Christians and Legalization/Use of Marijauna

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
E

Elijah19

Guest
#1
#1
Hey and Hi All!

As you've probably heard, the drug marijuana was recently legalized at a recreational and medical level in the Colorado and Washington states of the USA. I was curious as to how we ought to view this as Christians, because I believe that substance abuse of any kind is wrong according to the Bible. However, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that Cannabis does in fact have medical use in patients with cases such as epilepsy, glaucoma, and cancer.

I don't know about everything else they say about it, though. The FDA and other such agencies in American government classify it as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, meaning it is supposed to have three harmful qualities.

1. A high potential for abuse
2. A high possibility for addiction or dependence
3. No medicinal use

The third of these points seems to have been disproven, but the others are still being hotly debated, and perhaps rightly so. I guess what I'm asking is that some Christian brothers and sisters who are mature in their faith and knowledgeable on this issue would shed some light on it for me. I have neither tried, nor intent to try at any time in the near future, any substance like marijuana. But I know some Christians in my life that truly do walk with God that use this substance, and these people are neither violent nor evil in nature. They may support legalization, but I'm shaky on the issue, because I believe there is great danger in it.

Sound off below. Should marijuana be legalized in America? If so or not so, provide your Biblical and logical insight. Is this substance of the devil and a stumbling block for our nation, or is it misunderstood and perhaps needing a second look.

I am persuaded that whatever the case, substances ought to be treated with the greatest of care and responsibility, and only used when either necessary (as in medicine), or with a maturely moderated expression of joy (such as when Jesus turned the water into wine at a wedding party).

I really appreciate your answers. God bless all :)
 
F

faroukfarouk

Banned
#2
Feb 21, 2014
5,672
18
0
#2
I don't believe in recreational or illegal use of marijuana.

I think there should be safe and legal tests done by pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers to see if it can be used to produce safe and less expensive alternatives to supposedly 'conventional' medicine.

A Christian perspective? am I offended by the obscenely huge profits made by pharmaceutical companies, who conveniently use moralizing Christians for cover to continue their gargantuan rip-off? Yes, I am.

Go figure: elderly and ill people near the borders with Mexico and Canada travel to those countries to buy medicines which there may cost only 1/20 of what is charged for them in the US.

I think that if it were not for the Cold War, President Eisenhower (no liberal he) might have warned against the pharmaceutical cartel rather than the military-industrial complex, in his retirement address.
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#3
Jul 31, 2013
36,658
13,125
113
#3
i believe this:

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
(1 Timothy 4:4-5)

and this:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
(Genesis 1:29)

and i believe Hemp fiber is a wonderful resource, producing many times more oxygen per acre than trees and regrowing yearly instead of over a period of decades, and produces much higher quality paper, rope and other fiber products at lest environmental and economic cost. the declaration of independence and constitution are written on hemp paper because of it's durability & economy.
for-profit American prisons are overcrowded because of an enormously expensive and ineffective "drug war" in the country. i think as a nation we've wasted a lot of lives, money and time on a largely benign recreational drug - certainly less dangerous than alcohol, which we instead celebrate. even though up to 70% of Americans support legalization for medical use and a majority support legalization for recreational use, the opposing argument is in no small part supported by prison and law enforcement lobbies that would lose their livelihood & funding if tens of thousands of non-violent 'offenders' weren't arrested and jailed every year.

i believe every thing can be abused and misused. i don't believe marijuana is an inherently wicked plant.

as a Christian i feel like the problems with marijuana use & abuse are in the hearts of men, not in the plant itself, and i support legalization. "you can't legislate morality" as it's said, and i can't in good conscious support outlawing the plant for health reasons when tobacco is still a government subsidized crop with no-where near the alternate uses and many times more the health risks.
 
