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Marijuana And The Christian

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Marijuana And The Christian

Who would have thought twenty years ago that any church, let alone Village Bible Church, would need to publish a paper regarding the guiding elders’ thoughts and guidelines surrounding the Christian and the use of marijuana.  It was less than a generation ago that marijuana was consigned to the outskirts of society.  Throughout the 60’s and 70’s marijuana was connected to the hippies and in the 80’s and 90’s it was the burnouts, yet as the calendar flipped into a new century it became something more than the butt of jokes...it became mainstream.

As newer generations looked at the societal norms of the past, it decided at warp speed to change its opinions regarding the use of cannabis/marijuana. These views are not just among non-believers but even among those who call themselves Christ followers.

Recent surveys tell us that: Public attitudes toward marijuana are increasingly favorable: surveys find 58 percent of U.S. respondents favor legal use. (Source: Gallup). Nearly half said they’ve tried weed, and 77 percent agree there are legitimate medical uses for it (Source: Pew Research).[1]  

For years it was easy for a church to stand opposed to the use of marijuana among its people. Churches stood behind the admonition of Romans 13 which states that since governing authorities were opposed to its use so should every Christian.  For the members of Village this all changed on January 1, 2020, when Illinois became the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana for adult use.

 So what is a church to do when it seems like the government changes course with the cultural winds? There are two popular and yet simple options: first, churches could emphatically and forcibly enforce a marijuana free membership by calling it and its use a sin and move on.  Second, a church could say since the government says it's okay then that settles it.  However, each of these options leave something to be desired. In both cases, we believe them to be lazy attempts to help guide the members of Village Bible Church to embrace godly priorities and parameters within a changing society.  Likewise, it fails to show believers the wealth of practical and spiritual wisdom God’s Word brings to subjects that affect evangelical Christianity.

 So the purpose of this paper is to transcend easy attempts to either hinder or promote the use of marijuana amongst the members of Village and seek to understand the heart of God when it comes to this issue and give people the needed framework to make a decision that will honor God and serve to be of great good for our members. To this end we will seek to answer some questions regarding marijuana and its use as well as clearly understanding the biblical calling that all Christ followers have to be sober- minded and always ready to serve God in both word and deed.

[1]https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/articles/what-evangelical-christians-need-to-learn-about-marijuana.aspx

Does The Bible Speak about marijuana?

Yes and No! Some believe that marijuana falls under the heading of Genesis 1:29 where God said to Adam: “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” But how many people ingest marijuana as food? While this passage gives us great freedom when it comes to enjoying His creation, it gives no support to smoking marijuana for the purpose of getting high. We know of no food that we consume by smoking. As Joe Carter has written, “Presumably, no one adds marijuana to brownies because it improves their flavor. The reason to add this particular plant to food is because of its effect on senses other than taste”.[1]

So, aside from this passage in Genesis marijuana is nowhere mentioned in Scripture. While recognizing the omission from any particular mention of marijuana, we must affirm the goodness of God’s creation. Its goodness is not destroyed by the fall. What does this mean for marijuana? If creation is good, then created things are good. Marijuana is good! Does this mean that because God created it, every use of it is God honoring. Absolutely not!! We see this truth with regards to sex, money, and even our use of words as well as many other things. So within all of creation there is a truth that is connected to it: Everything God made is good for its intended purpose. So while marijuana is good because it was created by God we must understand that man seeks to take the beauty of God’s creation and dirty it with our own uses that seek to elevate our prerogatives over Gods.

[1] “Is Recreational Marijuana Use a Sin,” January 6, 2014, The Gospel Coalition Blog

Isn't Marijuana Just Like Drinking….Everything in Moderation

As was stated earlier in this paper, understanding that this issue is far more complicated than a simple “Do this or Don’t do that'' answer, is usually unhelpful and unproductive. On one side of the discussion someone might say that marijuana and alcohol are different because people drink alcohol for the taste but people use marijuana only to get high. This lack of nuance distracts us from reality.  Let's be honest, and realistic, that even moderate drinking which is permitted for the believer has a loosening effect on the drinker. While drunkenness is prohibited in scripture and comes with numerous warnings about the peril that comes with it (Ephesians 5:18; Romans 13:13; Galatians 5:19–21; 1 Peter 4:3), we must concede that God has given us wine and drink to “gladden the heart of man” (Psalm 104:14-15). It is because of passages like this that the Guiding Elders hold to a position of moderation when it comes to alcohol use and the believer.  Can the same be said of moderate marijuana use? Should our position on alcohol serve as our guidelines and parameters when it comes to marijuana? 

While the parallel between alcohol and marijuana is not exact, the intended effect of marijuana use is closest to the effect of drunkenness. At the heart of both the abuse of alcohol and marijuana use is the lack of self-control and sober-thinking. The Scriptures serve us well in helping us to understand the will of God:

Ephesians 5:17-18 ­– “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.”

1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 – “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

1 Peter 4:7 – “The end of all things is at hand: therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

The one thing we are forbidden by Scripture to do with alcohol appears to be just about the only thing we can possibly do with marijuana recreationally and that is to become intoxicated by it. To this end Doug Wilson adds some clarity regarding this point:

“The one thing pot does for you—get you buzzed—is the one use prohibited concerning alcohol. When Paul tells us not to be drunk with wine, he did not mean that getting drunk with beer or scotch was acceptable. The problem is not the wine, but rather the loss of self-control. And because such mental impairment is the whole point of smoking pot, recreational marijuana is a serious sin, from the very first toke on down. No one smokes pot because it pairs nicely with the fish.”

