Whitten Q & A - Is smoking marijuana a sin?

Good afternoon and welcome to question and answer with Pastor Josiah of Witten Baptist Church and today I will be answering a question that I promise you no other pastor in the city of Memphis is having to answer today.

I'll read the full question as it was asked by one of our members but let me remind you of what this is. Past few Sundays we've been allowing people to write down questions anonymously and put them in our box in our worship center here at our church at Witten in Memphis, Tennessee and every few Sundays we have been answering those questions directly on Sunday morning services.

Well on a recent Sunday we answered six of those questions and I answered two of them. One of them was a video I made recently I answered in person also about Jesus being the son of God and God at the same time.

So I answered that in person on Sunday morning for our congregation and made a video about it for you guys and today I want to do the same thing. That same Sunday I believe it was September 27th I also answered this question and I wanted to give an opportunity to answer it here.

We have answered this question live before but I wanted a concise pre-recorded one so that you guys could reference this, share it, give it to whoever else in the future. Okay, so here's the question.

Smoking, Drinking, Drugs, and Christian Liberty

Is smoking and drinking in moderation a sin? Is using drugs in moderation a sin? Is that answer based on secular legality? What about medical opioids or marijuana? Alright this will be fun this gets people's attention right?

Okay several things we want to say at the start to get us going. Let's get rid of some common misnomers. First off, yes Jesus and the apostles did drink wine at least a couple times we see in the New Testament and yes it was fermented.

You can read about this in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost when they assumed they had been drinking wine because they were acting drunk. Yes this was not just grape juice it was fermented. No they did not get drunk, no they did not.

Remember the biblical definition of drunkenness is not what the state says it is, .08 blood alcohol content or whatever. The biblical definition of drunkenness is being out of control of your mind and body.

Any state where you are out of control of your mind and body. So is smoking and drinking in moderation a sin? Well it depends what you mean by in moderation but not necessarily. Is using drugs in moderation a sin?

It depends on what you mean by drugs. Are we talking about aspirin? Is that answer based on secular legality? Yes and no. That's the great question here. What about medical opioids or marijuana? Okay guys come to grips with the fact that God ordained there to be government.

Read Romans 13. He ordained for it to happen. And he ordained for them to govern in the realm that he gave them authority to and we must obey those rules until there is an overreaching government into a realm that God did not give them authority to reign in.

For example, if the government passes a law that prohibits me from being the priest, provider and protector of my household then I must obey God rather than man. If the government makes a law that says I cannot sing praises to him or fellowship with my brothers or sisters or say the name of Jesus then just like Peter and Paul in Acts chapter 5 and 4 I must obey God rather than man.

But in the areas where it is not a conflict of God's command versus the government's command because that time God is going to win every time then I must obey the realm in which God has ordained government to operate in.

For those of you who live in Memphis you'll get this, I don't think the speed limit on Farm Road should be 35 miles an hour, it's ridiculous, but that is not the realm that God has ordained I govern in so I'm to follow that rule.

The only time I disobey those rules is when the government reaches into a realm of the church or of an obedience to the command of Christ then I must choose to obey God rather than whatever man says. Marijuana is not going to be one of those instances, okay.

So yes it is illegal and yes we should obey that law but let's move past that because that's really a cop out because we all know that very soon recreational and medical but recreational use of marijuana will be legal in most states, it's moving that way anyway.

So what about when it's legal Josiah? It already is in my state, what about other states, so on and so forth. So what about if it was legal all the way around what do we do? Okay great question. Remember there are sins of commission and sins of omission.

Sins of commission are you commit a sin, you steal. Sins of omission are when you do not do something you know you should, that's also a sin. For him who knows what to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.

So not just doing something bad is sinful but not doing something right is sinful. Let me read you a couple passages to help get an idea of this. First Corinthians 9 27, but I discipline my body and keep it under control.

That word control, the root word is doulos, it means slave. It means you are the master of your body, your body is not the master of you and I'll say it again. You are the master in total control of your body.

Your body's impulses, desires and needs do not control you, you control it. If you are in any condition where that is not true then you're in sin and that doesn't just have to be drugs. Number two, 2 Corinthians 10 5, this is the biggest one for me.

