Comments on: The Drug War Out My Window http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-drug-war-out-my-window ...dispatches from the post-evangelical wilderness Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:19:56 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Owen http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/the-drug-war-out-my-window/comment-page-1#comment-305 Owen Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.internetmonk.com/im.php/?p=68#comment-305 I enjoyed reading your essay on the drug war. This is a very problematic topic, as you are very much aware. Before I make my following comments I want it to be clear that I do not do drugs, nor do I think others should engage in doing them either. It can lead to a path that most find very difficult to get off, if they ever do. Having said that I would submit that I do not feel like this so called "war on drugs" is real in the truest sense, it is Orwellian at best. Law enforcement is obligated to make a few busts every so often to make it look like they are really doing something about drugs in the community, but it is politically motivated rather than actual concern for the well being of any of the citizens. I submit that if they were really that concerned it could be stopped. Countless politicians profit off of the illegal drug trade that comes into this country from third world countries, hence why I think they do not want it legal. Drugs use to be legal in this country, and the truth of why they were made illegal was more out of their concern, at the time, of minorities using them and not being able to control them. Alcohol was legal then illegal and now legal again - hmm. When alcohol was illegal it did not stop the use of it, it just made the acquiring of it more difficult for some, and the same is true for drugs. Can a government that has a separation between Church and State legislate morals? I would say no. Can they use this type of legislation to attract a certain voting block? Yes. The Church is the Open Door that offers the better Way of choosing to follow the Lord instead of the World. No one should be forced to follow the World or the Church. The thing that upsets me with a lot of Christians is trying to force their views down someone else’s throat (Your article does not do this, it is very well written and shows a sincere concern for the problem in your community). This in my view leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths about Christianity. Does this mean that the Church should be silent on issues? No. Can bashing gay people, prostitutes, people who use drugs convert anybody? Doubtful. Love the sinner not the sin is the cliché’ and I believe that this is true. It seems to me that Jesus had more to say about “so called” church leaders trying to propagate their interpretation of following the law on the people that it made it a stumbling block. Jesus showed people the true Way which was to bear their cross and follow him, but he never forced anybody, and I do not recall any passage promoting a revamping of the social order of Rome or Palestine. He called for a revamping of one’s personal life in dedication to God. If Christians were sincere in their efforts to do something about drugs they would drop their picket signs and go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in with sincere compassion and love. Trying to get the government to do something that theoretically (in our system) is not its responsibility to do seems to almost be a copout. There are bigger issues at stake in our country, such as jobs leaving the country, lack of sufficient health care, declining education system, etc. Alcoholism and drug use, along with a host of other problems, go up radically when the unemployment rate is up. So it seems to me if we wanted to picket something it should be the White House with regards to the problems, which I mentioned above, that is escalating these other problems of drug use and the like. Issues like drug use do not happen in a vacuum. The understanding of the REAL problems, in our world, that lead to these issues is the problem. These problems our government has the responsibility to do something about, and we as citizens should hold them to task on. Give a person who is on drugs hope and love and this will have a better chance of leading him to God than will any law. Brother Owen. I enjoyed reading your essay on the drug war. This is a very problematic topic, as you are very much aware. Before I make my following comments I want it to be clear that I do not do drugs, nor do I think others should engage in doing them either. It can lead to a path that most find very difficult to get off, if they ever do. Having said that I would submit that I do not feel like this so called “war on drugs” is real in the truest sense, it is Orwellian at best. Law enforcement is obligated to make a few busts every so often to make it look like they are really doing something about drugs in the community, but it is politically motivated rather than actual concern for the well being of any of the citizens. I submit that if they were really that concerned it could be stopped. Countless politicians profit off of the illegal drug trade that comes into this country from third world countries, hence why I think they do not want it legal. Drugs use to be legal in this country, and the truth of why they were made illegal was more out of their concern, at the time, of minorities using them and not being able to control them. Alcohol was legal then illegal and now legal again – hmm. When alcohol was illegal it did not stop the use of it, it just made the acquiring of it more difficult for some, and the same is true for drugs. Can a government that has a separation between Church and State legislate morals? I would say no. Can they use this type of legislation to attract a certain voting block? Yes. The Church is the Open Door that offers the better Way of choosing to follow the Lord instead of the World. No one should be forced to follow the World or the Church. The thing that upsets me with a lot of Christians is trying to force their views down someone else’s throat (Your article does not do this, it is very well written and shows a sincere concern for the problem in your community). This in my view leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths about Christianity. Does this mean that the Church should be silent on issues? No. Can bashing gay people, prostitutes, people who use drugs convert anybody? Doubtful. Love the sinner not the sin is the cliché’ and I believe that this is true. It seems to me that Jesus had more to say about “so called” church leaders trying to propagate their interpretation of following the law on the people that it made it a stumbling block. Jesus showed people the true Way which was to bear their cross and follow him, but he never forced anybody, and I do not recall any passage promoting a revamping of the social order of Rome or Palestine. He called for a revamping of one’s personal life in dedication to God. If Christians were sincere in their efforts to do something about drugs they would drop their picket signs and go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in with sincere compassion and love. Trying to get the government to do something that theoretically (in our system) is not its responsibility to do seems to almost be a copout. There are bigger issues at stake in our country, such as jobs leaving the country, lack of sufficient health care, declining education system, etc. Alcoholism and drug use, along with a host of other problems, go up radically when the unemployment rate is up. So it seems to me if we wanted to picket something it should be the White House with regards to the problems, which I mentioned above, that is escalating these other problems of drug use and the like. Issues like drug use do not happen in a vacuum. The understanding of the REAL problems, in our world, that lead to these issues is the problem. These problems our government has the responsibility to do something about, and we as citizens should hold them to task on. Give a person who is on drugs hope and love and this will have a better chance of leading him to God than will any law.

Brother Owen.

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