Joy comes from TRUSTING GOD...

Consider it PURE JOY my brothers when you endure TRIALS OF MANY KINDS becuase you know it's the testing of your faith that develops perserverance...

God could stop anything so therefore he must have a reason for letting every situation happen.

Joy- the peace and quiet confidence that comes from knowing God is in control!

one. i havent taken hallucinogens in over three years and dont plan on taking them again. two. i did however havea bad trip when i did, that was the key expericance to turing me back around and going towards christ. three i dont tell anyone to take psychedlelics and and dont think anyone elses should, but formyself i have to be thankful for my experiace with them because it scared the hell out of me and i can limping back to christ and thank god for it!, three. thank you for al your concearn, i do apreciate it so much, and in the very least, i can say i relate to some of your post and i am going to smoke less, which i know you will just condem, but dont, because it is a step, my dad had to wean himself of zoloft and maybe so shall i do the same with herb. four, when and if i do stop using it, my opnion is that it is still a viable medicine that if put through the pharisutical companies perhaps in pill form ( like the do in canada as a substance called marinol, which you can get a prescription for like budanibinol as well ) offers relife for pain, cluster headaces, depresion ( budanibinol ). ( all of theses things are happeing in canada, i talk regulary with some one who lives up there and are on top of these topics. thanks for you thoughts freinds.

sorry for jumping in on this so late. i found this site while googling a song called hungry and found this site so here i am...

i didnt really see about the drug thread so i hope you dont mind me posting about the bands i like.

first off i am a hardcore christian music fan. i love it. ever since pillar (whoop!) came to our disciple now at our church 3-4 years ago i have been into the christian music scene.

let me give you some good bands to check out.

for hardcore/screaming: east west, extol, zao, underoath, emery, demon hunter, subseven, norma jean, beloved, living sacrifice, haste the day are some good ones to check out. (my favs being east west, underoath (emo), emery (emo), and demon hunter.

for more of a rock sound check out: Pillar(AWESOME, fav band ever), Disciple (awesome too), thousand foot krutch, blindside, POD, dead poetic, day of fire, 12 stones, Spoken, kids in the way, kutless, jeremy camp, Skillet are all good.

for punkish check out: falling up, relient k, the wedding, the chemistry (awesome), hawk nelson, further seems forever, MxPx, Sidewalk Slam, Five Iron Frenzy (ska), Supertones (ska), Number One Gun, Stellar Kart

most if not all of these artists can be found on www.purevolume.com with samples of their songs. this is definately not even close to the amount of awesome christian bands there are and if you need more feel free to email/im/pm/ me.

ps. i look forward to getting to know everybody

Hey MattyG, welcome and thanks for the headsup

I'm not sure if all of the norigional drug talk people are here but I've got a few things to add. Drugs, illeagle as they may be, help some people. Those of you who condemn it without even trying drugs, please don't. You do not understand where we are comming from. For those of you out there that were addicted and got off, I'm glad for you. However, there are some people out there that need drugs to stay normal. God doesn't work for everyone. Also, what happens to people without a God? Now what? shall they just die instead of finding some way to deal with the pain?

???

I don't have to hack off my right arm to know it would be harmful if I did. There's plenty of research and a mountain of anecdotal evidence that drug abuse is harmful to those partaking. Doesn't matter how good it might make you feel when you use. *All* drugs can be harmful if mis-used, from aspirin to heroin, even water and oxygen both can kill you if you over-do it.

ps: God does "work" for everyone...

Drugs are a false God akin to idol worship. They falsely and temporarily impart the user with the feelings of euphoria that can only be permanently attained through a living relationship with your Maker through the Holy Spirit.

Worse still is that addictive substances rob you of your free will. In my mind, choice and free will are among the greatest gifts God has given us. However, with choice comes accountability. If one chooses to use drugs, one cannot choose whether or not they will become addicted, and once addicted, free will is lost.

Here's the better question I suppose: What's the harm? Only to yourself. No, stop replying right now with the anti-drug commercial and how they affect everyone. It's a deal of responsibility. You blame the drug and not the person. I can see it now "Just tell the your parents you couldn't watch your baby sister because you were (fill in name of activity better than watching sister; i.e., playing video games, listening to loud music, ect) they'll understand. You don't seem to realize that the people that do these things, would not have gone out there and saved that kid if they were doing something else either. It's maybe because ITS THEIR FAULT NOT THE DRUG'S! Mary Jane is something to do, its not the cause of all of these things. What some people do to their bodies is their business and no opne else's. Look at it this way. Take that example I just gave about the anti-drug commercial. You could put anything else in there. anything. People that are getting high would be doing something else anyways. It doesn't matter. You look at a bad thing and blame it on the thing and not the person. It's the same with a lot of christians and the devil. To me, that is just casting the blame to where it should not. You should put the blame on the person and not say something like "Oh the devil tempted me to do it and I succombed accidentally." That is completely a cop out. The devil (if there even is such a thing) doesn't need to do anything to get people to do wrong. WE CHOOSE IT OURSELVES. The oppertunities are always there. Don't cast the blame on something else. Blame the person not the object that they used.

