Marijuana
February 25th, 2008 | by Noel |I just got an email from someone who asked me what my position was on marijuana. Specifically, should a Christ-follower smoke pot? I get this question periodically, so I thought I’d post my thoughts here.
I think there are two ways to answer this question.
First, what does the government say?
Check out this passage:
Romans 13:1-2
Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.
If you rebel against governing authorities, you are rebelling against God. If the government says “don’t smoke pot,” and you do, you are disobeying God.
Secondly (not that we even need a second point after the first), are you in control when you smoke pot?
Check out this passage:
Ephesians 5:18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.
This is not just a passage about wine, but about control. When something other than the Holy Spirit controls your life, it will ruin you. Anyone I have ever met who smokes pot does it so that it will control them in one way or another.
Tags: drunkenness, government, marijuana
By brett maxwell on Feb 25, 2008
This reminds me of back when Riv had a message board and at one point it was asked “would you smoke marijuana if it was legal?”
I posted my response there and to my blog, wow, that was 2.5 years ago. I don’t have enough experience or exposure to marijuana to really know how it relates to the control issue, but I agree that is the issue at hand (as well, of course, as legality, conscience, health, etc).
By Christopher on Feb 25, 2008
I know the Bible speaks against drunkenness, but what exactly is it defined as? Is getting a buzz from alcohol considered drunkenness?
I think the best example I’ve gotten of determining this is from Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz. He says that if what you do makes you feel wrong, like your conscience is telling you it was wrong, it most likely is.
So how do you thing God meant drunkenness to be defined?
By Noel on Feb 25, 2008
I define it loosely as “loss of control.”
By Christopher on Feb 25, 2008
So you don’t think a buzz is drunkenness?
I wish the Bible would be more clear on this. It leaves so much for interpretation. It says not to get drunk, but doesn’t really explain what drunkenness is.
By Ian on Feb 25, 2008
1 Samuel 16:7 says that God measures the heart. I think that the first question that one should ask when drinking is why? If someone is using alcohol to fill a void that God wants to fill even one drink will be sin.
The second question I ask myself is if my drinking will be a stumbling block in my testimony to others. We are told to be in the world and not of the world. If the way I consume alcohol appears to conform to the world, its probably a red flag.
By Ian on Feb 25, 2008
Also, the chief goal of man is to glorify God, and we glorify God by reflecting his love to others so that they in turn can praise him. If in drinking we are unable to do that we should stop. To consume or not, and how much, will always be up to the individual and context in which they are drinking.
By Ryan on Feb 26, 2008
Thanks for bringing this up Noel. My friends and I have debated at length over a similar situation, drinking under 21.
To play the devil’s advocate: When you drive down the highway at 75 are you sinning? In the same way, that’s the law of the government, and by extension, in your own words you are “disobeying God.” Another issue I have is that puts Gods Law on the same level as earthly laws. Commit lust? Sin. Murder? Sin. Roll stop sign? Sin. It doesn’t equate for me.
I humbly submit an alternative interpretation of the verse from Romans. Perhaps Paul’s intention was to correct [a frequent goal in his letters] believers who misunderstood the Word and thought Jesus was the only one we should ever be underneath, take orders from. This seems a probable mistake.
Paul could be confirming to the recipients of the letter that they are indeed under a governments authority while here on earth. So if the government catches them breaking the rules, we are required to “submit” to their ruling and accept the punishment. Paul is just clarifying to the believers that the secular Romans held this right, preventing anarchy/riot.
In my question, that would be to accept the ticket rather that chuck it out the window, saying no one but Christ has the right to order me. We must acknowledge govt as having the power to enforce their rules on us, BUT it is NOT on the same level as Gods Law, and is not sinful. This makes sense on a heart-head level for me.
This grew longer than expected, but like I said just playing the other side of an issue I’ve tusseled with. And your post is the ONLY way I’ve heard this verse explained.
By Will on Feb 26, 2008
I can see what Ryan is saying. After all, in the early church, martyrs were created by violating a law of the Empire by refusing to acknowledge Caesar as a god. But I think that really comes in to play where man’s law directly contradicts what we are called to as followers of Jesus. With the marijuana issue, I can’t see where following our country’s law on smoking marijuana is in contradiction with what God is calling me to, as in Ephesians 5:18.
For me, it comes down to intent. With alcohol, I know that I can drink a beer and appreciate its taste, aroma, and color without getting a buzz or even desiring a buzz. With marijuana, I really can’t see any intent except for wanting to alter my mental state.
I’ve by no means been a model example with either of these substances in the past, but today I really think staying in control of my faculties is important to my walk because of all the other sin I can fall into when I’m not in control.
By Fritz on Feb 26, 2008
Good point in regards to marijuana, Will. If you are smoking marijuana and you are NOT getting high, there are two things that could be happening:
1.) You really don’t know how to smoke.
2.) You have already smoked so much marijuana that smoking a single joint won’t get you high anymore.
Unfortunately I speak from personal experience here.
By Noel on Feb 27, 2008
I tried pot once and did #1. I had no idea how to smoke, so I didn’t get high. I didn’t get it until later someone taught me how to inhale a cigarette.
By Ian on Feb 27, 2008
This is for Ryan in particular,
Below is a sermon that I herd recently by a well respected pastor that talks about how following the law, as long as it does not dictate sin, is an act of love. I cannot explain it as well as he does so you can either read or listen to him preach it :)It really reshaped the way I look at authority.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/10/217_Love_is_a_Fulfilling_of_the_Law_Part_1/
By Art on Feb 27, 2008
Paul was a convict for Christ and last century alcohol was only re-legalized after masses showed how little control there was. Paul was adamant about being under Christ’s law and only minding the World’s if it meant salvation for others. Proverbs 23 gives a good example of drunkenness and 31 shows temperance is biblical; I’ve never seen a biblical account against personal temperance. The milk of respecting “Roman authority” pails to the meat of Matthew 22:37-40… this is too deep for a comment… excuse me while I go binge on caffeine
By Angela on Jun 30, 2008
So, is it wrong say in a Country that allows it legally and you dont have any loss of control? I have personally smoked pot and there was no loss of control. No different from having 1 or 2 beers.