This is a true story

[George]

Drug users past or present are not much higher up on the food chain then the pusher themselves.

Why? Drug use isn't a sin unless they commit a drug related crime.

[George]

I regret my past but I do not call for extreme punishment of drug dealers. The fact that many people my age have tried these illicit substances yet somehow made life better as we got older is a good reason.

It is best to avoid drugs altogether but in this day and age it is very difficult. When I started it was with the smart kids in my highschool {of which I was one}. One of those friends went to Cornell and works in DARPA now. I went to RPI {Rensselaer Polytech Institute} and RPI was a party school {according to Playboy mag in the 80s}.

I'm confused, did you sell drugs or use it? I don't think selling drugs is a sin at all, although I wouldn't do it, and all drugs should be legal. If it were legal then their wouldn't be criminals involved with it. If the drugs didn't come from enemy nations then there is no problem. Most drug dealers are involved with other crimes so they should be punished.

[muman613]

I regret my past but I do not call for extreme punishment of drug dealers. The fact that many people my age have tried these illicit substances yet somehow made life better as we got older is a good reason.

It is best to avoid drugs altogether but in this day and age it is very difficult. When I started it was with the smart kids in my highschool {of which I was one}. One of those friends went to Cornell and works in DARPA now. I went to RPI {Rensselaer Polytech Institute} and RPI was a party school {according to Playboy mag in the 80s}.

I'm confused, did you sell drugs or use it? I don't think selling drugs is a sin at all, although I wouldn't do it, and all drugs should be legal. If it were legal then their wouldn't be criminals involved with it. If the drugs didn't come from enemy nations then there is no problem. Most drug dealers are involved with other crimes so they should be punished.

No, I never sold the stuff... I was just a user for about six years, from 1983-1989... I moved to get away from the stuff in 1989. For me this was my lions dens...

[Rubystars]

Actually if I had anything to say about it convicted drug dealers would have a select part of their body hacked off. Vermin that prey on school age children pushing drugs have no place in society. If they ended up in a jail I controlled their life would be a living hell. Drug users past or present are not much higher up on the food chain then the pusher themselves. I always have problems understanding people that at one point fall into every evil trap under the sun then one day wake up and smell the coffee of the real world. The sins of the past cant be made whole by going 180* in the opposite direction in the present.  How could it,  then everyone in the world would know they have ten or twenty years to have a ball and then try and do some restitution in their old age.

CJD, I agree with you that just because someone does good things in the present, it doesn't undo the past mistakes or the damage caused by them. However as a Christian I do believe that people can change with G-d's help and be forgiven. They may still have to pay for what they did though in many ways and G-d is the one to sort out the rewards and punishments because He is the right one to judge people who say they have changed and who the law can not currently deal with. Justice will always be served whether it's here on earth or in the next world.

In a court I do think that drug dealers should get very harsh punishments though because they do deliberately prey on children.

[Rubystars]

No, I never sold the stuff... I was just a user for about six years, from 1983-1989... I moved to get away from the stuff in 1989. For me this was my lions dens...

I'm really happy for you Muman that you were able to stop before it ended up destroying your life entirely.

[muman613]

It is a 'coincidence' that this is posted on Israel National News site today. It discusses the Jewish idea of Gehinnom and in the end the Rabbi quotes the idea I was mentioning before, that we can repent up till the day we die...



Is There a Hell?
Iyar 23, 5769, 17 May 09 11:32
by Rabbi Aron Moss


(IsraelNN.com) Question
Do Jews believe in Hell? I am not planning any trips or anything, but was wondering because I have heard mixed reports about this.

Answer
We do believe in a type of hell. But not the one found in cartoons and joke books. Hell is not a punishment. It is, in fact, a great kindness that we are sent to Hell.

The prophets and mystics of Judaism described a spiritual place called Gehennom. This is usually translated as "Hell", but a better translation would be the "Supernal Washing Machine". Because that's exactly how it works. Our soul is cleansed in Gehennom in the same way as our clothes are cleansed in a washing machine.

We don't put our socks in the washing machine to punish them. We put them through what seems like a rough and painful procedure only to make them clean and wearable again. The intense heat of the water loosens the dirt, and the force of being swirled around shakes it off completely. Far from hurting your socks, you are doing them a favour by putting them through this process.

