Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and, in today's episode, we're asking the question, are we enslaved by weed? This is prompted by an article I read recently in the Washington Post called the Surprising Ways Cannabis may affect the Aging Brain. And spoiler alert, those ways are not good. Look, when legalization of marijuana was being pushed politically, the weed lobby did a great job of selling us on the benefits. Alcohol's bad. Weed is good. dealing with pain is bad. Weed is good. And now that it's been legalized in so many places, what we're realizing is weed is also bad. Let me share some numbers with you. Cannabis use is increasing. 15.4% of Americans are using it monthly. And actually, adults over the age of 60 is becoming the fastest growing group. Grand Mall is getting high pretty regularly. And what we're finding is not only is cannabis use not healthy, like, just in general for anyone. For example, 22 to 30% of users develop cannabis use disorder, which is a fancy way of saying that they become addicted. It changes your brain structure in early age. It leads to impaired brain development. We'll talk about later age in just a minute. It's not good for you. And we're finding that it doesn't actually have the. The positive effects that people said. Mental health outcomes are uncertain. There's no clear benefit for anxiety or depression. We were lied to. Said that there would be. And in fact, there's recent data to suggest that cannabis use actually worses underlying issues, including increasing the risk of psychosis among younger users. So, hey, as long as you don't mind going crazy and your brain development being impaired and becoming addicted, it's awesome. But let's go back to grandma for a second, because what they're finding is that older people who use cannabis, primarily using it for things like pain relief, are actually seeing. What we're learning is it actually increases cognitive decline. So we're all living in an era where we're terrified of getting dementia. Cannabis actually is leading to quicker cognitive decline, quicker memory decline, quicker mental processing decline. In fact, among older users, it's actually getting even worse. And I guess, here's what I'm saying, two things. On a personal level, I want to challenge you that when Ephesians 5:18 says, do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit, Paul's not just talking about alcohol. He's saying not to be controlled by anything. Just drunkenness is a sin, not because you cross the line of too many drinks. Drunkenness is a sin because you're giving control of yourself to alcohol. When as Christians, we've been bought by a price. Our bodies and lives and minds belong to Jesus. In other words, we're giving to alcohol what is not ours to give. The same, of course, holds true for cannabis, which impairs our judgment and dominates us the same way alcohol. Someone who's high and someone who are drunk have the same exact situation. They are not in control of what they say and do. Addiction is also a problem. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6:12 I will not be dominated by anything and I don't care if it's your smartphone, your career, your romantic relationship, alcohol, marijuana. Christians are called out of slavery, not into it. Out of being mastered by things, not into it. But I also want to add this because part of being a Christian is participating in the renewal of the world. Jesus himself saying, behold, I am making all things new in Revelation 21. Well, we participate in that work. And cannabis use is not renewing our world. In fact, it's harming our neighbor. And I think this is why it matters for for Christians who aren't even using cannabis. Christians like myself, we should oppose it because we love our neighbor and it isn't good for them. And by the way, if you haven't had this conversation with your teenagers do because they are graduating and going to college where they can use in many states, have a conversation with them m about why it isn't okay. Don't just say the Bible says or it's sin or it's wrong. Don't be simplistic. Share the data with them. Say you're being lied to just like by the way, just like gambling that it's good for you when in fact it is destroying you. Do not go back to slavery, you Christians who have been set free and do not support policies that are destructive for your neighbor. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!