Should a Christian take Steroids?

Let’s be clear, this question is not about corticosteroids, which are often prescribed as a powerful anti-inflammatory. If you’re asking this question, then you are asking about anabolic steroids (such as testosterone, anadrol, dianabol, and winstrol).

Let me also put all my cards on the table right up front. I believe anabolic steroids are dangerous, usually illegal, and always expensive. I also believe they will increase the likelihood of injury and they probably won’t help you achieve the status you’re seeking anyway. Therefore, I believe that it is unwise and probably sinful for a Christian to take steroids.

I’ll explain my answer in the content below (skip to “Let me explain.” if you want to jump past my background), but some readers will want to know what experience I might have that would grant me credibility on this subject.

Well, the reader will have to judge the credibility of the facts on their own merit, but I do have quite a lot of experience with strength training and all that comes with it. I’ve been a competitive lifter, and the label “gym rat” (someone who spends and inordinate amount of time in the gym) would easily have applied to me from age 20 to my mid 30s. As a matter of fact, I’ve been a college football player, I’ve been a competitive powerlifter, I was “Cow Town’s Strongest Man” (1st place in an amateur strongman competition in Ft. Worth, TX), I’ve placed in the top three at two different NAGA tournaments (grappling, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu), I’ve been a personal trainer, and I’ve sold many gym memberships.

Lots of athletes have a far better resume than I do, but the point I’m making here is that I have been heavily involved in the world of strength training and athletic competition. And this means I’ve also had a lot of experience with supplements. I’ve consumed two or more protein shakes every day for the last 22 years. I know how terrible most protein shakes used to taste (15+ years ago; especially strawberry!), I know the bloated feeling creatine monohydrate can produce when you take a bit more than you should (and I don’t even care how chalky it is), and I’ve repeatedly enjoyed the feeling of a great “pump” from the combination of intense training and vasodilators.

And yet, I have never knowingly ingested, injected, or otherwise made use of anabolic steroids. I say “knowingly” here because I did test positive for a certain kind of steroid one time after having consumed prohormones. The reader should not assume, however, that I have always thought the way I do now about steroids. There was definitely a time in my life when I would have taken them if I had known how to acquire them, and I wouldn’t have cared at all about some of the dangers I will list below.

At this point in my life, I am past the point of putting on muscle. I’m in my early 40’s, and from here on out I am in the managed decline phase of strength and athleticism. But the temptation to take steroids has been seasonal for me. Not long ago, I was more tempted than ever to seek out a doctor that would prescribe testosterone, so that I might slow the inevitable decline of my strength and endurance. However, I believe more strongly than ever that anabolic steroids are not good generally, and they are especially not good for Christians.

Let me explain.

First, the biological dangers.

Supplements (like protein, creatine, vitamins, vasodilators, etc.) have an effect on the body, but that effect is only temporary and isolated. These supplements merely provide greater nutrients (vitamins), higher levels of muscle-building ingredients (various sorts of protein), better endurance and temporary strength (creatine), and larger volumes of blood-flow (vasodilators). These are isolated effects, and if I discover that my body is not reacting well (or even reacting quite badly) to any of these, I can stop ingesting them, and all negative effects will cease momentarily.

However, anabolic steroids affect the entire endocrine system, long-term and sometimes permanently. Introducing an artificial increase or decrease to my hormone levels has far-reaching effects (hormones touch everything in the body) that may last many years after I stop artificially adjusting things. For example, the introduction of testosterone from outside of my own system will lower my natural production of testosterone and raise my body’s production of estrogen (really bad for males). Even after I stop adding testosterone artificially, my own production will take time to recover, and it may never rise to the level it ought to be.

Furthermore, the endocrine system controls mood, body growth, physical development, and reproduction. Depression and rage are common side effects of big swings up or down in hormone levels. Just think of the emotional instability of teenagers. One of the major reasons for it is that teens are experiencing a huge increase in hormone levels.

Second, the illegality.

Not many people know how to obtain anabolic steroids legally. And even those who do will find it very difficult. The average person interested in using steroids to gain a bit of muscle over the next several months will almost inevitably have to obtain them illegally. This includes doctor shopping for testosterone prescriptions.  

Third, the financial cost.

Steroids themselves are quite expensive, and no one should mess with their own endocrine system without the supervision of a trustworthy doctor. This means repeated doctor visits, purchasing the drugs you want, and purchasing the other drugs you’ll need to counteract unwanted side effects. All of this adds up to a very expensive hobby, which is purely self-centered. If you’re a male, then you should compare the investments in this hobby with others, like fishing with your kids, gardening with your wife, or helping your neighbor rebuild his classic mustang. Every hobby costs time and money, but some are more worthwhile.

Fourth, the likelihood of injury.

Anecdotally, I don’t know of anyone who has used steroids that hasn’t suffered a serious injury as a result. Intense lifting with proper diet will make your muscles grow (at least while you’re young enough), and the rate of growth will typically be dependent upon your body’s natural ability. Thus, your muscles will grow in tandem with your tendons and bones (i.e., density), and at a rate that will allow your muscle tissue to stabilize as a useful and functional feature of your body.

However, hard work, proper diet, and the addition of steroids will likely cause your muscles to grow faster than your body can handle. The most common injury is a torn muscle of some sort, where a tendon detaches from the bone because muscle growth has outpaced the strength of the tendon. When this happens, some or all of the gains previously enjoyed will likely be lost.

Lastly, the probability of sin and the improbability of success.

The desire to use steroids in order to gain more muscle than you could with mere discipline (in the kitchen and at the gym) is most likely a sinful desire and almost certainly an unreasonable one. In my experience, every single person I’ve ever known to use steroids has been motivated by pride in some form or another. They want to look bigger, run faster, recover better, be stronger, lift heavier, or win more often. Every athlete wants to do these same things, and competing well does not have to be motivated by pride. But honesty will compel even the most noble athletes to admit that there is at least some influence of pride in the motives to push past the limitations that stand in the way of higher achievement. Pride is sin, and it is not to be indulged. Pride, like every other sin, should be starved and killed. 

But even if you are genuinely motivated by some noble or virtuous ambition, without any hint of pride or selfish ambition, you are almost certainly not going to be a professional athlete of any kind. If you aren’t naturally lifting heavier than everyone you know, then steroids aren’t going to help you compete with real powerlifters. If you aren’t naturally walking around at 9% body fat with more muscle than every other guy at your podunk gym, then steroids aren’t going to help you earn a place on the stage beside real bodybuilders. If you aren’t naturally running faster, jumping higher, and/or generally outpacing most everyone else you know, then steroids are only a vanity play for an average fish in a small pond. In the big ocean, you’re not even a big tuna, much less a great white shark.

Conclusion

There is no biblical command that says, “You shall not take steroids.” There are many ways in which supplements and even synthetic chemicals have proven helpful to human development, recovery, and health. However, anabolic steroids have been around long enough for us to know the dangers, and there’s a reason why professional sports in America still prohibit them. Furthermore, you and I are probably not even talking about competing as a professional. Your costs are far greater than any gains or benefits you might receive.

If you’re honest with yourself, the desire to take steroids is probably rooted in pride and vanity. Rather than indulge this temptation, it seems to me a far better strategy to resist it and to aim for increasing self-discipline, not only in the gym but in the pursuit of holiness and virtue. The Bible teaches us to “train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it hold promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:7-8).

May God help us to treat and use our bodies well in this life, but may He help us always remember that there is a far better body for those who trust in Christ and await the final resurrection.