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NASB | Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. |
Subject: is marijuana against the bible |
Bible Note: Hi Cheri, You make a good point, but were surgeries actually performed using drugs in the first century of the church? Interesting. Possibly there was anasthetics available by the use of plants, but that is not the point. I agree with the point you made, it was insightful of you to make it. I also agree with Jay, but his choice of words needs to be overlooked. I do not disagree with Jay, so let's not split hairs, we are to be striving for a higher purpose here. Jay stated that 'God clearly calls it sin' when this is a rather muddy issue. ;o) Clear as mud. The Bible calls 'pharmakia' a sin of the flesh. Vine's says under 'witchcraft' , 'see sorcery'. These indeed are works of the flesh. Vine's continues with (my paraphrase) 'primarily signifies the use of medicine, drugs, spells, then poisoning, then sorcery. So the use of medicine is listed above the others. What makes this especially interesting is that it calls upon the proper application of hermeneutics. Shortly explained, hermeneutics is the art and science of interpretation. It involves historical context, as well as cultural, geographical, economic context.... -among others, but the point is made. All of these affect the meaning the original author was attempting to make. We may use the word 'medicine' as a definition of 'pharmakia', but did the original author have that in his mind? Did God inspire that in to his mind? What proper biblical interpretation is, is very hard to place on paper, much less in a volume of books. And a major mistake made by many people is to read the words into our present culture. This amounts to reading what the author is saying to US, and not his original intent. What we end up with, is as many interpretations as there are readers of a passage. But what the original intent of the author's message is not as obvious, and research is involved. This is why we need to pray for understanding whenever we read the Bible. Understanding is what is important and that can only come from above. Eyes that see that we may perceive, Ears that hear that we may understand, That we may be converted, (again my paraphrase) Adam Jr. P.S. It is apparent to me that our little man is a marijuana smoker, looking for biblical support, and we need to understand that he is at least seeking answers, and pray for the Holy Spirit to heal him by giving him answers from God the father and not man. |