Can We be Friends with Mary Jane?

Recently Colorado and Washington opened the door to recreational marijuana use. In Colorado, sales of marijuana exceeded $5 million in the first week. That's not chicken feed. They are projecting $600 million in sales and $70 million in tax revenue in the first year. So, for an average of $520 per ounce, Coloradans can legally get stoned.

In the past, when people used to ask me, "Is it a sin for Christians to use marijuana?", the answer was easy. "Yes." Why? "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment" (Rom 13:1-2). Easy. Now they go and legalize it. So what's my answer now?

I think we all know the answer. I don't think there really is a question. I think, in fact, the fact that we ask the question suggests that we all know that there is something ... wrong ... here. So let's think it through and see if we can find a more suitable answer than, "It's illegal, so you must not."

First, beware of the careful dodge. When God said, "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", He did not say, "I have given you every plant for recreation." He specified "for food". While some may ingest marijuana to obtain its effects, I know of no one who actually claims to eat it (in things, because who could actually just eat it?) for nutritional value. Don't buy that false argument. It's a red herring.

So what does the Bible say about mary jane, ganja, weed, grass, pot, dope, whatever you wish to call it? Here's the straightforward, honest answer: nothing. Not a word. Not a peep. The word in not one of its forms appears a single time in the Bible.

Well, then, we're done, right? Christian liberty and all that! Pass the joint and lets get mellow!

Hang on. There is more to consider. Let's think a little more clearly (you know, before we addle our brains with the effects of the drug).

First, if you're asking, "Is it a sin for Christians to use marijuana?", there is a high likelihood that you fall in a very real, specific biblical category. I will slightly modify the text (the parts in italics) so you can see it clearly. "But whoever has doubts is condemned if he uses it, because the use is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom 14:23). Do you doubt? Don't. Simple as that. If we're talking about a position of Christian liberty here and you have any questions, the Bible calls it sin to proceed. That should clear out a lot of questions.

But let's say you wish to think it through further. Is that all there is? No, I don't think so. In Ephesians 5 we are told "be imitators of God" (Eph 5:1). Paul goes on in that passage to describe, positively and negatively, what that would look like. We would, for instance, "walk in love" (Eph 5:2). We would not have "filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking" (Eph 5:4). We would not be partakers with the sexually immoral, the covetous, the deceivers (Eph 5:5-7). We would "try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord" (Eph 5:10). We should "take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness", but we would "expose them" (Eph 5:11). And so on. In this list we also find this as part of being imitators of God:

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18).

"That is debauchery" (ESV). Interesting phrase. The King James says "excess". The word is asōtia and means most literally "not" (a) "saved" (sōzō). Yes, startling, isn't it? Now, don't get ruffled ... yet. We use "saved" to mean "saved from wrath" or that sort of thing. This version is any sort of "saved", as in "preserved", "delivered", "protected", "healed", that sort of thing. Asōtia is a noun that refers to dissolution, abandonment, profligacy ... is any of this helping? Here, let's see if this helps. In Titus 1:6 and 1 Peter 4:4 the word is used to indicate "riot", "dissipation", "riotous living" -- going wild.

Okay, so let's see if this makes any sense. We are to be imitators of God as His children. This includes avoiding too much alcohol because being drunk is simply a waste of time, worthless excess, just being wild. Don't do it.

If we examine the Scriptures further, we'll find that there are lots of thoughts on this concept. We are to be "sober-minded" and "watchful" (1 Peter 5:8), to not associate with drunkards (1 Cor 5:11), to avoid excess (Gal 5:21). We are to be renewed in the mind and not conformed to the world (Rom 12:2). In other words, it seems to me that clear thinking rather than "getting high" is the call for Christians.

There is one other consideration. "We are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor 5:20). Paul said of the Jews who claimed to honor God, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Rom 2:24). Don't we already hear enough about "You Christians are no better than we are. You fornicate and divorce and sin as much as we do"?

Here's what I would conclude, then. If you doubt, don't. Unquestionably, it is sin for you. If you don't doubt, please reconsider. Is it possible to alter your mental perceptions with drugs (of any sort) in a way or for a purpose that is not "excess", "wildness", debauchery? And, as an ambassador for Christ, what is it you are representing to those around you? Now, would I classify it as sin? Well, clearly for those who doubt. For the rest I would suggest that it may be sin and would likely be folly. Just something to think about.