Why Has Christianity Historically Allowed Beer but Not Marijuana or Magic Mushrooms?
Alcohol vs Other Drugs in the Christian Religion
When I express the dangers of legalizing psychedelic drugs, the most common response is, “They are better than alcohol.” What people mean by this is unclear. Obviously there are some downsides to alcohol abuse (e.g. criminal behavior, sexual immorality, physical abuse, drunk driving, etc). But many of these same risks are present with using marijuana and other psychedelics.[1] [2] [3] I would argue the main reason the claim has the appearance of truth is because the damage done via psychedelics tends to be longer term (psychosis, paranoia, etc) rather than with alcohol it tends to be very immediate and visible (while someone is actually drunk). But I am more than happy to acknowledge there are downsides to both. Alcohol abuse is not something I think is minor or insignificant. It has caused a lot of harm in society and should be taken seriously by all.
So this brings the question, why has Christianity historically prohibited any sort of psychedelic drugs while generally permitting the use of alcohol? Why does the Bible state that wine is a gift from God?
“He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate-- bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.” (Psalm 104:14-15)
Why did Jesus Christ choose to make his first public miracle turning water into wine?
“When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." … Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water had been turned into wine.” (John 2:3, 8-10)
And why was he seen drinking so often that he was (wrongly) accused of being a drunkard?
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." 'But wisdom is proved right by her actions."“ (Matthew 11:19)
It should be noted that the Bible clearly warns (over and over) about the abuse of alcohol (see 1 Corinthians 5:11). But those warnings never became a prohibition in the bible or in most of the history of the church (with the exception of certain Protestant groups in the late 19th and early 20th century). In fact, wine making, beer making, and the distillation of alcohol have often been practiced by monks and devout Christian sects. The overwhelming majority of the greatest saints in Christian history partook of wine and beer.
On the other hand, the Bible strongly condemns the use of any sort of psychedelic drugs and the historic church has banned their use with an impressive zealousness.
If you haven’t read my book or read this article, feel free to do so and come back but I will give a short recap of the biblical argument here. A lot of people think the Bible doesn’t say anything about drugs because if you do a search of the English translation of the Bible for the word drugs and nothing pops up. There’s something giant missing from the English translations. The New Testament was written in an ancient form of Greek called 'Koine Greek.’ And what is the word for "drugs" in Koine Greek? φαρμακεία : in English letters, pharmakeia. And this word (in its various forms and conjugations) is found in the New Testament (and throughout the Greek Translation of the Old Testament the Apostles would have used, the Septuagint). The reason that the English translation doesn’t have the word ‘drugs’ in those instances is that scholars translate the various forms of pharmakeia to one of the following: witch, wizard, witchcraft, sorcerer, sorcery, divination. Yes. The word for witchcraft and the word for drugs are the same in the language of the bible.
The Friberg Lexicon defines witchcraft (pharmakeia) as, "one who prepares and uses drugs for magical purposes or ritual witchcraft sorcerer, poisoner, magician."You can see that this is not a case where the same word has two different meanings like where "bark" can mean either the sound a dog makes or the outer layer of a tree. No. This is a case where the two words have a common element and overlap in meaning.
And the prohibitions of pharmakeia in the Bible could not be stronger. The Apostle Paul, in Galatians 5:19-20, lists pharmakeia as one of the things that are signs of having a sinful nature and that those who practice such things "will not enter the kingdom of heaven." The Book of Revelation has several condemnations of pharmakeia including Revelation 9:21 where a church is condemned for failing to set aside their 'witchcraft.' One wonders if this early church hoped to learn about God as many modern Christians do using some ancient Near East version of ayahuasca. Revelation 21:8 and Revelation 22:15 list those who practice pharmacia as the people who will be cast out of the Kingdom at the Day of Judgement. And even stronger prohibitions of pharmakeia are found in Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (even commanding death for the one doing drugs for spiritual purposes (Exodus 22:18).