Pie

Pie

Senior Member
#4
May 21, 2011
151
1
18
#4
I have no problem with the legalization of Marijuana. Many other things are legalized that are far worse. Does that mean I'll use it? No. If it was prescribed to me for some reason, then I would take it with care and caution like I would take a pain killer that was prescribed to me. I control my own actions. It's not my job to control other people.

We don't live in a theocracy so as someone already said, you can't legislate this kind of morality. And that was never the purpose of Christianity.
 
Last edited:
F

faroukfarouk

Banned
#5
Feb 21, 2014
5,672
18
0
#5
Pie said:
I have no problem with the legalization of Marijuana. Many other things are legalized that are far worse. Does that mean I'll use it? No. If it was prescribed to me for some reason, then I would take it with care and caution like I would take a pain killer that was prescribed to me. I control my own actions. It's not my job to control other people.

We don't live in a theocracy so as someone already said, you can't legislate this kind of morality. And that was never the purpose of Christianity.
Click to expand...
The ultimate beneficiaries of draconian measures against marijuana are the pharmaceutical corporations that reap huge profits from 'conventional' medicine.

I don't condone illegal drug use, mind you.
 
cinder

cinder

Senior Member
#6
Mar 26, 2014
4,328
2,361
113
#6
"you can't legislate morality" as it's said
Click to expand...
That is one of the most common fallacies of our day, perpetuated by those who wish to live without moral restraint.

You Can’t Not Legislate Morality - Thinking Christian

The point is that every law is based on some sort of moral principle or idea.

I'm pretty sure one of the founding father's also said something to the effect of the American government could only work for a moral people, but I couldn't remember it well enough to find the quote online.

The only other thing I have to add here is that as people who follow Christ, our aim should be to pursue righteousness not just avoid sin. "How will it benefit us?" is a much better question to be asking than "what is wrong with it?"
 
F

faroukfarouk

Banned
#7
Feb 21, 2014
5,672
18
0
#7
cinder said:
That is one of the most common fallacies of our day, perpetuated by those who wish to live without moral restraint.

You Can’t Not Legislate Morality - Thinking Christian

The point is that every law is based on some sort of moral principle or idea.

I'm pretty sure one of the founding father's also said something to the effect of the American government could only work for a moral people, but I couldn't remember it well enough to find the quote online.

The only other thing I have to add here is that as people who follow Christ, our aim should be to pursue righteousness not just avoid sin. "How will it benefit us?" is a much better question to be asking than "what is wrong with it?"
Click to expand...
I think I agree with you, and being God honoring is immensely beneficial and wholesome.

What I am concerned about, however, is that safe and legal testing be done so that pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers explore the options for producing less expensive medicine, in place of the grotesque rip-offs that they so often get away with. (Why do identical meds in Mexico and Canada cost only a fraction of what they do in the US?)

Blessings.
 
K

kennethcadwell

Guest
#8
#8
Elijah19 said:
Hey and Hi All!

As you've probably heard, the drug marijuana was recently legalized at a recreational and medical level in the Colorado and Washington states of the USA. I was curious as to how we ought to view this as Christians, because I believe that substance abuse of any kind is wrong according to the Bible. However, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that Cannabis does in fact have medical use in patients with cases such as epilepsy, glaucoma, and cancer.

I don't know about everything else they say about it, though. The FDA and other such agencies in American government classify it as a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance, meaning it is supposed to have three harmful qualities.

1. A high potential for abuse
2. A high possibility for addiction or dependence
3. No medicinal use

The third of these points seems to have been disproven, but the others are still being hotly debated, and perhaps rightly so. I guess what I'm asking is that some Christian brothers and sisters who are mature in their faith and knowledgeable on this issue would shed some light on it for me. I have neither tried, nor intent to try at any time in the near future, any substance like marijuana. But I know some Christians in my life that truly do walk with God that use this substance, and these people are neither violent nor evil in nature. They may support legalization, but I'm shaky on the issue, because I believe there is great danger in it.

Sound off below. Should marijuana be legalized in America? If so or not so, provide your Biblical and logical insight. Is this substance of the devil and a stumbling block for our nation, or is it misunderstood and perhaps needing a second look.

I am persuaded that whatever the case, substances ought to be treated with the greatest of care and responsibility, and only used when either necessary (as in medicine), or with a maturely moderated expression of joy (such as when Jesus turned the water into wine at a wedding party).

I really appreciate your answers. God bless all :)
Click to expand...
I would first like to say you can put alcohol in those same three categories from the FDA. Yet it is legal. The difference is the marijuana plant has been proven to have a lot more benefits to it then alcohol. The only thing said about alcohol is that a glass a day is healthy ( Example: A glass of wine ). The cannabis plant has medical uses, as been used for clothing and ropes, and other uses. Everything can be abused rather it is legal or not by our government. Legalizing it for the right reasons though is not wrong. It will still be up to the individual how to use it.

Plus I would like to add that being around those that have used it all my life. I can tell you most of the bad things they have said about it is lies and just a scare tactic used to get people to be afraid of it. What they don't tell you is the ones who are suffering brain damage or even death from it are using marijuana that has been laced with other chemicals or using a hybrid form or imitation of the drug.
 
crossnote

crossnote

Senior Member
#9
Nov 24, 2012
30,706
3,650
113
#9
posthuman said:
i believe this:

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
(1 Timothy 4:4-5)

and this:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
(Genesis 1:29)

Click to expand...
Poisonous mushrooms anyone? Aww, we'll just stick with peyote. (Perhaps the Fall changed some of this 'safeness'?)

OK, so today it's mary jane, tomorrow hashish, then cocaine...where do we stop kids?
I've seen too much damage to myself and others and tremble at the direction this is all going.
 
RedTent

RedTent

Banned
#10
Oct 31, 2011
8,200
182
0
#10
posthuman said:
i believe this:

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
(1 Timothy 4:4-5)

and this:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
(Genesis 1:29)

and i believe Hemp fiber is a wonderful resource, producing many times more oxygen per acre than trees and regrowing yearly instead of over a period of decades, and produces much higher quality paper, rope and other fiber products at lest environmental and economic cost. the declaration of independence and constitution are written on hemp paper because of it's durability & economy.
.
Click to expand...
Also, the Lord gives us plants that would kill us. We have to know what the plants are for.

There is usually something bad that comes with the medicines that can help us. I asked what the negatives were if I used marijuana for my glaucoma, and the negatives made the use of marijuana for this out of the question. I use other medications that do far less damage. We need to check out all medicines. The medicine that helps my type of tremor is, as the doctor describes it, zombie medicine. It stops the tremor, but the cost is too high. I checked the medicines that helped with my back after a whiplash accident. The cost to my mind and body was high, when exercise, meditation on God, biofeedback could do the same without the high cost to my body.

It seems to me a crime that people are too stupid to check on the pro and cons of a use of a plant. I have a blouse and some paper that used hemp, they are wonderful.

We had men who had used marijuana ask us for jobs, and twice we tried someone who had used it. It had so adjusted their minds that they were too "laid back" to handle the work. Nothing seemed to matter much to them. They could not accept full responsibility, so they endangered everyone who depended on them.
 
J

Jda016

Guest
#11
#11
One day marijuanna will be legal in the U.S.A. I am pretty sure of it.

But when that day comes and the years that follow it, ask me again if I thought our nation did the right thing when thousands are dead from driving under the influence of it.

Ask me again if I thought we did the right thing when an innocent family is killed by a marijuanna impaired driver.

Ask me again when I have to watch my students jump off the high school building, because they thought they could fly.

