Substance Use and Abuse

Thank you again, Mr. Call. I was a little concerned, I thought, with the dance going on in Cincinnati, knowing a lot of people would be there, I didn't know how many people would be here, so I'm glad to see a pretty full house. And I'll mention, in case people are wondering, Sue and Connor decided to stay home actually being from that area. She's surprised at how seldom she gets to see people, because she's actually hasn't been there for services that much. This is one of those occasions, since they were having a single service instead of AM and PM, that she would stay there and have a chance to visit with some people she hadn't seen in a while. So she sends her regrets, but she's looking forward to seeing everybody again before long. Now, I have what might be considered a concession, but any of you that know me very well, this won't be a surprise at all. And that's the fact that I'm not a mechanic. And modern automobiles are really nearly incomprehensible. I used to be able to work on my old 1979 Volkswagen fairly well, but now you have to have such advanced technical training and computerized equipment. So I rarely try to do much of any maintenance on my car, except I do change my own oil, which means every now and then I get to go to the auto parts store. You know, usually I'm trying to auto-zone, I think of that one, get in the zone. And when I do, I'm amazed. There are aisles and aisles of colorfully packaged tubes and containers. There's additives and fluids and treatments all for my car. Do I need all that stuff? Well, concerning most of it, no. You know, there are some of those things that might provide a nice extra benefit. I can get the windshield washer fluid that'll clean ice off even at 23 below zero. Until recently, I thought I'd never need that. You know, there are some things that actually could cause harm if I put them in my car, or if I use some of it too much or too often. So whether or not I should use something, I might ask a technician, I might ask a friend or a relative who I think has used something in particular. But if I'm willing to take the time, the one way I can find out for sure is open the owner's manual. That thick book hiding in my glove compartment. It can give me advice on all kinds of questions. Do I need high-octane gasoline? Should I use an oil treatment? What kind of brake fluid do I need? How about a nitrous oxide booster? I was looking for the young men to chuckle at that one. Maybe you've seen my car. I don't think all of those questions are addressed specifically. At least that last one probably certainly isn't in the owner's manual. That would follow under the general guideline of don't put anything on your car that's not made for it. Or it could be summed up, I don't think this says this in my owner's manual, but the right way to put it perhaps would be, come on, don't be stupid.

And of course, since I admitted I'm not really that mechanically inclined, you probably already have guessed I'm not going to give a sermon about auto maintenance. But I thought it might lead into something that I do know a little bit more about, and something that many of you have had more experience than me about. But we found that there are also a vast array of fluids and additives and boosters and treatments available for the human body.

And I like to put it in those terms to consider how many choices we have of things that we can put into or onto our bodies. We usually use terms like food and drink, medicines, supplements, drugs, and such. All of those you could call substances. You hadn't thought about that. You know, water is a substance, and I like to drink lots of it, especially when my throat is dry like today. Which leads to the fact that there's a lot of talk today about what's called substance use and substance abuse. We have a lot of choices about using substances. And just about as many philosophies and opinions and lines of advice. Should I drink organic milk, or should it be soy milk? Do I need to be gluten free? What type of laxative should I use, if any? Should I ever use alcohol? Well, what about marijuana? Aspirin, coffee? High fructose corn syrup? And I just randomly put things down on a page. I don't really think all those questions have the same weight or importance, but they're questions that people have among many, many more. Now, in the same way I do with my car, I could go to experts or people that claim they're experts and ask questions. I could talk to family and friends, but I'll probably be best served if I dig into my owner's manual. That's a metaphor we've used many times in the church. God did give us this book to give us guidance on how to live our lives and also how to take care of ourselves. My Subaru manual tells me that I don't need high-octane gasoline, but I can use it if I want, if I want to spend extra money for no good reason. The Bible tells me that I don't need to ever drink alcohol, but I can if I want to, with some important precautions and restrictions. The Bible gives us a lot of useful guidelines to help us find answers to many questions that aren't specifically answered. The Bible does answer some questions directly, but it also gives us some general guidelines that could be applied to a lot of different questions.

Some of those guidelines might even be consisted of, come on, don't be stupid. That's another one that's not really in here, I don't think, but close enough at times. Knowing that this is really a big subject and that I'm not going to touch on everything or answer every question by any means, I wanted to take a broad overview. So that's my goal today is a broad overview, and the title I gave the sermon was substance use and abuse.

There are other titles you could say what to put in your body and what not and how to know the difference. I know I could start making up titles. I'm usually not good at it, so I'll go back to my first one. But we will see. The Bible gives us some specific do's and don'ts about meat. It gives us some guidelines and a lot of latitude when it comes to plants and other things. And some very important warnings about what we commonly call intoxicants. Though I think we probably have a lot more questions about what are called controlled substances.

It's funny, these are terms that weren't even in existence not that many years ago. But I first want to consider some of God's instruction about food because I think it will help set the stage and parameters that will help us look at some of the other things we want to consider. So I started with a metaphor and furring that our bodies are kind of like cars. They need fuel to come in and, of course, as we process that fuel, we create waste byproducts and we create heat and motion. Auto designers build engines to run on a very specific type of fuel. As I said, if your engine needs high octane fuel, that's what you need.

