The following quote is taken from the NORML
website. This organization has lobbied
tirelessly to legalize marijuana use for years:
Marijuana is
the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and
tobacco), and has been used by nearly 100 million Americans. According to
government surveys, some 25 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past
year, and more than 14 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its
use. Our public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it.
Marijuana is
far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Around 50,000 people die each year
from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are
attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot
cause death by overdose.
Both Washington state and Colorado have now made legal
the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. In Colorado it is being sold over the counter
by licensed businesses and taxed just like any other commodity. There are strong pushes in a number of other
states to proceed with legalization of the drug. In fact, even in a state as conservative as
Oklahoma, it was recently reported that a state legislator was proposing
Oklahoma consider legalization of small amounts for personal use.
There is no reason to believe that legalization of
marijuana for personal consumption is not going to continue to spread across
the country. For years those who support
legalization have argued, as NORML does in the above quote, that the drug is
less harmful than the legal drugs of alcohol and tobacco. They ask why should marijuana continue to be
criminalized when the other two drugs are legal? It has also been argued that enforcement of
laws against marijuana usage have been expensive and ineffective. If twenty five million Americans smoked
marijuana in the past year, that is clearly true. Our Department
of Justice is already
compromising on the enforcement issue.
But the strongest demand for legalization is, I believe, going to come
from the promise of tax revenue. CNN reported
Colorado projects tax revenues of $180,000,000 over the next eighteen months on
sales of what it termed “recreational” marijuana. In revenue starved states, the lure of tens
of millions of dollars in additional taxes is going to be hard to resist.
This being the case, another legal wall of prohibition
is rapidly being torn to the ground.
Just as “dry” counties are rapidly disappearing when it comes to the
sale of alcohol (although there are over five hundred municipalities that still
prohibit its sale), and some form of gambling is now legal in forty six states,
the laws which once prohibited marijuana usage are experiencing the same
fate. What this means is legal
boundaries designed to protect citizens from exposure to certain substances and
practices are being removed. With those
boundaries gone, individuals must now make moral choices that were previously
not necessary. How are Christians going
to react to that?
I have observed with great interest, and some chagrin,
how attitudes among Christians toward tobacco, alcohol, and gambling have
changed over the past forty years. When
I began preaching, many, if not a majority of, men smoked. I remember watching the men in the first
congregation I preached for in the hill country of Texas flocking to the porch
between Bible class and worship time to light up. In contrast, only a very few consumed
alcohol. In fact, back in the seventies
most towns in west Texas and eastern New Mexico were dry. I knew many Christians who felt so strongly
on the issue they would not shop at a Safeway or eat at a Pizza Hut because
they sold or served beer. Since gambling
was illegal most everywhere, it rarely cropped up as a moral issue. However, I knew folks who would not play card
games or shoot pool because both those activities could be seen as involving
gambling.
Fast forward to forty years later, and the contrast is
remarkable. Relatively few Christians I
know now smoke. But a far larger number
of them consume alcohol “socially.”
Gambling, while not a common practice, is far from unknown. What has changed? As the social values of the country changed,
the morals of many Christians also changed.
Tobacco usage is no longer socially acceptable, so folks quit. Alcohol consumption is legal and readily
available so many more now drink. Since
gambling has become legal, and access easy, many Christians see no harm in
punching the buttons on a slot machine, buying a lotto ticket, or placing a
wager on a horse race. Bottom line, for
many moral standards are dictated, not by an internal moral compass set by
Scripture, but rather by whatever society sees as permissible.
This raises the question of how Christians are going
to react to the legalization of marijuana.
When there is no longer a legal restriction on its usage, will they
choose to toke (take a puff on a marijuana cigarette)? While I suspect the immediate reaction of
most would be “of course not,” will that hold true over time? As I’ve observed a sea change take place in
many of my brethren’s attitude toward alcohol and gambling over the past forty
years, I have no reason to believe the same thing won’t happen over time with
marijuana. If one’s morality is tied to
the social norms of the day, rather than to Scriptural principles, I would
argue it is all but inevitable that we will see Christians “toking up.”
Specifically, how are those Christians who would never
light up a cigarette, but choose to consume alcohol either privately or
socially, going to react when given opportunity to have a “toke”. On what logical and Scriptural basis are they
going to make their decision?
The primary justifications I have heard through the
years for “social drinking” are essentially two-fold. One, Jesus, at the wedding feast of Cana,
turned water into high quality wine (John 2:1-11). Along with this, He was also accused by His
enemies of being a glutton and a drunkard (Mt 11:19; Lk 7:34). It is argued such an accusation would not
have been levelled if Jesus were a teetotaller.