When that day comes, ask me again if America was wise in it's decision.
 
posthuman

posthuman

Senior Member
#12
Jul 31, 2013
36,658
13,125
113
#12
crossnote said:
Poisonous mushrooms anyone?
Click to expand...
they are a creation of God, and they aren't without any purpose or use:
Magic mushrooms ease OCD symptoms - Health - Mental health | NBC News
this isn't a study where people were given so much of the mushroom that they were hallucinating for hours.

i think the operative question for us is: can you receive it with thanksgiving? that's not the same question a secular government of a worldly country has to ask itself.

we have Timothy told to "take a little wine" and the church in Ephesus told "do not be drunk with wine." Jesus warned against praying "to be heard by men" but didn't condemn prayer completely. we're instructed to use our freedom with expedience.

i understand there's a "slippery slope" and a potential for abuse - but do we ban cough syrup because some drink so much of it that they hallucinate? do we outlaw nasal decongestant because some people use it with other chemicals to make more dangerous & addictive drugs? i'm not suggesting that we start putting it on school lunch trays; i just think the blanket criminalization of a plant - in a secular country that embraces alcohol - is a failed & misguided policy.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
(Proverbs 31:4-9)

how do we apply that to a legal system that governs both the lost and the found? the king doesn't become drunk with wine, not because the law forbids him to taste it, but for the sake of prudence. the US tried this with alcohol in the past -- what's the difference here with prohibition in the early 20th century?

a whole bottle of aspirin can kill you. one aspirin a day can save your life.

 
Last edited:
RedTent

RedTent

Banned
#13
Oct 31, 2011
8,200
182
0
#13
posthuman said:
they are a creation of God, and they aren't without any purpose or use:
Magic mushrooms ease OCD symptoms - Health - Mental health | NBC News
this isn't a study where people were given so much of the mushroom that they were hallucinating for hours.

i think the operative question for us is: can you receive it with thanksgiving? that's not the same question a secular government of a worldly country has to ask itself.

we have Timothy told to "take a little wine" and the church in Ephesus told "do not be drunk with wine." Jesus warned against praying "to be heard by men" but didn't condemn prayer completely. we're instructed to use our freedom with expedience.

i understand there's a "slippery slope" and a potential for abuse - but do we ban cough syrup because some drink so much of it that they hallucinate? do we outlaw nasal decongestant because some people use it with other chemicals to make more dangerous & addictive drugs? i'm not suggesting that we start putting it on school lunch trays; i just think the blanket criminalization of a plant - in a secular country that embraces alcohol - is a failed & misguided policy.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
(Proverbs 31:4-9)

how do we apply that to a legal system that governs both the lost and the found? the king doesn't become drunk with wine, not because the law forbids him to taste it, but for the sake of prudence. the US tried this with alcohol in the past -- what's the difference here with prohibition in the early 20th century?

a whole bottle of aspirin can kill you. one aspirin a day can save your life.

Click to expand...
Some very good points. The coast guard had a similar decision to make. People with no experience of the sea and in small boats were going over the bar into sure death, because their boats and their skill could not handle the ocean. These boats were not only killing themselves, but they were endangering everyone, for a rule of the sea is that everyone helps everyone. The small boat owners said the coast guard had no right to make them turn back to port. There were lots of debates in the fishing community.

The affects of marijuana are severe, and all the prattle about it is not worse than alcohol simply doesn't hold up when we look at the people using it. It changes the basic response to life as profoundly as the Holy Spirit does. It is like boats going into a bad sea, and often endangering others as they travel that road.
 
seed_time_harvest

seed_time_harvest

Senior Member
#14
Dec 9, 2011
13,727
1,725
113
#14
If the doctor prescribes it for pain then i think its ok
I just hope people are not saying the doctor prescribed it,so its ok to use it even though they are using it moreso because it gets them high more than easing the pain.
 
A

AgeofKnowledge

Guest
#15
#15
"(Reuters) - Young, casual marijuana smokers experience potentially harmful changes to their brains, with the drug altering regions of the mind related to motivation and emotion, researchers found.

The study to be published on Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience differs from many other pot-related research projects that are focused on chronic, heavy users of cannabis."