If it's designed to run on diesel, you don't put gasoline in or you're in trouble. God made our bodies to run on a much wider variety of fuels. It's not quite so specific. But still, he did make our bodies so that some substances are suitable for food and some are not. And I know I'm not telling you something new that you haven't heard, but as I said, help me to move into that. Did he leave us in the dark to figure out what's good for food and what's not?

Now, most of you expect me to say, of course not! He tells us exactly. As I got into this, though, I was a little surprised at how much he can be specific on some things, but God really gave us a lot of latitude in some other areas and left us to our own devices more than I think we sometimes emphasize in the Church.

Although most of those things apply to plant-type foods. It's interesting. I think God left us to figure out some things on our own. Now, I want to turn back to the creation account somewhat if you want to go to Genesis 2 while I set the stage. Because I've often been intrigued, and I think I've commented on that before, of what exactly did God tell Adam and Eve that we don't know about? Probably quite a bit. There are some things we do know specifically about food.

I want to go to chapter 2 of Genesis, starting in verse 16. This is part of the initial instruction that is recorded. It says, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. And the day you eat of it you'll surely die. And we could interpret that to mean you'll begin dying, or you'll become eligible for death, because Adam and Eve didn't drop over that day. Now, many theologians theorize that this is all just allegory.

But I don't think that's quite true. I think the trees did symbolize specific things, but I also believe there were real actual trees in the garden. And of those real actual trees, Adam and Eve were told, You can eat from all of them except for this one. And then I wonder if it would be entertaining if we could see video of them trying out different things. I mean, how long do you suppose it might have taken them to realize that crab apples aren't as tasty as pears?

You know, did they sometimes try getting some pine needles and pouring a little milk like you would with a bowl of cereal? And discovering, of course, that doesn't work too well. And I think of oranges. They're amazing things because the inside of an orange tastes so good, but the outside tastes so bad. You know, if you try to take a bite into one of those the same way you do an apple, you learn that it doesn't work so well.

Now, we do know Adam and Eve did eat of the forbidden fruit, and of course they were expelled from the garden. God told them something interesting at that point. I'm going to need to turn over a page to chapter 3, verse 17.

God is speaking to Adam and Eve, specifically to Adam here. He said to Adam, because you have heated the voice of your wife usually we get in trouble for not heating the voice of our wife, but this is an exception. But because you've listened to her and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake, and toil you shall eat of it. And I want to stop and say, he means eat of what grows out of it, not eating the ground itself. That's another one of those substances not meant for food.

But thorns and thistles it'll bring forth for you, and you'll eat the herb of the field. And the sweat of your face you'll eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, dust you are, and to dust you will return. Here again, obviously, God intended for humans to eat plants. And it's implied that some are good for food, some are not. Thorns and thistles, they grow so easily. But we never want to eat them. Although I've heard... I'm wondering if somebody might tell me, isn't there a tea that you can brew out of thistles or nettles or something?

I've never tried it. So even they have some use. But it's interesting that after the fruit that's mentioned in the garden, the next food that God really mentions is plants, and then specifically bread. We can make bread from a number of different grains. And I tend to think that this is one of those things I suspect that God told Adam and Eve how to make bread. Because I don't know where else you'd say, you know, take the kernels off of this plant, grind it up into dust, then mix in a little oil and what...

as I said, that round thing that came out of a chicken that you break open. How would you ever figure that out on your own? So... but what I'm getting at is we can't find in Scripture any listing of what plants we might eat and what ones we might not. But we know some are poisonous, some it's very evident.

This is inedible. As I said, getting a bowl full of pine needles, you'll say, no, I don't want to eat this. And I'm guessing God knew we could figure it out, for the most part, for plants. But we can find a listing of animals when God said, He gave very specific instruction. These are for you to eat, these are not for you to eat.

I'm guessing He figured that humans wouldn't be able to figure that one out on their own so well. And actually, human society has shown us that that's the case. The list, of course, we know is found in Leviticus chapter 11, and it's repeated in Deuteronomy 14. I'm not going to go there and turn and read all of this, but I can summarize it for you. Of land animals, we're allowed to eat those that divide the hoof and cheweth the cud.

Some of the reasons I can't say it without the E-T-H. But that includes things like cows, sheep, deer, giraffe, and quite a few others. But it specifically excludes things like hogs, horses, dogs, cats, and any rodents. Bugs are not human food, except for grasshoppers and crickets and locusts. And He made them different in some way for some reason. Once again, I'll trust Him. I don't know how we would have figured that out on our own. Of the sea creatures, we can eat the ones that have both fins and scales.

That includes our favorites like tuna, trout, salmon, but not any shellfish, no catfish, no squid. And then God listed several birds that He said don't eat these, like owls, seagulls, and hawks. Interestingly, He didn't provide the criteria with those like He did the other animals. But in general, we see, for the most part, avoid predators and scavengers. And the birds that have combs and... what's it? I think I've got it written down here. Combs and crops are okay, notably chicken and turkey. As far as I'm concerned, all the other birds could be inedible. I'm happy with turkey and chicken. Now, we can add that even in eating animals that God made to be food, we're commanded to not eat certain parts.

Don't eat blood or drink it. It'd be more typical. And don't eat fat. Now, I'm going to turn to Leviticus chapter 3. Just to remind us of that. But I will mention, this is something I've come across in studies, that there are Biblical scholars studying the Hebrew that question whether it's necessarily all of any fat in an animal or the fat specifically that's in the internal, inside the body cavity in the organs.

