It's not in the Bible, and it comes from the earth

This is a tremendously popular rationalization for those who want to smoke marijuana although they belong to Christ. I used it extensively myself in my backslidden teen and early adolescent years, and I hear it all the time from younger Christians. It is, and was when I used it, a lie used to cover sin. I heard a radio call-in counseling show the other day in which a young man called in with this excuse, and the response given to him was that we are commanded to obey the law of the land, as if there were no direct reference to drug abuse in scripture.

The Greek word translated as "sorcery" in the KJV, and most of the newer translations, in Galatians 5:20, Revelation 9:21;18:23 is "pharmakeia," the word from which we get pharmacy. Just as the KJV translators used the word "servant" for "doulos," which means slave, because slavery was an unknown institution in daily life in 16-17th century England, they used "sorcery" to describe the use of herbs to alter consciousness because alcohol was the substance they used for that, and "potions" were the province of witches. There is, in fact, direct scriptural reference to drug abuse.

The unfortunate thing for me is that I didn't learn this until I learned Greek, long after I had given up the herb. It might not be a bad idea if we started teaching this to our young people so that they wouldn't have the rationalization available at all.