Elephant Room // Week 2

Last night we had the privilege of sitting under the teaching of Will Snipes! He tackled Marijuana as well as other drugs that are being abused by people today. He challenged everyone with 10 points. If we could check off at least the first five points, then we should be okay to continue smoking Marijuana. Here's the 10.

1. Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." If you're a follower of Christ, your desire should be to honor God by honoring your father and mother. If your parents allow you to smoke, then you can check this one off.
2. Exodus 20:16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." Drugs tend to turn people into liars. If they don't, you can check this one off.
3. Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." The further someone falls into addiction, the more desperate they become, making an idol out of it. If Marijuana isn't an idol to you, you can check this one off, too...1 Corinthians 6:12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything." Drugs become your master. They tell you what to do, when to do it & how to do it.
4. Romans 13:1-5 "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience." It's illegal in South Carolina to smoke Marijuana. You can't check this one off. 
5. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.Therefore honor God with your bodies. Jesus paid the ultimate price for our bodies. Studies have shown that just a casual use of Marijuana can lead to mental illness.
6. Romans 14:20-23 "Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin." If we say we follow Jesus and that Jesus has changed our life, yet continue to do drugs, we ruin our witness and cause others to not want what we supposedly have. 
7. Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Doing something because everyone else is doing something is conforming. When you aren't of sober mind, you can't follow God's will for your life.
8. 1 Peter 5:8-9 "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lionlooking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings."
9. Romans 1:28-32 "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." Encouraging someone else to do something and continuing to do something that you know is against God's word is sinful. Watching others join in makes you feel better about your actions and not as bad.
10. Ephesians 5:18 "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" We are to fill ourselves with the Spirit, not things that contradict it.

"Sometimes the Church thinks that if we don't talk about it, it will go away."
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