And I'm not enough of an expert to make a sure saying on that. But I do know in Leviticus 3 verse 17, He says, This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations and all your dwellings. That sounds pretty specific. You shall eat neither fat nor blood. And that applies to any of the animals, even if the rest is good.

So we can summarize. Bible has some very specific dos and don'ts when it comes to eating meat. It does not have such specific instruction about eating plants. And I might mention also products that can come from plants. But we can look for some interesting examples. What happens when God gives people food?

Obviously He wouldn't violate His own laws. We see an example of that near here, near where we are in the Bible in Exodus. Exodus chapter 16. Well, I'm not going to read all of this, but this is the famous example of the children of Israel in the wilderness saying, We're going to starve out here.

You brought us out here to die of hunger. And so God says, I'll feed you. And He makes this stuff appear out of apparently nowhere. And they look at it and say, What's this? So they named it, What's this? Or what is it? Mana. But in chapter 16 verse 23, we'll see some instruction. And I say this because I'm not sure if mana was a plant. It doesn't seem to be an animal or just a substance that God created. But He says there in verse 23, This is what the eternal has said, and this is regarding the Sabbath, but He said, It's the Sabbath, rest, a holy Sabbath to the eternal, bake what you'll bake today, boil what you'll boil, lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept till morning.

The two most common ways to cook plants are baking or boiling. And I think in more recent history, frying has moved up the list quite a bit, although that's not necessarily the best for health reasons. If you will, turn with me over to Numbers 11. We'll see a little bit more on that. And remember, I'm setting the stage for looking at some other substances that we might have more questions on.

But Numbers chapter 11 and verse 8, This is, seemed like the manna could even be made of fine texture, like pastry. There's so many mentions of man eating bread in the Bible that Jesus called Himself the bread of life. You know, bread is so representative. He personally gave bread as food. If we want to flip back to Genesis chapter 14, Genesis 14 and verse 18, I'm pulling some things out of context because this is the story about Abraham going and rescuing Lot and fighting, you know, this battle of, I think the battle of nine kings altogether.

But as they finished, the man who Hebrews tells us was the pre-incarnate Christ, Melchizedek. And verse 18, it says, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of the Most High God. So, you know, the one who became Christ served bread and wine must be appropriate food. Well, yeah, let's turn to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 16. Sorry, I should have told you that. And look in verse 13. I probably should have warned you. I do have quite a few scriptures at times where we'll jump back and forth. But this is another one I wanted to look at directly.

Now, this is actually an allegory, whereas there was a real Melchizedek who handed out real loaves of bread. This is an allegory where Christ is portraying Israel as his bride, his bride who cheated on him and ended up bringing the punishment and the divorce that came. But in the allegory, he shows him as the husband giving elaborate gifts. And we'll see that actually.

We'll skip over the jewels and bracelets. But in verse 13, you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothing was a fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry, a fine flower, honey, and oil. And you were exceedingly beautiful. I thought a pastry of fine flower, honey, and oil, to me, it sounded a little bit like baklava.

I'm not sure, but...and that's pretty tasty. There's a similar allegory in Hosea. I'm not going to turn there, but in Hosea 2, verse 8, speaking of Israel as his bride, he says, She didn't know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil. Now, at this point, we're going to move from these clear-cut limits of what to eat and what not to, and turn to some guidelines about how much of something to have.

We've just been reading...well, we've just touched on it about eating honey. God's portrayed giving, you know, this pastry made of fine oil, or fine flower, oil, and honey. He describes it as something he gave to those that he loved. You could call it the sweet treat that's good to eat. So I can't resist a rhyme now and then, but if you'll go with me to Proverbs, chapter 24, Proverbs 24 and verse 13, we'll see a little guidance in that, because obviously if God condones eating honey and directs us to do it, then it's okay to eat.

But I don't think he doesn't view eating honey the same as eating bread. Bread is the substance of life, or the staff of life, we call it. You know, we eat fairly sizable amounts of bread, but there's a caution, Proverbs 24, verse 13, about honey.

Is my son eat honey because it's good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste. That's nice. You're saying, I made this to taste good and you can have it. Eat it because it's good. Doesn't say eat it because it's the most nutritious food out there. Now, honey has good nutritional value. There's things about that.

And we should note, this isn't necessarily meant to be a statement about food. He's using it as an example in the next verse. Verse 14, you say, In the same way that honey is supposed to be good and you like it, so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul. And if you found it, there is a prospect and your hope will not be cut off.

But that doesn't detract from the truth that it's perfectly okay to eat or drink. I want to say honey, obviously, but I would say, in principle, anything that tastes good as long as there's limitations. And that's where we want to go to a chapter later.

I'm going to go to Proverbs 25 and look at verse 16. But it's worth saying, at this time when Solomon wrote this, honey was pretty much the sweetener. That's what they had for a tasty treat. They didn't have Splenda, they didn't have high fructose corn syrup, they didn't have old-fashioned cane sugar. And again, I'm not saying that those are all equal nutritionally or health-wise. But if they did have those things, just to theorize, I could see Solomon saying, Go ahead, have a Coke and a smile, because it tastes good.