Jeff Lacine is extremely helpful in showing us the similarities and differences between alcohol and marijuana. He states the following:

Ways that cannabis is like alcohol:

  • Cannabis, like alcohol, is an organic substance.
  • Cannabis, like alcohol, has the potential to intoxicate and distort reality.
  • Cannabis, like alcohol, has different effects on someone who uses it regularly than someone who uses it occasionally. (In other words, tolerances can be built up with regular marijuana use similar to the way tolerances can be built up with regular alcohol use.)
  • Cannabis, like alcohol, can be habit-forming (see 1 Timothy 3:8).

Ways that cannabis is unlike alcohol:

  • Unlike alcohol, you can’t blackout or die from an overdose of cannabis.
  • Unlike alcohol, there are many different strains of cannabis. The same amount of cannabis smoked or ingested from two different cannabis plants can have different effects on an individual — even if both plants have the same exact amount of THC (the primary psychoactive chemical in cannabis).
  • Unlike alcohol, marijuana has many different effects on an individual due to its complex chemical makeup. There are at least 113 different chemical compounds (cannabinoids) inside the cannabis plant that combine to cause a variety of effects on an individual when smoked or ingested.
  • Unlike alcohol, cannabis has not been a staple in cultures all around the world for use in celebrations and ceremonies (like John 2:9).
  • Unlike alcohol, regular cannabis use is strongly correlated with mental health disorders such as schizoaffective disorder. While heavy drinking (alcohol abuse) has also been linked to mental health disorders, moderate drinking has not.
  • Unlike alcohol, cannabis has been a cultural symbol of rebellion for a large part of the last century.
  • Unlike alcohol, cannabis was not used by Jesus in his Last Supper, which is to be regularly commemorated by the church (Mark 14:23–25).
  • And perhaps most importantly, unlike alcohol, cannabis is not directly addressed in the Bible.

It is unhelpful to make direct correlations between cannabis and alcohol, as if all the Bible’s teaching on alcohol applies to cannabis. Not only are cannabis and alcohol vastly different chemical compounds, with vastly different effects, but the Bible gives us clear and direct permission for the moderate use of alcohol while never directly referencing other psychoactive compounds such as marijuana.

Is there a difference between Medical and Recreational Marijuana?

Let’s first begin with making a careful and necessary distinction between medical and recreational use of marijuana. While your elders seek to lead when it comes to the intersection between spiritual and the natural, your guiding elders do not seek to imply that we are remotely close to being experts on the question of whether or not marijuana should be made legal and available for use in cases of extreme medical distress. Our humble opinion is that a good case can be made for allowing marijuana use in certain instances. We don’t know the criteria one would employ to make the determination as to when marijuana should be used and when not. But it seems reasonable to us, and not at all unbiblical, that if marijuana can be used in some form and under the oversight of a physician to help those in extreme pain or those for whom all other medical remedies have proven ineffective, it should be allowed. Decisions like this are not simple yes and no answers but ones that must be dealt with under the clear oversight of a medical doctor who is up-front and honest about possible benefits as well as any adverse side effects. One author puts it this way in describing the multifaceted decision this can be:

 

Imagine your grandmother is bedridden with crippling, chronic pain. Maybe your nephew is plagued with seizures, or your mother needs to regain her appetite to survive a tough round of chemotherapy. For any of us connected to someone with those health concerns — as well as muscle spasms, nausea and inflammatory diseases — the merits of medical marijuana get a lot less theoretical and a lot more personal. If you look closely at the chemicals in cannabis, you’ll find the psychoactive part of marijuana is called THC — that’s what produces the euphoric, intoxicating high. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the primary non-psychoactive components of cannabis; it doesn’t produce the high, but it shows medical effectiveness and future potential for treating the health issues listed above (Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse).[1]

 

[1]https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/articles/what-evangelical-christians-need-to-learn-about-marijuana.aspx

How should a Christian react when it comes to recreational marijuana use?

While a biblically informed response by the guiding elders to this issue is necessary to help lead and guide the members of VBC, we believe it will not likely convince everyone they should not use or stop using recreational marijuana. The heart of the issue rests on just that “the heart.” Those who abuse alcohol and use marijuana do so because they are seeking to fill some void or need, to satisfy an unfulfilled desire.

Ed Welch puts it this way: “The use of mind-altering drugs and alcohol always raises the question: What is so wrong with everyday life? But the answer to that question is obvious—there is so much that is hard in everyday life, so many anxieties in daily life. We can understand why many people would seek a moment of chemically-induced peace.” For many who try marijuana, they find something that satisfies these desires at least for the moment. And for many, it often doesn’t have the same side effects or consequences as alcohol. Welch concludes, “In response, the Christian church hopes that we can offer someone better, who reveals to us a larger reality and the possibilities of true peace and joy.”[1]

So, what are those reasons that cause those to justify their use of recreational marijuana and how should a church respond in light of this growing trend:

While marijuana advertises an opportunity to add something to the dull moments and mundane details of our seemingly boring lives, let us never forget that God is not just present in the majestic but the mundane moments of life as well. We are called to find joy and satisfaction in those moments by abiding in Christ and enjoying each and every moment He gives us.

 

Second, marijuana allows us the opportunity to leave behind our troubles and tribulations.  It tempts us to turn to it when pain and pressure seems too hard to handle. But let us be reminded of scripture that tells us to cast our anxieties on him instead of running to a temporal high or finding refuge in smoking our troubles away. Instead of running to any sort of drug let us be known as people who run to our Heavenly Father instead who gives us all we need for life and godliness.

 Third, some may say that a Christian’s involvement with marijuana gives a unique opportunity “to be all things to all men” and while that seems missional at first glance, it is self-serving.  Friends are those who love you for who you are not merely because of what you do or don’t do.  So instead of striving to win their approval by smoking marijuana let us seek first to win God’s approval before seeking the crowds approval.

 

[1] https://www.ccef.org/marijuana/