Marijuana?

[whatevs]

I have read through most of the threads on the topic of marijuana, but since it is illegal in most places, many people will not put the slightest thought towards considering if it is ok or not for Christians as it is breaking the law of the land.

There are a lot of other legal herbal alternatives to Marijuana that produce a similar effect, would these be considered wrong for a Christian? I feel that marijuana (if legal) would be ok if it was used in moderation. Similar to the way that if someone drank every day it could be abused and do harm to your body, but every now and then is ok (like fast food).

I think the main problem people have with it is that it alters your mind, which people say is like 'drunkeness'. I think that the problem with drunkeness in the Bible is that it causes you to do things that you normally wouldn't (like sleep around, get angry and get into fights, destroy relationships), whereas marijuana etc just makes you a nicer, calmer person and leaves you still able to make conscious decisions about what you are doing.

Something else that I can't seem to rationalize is that we have receptors in our brain that won't accommodate anything else but the THC in marijuana (which produces the 'high'). Why do we have these?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Macx]

Groovy first post. Welcome to the Forum.

I am a Christian religiously, and an Anarchist politically .. . needless to say I don't have the hangups about weed legally or the legality of weed rather. In striving for justice, I am obligated to exercise civil disobedience where the law is unjust.

On the other hand, I have never seen anyone's station in life improve because they used pot. I have seen it contribute to downward spirals, I have seen it aid in backsliding towards other substances (once you kick that meth, you could get a job, but you smoke pot so you can't get a job that drug tests this week so you might as well smoke some meth cause you can't get a job till the pot clears & then it is back to boosting, back in the can, blah, blah, blah . .. simplified and abridged but I have seen it go down like that) and I have seen it put people back into homelessness. Like I say, I am not going to give you an argument from the law, the law is unjust & irrelevant. I've never seen pot do anything good.

Something else that I can't seem to rationalize is that we have receptors in our brain that won't accommodate anything else but the THC in marijuana (which produces the 'high'). Why do we have these?

Bad science can be used to justify a multitude of things. Global warming isn't siginifanctly impacted by anything humankind is doing on this planet. Marijuana does not own specific, specialized receptors for which there is no other use. . . that idea, is founded around tainted science.

If you want to use it, use it. You don't need to justify & you don't need excuses. My approval or the approval of others in this forum won't get you out of jail or into heaven. Our disapproval won't condemn you or dissuade you. Plenty interesting topic though.

 

[ChildOfGod97]

I have read through most of the threads on the topic of marijuana, but since it is illegal in most places, many people will not put the slightest thought towards considering if it is ok or not for Christians as it is breaking the law of the land.

There are a lot of other legal herbal alternatives to Marijuana that produce a similar effect, would these be considered wrong for a Christian? I feel that marijuana (if legal) would be ok if it was used in moderation. Similar to the way that if someone drank every day it could be abused and do harm to your body, but every now and then is ok (like fast food).

I think the main problem people have with it is that it alters your mind, which people say is like 'drunkeness'. I think that the problem with drunkeness in the Bible is that it causes you to do things that you normally wouldn't (like sleep around, get angry and get into fights, destroy relationships), whereas marijuana etc just makes you a nicer, calmer person and leaves you still able to make conscious decisions about what you are doing.

Something else that I can't seem to rationalize is that we have receptors in our brain that won't accommodate anything else but the THC in marijuana (which produces the 'high'). Why do we have these?

What are your thoughts?

In general, we don't need any kind of drugs... and should, if we mentally focus on anything, focus on finding and keeping joy without any crutch.

Or anything else.

Why rent when you pour money into a place you can get kicked out of at anytime... in this case buying is free, so it makes no sense. (eg, you don't own the benefits from drugs -- whatever they are. They are temporary, they have cost associated with them. In video game speak it is like raising perm attributes versus relying on potions. )


That joy comes from actually striving to put in practice the teachings of Jesus and so trying to get closer to who Jesus is in the Spirit of Jesus.

 

[ephraimanesti]

ABBA,

Let this Thread die quickly before it can do any serious harm to your children!

IN JESUS' HOLY NAME,
AMEN!

 

[Macx]

Tell us how you feel, ephraimanesti. Do you support the use of marijuana or oppose it and why?

 

[Chris_G]

Question: Is it okay to smoke marijuana?
Answer: Would Jesus smoke marijuana?

 

[Macx]

Those are two questions, one labled otherwise. What is your answer?

 

[ephraimanesti]

Tell us how you feel, ephraimanesti. Do you support the use of marijuana or oppose it and why?

MY BROTHER,

i have posted many times at great length on the subject of the choice one must make between weed and the Holy Spirit. Seeing the uselessness of it, i no longer debate with weedheads, knowing from my own personal experience spending half my life stoned, how their minds work--or rather don't work--and the consequential fact that only God can lead them out of their drug-induced darkness as He, by His undeserved Grace, did for me.