But then he might add the same precaution that he does here about honey in Proverbs 25 verse 16. Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit. And vomiting might be the least of your concerns. He could have just as well written, Do you have little Debbie's in the cupboard? Well, eat them in moderation, because too much could lead to type 2 diabetes. And of course, it's implied here that it's already so self-evident that too much honey is bad for you that it could use it as a metaphor there in Proverbs 20. Oh, I'm going to Proverbs 25 and verse 27.

Here again, it's not good to eat much honey. And I said it's so evident that it's not good to eat much honey that he can use that as a metaphor for something else. So to seek one's own glory is not glory. I had a thought, actually, after I'd mostly written this, I was thinking about where honey comes from. And it intrigued me a little, because honey, of course, is made by honey bees. When we still lived in Waverly, we had a neighbor that had a couple hives where they made honey.

And I'm not an expert, but I do know, of course, the bees get the nectar from flowers, and they partially digest it, I believe, and do something that creates the honey. It occurred to me bees are not crickets, locusts, or grasshoppers. So bees are not clean. But honey has a product from the bee that is permissible to eat. And the reason it occurred to me, I was having a discussion with someone about gelatin, and that's been an issue in the church over the years. You know, because gelatin often is made, and I'm not sure if it's often or most of the time, of chemicals that are processed from, I believe, bones and often from pigs.

And so, you know, over the years in the church, we shifted somewhat. There was a time when we said, unless it's kosher and you know it's made from beef, you should never touch it. And then over the years, someone said, well, it's a chemical extracted. It's not really eating the meat or eating the pig. So, you know, maybe it's okay. And so we've got this variety that the church's official teaching is, we're willing to explain where it comes from and leave it to your conscious.

And, you know, I think that's not a bad way to do it. But as I said, it struck me as fascinating that here we've got an example of honey that's also made from a chemical that comes from an unclean animal, and it's okay to eat. But then again, God created the bees making honey. He didn't create the process for getting gelatin. So I don't want to step too far in that way of thinking, but I thought it worth throwing out as an intriguing thought.

But again, something that we know we can eat, and you can eat honey because it's good. Remember, you can eat it because it's good. Not because it's the healthiest thing. But he says, don't eat too much. It's not good to eat much honey. If Solomon lived today, he might have written, it's not good to eat much Doritos.

It's not good to eat much ice cream. It's not good to drink too much soda pop. Like honey, you know, too much is too much. But you can have as much as is good. Now, he also, we can find several places where Solomon did say, it's not good to drink too much wine.

Now, I'm going to put that aside and come back and address that a little bit later. But God didn't give us a list of what not to eat too much of. Or how much is too much. That's interesting. Of course, you know, I think some of those things he thought, we can figure out on our own. With honey, it becomes apparent. If you eat too much of it and you vomit, then you know how much is too much.

As I said, he gave us a list of some things to never eat. Things like lobster, squirrels, blood. Don't ever eat that. And to go with that, then he gave us advice that we need to limit how much we do eat of the things that would cause harm when we have too much. Now I want to pause and think. Well, an obvious question, I guess.

Are there some plant substances that are not specifically listed in the Bible that we cannot use in moderation? I think we've established the fact that moderation is necessary for many things. But are there some that even just a little is bad? Well, there's arsenic, I'm guessing. Cyanide. For those, the answer is pretty easy. You know, there are some plants that even a small amount is harmful. Even if they would taste good, we shouldn't have them. Why?

Because technically speaking, we don't belong to ourselves. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 6 to see that. While you're looking at your Bibles, I'm going to switch glasses. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19. When it comes to putting something into ourselves that's harmful, we've got a clear instruction to not do it, or at least a good reason. 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19. Paul writes, Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Now, we use that analogy in a couple of ways. We describe the Church altogether as the temple, and we as living stones.

But also because the glory and spirit of God lives in each one of us when we're baptized and have hands laid on. Then he says, You're a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have from God, and you are not your own. Once that happens, he says, you're bought with a price. You don't belong to yourself. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God's, or which are God's, both body and spirit.

Now, we understand this to mean that deliberately doing anything harmful to our bodies is abusing God's property. And we can see there are some things that even having just a little of, now and then, would be harmful.

You know, I thought of rat poison, and I guess there's more varieties of those. But it also applies to something that we don't eat, but that we might chew or smoke. And of course, I'm speaking of tobacco. So far, I've been focusing on food, but I wanted to, again, set that broad purpose and see some principles that then can apply to other things. Medical science, through extensive research and study, has proven beyond a doubt that any and all use of tobacco is harmful.

And also, there's no good that comes from moderate use. It's just plain bad. There's no moderate or acceptable use. You know, of course, they've also shown that it usually takes a long time for it to kill you. But it doesn't take long for you to start having negative effects. I remember my sister, who later started, you know, in her late teen years, started smoking, telling her girls, when they were teenagers, don't smoke. If you want to be a cheerleader, don't start smoking, because you won't be able to do the exercise and things it takes.

Now, I could add, in contrast, there are some other things that, when used in moderation, still do have some good effects. I think a study came out within the last week or so showing that more coffee, even, can be beneficial. But I'm living testimony that too much can get you nervous and talk too fast.

And the same goes for tea and other things. But there's no moderate use of tobacco. We might wonder, if that's the case, why did God even make it? I had that question, and somebody involved in farming told me, you know, it makes an excellent bug repellent.