Have you spoken with miss jane today, M?

Hey now..... Haha.

I agree with you Mouse to an extent.

However, from the Christian perspective, it's pretty clear that we are to treat our bodies as a temple - not to defile our bodies or take anything into them that pollutes them.

If our bodies or our temple is not clean or polluted, then we can't expect to commune with God through the spirit. If we are unclean, the spirit cannot commune with us. Drugs - because they are a false God - prevent us from fully realizing our relationship with God.

If I were a Christian I could not have said it better myself.

*Tips hat to Joel*

As most people do not remember:

"Take the plank out of your own eye before you remove the splinter in your friend's."

This conversation has gone way off of subject but good conversations

I myself go to concerts that would be "jam Bands" like keller williams and moe. and Widespread Panic, I try to limit my self and not go to many of these shows because yes, they can be a stumbling block if I put myself in these situations too often. There is drug use, not too heavily but it is going on. I do not partake and most of the time are not near them because I dont get pit seats. I want to clear up tho that these concerts are fun, and are good music to dance to and it is very good music I do not condem these bands or concerts at all. I do condem the drug use and I take a very strong stance towards that and do not agree one bit with what Yashuatree has said. He embarrases me with the things he has said about those concerts and I know has given most of the christians a very bad vibe about jam music. I will say they are fun and can be enjoyed in a sober way if you want to see good music.

There are plenty of people at these concerts who are not hippies and and having a good time being sober and listening to great, and talent-filled music.

I just limit myself to these concert because I know that if I hang around something too long, I will grow weary and could become blind to its wrongness or strort taking part in the lame parts of those concerts.

I would recomend going with another christian brother or sister for accountability as I do. And if you are going to a jam concert in the future let me know

some good christian live or jam bands:

The David Crowder Band- An amazing live band! I always though this bands studio albums of ths band were good and worshipfull, but I never though this band to be inprovisional or spontaneous, but good at what they played. I heard a live recording of this band and have seen dvd performances. Simply amazing, better than the studio albums by far. Soo much energy, improvision and talented musiscian, a great live band. I havent seen them in real life but almost all of my friends have and say its simply amazing and I can see that through the DVD's


Infradig Ensemble- A Instrumental jam band that is very goood and are christian beleivers
check em out at infradig.net

I agree with thechrisss when it comes to the drugs and the concerts. They are a lot of fun and the music is excellent. Unfortunately people do drugs and it does happen at these concerts. But I don’t believe in sheltering myself, if I did I wouldn’t leave my house. I go to these concerts for my own reasons and that’s enjoy something that you can’t get anywhere else. Again I’ll agree with thechrisss, I don’t expose myself to the environment often. I don’t believe it was correct though to label the hippies as the one’s doing drugs. I call them drugies, to do drugs doesn’t make one a hippie, it’s not even the clothes one wears, it’s a state of mind a state of being, it’s a belief in peace and love, hence hippieChristians. Hippies weren’t form around drugs, and it was during the hippie area when the biggest hippieChristian movements occurred. Also there is a lot of “hippies” at the shows that don’t do drugs. Actually there was a group formed of hundreds of people from around the US that would gather together at phish shows in there area to enjoy the music with a sober mind. There are all kinds of wonderful music; I choose to enjoy them all. Be true to yourself, peace and love.

If I may add something to this...

I ahve been a Christian most of my life; but have only acted like one for maybe a third of my life. I have written numerous songs and am a huge fan of musically talented jam bands. I even drove 29 hours to see Phish's final show in Coventry, VT., for crying out loud.
God started to convict me when I attempted to form a secular jam band.

I tried so many times to excuse it by saying that the lyrics were moral and not anything to quibble over - and this is true. But, God impressed upon me the importance of using the gift He gave me for guitar playing, improvised music, and songwriting for him. Simply put, entertaining a bunch of drunk and high people with nice lyrics is not a good example of glorifying God.

I choose, instead, to perform music with only Christian lyrical content; and my band will play wherever the door may open. Because, more important than having a good musical time is using that music to touch someone's spirit and open a door for them to get to Christ. It about evangelism.

I point it out because that is a conviction that has been placed squarely upon me. I am not saying this is the way it is for everyone. There are those who can listen to non-Christian stuff and be OK. Personally, I choose to consume as much good stuff as I can.

God bless.

Good message phishrman - and welcome

My bad NODY I was being ignorant by using hippie the way I did. I actually dont know what I was thinking b/c I really like people that have the mindset of the hippies you described. People sometimes call me a hippie so that was my bad, i used it in the wrong context

hippies are cool

The Jesus movement brought a lot of people to Christ in the 70's, most of them hippies.

Its cool thechriss, unfortunately now a day’s people believe that to be a hippie involves being open minded to the drug scene. I find it kind of sad actually. It’s like to be a famous musician you must drink do drugs and sleep with as many women as you can. Why is that kind of life style envied?