We destroy our arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think the Bible means when it says every thought?

I think it means every. If you are putting yourself in a state for a non-medical purpose where you cannot take every thought captive to obey Christ, I don't see how you're going to be able to obey this command.

Number three, other than for a medical purpose, which your intent is not to not be in control of your mind, if that makes sense. Other than that, if you cannot take every thought captive to obey Christ then you're going to be in violation of this command and you'll be in sin.

So if you put yourself in a situation where you're high or drunk or whatever and you can't take every thought captive, if you are out of control of your mind or body then you're in sin. Now, it is true, alcohol is a good example, it is true that that will vary slightly for each person.

Now some people, one beer will get them in a place where they're not in control of their mind and body, some people whatever. And this is where super caution is needed because we're not allowed to say that it's a sin to consume any alcoholic beverage like a glass of wine at any point because that would be hypocritical because the Bible doesn't say that.

In fact, we see instances of the opposite. But it is true the Bible speaks aggressively and often about drunkenness and drunkenness is not just what the state says it is, it's being out of control of your mind or body.

The same applies for marijuana. If you are out of control of your mind and body, you are in violation of this command. Romans 12, 1 and 2, I appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You see that? Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, total control of your mind and body.

Guys, that's hard enough for me to take every thought captive completely sober. Again, I just want to reemphasize, being in total control of your mind and body is repeated throughout scripture. And if you are putting yourself in a scenario where you can't obey that command, then you're going to be in violation of that command and that will be sinful.

To be in violation of any of God's commands is sinful. So no, it's not just based on secular legality, although that is a contributing factor, there's a greater factor of being in line with the commands of God to be in control of our mind and body and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

What else we got here? Additionally, this applies way more than just weed. If you have 20 orange pill bottles in your nightstand and none of them came from a doctor, okay, well then you're in violation of this command.

Because now it's illegal, right? Same as before, you're in violation of Romans 13. But let's say even if they did come from a doctor, but you don't have any of those symptoms, you just said what you need to say to a doctor to get those drugs, you're in violation of this command.

Because for a non-medical purpose, you are out of control of your mind and body. It's in the same way. So these verses apply to way more than just weed, guys, way more than that. But they do apply to this, okay?

So in summary, is smoking and drinking a sin? Not necessarily, but it can be. Is using drugs a sin? Well, that depends on what you mean by drugs. Anything illegal, none of these are an instance where you're allowed to disobey the government because none of these violate a command of God, so it depends on what you mean by drugs.

Is that answer based on secular legality? Not only. That is a contributing factor, but no, there's a higher command of God. What about medical opioids or marijuana? Again, legal versus illegal, medical purpose or not medical purpose.

Are you in control of your mind and your body? If you are not, then yes, it is a sin. Some of you may, as we sum up on this, some of you may even be offended that we're even asking this question. Our church here at Witton, guys, the majority of them are first-generation believers, okay?

And the majority of them are first-generation believers. So just like Nicodemus, when Jesus said, you must be born again, he goes, oh, so I must go back in my mother's womb, he asked the question to ignorance, but he really did want to learn, even though he went at night so the others wouldn't see him, he really did want to learn.

The people asking this question here at church, I don't believe they're asking it in a funny way. I believe they're serious because they really do want to be holy. They just need to be shown how. So if you're offended this was even a question, keep in mind that the early church, especially the first-generation believers, struggled with all types of things very similar to this, read Corinthians, very infantile sins.

It is always okay to ask a question if you're being genuine. And we don't shy away from that here at Witton. We don't do that on the question and answer live, if you have ever been a part of that. We answer all types of questions there.

So I hope this helps, put in the comments if you need me to further clarify, I'll do another video if I have to, I'll do it live again, whatever I need to do, I want to be as clear as possible, so I hope I was that.

Again, those references in scripture were 1 Corinthians 9 .27, 2 Corinthians 10 .5, and Romans 12 .1 and 2. Love you guys very much, I hope you have a good rest of your Saturday, and I'll see you tomorrow at 10 .30.