You know, you can use it to spray on your crops. I thought, oh, okay. Useful for raising crops, not useful for human consumption. Okay. God makes things for a reason. But there's another important dimension that I want to add to why we should not use tobacco. And it's one that would apply to other substances, even if they are not so toxic.

And that is the fact that tobacco is highly addictive to almost everybody. You know, I've heard of some people that can smoke and then just put it down and never have the craving. But the vast majority of people who ever take it up say, it's almost impossible to stop. And I've known people personally who it just turned them inside out trying to give it up. So even if it were not harmful, recreational use would violate another principle that we find listed by the Apostle Paul in this chapter.

In chapter 6, verse 12, Paul says, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Now, a lot of theologians that aren't in our church might say that this scripture is saying that Christians are free to do whatever they want.

You know, all things are lawful. My answer is, what he's really getting at is that we should avoid becoming addicted to anything. Don't let yourself be brought under the power of anything. And that can be a substance or an activity. Of course, some people become addicted to gambling, to pornography. Both of those are problems in our modern society that weren't so much years ago. But, of course, substances can be highly addictive.

A person that's led by the Holy Spirit will do this because he or she wants to, wants to be pure, wants to be like God, more than because there's a rule telling them that. You know, we, as God's called-out church, we should comprehend this. It should seem natural to us because of the Holy Spirit. Remember, the fruits of the Spirit that are listed in Galatians 5, 22, and 23, I'm not going to go there, but it includes self-control or moderation as it's sometimes translated.

And that's an important principle, again, that applies to many things. God never comes- or doesn't command us to never eat cookies, but if he gives us a spirit of self-control, I probably won't sit down and eat an entire bag in one sitting. Not to say that I've never done that, but I was younger and hadn't grown as much in the Spirit. And the same could go for a bag of Cheetos or Gummy Bears. Boy, that just brought back a memory. Not Gummy Bears or Cheetos, but I remember when I was a teenager working at Wendy's, I think I was 17, and I had a really long shift and came home and I was hungry, and no one was home, and I found a one-pound bag of Doritos.

I sat and ate the whole bag. And boy, you know that thing about not too much honey, because, yeah, boy, did I feel sick to my stomach after that.

So anyways, it's not something I've been tempted to do again.

But I would say any substance that would cause us to become addicted, you know, so that we could not stop, then we should avoid it altogether. Now, we'll see in Scripture that a glutton is classified right along with someone who drinks too much alcohol. I'm going to go back to Proverbs. Proverbs 23 and verse 21.

Boy, I apologize. My voice sounds like it's getting rougher as I go. It's funny, I taught class yesterday and didn't have any problem. Proverbs 23 verse 21 says, For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

You know, as a drunkard is someone who drinks too much alcohol, a glutton is someone who eats too much of something.

Or, since we're separating alcohol, you can say also a glutton could be someone who drinks too much of something that's non-alcoholic, whether it be Dr. Pepper or Shamrock Shakes. I was going to say milkshakes, but I noticed the other day that the Shamrock Shake is coming back, and I love those. But too much is not good.

But that made me think, well, isn't too much of anything just plain old too much?

Why is drunkenness a separate thing from gluttony? Wouldn't it be considered just too much?

No, the answer is because it is something different. It involves intoxication. And God's Word addresses it quite specifically.

And I'd say this, especially in this position, it would be so much easier from a teaching perspective if God had made alcohol the same as tobacco in that sense.

If I could stand up and say, it's harmful, it's addictive, so don't ever drink it. I have no qualms about saying that with tobacco, but that's not what the Bible says about alcohol. We already read a scripture in Genesis where Melchizedek gave wine to people to drink.

One of the most famous miracles that Jesus ever performed was turning a lot of water into a lot of wine. Now, it was also for a lot of people. You know, he didn't have three guys sitting down to make 120 gallons of wine for them, but he did make real wine.

And there are a number of scriptures that show some positive descriptions of the use of alcohol.

If you'll go to Ecclesiastes chapter 10, Ecclesiastes 10 and verse 19, Ecclesiastes 10 and verse 19, Solomon writes that, "...a feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry." But money answers everything. It's interesting. He's getting to another point, but it's sort of a given. Okay, a feast is made for laughter, wine makes merry. Now, you could say, well, is that good or bad? I think it's intended to be good.

There's another interesting scripture that we can find in the book of Judges, chapter 9. Judges 9 and verse 13.

And this is a case of definitely pulling a scripture out of context, but the context is one of the surviving sons of Gideon giving an allegory or a parable to the people who killed most of his brothers.

And so he makes this parable of the trees looking for a leader, and the good and the noble trees each make an excuse. And that would include the vine or the grapevine. You know, the trees ask the vine, come and be king over us or reign over us. And verse 13, the vine said, should I cease my new wine, which cheers both God and men? So I can go sway over the trees.

Again, this isn't a statement specifically about the use of alcohol, but it makes me think, would God have inspired it and left that preserved in the Bible if using wine were sinful? It seems rather, putting this along with the statement in Ecclesiastes 10-19 would show that God did create alcohol for the purpose of assisting people in feeling good and say, feeling merry. And it implies that God uses it himself for that reason, although I'd have to say I have no idea how that could work. You know, God might like the taste of wine, that's the best I could think of. What I'm saying is we can find a few scriptures to show that using alcohol in moderation is okay. We can find a lot more scriptures that pretty clearly condemn getting drunk.

