Is CBD Right For Christians? Some Info About Christianity And CBD

By Natalie Gillespie, Editor-in-Chief of God’s Greenery.

In the past few years, CBD has exploded in the marketplace. It appears as though every major retailer is carrying some kind of CBD product – from Bed, Bath & Beyond to CVS to Saks Fifth Avenue – and this popular oil is now found in everything from gummies and doughnuts to mascara and face masks. Consumers rave about CBD alleviating a wide variety of ailments, including anxiety, PTSD, psoriasis, eczema, insomnia, seizures, and even addiction to opioids.

But is everybody buying it?

For some consumers, trying CBD is no big deal. A trend like CBD appears, and when they hear enough good things about it, they give it a try. For Christians, jumping on this CBD bandwagon is not that simple.

As followers of Christ, we want to thoughtfully consider what we put into our bodies because the Bible tells us that we “house” the Spirit of God.

While CBD is all over the place, millions still do not know the difference between CBD and marijuana: that CBD does not get you high and offers great health benefits without intoxication. There is a need to thoughtfully educate Christ’s followers, so they can be literate contributors to the CBD conversation. Too many people still believe that CBD it is addictive or gets you high, which is not true.

In meeting with many Christians, I am learning about the rising number who are using CBD as a natural healing tool, even Christian pharmacists and pastors who are selling CBD. But I have yet to find much Christian media educating believers on CBD – or even talking about it.

Recently, there has been a slow, but vocal shift in the conversation. Pastor Adam Swanson of Murfreesboro, TN, believes God told him to begin farming hemp and extracting CBD in order to help his community – and was thus able to fund a 24-hour house of prayer. Kim Nelles is a Texas mom who shares how CBD helped her feel like herself again at a time when her marriage was struggling and her husband was battling PTSD.

Finally, an unexpected benefit of CBD among believers is that some Christians find community and financial gain through the use and sale of CBD, in addition to the healing of their bodies and emotions.

The reason CBD is controversial for Christians is that it gets confused with marijuana. But as most people know, CBD is derived from hemp, not marijuana. The difference is that hemp contains extremely trace amounts of the intoxicant THC.

As Christians, we sometimes get labeled “narrow-minded” and “judgmental.” I do not believe that Christians are either of these things. We are thoughtful, yes. We want to carefully consider our actions in light of whether they would be pleasing to God. Yet we cannot do that if we shun something without any knowledge of it.

“Would God want us to use CBD?” I hear Christians ask. God will approve as CBD makes its way into houses of worship…and into our homes and lives.

Photo by Javier Hasse.

The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.