How is smoking weed any worse than drinking once in a while?
Question:
Is smoking weed bad in God's eyes? Yes, I know the horrible effects it can have on your health, but I'm talking from a Christian's point of view. Some people get drunk and God will see them through, but when they smoke weed will God resent them? What if I want to try it? I've literally been so stressed out these past few months with college and senior year of high school. I see potheads or people who smoke weed a few times just chilling around and all I want is to not have to stress anymore. I have morals not to ever do stuff like that or to keep my purity, but I have drank before. How can this be any different from smoking weed once?
Answer:
You're badly mistaken when you claim that you'll smoke marijuana just once. That is Satan's opening bid for all sins, but it is never just once.
"Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:6-9).
Staying sober is critical for any Christian because Satan is just waiting for a moment of weakness, a time when you aren't thinking straight, an instance when you are not alert to pull you deep into sin.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8).
Your problem starts with the fact that you think you can smoke pot and remain faithful to Christ. Marijuana messes with your mind, not only when you smoke it, but it continues to affect the way you think for weeks afterward. You cannot serve Christ and smoke weed at the same time. You sin because marijuana is illegal (and for good reasons) and a Christian is not to break the law "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves" (Romans 13:1-2). Even if it were legal, you further sin by not remaining sober as God requires of you.
One of the effects of marijuana is that the user's inhibitions are lowered. You don't make sound judgments when you are stoned, and you are willing to do things you normally would reject. In addition, a pot-smoker, while high, tends to be compliant to suggestions. It is sort of like being hypnotized. You are willing to do what someone tells you to do. "Marijuana can lower inhibitions and impair judgment. Lowered inhibitions have been known to result in unprotected sex, increased possibilities of sexually transmitted diseases, and potential unwanted pregnancies" [National Drug Council - Marijuana Facts]. Marijuana "decreased social inhibitions that can increase exposure to risky situations" [Rutgers Health, Marijuana].
The idea that God accepts drunkenness is false. "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 6:9-10). See Social Drinking.
But the real problem is that you think that a chemical that fogs your mind is going to solve your problems. You focus on how you think you will feel while stoned, never giving thought to the withdrawal or realizing that problems don't go away while you are incapacitated. Learn how to deal with stress and anxiety in ways that productively remove the problems from your life. Do you realize that the withdrawal symptoms of marijuana are stress, anxiety, and paranoia? When you come down from your high, your stress levels will be higher than before. And what many people do is start smoking again to escape this chemically induced stress. It becomes a merry-go-round that you don't know how to get off.
Oh, and the majority of the effects of drinking alcohol are out of a person's system in a few hours. A heavy drinker can effectively recover in about a month. It takes about three days for most of the effects of marijuana to get out of your system and it takes about six to nine months to effectively recover from heavy marijuana use. Marijuana is not the same as alcohol. Neither one is proper for a Christian to use recreationally.