Let's start with Galatians 5, verse 21. I referenced the fruit of the Spirit in that same chapter. Before the fruits of the Spirit are listed, Paul lists several of what he calls works of the flesh. It's a long list, and I'll just go through this one verse.

Following idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, all those things in the previous verse, he picks up with envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, as I also told you in time past, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. That implies getting drunk is pretty bad. I should note, though, it does say those who practice such things. It doesn't say that if you've ever gotten drunk at any time in your life, you've just gotten a direct ticket to the lake of fire. But we could say that becoming addicted to alcohol and not fighting to overcome it could eventually lead you there. And again, I don't think I'm teaching anyone something new here. But let's see a little bit more about that in Proverbs, chapter 23. Proverbs 23, verse 29.

And the comment on drinking. It's interesting, Paul Solomon writes it in a fairly poetic way. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Usually they're not without cause. They just might not remember the cause. Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine. Those who go in search of mixed wine. This is describing getting drunk, lingering long, drinking too much. Now, the question could be risen, then. How much is too much?

And that's where I would say, admittedly, that can vary from person to person. It can be based on factors like body size, metabolism, diet. You know, one drink on an empty stomach after fasting could have a lot bigger effect than a glass of wine taken after a meal. But it's true that any person could drink enough to get drunk, however that much is for that person. And usually it happens faster than we want to admit. Now, I've seen studies that matter a lot recently. I'm going to say a lot recently, but doctors have been studying into the effects.

And it's interesting they show that having up to two drinks a night usually has positive health benefits. And they say going to more very often usually quickly turns to not health benefits, health... What's the word for that? Deficits? That doesn't sound right. Well, problems, bad things. That just made me think, you know, I would look back to when I was a teenager.

And I don't remember exactly the occasion, but hopefully many of you haven't had experiences like this. But I remember my mom sitting down with me one morning when the night before I'd had more than two beers. I don't remember too many, but she had a serious adult-to-adult talk. I think I was probably 18 at the time, so I was... Actually, it was probably beer I bought. That was back when we had 3-2 beer in Ohio. You remember that? Well, you'd have to drink more than two to have any feeling of it, because it didn't have much alcohol in it.

But I remember her telling me, you know, Frank, it's okay to have that nice feeling. You know, it feels like a slightly elevated feeling, maybe a warmth. Solomon would have said, feeling merry. But she said, a person shouldn't continue drinking once they feel that. She said, Frank, you'll end up going beyond being teared, and you'll be drunk.

And I had a slight headache enough to tell me that was true. So that's a lesson, you know, I was learning. Over the years, I've noticed different people will react differently to that initial feeling. As I said, I call it the initial warm feeling or merry feeling. Some people feel that, and it's like a guardrail. Bam! They bounce off that.

They want to get as far away as possible. That's all the more they'd ever want. And that's not a problem. Others, it works almost like a magnet. You feel that? Oh, I want to have a little more. Then I want a little more. It's like that proverbial slippery slope. And maybe a different to extreme. I've heard some people say, by the time they feel any effect, they're going to keep drinking until they pass out. And I'm sure there are a lot of variations. I just thought of three. But there's probably several more that aren't in-betweens.

An important thing to remember is alcohol can be easily addicting to some people, not so easily to others. And usually you don't want to find out the hard way if you're one of those people. You'd rather stay away. And here in this chapter in Proverbs 23, at the end of this listing, describing these woes of someone who drinks, lingers too long at the wine. They've struck me, but I was not hurt.

You lose your sensibility. They've beaten me, and I didn't feel it. When shall I awake that I may seek another drink? Once again, I think in my college Bible, I just had the word, it's addicting, written next to it.

People that, from the first feeling, feel they have to keep drinking until they pass out, those are the ones that usually can't drink in moderation. Their only way to stay in control is to abstain entirely. And if that is anybody, that's okay. We have no more obligation to drink alcohol than we do to eat French fries. You know, because there are some people that, once they have a couple French fries, they can't stop until they're all gone.

You could say, Passover is the tiny exception, but even then, there's non-alcoholic wine available. And that's a subject I don't want to go into. It's for another time. But I do want to move on to consider other intoxicating substances.

I'm tempted to say something, but every time I say it, it doesn't happen. I say, I'm going through, it looks like I could end early. That doesn't happen, but... And I'll mention, actually going into this, I was thinking in terms of speaking about drugs and drug use and such, but I thought looking at, as I said, taking the basis of looking at the way the Bible describes food and alcohol, I think gives us a better framework and parameter for the principles. Alcohol is the only drug that's mentioned in the Bible. And we've noted that while abuse of it is very bad, proper use can be okay.

And for more than just making merry. It so happens that alcohol does have what's called medicinal uses. And if you'll turn with me to 1 Timothy, Chapter 5, we'll see a description of one of those. 1 Timothy 5 and verse 23. Now, it's probably just the generation I was in. I think of old TV shows that I might have seen when I was 11 years old, where someone who drinks too much says, oh, it's for medicinal purposes and, you know, taking a nip off the bottle. But here we'll see in 1 Timothy 5, verse 23, Paul gives Timothy some interesting instruction.

