Hello everyone, I hope all reading this are doing well. I recently converted to Christianity, and I'm so truly happy about it. I'm a cannabis user however, and I use it for a number of issues, including chronic pain, sleeplessness, and appetite problems. I only want to do what the Lord intends for us to, and I can't find a real answer on this topic. I used to use it 3 times a day and for fear of overindulgence I made it once a day at the end of the day. But I'm just trying to see if it's not ok in the eyes of the Lord. I don't become lazy or lost in the clouds like some do, I function just fine with it, so I'm not in an intoxicated state when I use it, or at least don't feel that way. Any help and clarity on the issue is very appreciated, I'm not looking for an excuse to keep using if it's bad, I just want to be sure it's something I need to give up considering how much it helps my ailments. God bless all of you!
I understand there are forms of cannabis that are entirely medicinal, providing no..."buzz" to the cannabis user, just an easing of pain. But I know of no "medical" user of cannabis who isn't also indulging the drug recreationally, or to deal with psychological issues that show up in sleeplessness, anxiety, depression, etc.. If the use of cannabis was purely medical, I don't think a Christian could make a case against such use, but the connection of cannabis to recreational drug use and to drugs of a much "harder" kind, used also as a "mind/mood stabilizer," seem to me to make using cannabis an unnecessarily risky and tricky business. There are other very effective pain-relievers available that carry no attachments to all this other stuff.
Paul the apostle wrote that he would not be brought under the power of anything (save God, of course) [
1 Corinthians 6:12]. A way to see if you've been brought under the power of something is to leave off it and observe how you react to the thing's absence. If you can't function easily without it, if its absence is disturbing, if its absence leaves you scattered, and distracted, and uncomfortable (or worse), you've come under that thing's power and ought to forsake it permanently. Obviously, I'm not talking here about necessary things like food and water, or rest, or one's job, or clothing, etc., but things one can actually do without - if one wasn't bound under their power (cell phone, cigarettes, video games, sugar, booze, gambling, and so on).
God commands all of His children to be at all times under the control of the Holy Spirit, submitted to his will and way, a "living sacrifice" to their holy Creator.
Romans 8:14
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Romans 6:13
13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Romans 12:1
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
James 4:6-8
6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
7 Submit therefore to God...
1 Peter 5:6
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,
And so on. In light of the necessity to be always under God's control, how can one partake of anything that impinges on His control, that diminishes it, or competes with God for control of oneself? This is why addiction of any kind in the life of a disciple of Jesus is sinful: The addiction has control in the believer's life that God should have. And so, we read this sort of command in Scripture:
Ephesians 5:18
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
The command here isn't merely not to be drunk, but to be filled with the Spirit, instead - the implication being that one cannot be both at the same time. The Christian is to be aimed every day at being filled (that is, controlled and thus filled) with the Holy Spirit and
anything that dilutes or hinders this condition must be forsaken.
So, what is the case with your use of cannabis? God will show you, if you're not sure. In humility and submission, ask Him to reveal if your use of cannabis is playing with fire and/or leading you under the power of something other than Him.
Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.