiens brain.
None of these scenarios is particularly comfortable. We see no evidence that evolution is randomly adding 250,000 neurons to each child born today, so that explanation is hard to swallow. The thought of adding a large package of something like 2.5 billion neurons in one step is difficult to imagine, because there is no way to explain how the neurons would wire themselves in. What sort of point mutation would occur in a DNA molecule that would suddenly create billions of new neurons and wire them correctly?* The current theory of evolution does not predict how this could happen.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/ (Web site with a wealth of information and PowerPoint’s that delve deeply into the subject).
http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php
Is smoking weed wrong?
My Notes on this Talk:
Ben Witherington
In John 2:1-12, Jesus provides the wine for a wedding. It is clear from the toastmaster's comment ("you've saved the best wine for last") that we are dealing with an alcoholic beverage. The normal procedure in a feast would be to provide the best and most potent wine first, and then the more watered down and less flavorful later as the palate became less discriminating.
There is, however, no endorsement in the Bible to use drugs that have the potential to seriously damage the mind or body. This is why church leaders are to be those not given to too much wine (1 Timothy 3:3,8--not a drunkard, not given to too much wine). There is then condemnation of overindulgence, but not of drinking in moderation.
There is not however any encouragement or endorsement of using drugs which do not constitute food or beverage in any age of human history. In fact, there may well be a prohibition of a particular kind of drug, one which produces abortions: In Galatians 5:20, there is a reference to pharmakeia (from which we get the word pharmacy). This term may, however, refer to the use of drugs in pagan worship ceremonie
Drug Abuse
While tobacco and recreational drugs are not mentioned in the Scriptures, principles governing the use of such substances are clearly stated in the Bible. Paul writes, "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19) and that "if anyone defiles the temple of God [the body], God will destroy him" (1 Corinthians 3:17). The Bible plainly states that we are not to damage our bodies—which drug abuse (whether the drug is legal or not) plainly does. These biblical principles are preventive in nature, and anyone with common sense can see this. To give into cravings for alcohol, tobacco or drugs is a form of idolatry and lust—violating several of the Ten Commandments. Biblical health principles are not intended to limit human pleasure, but are designed to ensure that those pleasures will be positive and enjoyable experiences.
Salvation
Philippians 2:12
What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Drunkenness
Ephesians 5:18
18-20Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 5:11
9-13I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn't mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with crooks, whether blue or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You'd have to leave the world entirely to do that! But I am saying that you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.
1 Thessalonians 5:6-8
4-8But friends, you're not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You're sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let's not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let's keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we're creatures of Day, let's act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
Galatians 5:19-21
19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
Sober mind
1 Peter 1:13
So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."
Romans 12:2
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
2 Corinthians 10:5
3-6The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulatjavascript:void(0)ion, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.
Philippians 4:8
8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
Ben Witherington
In John 2:1-12, Jesus provides the wine for a wedding. It is clear from the toastmaster's comment ("you've saved the best wine for last") that we are dealing with an alcoholic beverage. The normal procedure in a feast would be to provide the best and most potent wine first, and then the more watered down and less flavorful later as the palate became less discriminating.
There is, however, no endorsement in the Bible to use drugs that have the potential to seriously damage the mind or body. This is why church leaders are to be those not given to too much wine (1 Timothy 3:3,8--not a drunkard, not given to too much wine). There is then condemnation of overindulgence, but not of drinking in moderation.
There is not however any encouragement or endorsement of using drugs which do not constitute food or beverage in any age of human history. In fact, there may well be a prohibition of a particular kind of drug, one which produces abortions: In Galatians 5:20, there is a reference to pharmakeia (from which we get the word pharmacy). This term may, however, refer to the use of drugs in pagan worship ceremonie
Drug Abuse
While tobacco and recreational drugs are not mentioned in the Scriptures, principles governing the use of such substances are clearly stated in the Bible. Paul writes, "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19) and that "if anyone defiles the temple of God [the body], God will destroy him" (1 Corinthians 3:17). The Bible plainly states that we are not to damage our bodies—which drug abuse (whether the drug is legal or not) plainly does. These biblical principles are preventive in nature, and anyone with common sense can see this. To give into cravings for alcohol, tobacco or drugs is a form of idolatry and lust—violating several of the Ten Commandments. Biblical health principles are not intended to limit human pleasure, but are designed to ensure that those pleasures will be positive and enjoyable experiences.
Salvation
Philippians 2:12
What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.
12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Drunkenness
Ephesians 5:18
18-20Don't drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 5:11
9-13I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn't mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with crooks, whether blue or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You'd have to leave the world entirely to do that! But I am saying that you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.
1 Thessalonians 5:6-8
4-8But friends, you're not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You're sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let's not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let's keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we're creatures of Day, let's act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
Galatians 5:19-21
19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
Sober mind
1 Peter 1:13
So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."
Romans 12:2
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
2 Corinthians 10:5
3-6The world is unprincipled. It's dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn't fight fair. But we don't live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulatjavascript:void(0)ion, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.
Philippians 4:8
8-9Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
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