Marijuana... Now That its Legal is it OK? Or Permitted?
Marijuana: Now That its Legal is it OK? Or Permitted?
Over the years the arguments society, parents, and the church have made to discourage the use of marijuana have consisted of appeals to:
- the physical – its bad for your mind and body
- the legal – its illegal and you can get into a lot of trouble
- the spiritual – the most powerful of the three and the one I will talk about today
I believe discussion on the matter from concerned parents, and from the church have focused more on the first two reasons. The reason for this is the physical and the legal arguments have been simple and straight-forward.
The Danger Argument
The proven physical damage marijuana poses for a person's brain tissue is very real and should be a powerful means to persuade them to avoid the drug. But it's an argument easily countered… you [mom, dad, etc.] do things that are bad for your body – eat too much and get fat, don't exercise, and every young person's favorite comeback… well you drink beer.
People often do bad stuff to their bodies… they eat too much, get fat, don't exercise etc. Why single out something like marijuana to be especially avoided?
It's an argument that has a big weakness. Its appeal is about being smart, succeeding, on some ways it's on the same level as saying "don't slack off in school or you won't get that high paying job you want when you graduate".
The Legal Argument
If after presenting a young person with all kinds of info about the detrimental effects of marijuana they were still not convinced… a parent or a pastor could fall back on the legal argument, "well, if you do it and get caught you are going to get in serious trouble, arrested, fined, it goes on your record, it could ruin your success in life etc."
Now the state(s) is declaring marijuana legal. With the stroke of a pen what was once treated as wrong and forbidden is now OK and permissible. The legislation has not yet fully hit NC fully yet but it won't be long.
The Spiritual Argument
I firmly believe God our creator is opposed to marijuana use…
But not because of its obvious negative affect on our health. Overeating and lack of exercise may be bad for our health… but I see no scriptural evidence that poor eating and exercise could cause me to miss out on the Kingdom of God.
I also do not think God determines what is right, wrong, or permissible based on the ever-changing legal pronouncements of state legislators, kings, dictators, or anyone else. If we just limit the discussion to our country then other activities like abortion have be declared permissible. But the changing winds of legislation have zero effect on what God thinks about the issues… or how He will, judge, acquit, condemn, or redeem those of us who do such things.
So what is the "spiritual argument"?
One of the reasons we have tend to rely on the physical argument and what used to be the legal argument it because they are easy to explain. They make sense to a non-spiritual mind. What I have called the spiritual argument is a great deal more complex, requiring knowledge of the scriptures, discernment, ancient languages, and history. I will do my best to make the scriptural case as simple as possible.
Galatians 6:7-8
How Does Weed Affect You?
I want to start out with the known and obvious psychological effects of marijuana on the brain. To the best of our knowledge the brain is the place where, character is built, where perceptions and information are received and processed, where decision are made. The information flowing to and fro… in to & out from our brains is sight, sound, taste, smell, etc. from what we know its therefore the primary center where spiritual development, spiritual outlooks, attitudes, and decisions are made.
Harken back to the sermon from a few months ago on how God's holy spirit works with your spirit to bring about that new child of God who will be raised from the dead and composed entirely of spirit. Isn't it safe to consider that a great deal of that spiritual formation takes place in close conjunction with the physical tissue of your brain?
So then how does marijuana interact with your brain tissue?
The Chemical Effects of Weed
Marijuana causes a high or euphoria because of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It is a psychoactive substance which means that it passes through the blood-brain barrier and alters brain functions.
When THC enters your blood stream and reaches your brain it latches on to certain receptors in your brain (molecule structures that fit, like a key). The presence of THC changes the levels of activity in certain neuro-transmitters especially dopamine and norepinephrine.
- Basal ganglia - movement control
- Cerebellum - body movement coordination (driving, machine operation)
- Hippocampus - learning, memory, and stress control
- Cerebral cortex - higher cognitive functions
- Nucleus accumbens - regarded as the reward center of the brain.
THC concentrates in moderate levels in certain portions of the brain tissue and has its moderate effects in those areas. These areas are:- Hypothalamus -homeostatic functions
- Amygdala -emotional responses and fears
- Spinal cord - peripheral sensations like pain
- Brain stem - sleep, arousal, and motor control
- Nucleus of the solitary tract- visceral sensations like nausea and vomiting.
Euphoria is a common psychological effect but not for every one. For some the effect is very negative (see list below).
Psychological Effects of Marijuana
You get stoned, which is a slang way of saying "intoxicated". Smoking marijuana allows the THC to enter your brain within seconds, eating it takes longer to absorb. Users will experience:
- distorted sense of time: ex. experiencing a rush of ideas from your bank of long term memory… creating a subjective impression of a long period of time elapsing when in reality only a short time has passed
- magical or "random thinking': you start making connections between things, higher appreciation for music, comedy, art, philosophic thinking. Thinking new "creative" ideas because of random or uncommon juxtapositions.
- anxiety, paranoia, depression (about 30%)
- short term memory loss: ex: Inability to to remember something that happened only a short while ago (possibly the reason for decreased inhibition). Lack of focus & concentration
These psychological effects last a few hours, residual effects can last throughout the next day, traces of THC like to hide out in your fat cells and stay in your system for a very long time (10 days to 3 months). Everyone reacts slightly differently… because its acting intimately with YOUR brain functions which are unique and highly personal. THC messes with the very essence of what is you… "as a man thinks so he is" … a person is the sum of their thoughts.
