Introduction
As of 2022, 19 states have legalized recreational marijuana use and 39 have legalized the medicinal use of it. As state laws and attitudes about marijuana have changed drastically in the last 20 years, many Christians may wonder, is smoking weed a sin? Should Christians use marijuana? What does the Bible say about pot?
Is Smoking Weed a Sin? (TLDR)
The Bible doesn’t directly say anything about marijuana, but it does prohibit drunkenness. Since being high and being drunk are similar in many ways, we can safely assume God does not want his people to be high. Based on this, it seems that using marijuana is not inherently sinful, but being high, abusing, or becoming dependent on it is.
What Does The Bible Say about weed?
The Bible doesn’t say anything directly about marijuana. Some ancient civilizations used weed, generally in religious rituals or for medicinal purposes. However, the Israelites don’t seem to have used it much (if at all) in the nation of Israel.
Just because the Bible doesn’t specifically mention marijuana, that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have anything to say about weed. We can use the principles in the Bible to see what God thinks of any modern development.
We’re going to demonstrate how you can do this by looking at what the Bible has to say about a similar substance, alcohol. We should do this with grace and humility, recognizing that Christians might interpret these things differently, and that’s okay (see Romans 14-15:7).
What Does The Bible Say About Alcohol?
The Bible talks about alcohol a lot, specifically wine (the most common form of alcohol in the ancient world). The Bible uses the word “wine” 240 times.
In the Old Testament, wine is a sign of God’s blessing. It’s also used in the various sacrifices and celebrations that God instructed the Israelites to engage in. God even calls his people to include wine in their celebrations in the Old Testament.
The New Testament also talks positively about alcohol. Jesus’ turned water into wine at a wedding for his first miracle. Wine is an essential part of communion. Paul urged his protege, Timothy, to drink wine and not just water because it will be better for his stomach.
Alcohol is not prohibited by the Bible, nor is it seen as sinful. Generally, the Bible sees alcohol as a good thing. God is not opposed to having a good time with alcohol.
What he does seem to be against is letting that good time have you. Though drinking itself is seen as acceptable behavior for God’s people, drunkenness and the abuse of alcohol are not. God simply wants what’s best for you and he knows drunkenness and alcohol abuse are not in your best interest long term.
Alcohol vs. Marijuana
To decide if the Bible’s teachings on alcohol apply to marijuana usage, we should look at the similarities and differences between the two substances.
Similarities
Drinking alcohol and smoking pot are similar in that both impact decision-making and thinking. They work in different ways, with alcohol ramping the brain up and weed winding it down. Still, both impact your thoughts, actions, and behaviors while you use them. Because God’s objection to drunkenness seems to be its impact on thoughts and behaviors, we should assume that he sees being high in the same way.
Both substances can also be abused. One can become addicted to or dependent on either of them. Again, this is something that God wants us to avoid for our own good.
Differences
It’s worth looking at the differences between alcohol and marijuana as we consider how to apply the biblical principles on alcohol to weed (or whether we even can apply them). There are three major differences between the two substances.
The most significant difference is that marijuana is a faster-acting substance. It’s also more potent (in that it only takes a small amount to have an impact). It’s much easier to drink alcohol without becoming drunk than it is to smoke weed without getting high.
Marijuana can be used medicinally and has been for thousands of years. People used alcohol medicinally in the past. However, they don’t often use it that way today.
In the United States, another difference is that alcohol is legal in all 50 states while weed is not. Christians are called to obey their governing authorities, so for those who live in states where weed is not legal, this is a difference worth considering.
Can We Apply The Teachings on Alcohol to Cannabis?
Because alcohol and weed cause similar physiological sensations and have the same potential for use and abuse, I think the principles about drinking that are in the Bible are helpful as we seek to determine if smoking weed is a sin. Not everything will apply, but I think most of the principles do.
Is Smoking Weed a Sin in Any Case?
Asking if a particular action is always a sin is the wrong question. As Christians, our goal in life is not all about avoiding sinning at all costs. The goal of the Christian life is to become more like Jesus, honor God, and love others. If something helps you to do that, it’s a good thing. If not, you shouldn’t do it, and it’s sinful for you.