It says, no longer drink only water. Use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. This isn't about feeling merry. It's not about getting drunk. It's about helping digestion and perhaps some other ailments, whatever they were that Timothy had. I think we could extend the principle there. If there's a substance that's known to provide good treatment for a health problem, which doesn't have overwhelming negative effects, then a Christian, it seems, could use it in good conscience. Here, I'm taking some liberty, but perhaps if Paul were writing a letter to Timothy today, he might say, take a little Pepto-Bismol for your stomach's sake.

Or take an aspirin for your frequent infirmities. As I said, maybe I'm taking a little liberty, but I could see that, and there are probably other things. Would we say the same principle might go as far as saying, take some Coumadin for your high blood pressure? I think that's what it's for. But it's not to say, go find a drug for any little problem you have. I think hopefully we do know or we'll find out there are a lot of medicines, even those that are available easily over the counter, that can bring on some very serious side effects.

Since we know that our bodies are not our own, and they're a temple of the Holy Spirit, that should lead us to using great discretion and wisdom, and using any substance like that.

That's a good thing. A lot of the prescription drugs are only available through consultation and prescription by a highly trained medical professional. But I'm tempted to laugh when I say that. Not that they aren't highly trained, but I think a lot of doctors are too quick to prescribe drugs. A lot of times it's, okay, how quick can I get this visit over? Let me write something for you. So let's consider another guideline, again, for a drug, a use of alcohol. It's back in Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 will begin in verse 6. Most of us are familiar with thinking of Proverbs 31 as the Proverbs 31 woman, the ideal wife.

I like to catch people up sometimes and tell them, no, Proverbs 31 is the alcohol chapter. That's actually just a few verses, a couple. But it's interesting what...well, we don't know if this was Solomon or Solomon using a pseudo-nim or someone else, but in verse 6 it says, Now this could be interpreted in a way that I don't think it was meant. I don't think this is saying, drink till you can't think straight.

I don't think it's about drowning your sorrows in a bottle of gin. But at the time, considering, and actually for most of human history, alcohol has been about the only pain medicine available.

So it's saying someone in extreme pain and good conscious can use pain medication. In modern times, Solomon might have written, give morphine to him who is in hospice care. I think that would fit. Or he might say, give a dose of Xanax to him who suffers from clinical depression. Or how about some Percocet for him who just had a broken bone? Let him take the prescription and get relief from his misery for a while. You know, I try things...I've had Percocet...maybe it was Vicodin I had after I broke a bone. And boy, I was glad to have it, because boy, did that hurt.

But actually, the last bone I broke was in one of my feet. My right foot, playing flag football...no, we weren't playing flag football. We were playing tackle, which is how I ended up breaking the foot. And it was at night we were playing out in the dark, which is part of how it happened. We didn't have any Percocet or Vicodin at home. I did have a bottle of Scotch. So I took a few drinks off of that, and the next morning went to urgent care and got an x-ray and a prescription and a reference to an orthopedic surgeon. But having said that, once again, referencing these drugs that are available, I am aware, especially in this region of the country, we live in one of the worst places for prescription drug abuse and opioid addictions.

The whole thing that we read in 1 Corinthians 6-12 about not being brought under the power of anything still applies, whether a doctor prescribes it or not. A Christian must not allow himself to become addicted to any substance, legal or illegal, prescription or over-the-counter. And of course, there's another factor to consider. A Christian has an obligation already to refrain from using any illegal substance. We can see that in Romans 13. Romans 13, starting in the first verse.

And this scripture covers a wide variety of situations, I believe. But Paul says, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. And to be clear, he's not speaking about church government, he's speaking about civil government. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

Because of this, I probably don't have to explain other reasons from the Bible about why we shouldn't use cocaine or heroin or PCP. Those are illegal drugs, and Christians are a law-abiding people. But it hasn't always been that way, has it? I mean, actually, I mean, drugs haven't always been illegal. Christians have always been supposed to be law-abiding people. But a hundred or so years ago, one of the key ingredients of Coca-Cola was cocaine, and it was perfectly legal. Marijuana, not all that long ago, a few decades ago, used to be legal. And now, in some places, it is again. If I heard the news correctly, I believe Alaska just passed a law, or a law went into effect making recreational use legal there.

When it becomes legal to buy, sell, and smoke marijuana in Ohio, will it be okay for Christians to do so?

That's an interesting and important question. Actually, it's one of the main things I wanted to get to in this message. At the camp directors meeting last fall, which I was invited to attend even though I won't be directing this summer, we spent quite a bit of time discussing this, because we have camps in California. Is it Oregon? It's Washington.

Yeah, but anyways, it's a trend that's going that direction. So we thought we need to address this and teach our young people ahead of time. A Christian attitude towards marijuana could be the subject of a full sermon in itself. And I considered doing that, but one of the reasons I didn't is that Gary Smith actually wrote an article that was intended for the United News. And I'm not sure now if it's going to come out in the United News, or they're planning a new newsletter for teens in the church. But it covers the subject really well. And I encourage you all when it comes out to take the opportunity to read it.

Some people claim that marijuana is just like alcohol. It can be used moderately, but if so, then it's perfectly okay.

