According to Pat Robertson, we mj users are all in slavery to a vegetable!

[momofthegoons]

Who knew?

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/...avery-to-vegetables-but-god-can-set-you-free/

Thank God we have people like this to give us knowledge and set us straight!

Just when I thought I had heard all of the propaganda nonsense I possibly could about our green miracle!

A quote about cannabis from the NORML email that contains the above gem:

"Kaneh bosm" in the
old Hebrew scrolls, quite literally the Biblical Tree of Life, used by
early Christians to treat everything from skin diseases to deep pain and
despair.

 

[mestizo]

I guess people who frequent salad bars fall in that group too.
While I disagree with Pat Robertson on all the nonsense he preaches, I disagree with NORML too, that's a stretch of that word to put it mildly.
Also, why quote the Bible? If NORML really thinks that word means what they say, then I guess the rest of the book is true too, and anybody can quote other passages too.
I see it all the time, people quoting a book they know very little about.

 

[Enchantre]

As a historical document, it does contain fairly accurate names of species of flora & fauna. I think that's all they are talking about.

When I was a raw vegan, I was definitely vegetables' bitch... now, I'm free to eat BACON!! oh, and vape herbs, too...

Not terribly concerned about the outliers' opinions...

 

[momofthegoons]

@mestizo my intent with quoting that part of the email I got was to show how cannabis was mentioned in ancient Hebrew script as being the tree of life and how it was used for a variety of ailments.

As to the organization, I'm not much for them either. They pepper me with emails daily and most of them are bullshit. I just got a chuckle out of this one and thought I would pass it along.

Back on subject, the thing that disturbs me the most about this kind of bullshit is that he has a following that actually believes what he's saying. And passes that 'information' along.

 

[t-dub]

I see lots of people pretending to be cannabis experts, Bill O'Riley and his addiction center stooges come to mind, who admit to never having even used the plant. How can you be an expert on something you have never tried? All these addiction center people are scam artists. I almost went in-patient when I was withdrawing from physician prescribed opiates. Whenever we asked them what their success rate was, they got very nervous and wouldn't answer. The real rates are so low you would never waste your time and money unless a physician monitored withdrawal was absolutely necessary. What these centers specialize in is fleecing your insurance company. A lot of people in government claim to be experts on cannabis but what they really are experts in is cannabis prohibition and eradication. These people have no clue what our medicine is about and probably never will. Some will get sick and need the plant one day and may find it useful only to realize, too late, what harm they have wrought upon society. Religious arguments, and their corresponding documents, hold very little weight with me.

 

[mestizo]

I see lots of people pretending to be cannabis experts, Bill O'Riley and his addiction center stooges come to mind, who admit to never having even used the plant. How can you be an expert on something you have never tried? All these addiction center people are scam artists. I almost went in-patient when I was withdrawing from physician prescribed opiates. Whenever we asked them what their success rate was, they got very nervous and wouldn't answer. The real rates are so low you would never waste your time and money unless a physician monitored withdrawal was absolutely necessary. What these centers specialize in is fleecing your insurance company. A lot of people in government claim to be experts on cannabis but what they really are experts in is cannabis prohibition and eradication. These people have no clue what our medicine is about and probably never will. Some will get sick and need the plant one day and may find it useful only to realize, too late, what harm they have wrought upon society. Religious arguments, and their corresponding documents, hold very little weight with me.

This reminds me of one encounter I had with a member of the church of Scientology on Hollywood Blvd. telling me how Scientology helps people with addictions while he was puffing on a cigarette.
Or a catholic priest giving counseling to couples when they are forbidden to marry, or have sexual relationships.

 

[djonkoman]

haven't read the link yet, but I agree we are slaves to a vegetable. not just weed though, we are even more slaves of wheat, and other grains.

evultionary, the only 'goal' that exists is to survive and pass on your genes, spread your genes as far as possible to maximise chance of survival.

in that sense cannabis is one of the 'smartest' plants there is. it's pretty hardy by itself, a pioneerspecies that grows wild in some regions and thrives well there. but in addition to that it manages to survive in the most unnatural/hostile environments there are, just because it produces some chemicals in it's trichomes it manages to manipulate/convince us humans to care for it, provide it light where there is no light, provide it nutrients, and fight it's pests for it. and it doesn't even supply us with nutrition! (well, it can, but for most humans that's not the reason to care for it)

we humans often describe ourselves as on top of the foodchain, but I think our agricultural crops are the real winners, they have outsourced a lot of their 'job' to us, humans, and in turn we help spread their genes all over the globe. if you compare it to a bird that eats a berry and spreads the seed, the plant still has to do pretty much everything itself: explore the soil for nutrients, fight pests etc. but with the relation between humans and plants, plants have become much more the masters of the symbiosis.

