Christians & Cannabis: Survey for my school research paper

[letmeseeyourphone]

Hello all,

Other than my "introduction" post, this is my first thread here on CF. I read the rules for this section and if this is in some way improper, I apologize ahead of time, I'm new. But I think this is okay from what I can tell...

I'm writing a research paper for college. I'm researching the reaction of the modern church to cannabis becoming so "accepted", especially in the United States. With the statewide legalization of marijuana happening all over the country, I believe it's a subject the church needs to be prepared to deal with.

I have created an online survey as part of my fact gathering mission. I would be grateful to anyone who would take my survey (it's anonymous). And, if you feel like giving further comment on the subject, please post here and tell me your thoughts. If you post in the thread, I'm going to assume that you're okay with me quoting you in my paper. If you wanna leave your thoughts, but don't want to be quoted, just say so in your post. I will honor that. (I probably won't do alot of quotes anyway, I'm just putting it out there in case).

I may not respond to every single post here, but I will read all of them. Feel free to pass this link along to any other Christians you know. I would appreciate the help dispersing it. I'm trying to get as many Christians to answer as possible. Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out!! Link below.

Marijuana & Christianity

 

[“Paisios”]

I completed your survey. It seems to me that, if used in moderation, and not to a point of addiction, then it may not be sinful, in the same way that alcohol use in moderation may be defended through Scripture (I recognize this is a debated point amongst Christians). That said, as long as it is illegal, it seems that it would be sinful for a Christian to use it, given the command to obey lawful authorities made in the Scriptures.

I do not see it as something to be encouraged or promoted by Christians, though, as I have seen it lead to (at least) psychological, if not physical dependence, which can be a form of slavery serving a master other than Christ.

 

[letmeseeyourphone]

I completed your survey. It seems to me that, if used in moderation, and not to a point of addiction, then it may not be sinful, in the same way that alcohol use in moderation may be defended through Scripture (I recognize this is a debated point amongst Christians). That said, as long as it is illegal, it seems that it would be sinful for a Christian to use it, given the command to obey lawful authorities made in the Scriptures.

I do not see it as something to be encouraged or promoted by Christians, though, as I have seen it lead to (at least) psychological, if not physical dependence, which can be a form of slavery serving a master other than Christ.

Thank you for taking the time to respond! I like getting extra perspective besides just the survey.

 

[Roseonathorn]

Any medicine can be someone elses poison in whatever dosage. When other medicines does not work and medical cannabisderivate is a means of saving someones life then I believe it is appropriate to use it. It is not approtriate to use it as a holiday drug, to get high or to use it without medical supervision because it mostly slows down the brain and the effects of that can cause anxiety or hallucinations for some people especially if the dosage is unclear. Every person is unique but some diseases especially some difficult lifethreathening epilepsy have been manageable with parts of less dangerous cannabis plantderivate whereas the people otherwise would certainly have died in early age so that is why my view on cannabis have changed. I have both read literature and seen programmes for and against and seen on internet how patients been treated with the substanses and medicines. Given the choice to cramp to death or take mariuana derivate the choice is not so hard if there is a choice. If there is no choise well then one must face death.

 

[Heart2Soul]

King James Bible
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.

IMHO: I believe God intended for the use of it...how I am not sure. Before Adam and Eve sinned it wouldn't have been needed for medicine because the curse of sin and death hadn't occurred at the time He created it. However after they sinned then sickness and disease was soon to become an issue and so certain plants have medicinal purposes (as in cannabis), some to season or flavor our food with, some to provide food for man and animals, and some just for beautification.
Mankind has learned how to genetically change and reproduce higher grades of cannabis, which a lot of people refer to as the medical grade.

So I suppose it is what the purpose and intent of its use is.

http://www.equip.org/article/bible-teach-cannabis-plant/

The Biblical Text Used to Support the Use of Cannabis. Purportedly the Bible supports the use of all the various seeds and herbs because they were created and blessed by God and could not be wrong to use. Consequently, the plant called hemp is proper for Christians to use for food, medicine, and enjoyment (Gen. 1:12).2 In Genesis 1:29–31, the Bible further indicates that all herbs are given for food.3 Much is made about the statement, found in the KJV, which supposedly speaks of hemp being the plant spoken of in Ezekiel 34:29, called a “plant of renown,” which would heal (Rev. 22:1–2).

 

[Humble me Lord]

I agree, intent of it's use is the key.
I believe in the medicinal uses of marijuana and it's derivatives.
Also just like alcohol, it can be abused/idolized.

 

[letmeseeyourphone]

King James Bible
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.

IMHO: I believe God intended for the use of it...how I am not sure. Before Adam and Eve sinned it wouldn't have been needed for medicine because the curse of sin and death hadn't occurred at the time He created it. However after they sinned then sickness and disease was soon to become an issue and so certain plants have medicinal purposes (as in cannabis), some to season or flavor our food with, some to provide food for man and animals, and some just for beautification.
Mankind has learned how to genetically change and reproduce higher grades of cannabis, which a lot of people refer to as the medical grade.