Well, I believe that that's not the case. Research shows that that's not true. But there are a lot of lies being circulated out there by activist groups, and many people are believing them because they're not well-informed or they don't have all the facts.

So I want to state in brief two main reasons why a Christian should not use marijuana, even if and when it becomes legal. The first one, it's a drug that's used for intoxication. And by its nature, most people that have discussed the subject say that it cannot be used moderately. I've discussed with alcohol how we need to know, you know, we need to recognize that point where we need to stop consumption before we go beyond just a merry feeling and lead to drunkenness. But a person can stop well short of that. You can enjoy a drink because you like the flavor, you know, because you like the swishing the thing around in your hand or whatever, and stay sober.

Marijuana tends to just not work that way. The term I've heard many ministers use is instant drunkenness.

You know, it affects you, it brings intoxication very early on and with its first use. And people only use marijuana for the purpose of getting high, not because they like the taste.

Matter of fact, I've heard of people getting really, really high, and when I was a teenager I saw Cheech and Chong movies. That seems to be the whole point of those.

But you don't hear...

Well, I lost my place. There's something I wanted to say about that. Yeah. You never hear of just a little bit of marijuana use just to feel a little merry. Now, I know some people say that it doesn't cause the same degree of mental impairment. They don't get dizzy. They don't...you know, they think they can operate a vehicle.

But experience, you know, from what we see out there and the police record say, that's not the case.

The reason I'm hedging here is I have to admit I don't have clinical proof of this point. From what I've seen and heard, I'm convinced. But if a person were to challenge me and say, no, I can smoke one joint and stop there, and I won't be totally high, it'll be like the same as if I drank one beer. As I said, I don't have the research studies to prove that's wrong, but, you know, I've seen enough and heard enough and read enough to think that, no, marijuana brings instant drunkenness.

But there's another reason to never use it that I think is even more important, and that is using marijuana causes severe harm to a person's health. Even in small doses, even in infrequent use, it has no positive health effects, but it does have very severe negative ones. I hesitate there. I've got something later in my notes, actually. They've discovered that there's a type of oil that can be derived from marijuana plant that is useful for treating seizures, but it's not the ingredient that causes intoxication, and you can separate the two.

I'm not sure how they do it, but I think it's something that has to be done in a lab, not, you know, in some stoner's back room or something. Pardon the use of slang, but there's so many slang terms.

Anyways, there is extensive research proof for this. Some research has been... I've seen articles that say smoking marijuana is just as harmful to the lungs as tobacco, and tobacco is very harmful to the lungs. Now, some people might say, yeah, but you could just eat it. And I guess in Colorado, there's a large market for brownies and cookies and things. But the fact is that any type of ingestion of marijuana has a very dramatic effect on the human brain, and that's where the harm comes. Research scientists have done brain scans and cognitive tests to not a few but hundreds and hundreds of people.

As I said, I'll refer you to Mr. Smith's article that cites one of the leading doctors in the field. And it brings incontrovertible proof that a little marijuana use causes parts of the brain to just stop working. The more the drug is used, the more brain function is lost.

And as one of the scientists said, without your brain, you're not you. That's not something I would ever want to take a chance on. I mean, I'm not perfect, but I like me enough to want to keep that part of me around. And when you get to see the article, actually, that one of the scientists loaned some images of brain scans, and a healthy brain has a lot of, and this particular imagery has a lot of bright blue, and you can see parts lighting up more than others.

For marijuana users, you see dark spots. And actually, when I first saw the pictures, I thought they were literal holes that's eating out your brain. They're not literal holes, but they are parts of the brain that just stopped working. They might as well be holes. That's a pretty sad, difficult thing. And for that reason, a Christian should not, well, let me say that again, for the same reason that a Christian should not and won't use tobacco because it causes severe health problems, that's the same reason that he won't use marijuana, because it'll bring severe health problems.

And doing that knowingly and willingly is destroying the physical body that belongs to God, which is a repository of the Holy Spirit. So to turn this discussion back to the broader view where I began, as I said, I didn't want to talk about marijuana a long time, but we can understand God made a lot of foods and other substances that we can take into our bodies even more than you can find at AutoZone. There's lots of it that we can use, some that we should, some that we shouldn't.

And some of the ones that we should definitely not use includes animal blood, meat from certain animals. Most plants have some practical use. You might have to search for it. Some are for us to consume in relatively large quantities. I was thinking, I've never heard of anyone overdosing on carrots. Or someone saying, boy, man, you've got to lay off the lettuce. You're just out of control. But there are plants and substances which are derived from them that don't have positive effects. And there are substances that can be used but in moderation that we might consume for pleasure.

Coffee, tea, even alcohol. And substances like medical drugs, pseudothetan aspirin and guai venison. Those were my very close friends back a couple months ago when we had that flu going around. And even derivatives from some very harmful things like codeine and morphine. You don't want to just take that indiscriminately, but in the right situation, very useful.

And as I mentioned, even marijuana has that oil that can be useful for seizures. With all that in mind, the Bible gives us a few clear-cut commands regarding substances. But it also gives us some pretty clear, understandable guidelines. We must obey the laws of the land where we live, as long as they don't contradict God's law. We must care for the health of our bodies, as the temple of God. We must avoid drunkenness. That's a sin that could keep us out of the kingdom of God. God made a lot of substances for us to use, but not for us to abuse.