As for myself, after half a lifetime [yes, i am a slow learner] of growing, selling, and smoking cannabis, i prefer a Communion Chalice to a bong.

ABBA'S FOOL,
ephraim

 

[teamwand]

I disagree with the use of marijuana personally because I've seen the effects of it first-hand. I've seen first-hand what marijuana abuse (and even just casual use!) can do to relationships, careers, sleeping patterns, motivation and a person's sense of life preservation. I've seen marijuana destroy lives and drive people to suicide. I've seen social extraverts turn into hermits who will sit in their garages all day and smoke marijuana rather than socialise. Marijuana has awful, awful effects - although, like anything else, people say "that bad stuff will never happen to me."

I personally think that unless something is medically prescribed (but I won't get into the subject of medicinal marijuana - I don't think that I would be able to keep my cool or come up with logical reasoning in such a discussion) and doesn't come with a taboo relating to cancer, schizo-affective disorders and et cetera, it shouldn't be taken. I feel that the mind should be kept as clear as possible: if not for one's own well-being, then for Christ.

To each his own, of course, and I don't judge people for the substance they use - I judge the substance for affecting the people.

 

[Almighty's humble servant]

Groovy first post. Welcome to the Forum.



On the other hand, I have never seen anyone's station in life improve because they used pot.

Willie Nelson. LOL

 

[whatevs]

On the other hand, I have never seen anyone's station in life improve because they used pot. I have seen it contribute to downward spirals, I have seen it aid in backsliding towards other substances (once you kick that meth, you could get a job, but you smoke pot so you can't get a job that drug tests this week so you might as well smoke some meth cause you can't get a job till the pot clears & then it is back to boosting, back in the can, blah, blah, blah . .. simplified and abridged but I have seen it go down like that) and I have seen it put people back into homelessness. Like I say, I am not going to give you an argument from the law, the law is unjust & irrelevant. I've never seen pot do anything good.

I agree, I have seen a few people go completely overboard and it has become a negative thing which they have struggled to work past. I wonder why it isn't mentioned at all in the Bible, when it was most definitely around during Jesus' time.

If you want to use it, use it. You don't need to justify & you don't need excuses. My approval or the approval of others in this forum won't get you out of jail or into heaven. Our disapproval won't condemn you or dissuade you. Plenty interesting topic though.

Romans 14 comes to mind

 

[Macx]

I agree, I have seen a few people go completely overboard and it has become a negative thing which they have struggled to work past. I wonder why it isn't mentioned at all in the Bible, when it was most definitely around during Jesus' time.


Romans 14 comes to mind

I think weed isn't mentioned in the Bible for the same reason many other things aren't specifically mentioned. We are to infer from what is mentioned how the Word applies to what isn't mentioned. Cocaine for example, evidence would indicate that the leaves were being used by ancient South American people before during and after the writing of the Bible. The Bible says that we are to take the Gospel to every nation and people, so obviously the Bible applies to tribes that still use the leaf today as well as people who abuse the refined form in Western culture. The spirit of the law is to be our guide and that law is

37And Jesus said to him, `Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thine understanding --

38this is a first and great command; 39and the second [is] like to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;

from Matt 22. Everything doesn't have to be specifically mentioned to detirmine what the Bible has to say.

I think your mentioning Romans 14 is very appropriate. Spot on!

 

[Dace]

... and leaves you still able to make conscious decisions about what you are doing.

Oh really? I have smoked marijuana when I was at college and let me tell you it seriously affects your cognitive abilities. one time It took me about a dozen attempts to successfully count out 10 cards each for myself and a friend playing rummy, of course until that point I thought I was perfectly fine and sober. Which is a big difference vs alcohol where you know pretty well when you are drunk.

I think the only issue that needs considering at this point though is that it is illegal, and that's enough to make it unsuitable for Christians.

Edit:

Not to mention I believe Marijuana was a direct contributor to my step brother developing paranoid schizophrenia, and let me tell you his life went to a very dark place.

 

[Jeffwhosoever]

On the other hand, I have never seen anyone's station in life improve because they used pot. I have seen it contribute to downward spirals

I've seen the same downward spiral in those who used it for anything except short term use (experimentation). I echo the concern from Macx.

Jeffwhosoever

 

[miss-a]

Just because science may not have found a reason for those receptor sites doesn't mean God doesn't have one, or three billion and one. Also, if we need to get high to get through the day, we've been duped into thinking Jesus needs help from pot, food, t.v. or shopping. He doesn't. He can handle our problems and fears with the twitch of a tenth of the tip of His eyelash. The fact that pot alters our thoughts is likely an indication it was never meant for human consumption. We just sometimes forget--and it's understandable that we do because the culture shoves it down our throats, eyes and ears daily--everything isn't about us. God may have made marijuana for the bees, nemitodes and the lady bugs, for all we know, but not us. Addictions kill. Chemical or not, they kill. Needing to reach for a high is an addiction. It may not kill you physically, but it will spiritually.
"The only safe high is the Most High," (quote from Beth Moore, Believing God).