But put yourself in your socks' shoes. If you would be thrown into boiling hot water and flung around for half an hour, you too would start to feel that someone doesn't like you. If only the socks would know that this is all for their good. Only after going through a washing cycle can the socks be worn again.

So too with the soul. Every act we do in our lifetime leaves an imprint on our soul. The good we do brightens and elevates our soul. And every wrongdoing leaves a stain that needs to be cleansed. If at the end of our life we leave this world without fixing the wrongs we have done, then our soul is unable to reach its place of rest on high. We must go through a cycle of deep cleansing, our soul is flung around at intense spiritual heat, to rid it of any dirty residue it may have gathered and prepare it for entry into Heaven.

This is no punishment. It may be painful, but it is for our good. Our soul can only shine once the stains have been fully removed.

Of course, this whole process can be avoided. If we truly regret the wrong we have done, make amends with the people whom we have hurt, then we can leave this world with clean socks.

That's why our sages said, "Repent one day before you die." And what should you do if you don't know which day that will be? Repent today.

[Lisa]

Chaim has said frequently on the Ask JTF shows that in Judaism, when a person sins, he or she must make it up to the people that he or she harmed.  On Yom Kippur, we fast and repent for the sins we committed against G-d.  But in terms of sins against our fellow human beings, we must ask them for forgiveness and make things up to them.  

On the one hand, I can understand where CJD is coming from since many drug addicts rob, murder and rape to get money for their next fix.  However if there are drug users that never harmed killed or maimed anyone, that's a different story.  I'm glad Muman was able to turn his life around for the better.  

[Rubystars]

But put yourself in your socks' shoes.

I liked this part. 

[muman613]

Chaim has said frequently on the Ask JTF shows that in Judaism, when a person sins, he or she must make it up to the people that he or she harmed.  On Yom Kippur, we fast and repent for the sins we committed against G-d.  But in terms of sins against our fellow human beings, we must ask them for forgiveness and make things up to them.  

On the one hand, I can understand where CJD is coming from since many drug addicts rob, murder and rape to get money for their next fix.  However if there are drug users that never harmed killed or maimed anyone, that's a different story.  I'm glad Muman was able to turn his life around for the better.  

Lisa, what you said is 100% correct. There are sins between man and Hashem, and sins between man and man... Those which we commit against a fellow man can only be forgiven by the person we have harmed. All these laws are written in the laws of Teshuva.

Thank you so much for your kind words. It is one of the pillars of my repentence that I have turned around from the path of evil. I could have turned out, without Hashems providence, in a much darker world. Though the three events which caused my ultimate teshuva were by brothers death in 9/11, divorce, and losing a job all within 3 years. Since that teshuva my life has been full of blessing, a new job, new car, and continued parnassah.

I hope that all those who find themselves in a dark place continue to hope for a day when they can once again walk knowing that Hashem walks with them. In last Shabbats parasha we read that even though we fall off the path, and Hashem brings darkness and curses into our lives {Bechotochai}, he will always hold out hope for our repentence.

I will quote the pasuks which I refered to above from Leviticus 26:

33 And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
34 Then shall the land be paid her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye are in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and repay her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest; even the rest which it had not in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. 
36 And as for them that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one fleeth from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall stumble one upon another, as it were before the sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 
38 And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. 
40 And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery which they committed against Me, and also that they have walked contrary unto Me. 
41 I also will walk contrary unto them, and bring them into the land of their enemies; if then perchance their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then be paid the punishment of their iniquity; 
42 then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. 
43 For the land shall lie forsaken without them, and shall be paid her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them; and they shall be paid the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected Mine ordinances, and their soul abhorred My statutes. 
44 And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 
45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

PS: Rubystars, I noticed that pun... It was a funny pun...
 

[George]

No, I never sold the stuff... I was just a user for about six years, from 1983-1989... I moved to get away from the stuff in 1989. For me this was my lions dens...

You said that a Black person received jail time for a similar offense. I assumed it was drug sale because I didn't know drug use had jail time. You can get jail time for drug use?

[muman613]

No, I never sold the stuff... I was just a user for about six years, from 1983-1989... I moved to get away from the stuff in 1989. For me this was my lions dens...

You said that a Black person received jail time for a similar offense. I assumed it was drug sale because I didn't know drug use had jail time. You can get jail time for drug use?