So I suppose it is what the purpose and intent of its use is.

http://www.equip.org/article/bible-teach-cannabis-plant/

The Biblical Text Used to Support the Use of Cannabis. Purportedly the Bible supports the use of all the various seeds and herbs because they were created and blessed by God and could not be wrong to use. Consequently, the plant called hemp is proper for Christians to use for food, medicine, and enjoyment (Gen. 1:12).2 In Genesis 1:29–31, the Bible further indicates that all herbs are given for food.3 Much is made about the statement, found in the KJV, which supposedly speaks of hemp being the plant spoken of in Ezekiel 34:29, called a “plant of renown,” which would heal (Rev. 22:1–2).

Thankyou for the excellent resource! And thanks for your response. I'm trying to gather views from all ends of the spectrum.

 

[letmeseeyourphone]

Any medicine can be someone elses poison in whatever dosage. When other medicines does not work and medical cannabisderivate is a means of saving someones life then I believe it is appropriate to use it. It is not approtriate to use it as a holiday drug, to get high or to use it without medical supervision because it mostly slows down the brain and the effects of that can cause anxiety or hallucinations for some people especially if the dosage is unclear. Every person is unique but some diseases especially some difficult lifethreathening epilepsy have been manageable with parts of less dangerous cannabis plantderivate whereas the people otherwise would certainly have died in early age so that is why my view on cannabis have changed. I have both read literature and seen programmes for and against and seen on internet how patients been treated with the substanses and medicines. Given the choice to cramp to death or take mariuana derivate the choice is not so hard if there is a choice. If there is no choise well then one must face death.

Thanks for your response, and you just helped me to remember some other things I need to look up on this. Thank you!

 

[Kenny'sID]

King James Bible
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.

How bout a nice piping hot cup of hemlock tea? It will solve your every woe, I promise, and is after all to be used as meat....right?

 

[Kenny'sID]

There was a couple stops far as I read anyway, things like....

Do you believe the Scriptures advocate the use of marijuana? *

....stopped me from taking the survey.

It didn't specify for recreation or medication. And not that it had too, but still..

 

[AlexDTX]

Hello all,

Other than my "introduction" post, this is my first thread here on CF. I read the rules for this section and if this is in some way improper, I apologize ahead of time, I'm new. But I think this is okay from what I can tell...

I'm writing a research paper for college. I'm researching the reaction of the modern church to cannabis becoming so "accepted", especially in the United States. With the statewide legalization of marijuana happening all over the country, I believe it's a subject the church needs to be prepared to deal with.

I have created an online survey as part of my fact gathering mission. I would be grateful to anyone who would take my survey (it's anonymous). And, if you feel like giving further comment on the subject, please post here and tell me your thoughts. If you post in the thread, I'm going to assume that you're okay with me quoting you in my paper. If you wanna leave your thoughts, but don't want to be quoted, just say so in your post. I will honor that. (I probably won't do alot of quotes anyway, I'm just putting it out there in case).

I may not respond to every single post here, but I will read all of them. Feel free to pass this link along to any other Christians you know. I would appreciate the help dispersing it. I'm trying to get as many Christians to answer as possible. Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out!! Link below.

Marijuana & Christianity

Pro_20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Pro_31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
It is a matter of foolishness not sin.

 

[PloverWing]

I took the survey, but there were a couple of questions that didn't have enough multiple-choice answers after them:

Q: Do you believe the Scriptures advocate the use of marijuana?
A: I believe the Scriptures are silent about marijuana.

Q: How should the church respond to the legalization of marijuana by U.S. states?
A: I think it bad to imprison people without a very good reason for doing so. I think it is also a bad idea to have laws that do not express the will of the people being governed, and a great many Americans think that marijuana use should not be against the law.

With that in mind, I have no particular opinion on whether a Christian should use marijuana, but I strongly believe that it should not be an offense for which people are imprisoned. I prefer that marijuana be legal, and regulated for consumer safety; but if a state insists on making it illegal, then make the penalty be a small fine, as for a traffic ticket.

 

[dreadnought]

Hello all,

Other than my "introduction" post, this is my first thread here on CF. I read the rules for this section and if this is in some way improper, I apologize ahead of time, I'm new. But I think this is okay from what I can tell...

I'm writing a research paper for college. I'm researching the reaction of the modern church to cannabis becoming so "accepted", especially in the United States. With the statewide legalization of marijuana happening all over the country, I believe it's a subject the church needs to be prepared to deal with.

I have created an online survey as part of my fact gathering mission. I would be grateful to anyone who would take my survey (it's anonymous). And, if you feel like giving further comment on the subject, please post here and tell me your thoughts. If you post in the thread, I'm going to assume that you're okay with me quoting you in my paper. If you wanna leave your thoughts, but don't want to be quoted, just say so in your post. I will honor that. (I probably won't do alot of quotes anyway, I'm just putting it out there in case).

I may not respond to every single post here, but I will read all of them. Feel free to pass this link along to any other Christians you know. I would appreciate the help dispersing it. I'm trying to get as many Christians to answer as possible. Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out!! Link below.

