THE BIBLE TEACHING ABOUT DRUGS

INTRODUCTION-- A recent news report stated that the use of drugs among teenagers had doubled since 1992 (a significant date, because it brought people into power in our nation that were of the generation that is credited with inventing our modern "drug culture." Musicians and actors are frequent abusers of these drugs, and influence the mostly young "fans" to emulate them.)

1. The popular drugs among young people are....
   
   1. Alcohol-- Yes, a "drug" that destroys inhibitions and is addictive. (One in every five drinkers is a potential alcoholic.)
      
   2. Hallucination drugs.
      
      1. Marijuana-- easily obtainable, and mildly produces highs.
         
      2. LSD-- and other so-called "mind-expanding" drugs. (Remember that the fruit eaten by Eve in the Garden of Eden was "mind-expanding.")
         
   3. Narcotics-- Addictive, but expensive. Use of these drugs have led the users often into crimes and vices that enable them to pay the high price.

2. The sad thing about the movement to legalize some of these drugs is that some religious bodies have added their support.
   
   1. Some churches have actually been formed around the use of drugs, in order to take advantage of the religious liberty we are guaranteed in law.
      
      1. "League for Spiritual Discovery"-- a church organized by Timothy Leary, an Ivy League college professor who promotes the use of LSD (He used these letters to give the church its name.)
         
      2. Native American Church-- An Indian church that uses Peyote, an herb that produces vivid, colorful hallucinations.
         
      3. Other such churches have been formed in the hope of protection under the 1st amendment to the constitution, but are mere false fronts for indulgence in drugs.
         
   2. Some churches, recognizing that the constitution provides broad liberty, have developed rules, however, that put limits on that liberty.
      
      1. The religious liberty rule of the Lutheran church is...."Every individual has the right...to worship in accordance with the faith and ritual of his group, even in ways which appear curious of offensive to others, so long as the methods used are not legally defined as dangerous to the individual or the community."
         
      2. This sort of definition allows our government agencies to intervene in such cases as that of Mormon polygamy (on the legal grounds of being a sociological harm to society), or that of snake-handling Holiness people (on the grounds of the danger to life), or drug-using services (on the grounds that many drugs endanger mental stability).

LESSON-- To understand the Drug Culture of today, we need to see the motives that drive people to use them.

1. Many use drugs to escape stress and responsibility. ("recreational" use)
   
   1. Timothy Leary called it an "evasion of the games of life."
      
      1. Life itself, and "making a living," are naturally stressful (Adam earned his bread by the "sweat of his face," so this is nothing new.)
         
      2. Self-sufficient people seldom use drugs, and scorn those who do, because of their dependence and insecurity.
         
      3. The consequences of such criticism have caused some who are captivated by the drug culture to call it an "escape INTO life."
         
   2. The Christian has an escape from stress in Philippians 4:4-7 "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."

2. Many use drugs to "do as others do."
   
   1. Many follow celebrities into drugs, but many also succumb to the pressure of friends.
      
      1. Use of tobacco may come first, but other drugs, such as marijuana, soon supercede tobacco (giving a different "high").
         
      2. Yielding to a "dare," or seeking a thrill, appeals to the adventurous.
         
   2. The Christian escapes these things by listening to the wise advice of the Apostles of Christ.
      
      1. Paul urges the "transformation" of the mind, rather that its "expansion." Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
         
      2. Peter counters peer pressure in 1 Peter 4:1-5 "Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 3 For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries: 4 wherein they think strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. They shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead."

3. The decision to use drugs sometimes comes from pride.
   
   1. The young person who want to be independent of parental authority, but not quite free from it, may go into drugs simply as a form of that rebellion. (The "I'll show you" syndrome.)
      
   2. The desire to excel in something may drive a person into use of drugs as a status symbol.
      
   3. The Christian needs to see the wisdom found in the Scriptures.
      
      1. The Wise Man Solomon has advice for 20th Century young people in Proverbs 15:5, 12, 25, 32-33 "A fool despiseth his father's correction; But he that regardeth reproof getteth prudence.....A scoffer loveth not to be reproved; He will not go unto the wise.....Jehovah will root up the house of the proud; But he will establish the border of the widow....He that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul; But he that hearkeneth to reproof getteth understanding. The fear of Jehovah is the instruction of wisdom; And before honor goeth humility."
         
      2. This advice is found also in the New Testament.
         

         Philippians 2:3 "....doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself."
         

         1 Peter 5:5-7 "Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you."

4. A prime cause for the use of drugs is self-delusion.
   
   1. The refusal to consider the negative consequences of drug use is one form of self-deceit.
      
   2. The search for a "high" actually puts the user "low" (under its control).
      
   3. The Christian heeds the advice of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:12-13, 19-20 "All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought both it and them......19 Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; 20 for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body."

APPLICATION-- the person with a sense of being, of purpose, of security, of the sense of self-worth, is the person most likely to avoid drugs and alcohol. The Word of God can give a person all of these, and more. Acts 20:32 "And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified."