Cannabis and the Christian: What the Bible Says about Marijuana

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: What Is Marijuana and How Does It Work?

Chapter 2: The Risks of Marijuana Use

Chapter 3: The Christian and the Law

Chapter 4: The Bible and Marijuana

Chapter 5: Discipleship and Marijuana

Chapter 6: How Does Medical Marijuana Work?

Chapter 7: Thinking Biblically about Medical Marijuana

Appendix: Questions and Answers for Pastors and Parents

Cannabis and the Christian is an outstanding book. It’s thoughtful, biblical, and enjoyable to read. Whether you agree or disagree with the conclusions, this book deserves a wide reading. We need to think through how to navigate one of the biggest ethical issues of our day, and Todd Miles has given us a helpful tool.

Sean McDowell, PhD, Biola University professor, speaker, and author

The question of what to do about legalized marijuana has reached the church’s doorstop. Todd Miles provides a skilled and timely answer. He is fiercely biblical in his treatment, clear in his warnings, and tender with those looking for relief in the midst of suffering. But he does so much more than address cannabis use. Miles models how to think Christianly about ethics when the Bible doesn’t offer a proof text, how to lean into God and his Word when we experience chronic pain, and how to react when the demands of the government don’t align with the demands of God. Pick up this book as soon as you can! If the problems Miles addresses aren’t knocking on the door of your church and family right now, they will be very soon.

Aaron Menikoff, PhD, senior pastor, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, and author of Character Matters: Shepherding in the Fruit of the Spirit

More than ever before, it is critically important to be a thinking Christian. It’s so easy for our responses to questions to be based on opinions or emotions, or to not think about it too much and go with whatever the strongest voices are—even if they’re not biblically thoughtful or well researched. What I love about Todd’s book is that it is extremely thoughtful. Foremost, it is biblically based, but it really looks at the reality of marijuana usage today, not in a shallow or reactionary way, but in the context of scientific and cultural insight. I’m thankful to finally have a book I can now recommend and use in day-to-day life and ministry on this topic.

Dan Kimball, author of How (Not) to Study the Bible and Western Seminary faculty

We are called to take every thought and action captive to Christ. Therefore, as states continue to legalize marijuana, the question becomes, How are we to think biblically about Mary Jane? Though the Bible doesn’t address it directly, Miles argues the Bible is sufficient to address the issue. The research on marijuana is a moving target, but Miles provides a wise and winsome Christian analysis of both recreational and medical marijuana. Discipleship must include dealing with tough current issues, and Miles is a shepherd along the path. Pick up a few copies of this book and pass it around to parents, teens, and pastors.

Patrick Schreiner, PhD, associate professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of The Visual Word: Illustrated Outlines of the New Testament Books

With the de-stigmatization and often recreational legalization of marijuana sweeping across the American landscape, it is easy to treat significant issues as old hat and simply as part of the new consensus. Todd Miles’s book is a welcome rebuttal to what will likely be an issue that will have tremendous impact on the local church and throughout American culture. He does a fine job of exploring the overt and implicit dangers linked with marijuana use and does so by appealing to scriptural authority.

Andrew T. Walker, PhD, associate professor of Christian Ethics, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Todd Miles has done the Christian and the local pastor an enormous service with this book. With clarity, precision, and pastoral sensitivity, he addresses the legal, medical, moral, and ethical questions facing Christians in a culture hurtling toward widespread legalization of marijuana. This book distills and presents the careful, nuanced wisdom of Scripture to help followers of Jesus answer the questions posed by legalization. But more than that, Todd calls us to a faithful discipleship which understands the relief of suffering is not our highest goal, but rather joy in the Lord. I highly recommend this book.

Michael Lawrence, lead pastor of Hinson Baptist Church, Portland, Oregon

Copyright © 2021 by Todd Miles

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-0877-3496-5

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 633.7

Subject Heading: MARIJUANA / MEDICAL ETHICS / RECREATION

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

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Acknowledgments

The people at B&H have been kind to me the past few years. They cared for me and my family when my wife was ill and have been a source of encouragement to me in my writing. I’m grateful for Taylor Combs who believed in the timeliness of this project and has worked hard to turn my writing into a useful book. Thanks also to Devin Maddox, Stacey Sapp, and all those behind the scenes who have worked hard to make this book the best it can be.

I had a great team of people who read all of my chapter drafts and commented on them. That team included Tracy Fabel, Taylor Turkington, Kelli Templeton, Josh and Dizzie Hus, Lee Watkins, Anthony and Natalie Locke, Trent Hughes, Christian Lawrence, and Ron Marrs. Cannabis and the Christian is clearer and more pastoral because of them.

My oldest sons were especially helpful. Ethan was my science and medicine editor who made sure my explanations were both understandable and accurate. Levi read all my initial chapter drafts and cleaned them up for me.

Finally, a special thank you must go to my wife, Camille. She encouraged me to write and then created the space for me to do so, all while in the middle of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. She even gave me permission to reference her struggles in the chapter on suffering. Camille has always been my toughest and, therefore, best first reader. This book is no exception. I am exceedingly grateful to her and for her.

Introduction

In December 2012, recreational marijuana was legalized in the state of Washington, a short drive across the mighty Columbia River from my neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. That week a member of the church where I was serving as an elder contacted the leaders to ask if it would be permissible, now that marijuana was legal, for him to drive across the bridge to smoke some pot.

If this question had been asked just a month or so earlier, the answer would have been obvious: No, it’s against the law. But now violation of the law could no longer be given as the reason for abstaining.¹ So, what were we to say? Churches could no longer bind the consciences of Christians to abstain from marijuana by appealing to governmental prohibitions. A more thoughtful response would be required.

A few months later I was asked to do a breakout session at a pastor’s conference, where I had spoken annually on theological and ethical hot topics—contemporary issues pastoral leaders had to confront. I decided to address the issue of the church and marijuana.

In the opening program the breakout leaders were asked to give a little advertisement for their sessions. When I announced that I was going to be speaking on the topic of Marijuana and the Minister, the assembly erupted in laughter. Throughout the next day, before my breakout session, I was given title recommendations: The Deacon and the Doobie, The Trinity and Tree, The Pastor and Pot, Weed and the Way, The Bible and the Blunt, The Gospel and Grass. I could go on and on. Many of the recommendations were funny, but I did wonder if anybody was going to take the topic seriously and show up.

They did.

My breakout session was packed, every chair taken, with people overflowing into the hallway.

Since then, in addition to speaking about the topic on podcasts and radio shows, I have delivered the Cannabis and the Christian talk to churches, men’s groups, youth groups, and conferences in Washington, Oregon, Montana, and California. Initially, I just addressed recreational marijuana. Later, I added a separate talk on medical marijuana. Without exception, every time I speak on the topic, the Q&A at the end runs later than the time allotted. This issue is clearly on the minds of followers of Jesus around the country.

The Church Has Some Catching Up to Do

Churches have ignored the issue of marijuana for far too long. The reason, I believe, is threefold.

First, to many in the church, it was just self-evident that marijuana use was sinful, and the question was not even worth considering. If people did have questions, they were ashamed or embarrassed to ask. Dismissal might have been possible in the past, but our current context demands that the question now be considered.

Second, because marijuana possession