What are your thoughts on the legalization of marijuana? (John Piper)

By John Piper December 5, 2009

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

What are your thoughts on the legalization of marijuana?

I'm glad you asked that question, because I've got thoughts on it. And I wouldn't have any thoughts on it—I mean I'd probably have different thoughts on it—if I hadn't had a lunch with a dad.

I know this dad really well, and he has a son who had an injury. And he found, after years of therapy, that the slightest incremental dosage of marijuana that had nothing to do with getting high gave him relief. And it was the only thing that gave him relief in the injured part of his body.

This guy was as far from an addict, or wanting to be an addict, or wanting to be high on marijuana as imaginable. So that lunch really opened me to the possible medicinal functions of this.

The person may be asking a different question than I'm answering right now. I'm trying to think of a way to make it possible for there to be medicinal usages, like a prescription of marijuana, knowing that it, of course, can be abused like most other over the counter drugs can be abused.

So I think I probably would move in that direction. I would like for those who could get real relief from careful usage of this God-created thing to have access to it.

If you're asking the question, What about the legalization of marijuana period, so that tons of it can go anywhere anytime, and as many 13-year-olds can have it as much as they want so that they can get strung out on the drug, then I would say, "We don't do that with alcohol! We don't let 16-year-olds go into a bar and get whatever they want." I would guess that, as a society, we would see that we love our children and we want to be careful.

I don't know exactly the extent of those restraints, but in principle a society would probably want to put restraints on a drug that could not only addict people terribly but also damage them in their minds long term.

I hope that is a balanced answer.

“Without Works” (Rom 4:6-8)

“Even as David describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (vs6-8)

There is RIGHTEOUSNESS without works, and we REJOICE and thank God for it. We are UTTERLY weak, and if you don’t know your weakness, then I have God’s word of “not working” to convince you and I that we can’t do anything apart from the Spirit. He quickens as He sees fit, and He LEAVES us to taste powerlessness, so we can be STRIPPED and honor God. The Psalmist said, “My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken you me according to your word“, so that the gospel of NO CONDEMNATION is God‘s power to lift up those who can‘t work for God (Ps 119:25). Yes, He removes SELFISH ambitions and purges us from SEEKING our own, so that I ONLY want to be saved… then, I want to honor Him who saved me. I have no heart for selfish ambition because God has PROVEN Heshimu to be empty, vain, vile, and saved by mercy only. I can’t say “better” than you, but I can say “blessed” of God, and He will bless you too.

There is an elect whom God talks too, and these will be saved. We FEAR the wrath of God, see GLORY in Jesus Christ, and we TRUST Him to the saving of our souls, believing the word.  Just as God has spoken, He will do - “Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Gen 18:14).  And, PRAISE GOD that He saves people who cannot do a thing, but BELIEVE in the salvation that He GIVES, quickening us by it.

Like Job, we’re in the dust and humbled, in order to be lifted up. We blush, we give glory, and now we lend a hand. The all-wise God STRIPS us of pride and vain ambition, so we can bask, from the heart, in grace. I know of no power on earth or heaven that can QUICKEN me but God. When I’m quickened BY the gospel, I can endure; until then, I am increasingly undone and miserable. I will make it by GRACE alone, so I lean there.

“Sweetsmelling Fragrance” (Eph 5:1-2)

 “Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling smell.” (vs1-2)

Believe that you are PLEASING to God in Christ BEFORE you and I try to live pleasing in good works. The gospel is FULL, even unto the works of faith by the Spirit, but to WORK without faith, to make myself pleasing by how I live and how long in between falls, is the WRONG way -  “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13-14). I must BELIEVE that Christ EARNED the full salvation, even the works of faith by the Spirit, or I can never do good works, says God. I must believe in God as PROMISING good to me, and then God will work the good, as promised. Sins have been removed and help has been earned: “no condemnation” is the key to sin no more (John 8:11).