Well, from what I remember since it was a first offense I could get diversion program. I was given the diversion program but at the time I failed to go to it, and was arrested again in Santa Cruz because of possession of controlled substance. This time I got the lawyer and because of strings which were pulled, the case was dropped. It is a miracle no matter how I look at it... I believe that it was a combination of things which allowed me to walk out of the court without even having to testify. I always figured that if my family didn't know people, and I was poor, I could have done time...

[George]

Well, from what I remember since it was a first offense I could get diversion program. I was given the diversion program but at the time I failed to go to it, and was arrested again in Santa Cruz because of possession of controlled substance. This time I got the lawyer and because of strings which were pulled, the case was dropped. It is a miracle no matter how I look at it... I believe that it was a combination of things which allowed me to walk out of the court without even having to testify. I always figured that if my family didn't know people, and I was poor, I could have done time...

I think the courts do work in favor of those with the right connections but Blacks don't get treated worse. Remember Yankel Rosenbaum's murderer and OJ simpson. They were acquitted because the jurors were Black Nazis. Anyone can get better treatment if the jurors or judges are biased.

[MountainMan]

Blacks say that the first human is black, just say that the first human is black, so you're black, itsa recessive gene . blahablahblahblah. .  LOL.  ANyway, thats what they claim, if white gene is recessive, how come majority of progress in the world came from the white nations.   Anyway, I was just giving yo usome advice on how to address these clowns, since that is the type of rhetoric they love to hear.   How bout this, get down on the floor crying, saying you hate being white..  They will make you their "black sheep".  Get it 

[Rubystars]

Blacks say that the first human is black, just say that the first human is black, so you're black, itsa recessive gene . blahablahblahblah. .  LOL.  ANyway, thats what they claim, if white gene is recessive, how come majority of progress in the world came from the white nations.   Anyway, I was just giving yo usome advice on how to address these clowns, since that is the type of rhetoric they love to hear.   How bout this, get down on the floor crying, saying you hate being white..  They will make you their "black sheep".  Get it 

The first humans were probably in Africa, but that doesn't mean they're the same race as the race that's in Africa today. It's true that sub-Saharan Africans are more closely related to those original people than other humans are (particularly the Khoisan). However the origins of humanity is a lot more complicated than these African lovers would have you believe. Hominids moved out of Africa in waves, leaving various species of human-like creatures. Erectus was in Asia and Neanderthals were in Europe, many different types of hominids were in Africa. There may have been others that were around that didn't leave a trace. Hominids lived at the same time as "anatomically modern" humans too in some cases. All the races originated from Africa but some of the waves of emigration from Africa ended up possibly mixing in some cases with previous waves. This allows for some regional variation that's more than just adapting to a different climate.

I think the evidence points most strongly to a combination between the old "Out of Africa" theory and "Multiregionalism".

[briann]

Blacks say that the first human is black, just say that the first human is black, so you're black, itsa recessive gene . blahablahblahblah. .  LOL.  ANyway, thats what they claim, if white gene is recessive, how come majority of progress in the world came from the white nations.   Anyway, I was just giving yo usome advice on how to address these clowns, since that is the type of rhetoric they love to hear.   How bout this, get down on the floor crying, saying you hate being white..  They will make you their "black sheep".  Get it 

The first humans were probably in Africa, but that doesn't mean they're the same race as the race that's in Africa today. It's true that sub-Saharan Africans are more closely related to those original people than other humans are (particularly the Khoisan). However the origins of humanity is a lot more complicated than these African lovers would have you believe. Hominids moved out of Africa in waves, leaving various species of human-like creatures. Erectus was in Asia and Neanderthals were in Europe, many different types of hominids were in Africa. There may have been others that were around that didn't leave a trace. Hominids lived at the same time as "anatomically modern" humans too in some cases. All the races originated from Africa but some of the waves of emigration from Africa ended up possibly mixing in some cases with previous waves. This allows for some regional variation that's more than just adapting to a different climate.

I think the evidence points most strongly to a combination between the old "Out of Africa" theory and "Multiregionalism".

I tend to agree with you here.   I find it Very hard to believe that there weren't multiple migrations of hominids.... but of course, having evidence of these small nomadic migrations is VERY tough... since you need ideal conditions to preserve their remnants. 

I personally don't like the idea of 'intellectuals' catering their theories about our genealogy to match their biased world-views.  That includes Liberals, Nazis, and Muslims who have warped ideas about where we come from and who did what.