Proverbs 27:19 "As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the person." What it's saying is that what you put into your heart [mind] defines what kind of character you have, and what kind of person you are. Example: If you put into your mind/heart things of Christ, then what will flow out of your life will be good fruits or purity, grace, kindness, etc... if you are putting things into your mind that promote a distorted sense of reality and time, or random link of ideas… your life will be more random, distorted, lacking focus
Changes To The Way You Process Reality:
Large doses, long term use, or super strong varieties* can cause this altered state of reality (hallucinations).
- Distorting time, sound, color. Also includes seeing or hearing things that are not really there (possibly related to paranoia)
- Detachment from reality – a sense of being outside your body as an observer. Feeling that you have changed and that the world has become vague, dreamlike, less real, lacking in significance
Some Are Light Users, Some Are Heavy
Short Term Effects of Marijuana:
- Interferes with thinking
- Alters your mood and senses
- Affects sleeping
Effects of Long Term Use:
- Higher risk for other addictions
- Makes other mental issues worse
- The earlier you start using the more damaging
- Daily smoking affects IQ
The effects on how you process reality are present for the light user as well as the heavy user. The welcoming into your mind a substance that creates time distortion, random thinking are the main reason people smoke pot in the first place. [and the fact that it has a built in Trojan by directly affecting the reward center of your brain tissue at the same time, thus convincing you that all these distortions and thoughts are rewarding and good] If it didn't do those things exciting, strange, new things people would not seek it out.
The effects of long term use are largely related to the danger argument mentioned earlier. But also pertain to the spiritual argument.
Now you have heard what wikipedia, webmd, craig scott and a variety of other sources have to say about the physical and psychological effects of weed.
What Does Scripture Say?
There is no verse that mentions marijuana or THC – they were probably around but the names of those type of things have all changed so much over the centuries that it is impossible to always say… that if this and this is that. But w do have scriptures that reference the activity of drug use…
Galatians 5:19
Sorcery is the English word used to translate pharmakeia [G5331] – its where we get the word pharmacy… a place that dispenses drugs. Strongs definiton adds that by extension pharmakeia means magic (literal or figurative) hence the translation sorcery.
Pagan religious practice often used psychoactive substances to enhance perceptions of religious ecstacy… and I would say as a tool for consorting with or opening ones mind up to ungodly spiritual forces… demons.
Drugs are used to put us in an altered state of mind [otherwise why take them]. Therefore by definition it is not a natural state. This practice is called sorcery and is just as forbidden as drunkenness. This altered state of mind opens one up to the spiritual realm by altering the function of the mind in a way unnatural to how we were made. Notice the connection to idolatry.
Rev 9:21 EMTV translates this as drugs… note the connection to sexual immorality. Because of its placement here in prophecy it could be that there will be an increase in drug use in the time of the end.
Rev 18:23 note the connection to deception
Revelation 21:8 here the word is pharmakeus – a person who uses drugs… either themself or dispenses them to others. Presumably to induce certain types of behavior common in idolatrous religious practices… consorting with ungodly spirit forces, sexual immorality, and deception.
Deuteronomy 29:18 that there not be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Jehovah our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you today a root that bears gall [H7219 – derived from head of a plant, generally understood to mean the opium poppy] and wormwood [poison/curse]; and it happens when he hears the words of this curse, that he should bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to snatch away the drunken with the thirsty.
Deuteronomy 32:32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall [H7219 – derived from head of a plant], their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
The scriptures make a connection between drug use and idolatry… inviting demonic forces into your mind, sexual immorality, and deception.
Is God's Word Condemning Use of Drugs For Healing? Like Asprin?
In ancient times the healer, the priest were the same… think witch doctor… a person in the village responsible for healing potions as well as psychoactive substances that allowed them to communicate with the spirit world.
There is a distinction found in biblical times between the two: the sorcerer/pharmakieus… and the physician/iatros. A prime example of a healer who used his knowledge of substances to heal rather than open minds us to demons, induce sexual behavior, or deceive.
Colossians 4:14 ... see also Matthew 9:12, Luke 4:23, 8:43
I'm Not Smoking Pot So I can Conjure Up Demons
I just want to relax and have some fun with my friends. That may be so… perhaps you are not rolling out the welcome mat for those ungodly spiritual forces and beckoning them to come in. But you are at best [and I'm cutting a lot of slack here] leaving your doors unlocked, perhaps even slightly ajar, perhaps wide open. Your pursuit of fun is to become intoxicated… in an altered state of mind… open to thoughts you would not otherwise have if you were not smoking pot.
I'm pretty sure that when and if you leave your guard down… strange things are going to find those openings and come in. And you may find they don't want to leave.
1 Peter 5:8
Conclusion: the fact that marijuana was illegal was never the best argument to get people to avoid it. But it was easy. The real reason... the best reason is to consider the damaging and possibly fatal effect it can have on your spiritual growth and potential to become a spirit born child in the Kingdom of God.
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