Some things never make us more like Jesus, dishonor God, and/or always are unloving to others. These are the things that are specifically called out as sins in the Bible (i.e. murder, theft, adultery, etc.) Drunkenness is one of those things. It’s safe for us to assume that being high is one of them, too, because the experiences are so similar.
There are many other cases where an action’s impact is situationally dependent. Using alcohol as an example, in some cases, having a drink might open doors with people or be a way of appreciating the goodness of God’s creation. In other cases, drinking is unloving to others (because they are trying to escape addiction) and dishonoring God (if you get drunk and do stupid stuff).
I think it’s safe to say that marijuana use is also situationally dependent. There might be cases where using marijuana does honor God (helping someone cope with pain, for instance.). There are other cases where it doesn’t honor God or help you to love others (if using it causes you to break the law, make poor decisions because you are high, or get addicted). And most likely, if you are using marijuana, you are going to get high.
Bible Verses for and against Smoking Marijuana
Jesus told his disciples that he was sending the Holy Spirit to help guide them after he returned to heaven. Believers today have the Holy Spirit within them, leading and guiding them to become more like Jesus in every circumstance, even those not specifically laid out in Scripture.
One of the ways that the Holy Spirit often guides us is through Scripture. Below is a collection of Scriptures you might find helpful as you seek to decide your position on using marijuana. Some of the verses are about drinking, but the principles still apply.
FAQ
Is smoking weed a sin in the Bible?
Smoking weed isn’t mentioned in the Bible, so, technically, no, it is not. However, the Bible says a lot about drunkenness. Being drunk and being high are very similar and we can correlate that being high can be a sin just like being drunk is. Christians can make their own decisions about whether smoking weed is sinful or not in their particular circumstance, but they should look to the Bible for principles that speak to that decision. They should also be honest about the fact that getting high is very likely to occur if you are consuming marijuana, therefore likely a sin.
Is there weed in heaven?
We don’t know. The descriptions that we have of heaven only mention one plant: the tree of life. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t other plants (even marijuana) in heaven, but it doesn’t mean other plants are there either.
We do know that God created all the plants and animals, and he is going to make all things new when Jesus returns. That makes me think that all the plants and animals will be there too, but that’s just a personal opinion.
Will God forgive me for getting high?
God will forgive you for anything. God would forgive Hitler if he asked for it. No person is so far from God that they can’t be forgiven. There is nothing you could do to make God love you more and there’s nothing you can do to make him love you any less.
Did Jesus smoke?
Probably not. The chance that Jesus smoked is fairly low. Smoking of any kind doesn’t seem to have been a part of Jewish culture during the time of Jesus.
Will people who smoke pot go to heaven?
There are going to be a lot of people who smoked pot in heaven. Smoking or not smoking doesn’t determine whether someone gets into heaven. Going to heaven is not based on any action. It’s based on the grace of God and our acceptance of his grace.
The determining factor, according to the Bible, for whether or not someone gets into heaven is pretty simple. Just like what is mentioned in our article, Can People Go To Heaven with Tattoos, if someone accepted Jesus as their Savior and followed Jesus as Lord, that person will go to heaven. No action is so big or so terrible that Jesus’ work on the cross cannot overcome it.
Conclusion
Weed might not be mentioned in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have anything to say about it. If we look at biblical principles that are used elsewhere, we can get an idea of how Christians should view and use (or not use) marijuana. However, we should give ourselves (and others) grace, recognizing that this is a “disputable matter” that good Christians can disagree on. Although likely, by consuming marijuana, you are getting high, which is most likely a sin.
The bible principle is that,our bodies,are the temple of the holy spirit, wherein God dwells. And apart from that, if we allow harmful substances inside our bodies we are destroy ourselves. And we we are not wise.Because there are results and consequences for the bad choices we make. It is the same principle when we talk about drinking alcohol. Infact with alcohol the bible very clear proverbs 20:1 wine is a mocker and strong drink and whosoever does this is not wise.
Wine in Judaism was supposed to be kosher, so they heated the wine to kill yeast.
Mixed wine was forbidden. So mixing sugar and yeast or drugs with the juice was shunned.
So our modern wine that is 14 pct alcohol wasn’t used unless you wanted to be drunk.
We can still buy kosher wine. Jesus may have turned water into kosher wine with no alcohol. He probably didn’t make modern wine which requires a mixing process.