Ever wondered why people abuse drugs..
- its expensive!
- people knows it destroys health!
- its illegal!! can land u in deep trouble with Singapore laws..
Look!!! Here are some of the synthetic (man-made) drugs. comes in wierd shapes n logos..
ah haha.. u won't find any of these food in the above picture.. it contains poppy seeds!! the stuff from Poppy flower they make opium from. contains morphine. So, beware next time u eat anything overseas or try bringing it back.. Anyway, I felt that people turn to drugs for following:
1) it helps "numb them from their troubles" ( but forget tt the troubles come back l8r)
2) they are already addicted to it, ( the drugs have replaced the body's own production of natural stimulants)
3) people in singapore don't give them a SECOND CHANCE.
SECOND CHANCE... I think our society is very intolerant against all these errors people make.
Be it drug abuse, HIV patients, jailed before people. Talk about all the "yellow ribbon project".. ask how many people out there who are willing to hire an ex-convict? Luckily todae we have opened up a bit. But to reach out to all these people, we have to deal with the social stigma associated with these people.
Which reminds me of a case in the bible where Jesus met a woman who committed adultery:
"1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court,4they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5"Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" 6They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court." John 8:1-9 (NASB)
The key point is everyone of us has sinned by God's standards. We may not break physical laws like drug abuse, commit a crime. But certainly everyone of us has GREED, LUSTS, DISHONESTY, HATING SOMEONE ( if you have not, I praise God. you are perfect ).
In the verse above, a woman was caught for adultery. And at that time, it was a henious crime punishable by stoning ( kill the woman by throwing stone at her ).
And what happened? Not a single one of the crowd stayed to do so. (because they knew deep down they haved sinned before and notice the older people started to leave 1st).
So, before we point an accusing finger next time at some one else, I beseech each and every one of us to examine ourselves and think. Who has not made mistakes before? Who are we to judge others?
2 Responses to "are we pointing fingers at others?"
Yes, we shld not be pointing fingers at others.
From Matthew 7:1-6, this is illustrated even more explicitly.
3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Mat 7, NIV)
We ourselves are not perfect to judge others, because we commit the same sins too. All of us commit sin and so we shld look at ourselves fst, repent to God our mistakes, and correct them. And not judge others as if you are sinless.
However, this verse shld not be misinterpreted. God does not forbid us from judging. Imagine a world without judgment. Who will be there to punish criminals, deter evil, enforce church discipline, or mark our test papers? A world without judgment also means that everyone will be permitted to do whatever he or she likes without bothering about the rights and respects of other individuals. The system of apologizing and forgiving would break down, as these are executed because the actions done are being judged as being wrong by the society.
The correct interpretation of these verse shld be that one shld not "act as a judge and CONDEMN" someone's act or "put oneself at God's position to judge". This verse is warning us against the sin of condemning someone as if we are at a higher position to do so. Luke 18:11 is the most vivid description of this sin.
11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men -- robbers, evildoers, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector.' (Lk 18, NIV)
Kind of obvious this Pharisee is condemning the acts of others, as though he is one without sin, and that he is trying to put himself at God's throne to judge others.
Furthermore, the verse is warning us against covering our own sins and misdeeds by others' failings or our wrong perception of them. By doing so, other people who are watching us would think that we are upright, but yet God is watching us from above He knows each and every single action that we did and each and every thoughts in our minds. By covering up our sins, we would be unaware of our misdeeds and would unconsciously continue in these terrible acts. And these will be recorded and God will be judging us based on these actions.
Conclusion: we shld not be covering up our sins through judging others and putting ourselves at God's throne. Only by putting our belief in Christ and His righteous, through God's grace can we be saved during the Final Judgment. =)
Hi Joz, well said indeed. Thanks for elaborating on the point that we should not be finding faults with others as we are not perfect ourselves.
I think it serves as a reminder for most of us that before we point out others' mistakes, we cross-examine ourselves. Just in case we forget we ourselves are not perfect.
You are right to point out that the "judging" here refers actually to judging people by their sins and condemning it.
Because everything in our lives involves decision making, and thereby making a judgement. We also for example examine the various explanations regarding teachings of the bible so that we do not blindly accept and follow mis-interpretations!
Certainly requires great amount of serious thought and judgement on the whole picture to figure out & weigh what is the most plausible.
Cheers! XDD Thanks for sharing too!
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