Blessings, A

 

[Aaliyah]

Umm, my thought is the fact that is that it is not even mentioned in the Bible means that you probably shouldn't be doing it. Of course, that is if you believe everything in the Bible and you don't believe in any other texts like the Torah or the Quran which I haven't read, btw. I have no idea what is written in those.

What I'm saying is that there is no where in the Bible where it says "and then Jesus sat around in a circle and toked with his disciples." At least not that I know about. I don't think Jesus smoked weed.

Now as for the matter of whether or not it was used for other purposes, I don't know. There is something in Exodus that may suggest that it was used for something on the candles or something but I can't find it right now so I'll post it later. But I'm not saying that it definitely does say that, but it is possible.

Really, though I don't think it is okay to smoke it. I think that is a perversion of what it was originally made to be used for (if anything at all). It's kind of like how people take coca leaves which were probably meant to be used as some kind of pain killer, I have no idea though, and turn it into powder that you snort up your nose. I really think that is a definite perversion of its purpose. So, just because something is perfectly good, doesn't mean that the way someone uses it is good.

Jesus just gave me a revelation, it also says in the Bible to work out your own salvation.

 

[wonderwaleye]

I have read through most of the threads on the topic of marijuana, but since it is illegal in most places, many people will not put the slightest thought towards considering if it is ok or not for Christians as it is breaking the law of the land.

There are a lot of other legal herbal alternatives to Marijuana that produce a similar effect, would these be considered wrong for a Christian? I feel that marijuana (if legal) would be ok if it was used in moderation. Similar to the way that if someone drank every day it could be abused and do harm to your body, but every now and then is ok (like fast food).

I think the main problem people have with it is that it alters your mind, which people say is like 'drunkeness'. I think that the problem with drunkeness in the Bible is that it causes you to do things that you normally wouldn't (like sleep around, get angry and get into fights, destroy relationships), whereas marijuana etc just makes you a nicer, calmer person and leaves you still able to make conscious decisions about what you are doing.

Something else that I can't seem to rationalize is that we have receptors in our brain that won't accommodate anything else but the THC in marijuana (which produces the 'high'). Why do we have these?

What are your thoughts?

Mirage


" whereas marijuana etc just makes you a nicer, calmer person and leaves you still able to make conscious decisions about what you are doing. "


Would you want your heart surgeon high on pot when he is operating on you? Do you feel his " conscious decisions " might not be up to par?


I was a pot lover that smoked pot every four hours and even before I went into church as I felt I could get real insight. I went to GOD with your same argument and even told GOD that in some of our country pot is legal to smoke so why shouldn't I be able? The ONLY thing I could find against it was the law. I will have to say GOD was very kind and patient with me.
Then the very last joint I ever smoked the HOLY SPIRIT came upon me and said:

NO MORE, NO NO MORE,
NO MORE, NO NO MORE,
NO MORE, NO NO MORE,
NO MORE, NO NO MORE,
NO MORE, NO NO MORE,

For 4 hours this went on. I knew that GOD was letting me know through HIS HOLY SPIRIT that if I was to ever smoke pot again I will have made it my god. (and what an evil god that would be ) My tong use to drag the ground looking for pot. After that happened I never had a desire for pot again and it has been years since that happened.

So I UNDERSTAND where you are at and all I can tell you is what happened to me with the hope it will shed some light.

steven

 

[heron]

When used to waitress, I had to pay for several binges of stoned people who walked out on their bills. They definitely had impaired cognitive ability, and I had impaired income.

Have you every tried to communicate important information to people who were inebriated? There is no reason to bother trying. It is as though those few hours don't exist in their lives.

So, fine, make your choices. But if you want to care for your family, do well at your job, keep good relations with your friends, and possess a driver's license, then wisdom needs to come into play.

 

[bsd31]

Marijuana isn't in and of itself a problem. It's like alcohol. It's not a sin to drink (unless you happen to be consecrate apart to the Lord), the sin lies in it controlling your life. Same with marijuana. When you elevate it above God Almighty there's a problem.

 

[JPH]

Whatevs,
I used marijuana for many years as a teenager prior to becoming a christian.After awhile I realized that i had become a person that I did not want to be.I was mentally addicted to the drug and it really is a gateway to other drugs.I became a paranoid person and your brain really is affected by prolonged use and if not your brain then your overall attitude and personality changes.
I still wonder what kind of person I would be if I had never used the drug.Who knows? Today I feel it is a shame that people need to use a drug or alcohol in order to relax,or feel good or have a good time or socialize.What is wrong with us that we need to do that? Keep your mind and body clean.Be the example.Also a christian that drinks or smokes marijuana can unintentionally influence others or children to do the same thing, and that persons life can be ruined because we dont know the effects it can have on their life.All because we condoned the behavior.See what I mean??