The Buzz
As with anything we do, we need to weigh it with the word first.
Romans 14:22-23 - Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
without getting into my personal beliefs on this whole thing, we are supposed to be living lives that are not in need of anything that we use as a substitute for the divine health God wants us to live in. This applies to the kid with ADD whose parents have them on Ritalyn, the diabetic on insulin, or the parkinson's patient smoking marijuana. However, if any of these things can help us to walk out of our disease and into the wholeness and fullness that God has for us, they are sometimes necessary. If a diabetic can go through life taking their insulin and survive to minister, then by all means, they should take it.
People's personal preference on the matter will (at least in the church) tend towards thinking that medical marijuana is 100% wrong because it was once classified as a narcotic. However, those same people will willingly take sudafed when they have a cold. Sudafed contains a very pure form of Methamphetamine, which we all have seen the devastating effects of in recent years. I personally lost a family member to a meth-induced suicide.
If we're going to put our trust in the government (FDA) to tell us the truth about potential side effects of any of the 'prescription' drugs, we have to weigh what they're saying about the things we all seem to be ok with. we've talked about Sudafed, but the list is endless. Chantix, a stop smoking prescription, causes suicidal depression, aneurisms, heart attacks and countless other problems. Ritalyn, a focus drug, causes depression, decreases brain cell growth, causes heart and lung problems, etc. Even tylenol has side effects listed like abdominal pain.
Potheads everywhere are cheering the legalization for their own recreational use, but the medicinal uses of the plant (even the non psychotropic one) are nearly endless.
If the church were doing it's job the way it should be, no drug would be necessary, but we also can't say that just because we don't like the legalization of a once illegal chemical makes it a sin, wrong, or something they shouldn't do if the feel they need it. If they don't condemn themselves in what they approve, they're happy - hmmm. I think that God said something about a merry heart doing good like a medicine at one point in history.
We should be encouraging people to rely on God for their health. Not everyone will be in that place though, and we also can't be quick to call them sinners for accepting a new 'drug' as a potential for health.
Remember that alcohol, which most believers are ok with in moderation, was once a class 1 felony if you were caught in possession of it. Now it's not illegal, but why are we ok with it? Cigarettes are the single deadliest drug on the planet, but they're legal, and we understand that smoking won't send you to hell, so we don't say it's a 'sin'.
I'm thinking of Peter's time, thousands of years of law saying that they were forbidden to eat pork, and here's Peter praying and having a vision from the Lord. God gives Peter a vision of the forbidden item of the day descending and tells him to rise, kill and eat, call nothing that I have made unclean. Now we know that the Lord was sending Peter to the Gentiles directly after this, but this was God showing Peter that the 'illegal' item of the day, one that would most certainly cause problems with the religious men of the time, was now clean for eating. God said 'call nothing I have made unclean'. That would mean, to me, NOTHING He had made. Which has to include things like animals, plant life, and our fellow man.
Let's remove our prejudice, teach people that God's grace is enough even if we have to settle for something other than Him for our health, and understand that sometimes a 'new' old thing isn't always bad.
Don Francisco said it best "just cause you don't like it doesn't mean it's a sin!"
Caleb
Romans 14:22-23 - Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
without getting into my personal beliefs on this whole thing, we are supposed to be living lives that are not in need of anything that we use as a substitute for the divine health God wants us to live in. This applies to the kid with ADD whose parents have them on Ritalyn, the diabetic on insulin, or the parkinson's patient smoking marijuana. However, if any of these things can help us to walk out of our disease and into the wholeness and fullness that God has for us, they are sometimes necessary. If a diabetic can go through life taking their insulin and survive to minister, then by all means, they should take it.
People's personal preference on the matter will (at least in the church) tend towards thinking that medical marijuana is 100% wrong because it was once classified as a narcotic. However, those same people will willingly take sudafed when they have a cold. Sudafed contains a very pure form of Methamphetamine, which we all have seen the devastating effects of in recent years. I personally lost a family member to a meth-induced suicide.
If we're going to put our trust in the government (FDA) to tell us the truth about potential side effects of any of the 'prescription' drugs, we have to weigh what they're saying about the things we all seem to be ok with. we've talked about Sudafed, but the list is endless. Chantix, a stop smoking prescription, causes suicidal depression, aneurisms, heart attacks and countless other problems. Ritalyn, a focus drug, causes depression, decreases brain cell growth, causes heart and lung problems, etc. Even tylenol has side effects listed like abdominal pain.
Potheads everywhere are cheering the legalization for their own recreational use, but the medicinal uses of the plant (even the non psychotropic one) are nearly endless.
If the church were doing it's job the way it should be, no drug would be necessary, but we also can't say that just because we don't like the legalization of a once illegal chemical makes it a sin, wrong, or something they shouldn't do if the feel they need it. If they don't condemn themselves in what they approve, they're happy - hmmm. I think that God said something about a merry heart doing good like a medicine at one point in history.
We should be encouraging people to rely on God for their health. Not everyone will be in that place though, and we also can't be quick to call them sinners for accepting a new 'drug' as a potential for health.
Remember that alcohol, which most believers are ok with in moderation, was once a class 1 felony if you were caught in possession of it. Now it's not illegal, but why are we ok with it? Cigarettes are the single deadliest drug on the planet, but they're legal, and we understand that smoking won't send you to hell, so we don't say it's a 'sin'.
I'm thinking of Peter's time, thousands of years of law saying that they were forbidden to eat pork, and here's Peter praying and having a vision from the Lord. God gives Peter a vision of the forbidden item of the day descending and tells him to rise, kill and eat, call nothing that I have made unclean. Now we know that the Lord was sending Peter to the Gentiles directly after this, but this was God showing Peter that the 'illegal' item of the day, one that would most certainly cause problems with the religious men of the time, was now clean for eating. God said 'call nothing I have made unclean'. That would mean, to me, NOTHING He had made. Which has to include things like animals, plant life, and our fellow man.
Let's remove our prejudice, teach people that God's grace is enough even if we have to settle for something other than Him for our health, and understand that sometimes a 'new' old thing isn't always bad.
Don Francisco said it best "just cause you don't like it doesn't mean it's a sin!"
Caleb
Good teaching!! When we get into condemnation, whether focused outward on a target or inward because of guilt, we are walking under the law of sin and death.
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