What is up with this? Why does the Bible permit one drug (alcohol) that has real downsides and not permit another group of drugs? Why has the church been so diligent in banning any sort of shamanism? I think that the answer is that alcohol is a unique drug among intoxicants. Unlike marijuana, mushrooms, or ayahuasca, alcohol tends to make people less spiritual not more. A man tends to become more carnal not less when intoxicated on alcohol. The sins of the drunk tend to be sins very much in this world. Drunks fight. Drunks commit adultery. Drunks insult. Drunks abuse. But their brains remain very much in this world.
In contrast, almost all other drugs tend to make you spiritual. What do I mean by that? I mean our brains tend to experience profound spiritual feelings and thoughts. As Michael Pollan writes in How to Change Your Mind,
“You go deep enough or far out enough in consciousness and you will bump into the sacred. It’s not something we generate; it’s something out there waiting to be discovered. And this reliably happens to nonbelievers as well as believers.”
Pollan is referencing mushrooms specifically with this comment but it applies to some degree or another to all hallucinogenic drugs. Some sort of sacred experience is in fact why most people do these sorts of drugs.
When you watch proponents of these sorts of drugs, they often talk about how the drugs make them better people. They learn about themselves. They learn about God. They become more loving. They become more introspective. They become more humble. Very few people say anything like this about alcohol.
But this sounds like a good thing. Why would the Bible object to drugs that give you a spiritual experience and teach you moral lessons about life? When we have spiritual experiences, many think that is always a good thing. But the Bible tells us that not all spirits are good. Some are tricky. Some are liars. And some are just pure evil. Only angels sent from God are good spirits.
So a spiritual experience that does not involve spirits being sent by God is an experience with bad spirits. And biblically, what is a bad spirit? A demon. Now, if you are getting spiritual experiences using a method that God strongly condemns (pharmakeia), what sort of spirits do you think you are interacting with?
Some will object to this by saying, that the spirits they experience feel good, nice, wise, thoughtful, and enlightening. Doesn’t this prove that they are not evil spirits but good ones? No. The whole point of temptation is that it always seems good, nice, wise, thoughtful, and enlightening. Think of the serpent in the garden (Genesis 3). He thoughtfully challenged Eve. He used logic. He even opened her mind to try new experiences. Think about the Devil tempting Christ (Matthew 4). He quoted scripture. He used logic. He offered to help. He provided new ways to get the things people wanted. Real demons rarely are scary. In fact, angels tend to be scarier than demons in the bible. When people from the bible encounter angels they tend to fall down in fear.
Eastern Orthodoxy has a long tradition on pneumatology, the study of spirits. In The Soul After Death, Fr. Seraphim Rose summed up the historic teaching from the Greek Fathers and wrote that when people have out of body experiences (entering what he calls the astral plain) whether via near death experiences, transcendental meditation, seances, or drugs, the entities you encounter first are most likely to be demons not angels. He writes,
“The beings contacted in this realm are always (or almost always) demons, whether they are invoked by mediumism or other occult practices, or encountered in “out-of-body” experiences. They are not angels, for these dwell in heaven and only pass through this realm as messengers of God. They are not the souls of the dead...”
And so now we can see why (moderate) alcohol is permitted within Christianity but psychedelic drugs are not. Christianity views the dangers of psychedelics (pharmakeia) as more dangerous than the risks of this world. When drunks do evil stuff, their evil tends to be stupid and brutish. It lacks planning and purpose. And while it certainly can bring destruction, it is not the intentional destruction brought by the workings of highly intelligent and malevolent entities working on the minds of people taking hallucinogenic drugs.
End Notes
[1] https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.19101008
[2] https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/there-link-between-marijuana-use-psychiatric-disorders
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2950879/
Great article and needed conversation. I'm sharing it. Many good points.
Alcohol grants an immediate consequence. The "friendly" drugs most often do not give you an immediate consequence.