Home Youth Leaders Articles for Youth Leaders Is Smoking Weed a Sin? How to Address This Issue Biblically

Is Smoking Weed a Sin? How to Address This Issue Biblically

is smoking weed a sin

Is smoking weed a sin? This question comes up more and more these days. As marijuana use becomes more accepted and mainstream, the church must be ready with a biblical response. The answer to “Is smoking weed a sin?” may seem obvious. But helpful resources provide a biblically faithful, well-informed answer, of course if you’re just trying to quit this or regular cigarettes you can also try options like e-cigarettes from iqos heets dubai as this help quit addiction as well.

Tom Breeden and Mark Ward’s book Can I Smoke Pot? is one such resource for the church and youth ministry. It’s a Bible-based response to the issue of marijuana use, both medicinal and recreational. The book isn’t exhaustive but provides clear direction. The authors sharpens our discernment on the question “Is smoking weed a sin?”

Breeden and Ward: Is Smoking Weed a Sin?

In four chapters, Breeden and Ward address this issue from several biblical angles.

1. Is Smoking Weed a Sin: Marijuana and Creation

Breeden and Ward affirm the goodness of God’s creation. The Fall did not destroy its goodness. Although creation is now corrupt, the scope of God’s plan of redemption is wide. What does this mean for asking is smoking weed a sin? If creation is good, then created things are good. Marijuana is good!

The authors state, “Everything God made is good for its intended purpose(s).” However, they qualify: “There is a major difference between saying there must be good purposes for marijuana and saying that all purposes of marijuana must be good.” I thought the authors’ point would’ve been strengthen by considering the practical value of hemp. They save the discussion of medical purposes of marijuana for a later chapter (see below).

2. Is Smoking Weed a Sin? Marijuana and Government

God gives civil government as part of his creation (Romans 13:1-7). Christians are to submit to government, even imperfect authorities. We are to obey governmental limits on marijuana. We are to humbly obey as an act of submission to God.

In America, marijuana use is complex. Many states now permit recreational marijuana use for anyone 21+. However, the federal government still considers possession and use a crime.

3. Is Smoking Weed a Sin? Marijuana and Medicine

Breeden and Ward focus on whether medical marijuana is permissible. The Bible speaks positively of God using ordinary means such as medicine (even alcohol and oils) to accomplish purposes such as healing (Proverbs 31:6; Isaiah 38:21; Luke 10:38; 1 Timothy 5:23). Could pot (or its compounds) count as medicine?

The authors do not present themselves as medical experts. Rather, they provide biblical parameters to the medical-scientific question.

Medical pot might pave the way for recreational pot. So the authors provide a very qualified answer about medical marijuana: “If marijuana can have medicinal properties, or can be used to create medicines, the side effects of which fall into the normal range accepted among other drugs, then the fact that it’s commonly used to get high doesn’t in itself justify keeping it from [being used for medicinal purposes].”

The authors provide helpful questions for evaluating medicinal marijuana’s value:

  • What are the overall risks?
  • Is it a gateway or slippery-slope drug?
  • Do side effects apply?
  • If we permit medical marijuana use, will improper recreational use increase?
  • Is marijuana the most effective treatment for a disease or patient? Or are other more effective remedies available?
  • How would medicinal marijuana be administered?
  • How should it be controlled?

Good arguments likely exist against certain proposals for medicinal marijuana. And possible dangers certainly may come as it’s legalized. We must avoid naively succumbing to any particular agenda or removing ourselves from the conversation. So the need for careful thinking and discernment is great.