So, the first argument goes, if Jesus made wine and drank wine why can’t
we? Two, nowhere in the Bible is the
consumption of alcoholic beverages prohibited.
What is prohibited is drunkenness; the abuse of alcohol (e.g. 1 Cor
6:10; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:18). Thus, as long
as one consumes alcohol in moderation, they remain within the parameters of
Biblical teaching on the subject.
While I would agree Jesus made and consumed wine (I
don’t see how else one can understand the passages mentioned in the first
argument), I would have to also observe that this argument overlooks two very
important facts. One, the wine of New Testament times had a low
alcoholic content which was even further reduced by watering it down several
times before it was consumed. Thus,
gluttony is usually associated with being a drunkard because drunkenness
required the consumption of an inordinate amount of wine. Two, “fortified” wines (of higher alcoholic
content) and what we term today “hard” liquors were unknown at that time. They would not be developed until centuries
later. Therefore, to seek to equate the
consumption of Biblical wine with that of the alcoholic products of today
ignores some fundamental, and important, differences in the two.
Two, both arguments for consumption of alcohol today must
be read in light of another very important biblical principle. Paul will vehemently argue that while I may
have a right to do something, my freedom to do that is limited by that action’s
impact on my brother/sister. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the
work of God. Everything is indeed clean,
but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. It is good
not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to
stumble (Rom 14:20,21). While this
quote falls within the context of spiritual stumbling (in this case causing one
to see as legitimate the worship of false gods), the underlying principle must
be given the weight it deserves.
Alcoholism is a huge problem. The
ability of alcohol to addict and destroy is undeniable. There is no way I have a right to consume
something if, by that consumption, I encourage another down a path that could
destroy them. Again, Scripture makes it
clear while I may have the “right” to do something, it becomes wrong if in so
doing I cause a vulnerable person to stumble.
I would argue the same principle is also applicable to
gambling. While many have the
self-discipline to spend a limited amount of money on “recreational” gambling,
there are also a significant number of people who do not. I have personally seen lives destroyed by
gambling addiction. How can I, as a
Christian, participate in something that would encourage a brother or sister on
a road to destruction? Should not my
concern for the welfare of their soul supersede any “fun” I might derive from betting
on the horses or playing the slots?
It seems to me it is going to be very difficult for
those who have discovered the Biblical freedom to consume alcohol and gamble, in
the context of a more permissive society, to argue against the recreational use
of marijuana. If one is free to indulge
in one or both of those, why not marijuana as well?
Allow me to close with some observations:
1) It is
absolutely true that I have no right to judge a brother or sister when it comes
to matters of opinion. Paul argues this adamantly in Romans 14,15. If the consumption of alcohol and gambling
fall within this realm then each must answer for their own actions and decisions. However, I do have the freedom, and the
responsibility, to share and discuss the consequences associated with their
actions.
2) A
Christian’s body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). You are
not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body (1
Cor 6:20). We do not have the right to
pollute the temple that is our body either by our consumption or actions. If the sole purpose of recreational marijuana
consumption is to get “high”, thus inhibiting one’s ability to make proper
moral and spiritual decisions, this Scriptural principle would preclude any
usage, reflective of the commands against drunkenness.
3) We must take
very seriously our responsibility to the “weaker” brother/sister among us when
it comes to our “right” to consume alcohol or gamble. Perhaps I’ve been made hyper-sensitive to
this by my interaction with men who are involved in the Faith Based Therapeutic
Community Corporation (FBTCC). This is a
ministry founded and run by one of our church members which involves working
with about thirty men who have on-going substance abuse issues. Their only hope for recovery and freedom
rests in total abstinence from alcohol and other drugs. The very last thing they need, in any way, is
to be encouraged by teaching or example to use a substance which has basically
destroyed their lives. How can I, as a
Christian brother, model anything for them other than abstinence? Remember Paul’s strongly worded warning in 1
Cor 8:10-13.
4) I realize
abstinence is perceived as narrow-minded, and even bigoted, by some. I would argue that it also sets an inarguably
safe boundary. You cannot become
addicted to that which you do not imbibe or practice. You cannot weaken the resolve of another by
your example if you never partake or participate in these areas.
We’re kidding ourselves if we think marijuana usage
isn’t going to become an increasing issue within, as well as without, the
church. May each of us humbly, prayerfully,
and Biblically, consider our example and responsibility in this very vital, and
painfully relevant, issue.
Dan Rouse
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