Well, there are a few reasons why I believe in the legalization of marijuana, and most of these tie into my Christian beliefs/reasoning for Libertarianism. Firstly, I will mention one of the main "intelligent" arguments against marijuana... The greek word Pharmakeia... When I was younger, I heard a sermon from my Pastor on a sunday, and he said that the word for witchcraft in the Bible is a word that means drug use, and he pointed out that the Greek is the word Pharmakeia, which, should also sound like a familiar word we use today... Pharmacy. Drugs. I've also heard this argument iterated on a few newsgroups in USEnet. I posted my response. My Pastor said that drug use for healing isn't bad, so Pharmacies aren't bad, however, he forgot to mention a few important points about Pharmakeia. Perhaps there is more about this word that I need to know, but from general research, this is what I encountered...
1) Pharmakeia does not mean general drug use. It refers to usage of drugs to gain a higher knowledge... A knowledge/wisdom that only God can impart. Perhaps you've heard of the many people who trip on LSD who claim a spiritual aspect to it. I'm afraid I can't condone that. There is a church called the Ethiopian Zion Coptic church, who has some beliefs about Marijuana(this is a long pamphlet, so it may take a while to download, just warning you.) which, although I would love to believe, I can't believe... They have the attitude that marijuana brings you closer to God. Some of their arguments about marijuana do make sense, and perhaps I'll tell you some of them later, and maybe I'll also go into some of the things I can't believe about them. But this is not about any denomination, this is about what the Bible has to say(at least my interpretation of it) about Marijuana. I'll get back on track. So, first of all, we have to understand that the word Pharmakeia means that we are not to use drugs to gain a "spiritual" experience. We are to let the Spirit of God do that. Nowhere does it say that drug use for recreational purposes is bad. If you do have some references on the contrary, please let me know. So, point number one... Drug use is sinful if you use it for a spiritual experience, but not for recreation. Along with this point(which is the main point) there are some rules to follow which is covered in the next part.
2) God cares for us. He does not want us to do anything to harm us. That is why we have those things called the 10 commandments. If we don't want people to lie to us, don't lie to them. If we try to live by His rules, we won't be hurt. This is important to realize in the argument for the legalization of marijuana. I will add links, hopefully soon, which will point to the medical benefits of marijuana, and which refute those who oppose drugs, but for now, let me say that Marijuana is safer than alcohol. There is no known lethal dosage... There is no case ever reported of someone ever overdosing on Marijuana. Marijuana is safer than Tobacco. It's non-addictive. God does not want us to live with an addiction. God wants us to be able to function properly, without substances having to control our life. Cocaine is dangerous(though, I suspect not as dangerous as those in charge of the drug war would have us believe), Heroin is extremely dangerous. I do not advocate usage of these drugs. It is important to show that Marijuana is a safe drug, and over the next few months, I hope to add some decent links, and post some research on this page. I can't put it all on right away, but keep coming back if this interests you. So, my second point is this... God does not want us to do something that would harm us. And Marijuana is not harmful, so there is nothing wrong with smoking marijuana, from my viewpoint of what the Bible has to say, except for point number three, and this is something that must be corrected immediately.
3) Point number three, and the thing that holds Christians back is that marijuana is illegal. We are called by God to follow the laws of the land, unless they contradict his commands... God did not command of us to partake of marijuana, but, as I mentioned above, and as shown in the references I will be adding, neither did He prohibit us from smoking marijuana. We must allow ourselves the right to exercise the free will which God gave us. I will add a link about Christianity and Free will soon, so keep an eye out for that. I believe that to prohibit free will(or at least to limit what we can do for ourselves, and to ourselves) is to sin against what God has given us. Do not sin by taking away the one true gift God has given us... The gift of choice... We cannot force others to believe as we do, through laws, we must change their hearts... We must let them see the LOVE of Christ, not the HATE of the devil(which seems to shine through in Christians an awful lot)... Remember, the wolf in sheeps clothing... Jesus would have us care for those who are addicted and misled by something that can hurt us(although pot does not get one addicted, nor does it cause any serious physical damage), not throw them in jail. this leads me to say that we should also legalize other drugs, no matter how "dangerous" they may be. However I would not condone the usage of those drugs that are harmful to the body, or if they are used to reach God... Those are the two contraindictions to Christian usage of drugs, so even if cocaine were to be legalized, it is still addictive, and thus is capable of becoming a god... we cannot do that. We must keep these three Christian rules in mind about drug usage, in order to properly look at drug usage from a Biblical perspective
Keep coming back to this page for more links... I plan on adding Scripture references, links to the health safety of marijuana, theological links(pertaining to free will), and other things I find that relate to the issue of Christianity and Marijuana.
Here's a few:
[liberty] [home] [mail] [survey]
Go to the Athens GeoCities