Marijuana & Christianity

I believe you'll find the Lord wants us to remain sober. You can't do that while using marijuana.

 

[letmeseeyourphone]

There was a couple stops far as I read anyway, things like....

Do you believe the Scriptures advocate the use of marijuana? *

....stopped me from taking the survey.

It didn't specify for recreation or medication. And not that it had too, but still..

I understand. Thanks for attempting.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I believe you'll find the Lord wants us to remain sober. You can't do that while using marijuana.

Agree and the there is this aspect that may make it much much worse than some may think.

Strong's Greek: 5331. φαρμακεία (pharmakeia) -- the use of medicine, drugs or spells

There are much more in depth studies online on that, and I tend to believe it could be a serious problem to salvation...just not sure about medical use, especially where it's prescribed like Dr's handing out lollipops for pretty much any reason.

God made us and our minds to function a certain way, and to mess with those minds in a way that may make our lives easier is going against his natural order.

IOW, this is a very serious filtration process to determine heaven or hell for us, and it may be easy to be good and kind if we are on drugs, but that's not really us doing it, just as steroids are not allowed to change our natural order in sports.

I should add for whatever reason, I was a pot smoker for all but my whole life.

 

[seeking.IAM]

I responded to your survey. I will summarize my view some may find a curious mixture of thought. I do not believe using marijuana is a sin. I think marijuana should be legalized. I am opposed to using marijuana, but not on religious grounds. I think using marijuana is not advisable and should be discouraged. I do not want marijuana users working for me and I would not knowingly hire one. I do not use marijuana.

 

[Roseonathorn]

If You would ask me if I would have gone to ancient china to smoke opium to calm my nerves for the holyday the answer would be no, but if You would ask me if I want the dentist to give me a few numbing shots before He or She pulls out a tooth I will say Yes. I think one should not suffer needlessly and if the kind of part that is taken out of mariuana is used for medical purposes then I think it is fine to use it if it helps more than harms.

 

[Shempster]

I found myself on another weed thread sort of defending it though I don't really care much about getting into the subject. I think the main reason is that the church has always told me that "this or that" was wrong, evil, straight from the devil. Things like substances, music, television shows, product brands...just about everything. Cannabis has always been viewed as Satan's spinach by nearly every Christian I have ever known and is put on a much deeper level of evil than alcohol.
I'm only chiming in because I feel they demonize all sorts of stuff that is just silly and defend anything that is tagged as "Christian" even if it harms another person.
I don't know why but it bugs me. Mainly because the opinions are not based on science or the bible but social mindsets and superstitions.

 

[letmeseeyourphone]

I found myself on another weed thread sort of defending it though I don't really care much about getting into the subject. I think the main reason is that the church has always told me that "this or that" was wrong, evil, straight from the devil. Things like substances, music, television shows, product brands...just about everything. Cannabis has always been viewed as Satan's spinach by nearly every Christian I have ever known and is put on a much deeper level of evil as alcohol.
I'm only chiming in because I feel they demonize all sorts of stuff that is just silly and defend anything that is tagged as "Christian" even if it harms another person.
I don't know why but it bugs me. Mainly because the opinions are not based on science or the bible but social mindsets and superstitions.

Thanks for your response! I have to say that I agree with you regarding how Christianity demonizes many secular things without cause, really. I'm not saying the demonization of weed isn't warranted to an extent. But I've noticed it as well with all kinds of things. Music, movies, etc. I believe doing that destroys our credibility when it comes to issues of greater importance. I'm not giving my personal opinion on marijuana and Christianity until I write my paper, because I don't want the people who do respond to be swayed by my personal opinion in any way while answering. I'm trying to perform an objective study of the issue. I may not even put my opinion into the final paper. I'm not sure yet. But I will say that, yeah, the constant demonization of everything when I was growing up, helped me along on my prodigal journey once I reached 18 years of age. I had to "prove" things weren't as bad as I was told. Turns out some things they were right about, but alot they weren't. I think no matter what the issue is, Christians need to be careful about how they discern what is truly right and wrong. Holding it up to the word of truth. Call evil for what it is, but at the same time, avoid lumping a whole bunch of stuff into the "bad basket." Again, thanks for your response!

 

[letmeseeyourphone]

I responded to your survey. I will summarize my view some may find a curious mixture of thought. I do not believe using marijuana is a sin. I think marijuana should be legalized. I am opposed to using marijuana, but not on religious grounds. I think using marijuana is not advisable and should be discouraged. I do not want marijuana users working for me and I would not knowingly hire one. I do not use marijuana.

Thank you. Yes, I find your answer interesting. It sounds like you're of the school of thought that "you can't legislate morality." Which is a position I tend to hold on to. I don't necessarily think we need laws against certain "vices." As Christians, the Holy Spirit guides us in discernment. (Along with the Scriptures). So, we know what's right and wrong. I think that when you try to legislate certain issues that really are just "sin problems," you end up with alot of people in the correctional system that just don't really need to be there. They'd be better served at a church. Unfortunately, our current system isn't set up that way. Anyway, thank you for your answer.