You Must Not Be Discouraged (Johann Gerhard Oncken)

“You must not be discouraged in your Christian course by the discovery of your sinful propensities – these will be gradually more fully revealed to you. God does not convert the sinner, to show to him how good he is, but how weak, helpless, sinful and depraved he is, that thus all self-dependence may be destroyed. But then the Spirit of Christ who teaches us this bitter lesson concerning ourselves, also shows us from the Holy Scriptures what a gracious, faithful and almighty Saviour we have, and that through the grace and strength of Him we can do all things. The two great truths which from the day of our conversion to the day we enter into heaven the Lord teaches those who shall be saved are in reference to ourselves that we are poor, lost, helpless sinners, who, if left to themselves, must perish for ever, and in reference to God, that out of boundless compassion He has sent His only begotten Son into the world to atone for the guilt of all who should believe in Him, and then in this glorious Saviour more –infinitely more – has been brought back to all who believe in Him, than ever was lost by Adam’s transgression and our own sin.”

“Stopped” (Job 38:4-11)

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? "Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’”

God is in control of every detail of life, and He is above us. So, we are RIGHT to submit to His wisdom: He knows how to make a beach, and yet have an ocean that doesn’t conquer it.

He knows how to allow SIN in this world, and CONTROL it for good. He knows what He is doing, and we are insignificant in wisdom… like the worm arguing with God, even so it is with man: we know NOTHING, except what He teaches, which is wisdom.  If we had power and wisdom, then we could do as we fit, we could argue and bring Him before judges, but we DON’T, and He is SUPREMELY wise and good. We shall see His ways WORKED out, even as we’ve seen Him wisely rule history. He gave His Son to DIE, so that sinners could be JUSTLY redeemed. None of the saints understood the purpose, but that didn’t make God unwise, even as it is now -  “Then he said to them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself… And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Lu 24:25-27, 32)

Thus, you and I may not SEE what He’s doing, but He’s doing what He has said, which is JUSTICE and goodness only. He will never make a mistake or act in a way that doesn’t glorify the PERFECTION of His character as WISE, mighty, holy, and loving.  God is to be submitted unto, even as you submit to the doctor, the lawyer, or the teacher in school, accounting their wisdom greater than yours.  But know, He is PERFECT and to trust Him is to be wise!

“God is Greater than Man” (Job 32:8-12)

 “"Surely you have spoken in my hearing, And I have heard the sound of your words, saying, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me. Yet He finds occasions against me, He counts me as His enemy; He puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths.’ "Look, in this you are not righteous. I will answer you, For God is greater than man.” (Job 33:8-12 NKJV)

We must be taught and told the most obvious, that God is GREATER than man. This world isn’t about what you and I want but what God has PROMISED us in Christ, which we shall have.

Do not think God UNJUST in how He treats you. He is always HOLY and merciful to them that believe; He is BRINGING you to salvation BY what you endure, even as the Judson’s counted the loss of their two year old son to be the loss of ALL they had in this world. They’d gone to India as missionaries and would die in the work themselves, but they hadn’t given God everything, so He took the boy, so that He’d give them Himself, and they’d have something GREATER than idolatry. Do not think that He is wrong, but IMPROVE yourself and grow by the pain you endure.

Ann Judson wrote, "Our hearts were bound up with this child; we felt he was our earthly all, our only source of innocent recreation in this heathen land. But God saw it was necessary to remind us of our error, and to strip us of our only little all. O, may it not be vain that he has done it. May we so improve it that he will stay his hand and say 'It is enough.'"

Missionary Biographies (John G. Patton, Adoniram Judson)

Two missionaries are examined for the edification and involvement of the church:

John G. Patton
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1482_You_Will_Be_Eaten_by_Cannibals_Lessons_from_the_Life_of_John_G_Paton/

Adoniram Judson
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Biographies/1528_How_Few_There_Are_Who_Die_So_Hard/