Casual pot use causes brain abnormalities in the young: study | Reuters

More info:

The Medical 'Benefits' of THC and Smoking Marijuana (Cannabis): a Review of the Current Scientific Literature

Can Christians Use Marijuana (Cannabis) and Other Drugs? Is Smoking Weed a Sin?
 
crossnote

crossnote

Senior Member
#16
Nov 24, 2012
30,706
3,650
113
#16
posthuman said:
they are a creation of God, and they aren't without any purpose or use:
Magic mushrooms ease OCD symptoms - Health - Mental health | NBC News
this isn't a study where people were given so much of the mushroom that they were hallucinating for hours.

i think the operative question for us is: can you receive it with thanksgiving? that's not the same question a secular government of a worldly country has to ask itself.

we have Timothy told to "take a little wine" and the church in Ephesus told "do not be drunk with wine." Jesus warned against praying "to be heard by men" but didn't condemn prayer completely. we're instructed to use our freedom with expedience.

i understand there's a "slippery slope" and a potential for abuse - but do we ban cough syrup because some drink so much of it that they hallucinate? do we outlaw nasal decongestant because some people use it with other chemicals to make more dangerous & addictive drugs? i'm not suggesting that we start putting it on school lunch trays; i just think the blanket criminalization of a plant - in a secular country that embraces alcohol - is a failed & misguided policy.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
(Proverbs 31:4-9)

how do we apply that to a legal system that governs both the lost and the found? the king doesn't become drunk with wine, not because the law forbids him to taste it, but for the sake of prudence. the US tried this with alcohol in the past -- what's the difference here with prohibition in the early 20th century?

a whole bottle of aspirin can kill you. one aspirin a day can save your life.

Click to expand...
I spoke of recreational use, you seem to be referring to medical use, perhaps a distinction is in order.
 
pickles

pickles

Senior Member
#17
Apr 20, 2009
14,479
182
63
#17
When it comes to marijauna or any substance legal or ill-legal....
What belongs to the world , belongs to the world.
What matters is wether one belongs to Jesus, and doing what one is asked and witnesses to in Jesus.

God bless
pickles
 
E

Elijah19

Guest
#18
#18
Very true. Also, there is a verse somewhere that says, "Whatever you do in word or in deed, do all for the glory of God." :)
 
A

AgeofKnowledge

Guest
#19
#19
A new study finds young and middle-aged adults who use marijuana may have an increased risk for heart-related complications.

The paper, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found nearly 2 percent of health complications from marijuana use were linked to cardiovascular health, and a quarter of these complications resulted in death.

"This result is consistent with previous findings and strengthens the idea that cannabis may be responsible for serious complications, in particular on the cardiovascular system," write the authors in their study. "Cannabis may trigger cardiovascular complications and therefore should be regarded as so by health practitioners and by users, who often admit the dangers of drugs like cocaine and amphetamines but minimize that of cannabis."

Marijuana use may lead to cardiac arrest and other heart problems - CBS News
 
F

faroukfarouk

Banned
#20
Feb 21, 2014
5,672
18
0
#20

Souce: yahoo.ca
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...ine-debuts-vancouver-naturally-000445060.html

Up here in Canada, Christians are sometimes said by their fellow-believers in the US to have a slightly different outlook on this.

The attached picture and article is about Nicole from Canada, using a vending machine for her marijuana.

Personally I don't favour recreational use of marijuana. But especially since it has been legalized in some jurisdictions, I do think that pharmaceutical companies need to be encouraged to do safe and legal research into its possible benefits in producing more inexpensive meds. I hardly think it should be a 'Christian' view to argue for pharmaceutical companies to continue to charge sometimes exorbitant prices for meds, while 'moralizing' against doing what people such as Nicole in the Canadian article/photo can do quite legally. I'm not for a self-indulgent use of meds: far from it. But I'm against corporate rip-offs that 'moralize' in favour of their own profits and pockets, when there may be cheaper, safe and legal alternatives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.