Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™ I AM Ministries
“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”
Monday, November 7, 2016
Is Marijuana Harmless?
The debate as to whether marijuana is harmless rages on for and it is intense. Many claim smoking pot is harmless; others disagree. From both the Christian and non-Christian perspective, it is clear to me that smoking marijuana is not harmless. Events in the town where I live offer compelling evidence of marijuana’s destructiveness.
We should first examine the motivation for using marijuana. The reason that virtually all of the people who smoke marijuana do it is to get high. Marijuana is sold ostensibly for medicinal purposes in some states, but most people invent illnesses to obtain a “prescription”. The overwhelming reason to smoke pot is to alter your mental and physical feelings so you feel high. This is not normal, nor is it behavior God intended us for our minds and bodies. To many who smoke pot, it becomes a type of god or idol in their lives. This is clearly against God’s wishes (Exodus 20:3-4).
Any type of smoking is damaging to the body. Pot is no different. When a person smokes pot, they are polluting the temple God gave us to house the Holy Spirit. This is a corruption of His plan for us. When a person alters his or her mind by getting high, the mind does not work as well as it usually does and bad decisions are often made. It also diverts one from focusing on God, shifting the focus to the drug-induced high going on in their brain. Any time we are diverted from God unnaturally we are committing a sin.
As it stands currently, growing, buying, holding, smoking, or doing almost anything else with marijuana is illegal in most states. By engaging in any of these activities, sin is committed. God wants us to follow not only His rules and laws, but the rules and laws of our government. When we violate those rules, we sin and we are apart from God. We should always keep in mind the God we serve rewards obedience (Leviticus 26:1-13), but punishes disobedience (Leviticus 26:14-46), which is sin. This includes smoking marijuana.
God gave us free will to choose our actions. Many people choose to smoke marijuana, arguing it doesn’t harm anyone but themselves. They point to the fact that other people sin by getting drunk or smoking cigarettes by themselves without hurting others. Their conclusion is that smoking pot is harmless to anyone except themselves. Their contention is supported by the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML). I can assure you that smoking marijuana is not normal.
The Mexican cartels, which supply most of the marijuana to the U.S., are well-oiled, multi-billion dollar business machines working outside the law. In order execute their sophisticated and profitable business plans, each year they execute (literally) hundreds of Mexican citizens, often by beheading. This continual threat of death allows the cartels to maintain control. Thus, an American who smokes marijuana shares a portion of the blame for innocent citizens dying in Mexico. This fact negates the “not hurting others” argument.
This argument is fostered by Satan himself, who is a liar and the father of all lies (John 8:44). He would desperately like to have you believe you can sin in a vacuum without consequences to others, but sin always has a ripple effect and touches the lives of others in some way. Sometimes these ripples are small, but other times they produce enormous impacts. To Debra Dorch’s family, the impact felt like a tsunami.
In the early morning hours of August 27, 2005, apprentice newspaper carrier Debra Dorch was learning her route for the Aiken Standard (Aiken, South Carolina) along with a circulation department assistant. As she pulled up to a mailbox and backed up, local marijuana dealers mistook her truck for that of rival drug dealers. Suspecting a turf-related confrontation, the dealers chased the truck Debra Dorch was driving and, over the next few minutes, riddled it with bullets. Her companion was shot, but survived. Debra Dorch was killed. This murder also negates the notion that marijuana is harmless.
People who use marijuana need to either buy it or grow it. As demonstrated by the current events, those who deal or grow marijuana are often dangerous people. They don’t hesitate to kill to protect their interests, even if innocent people die. Obviously, killing is not normal. Debra Dorch lost her life because of the greed and envy of those willing to sin in a “harmless” way. Try convincing Debra or her family that marijuana is harmless. It certainly isn’t normal.
The sin of using marijuana, as with any other sin, radiates to others, often in unpredictable ways. Our Heavenly Father tells us sin leads to death (Romans 6:23) and He speaks Truth. Sin always leads to spiritual death, which can only be overcome through the blood of Jesus Christ. If you are engaged in any sinful activity, remember it will have serious and unintended consequences. Be bold today in speaking out against all sin and in support of God’s normal ways. The next time someone tells you marijuana is harmless, just remember Debra Dorch.
Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ
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