 

[Eschient]

The narcissism in this guy is nauseating. No one has given me authority or dominion over anything else on this planet. That's the same attitude that leads to the destruction of...well, everything. It's my god-given power to squash the life out of everything on this planet because I can, so it's god's will. Please. Puny little man using god and the bible as his metaphysical Ferari to compensate for his inability to be a team player in the Universe. He's a slave to his own hypocrisy and insecurity. Rather than show empathy and compassion for people living different lives, he has to stand over them and wave his finger. Jesus wouldn't be cool with that, I think.

Edit - Funny, after I left the site I went to read the news and found a guy in Texas saying God doesn't make mistakes and here's a bill to prove it.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Congressman-Pushes-to-Legalize-Marijuana-294820991.html

 

[puddleglum]

My interpretation of Genesis 1:28 has never been "God gave us His creation to do whatever the fuck we want with it" but rather more like a loving parent saying "hey kids, I trust you so I'm leaving you in charge of the house for a little while, it had better be in good shape when I get back!"

 

[His_Highness]

I am not religious but I do enjoy a good debate and there is nothing better than religion to start one. A favorite of mine is .....Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Some take it literally to mean 'those who will not fight or defend themselves will be the only folks alive to inhabit the earth'. Others have interpreted this as 'The meek are the educated and therefore tend toward non-violence because their intelligence tells them violence is not the best path and has given them other, better options for solving their problems .... so the meek are more likely to live longer.' I prefer the interpretation of meek meaning more enlightened, educated and intelligent ... in which case I cannot call Mr. Robertson 'meek'.

I do find the 'Kaneh bosm' interesting....Makes me wonder why this never got brought up in Hebrew school or by my rabbi, cantor or teachers. I was taught the prayer for wine .... why not Kaneh bosm?

 

[grokit]

From the emperor wears no clothes, by jack herer:
(known a a 'bible' in its own right)


What Does the Bible Say?

Finding the encoded references to cannabis and other drugs is made more difficult by the lack of botanical names, discrepancy in translations, use of different "books" by different denominations, commentaries added to original texts, and periodic priestly purges of material considered inappropriate.

However, we find that the use of cannabis is never forbidden or even discouraged in the Bible. Some passages directly refer to the goodness of using herbs like cannabis - and even go on to predict prohibition.

"And the Earth brought forth grass and herb-yielding seed after its kind and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed after its kind and: and God saw that it was good."
Genesis: Chapter 1: Verse 12 (King James Version of the Bible, unless noted).

"God makes the Earth yield healing herbs, which the prudent man should not neglect."
Sirach: 38:4 (Catholic Bible).

"Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; That which cometh out of the mouth defileth a man."
Jesus quoted: Matt. 15:11.

"In later times, some shall . . . speak lies in hypocrisy . . . commanding to abstain from that which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and now the truth."
Paul: 1 Tim. 4:1 Early Christianity

Historians, early artworks, Bibles, manuscripts, Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic Gospels, letters from early church fathers, etc., indicate that for the first 300- 400 years A.D., many early Christian sects were gentle and loving. They were usually open, tolerant and unstructured: a poor man's or slave's religion.

Rome considered Christianity to be simply another bothersome Oriental Mystery Cult, like those of Mithra or Isis, then the most popular in the Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire

Faced with a crumbling empire, political corruption, and a series of ruinous wars with barbarians, the old Roman Empire hovered on the brink of disaster. The religious contortions undertaken by the ruling body in Rome to maintain its earthly power led the political leaders to crack down on healthy diversity in the field of individual cults and religions.

To save itself politically, the formerly pantheistic (meaning tolerant of different worships) government of the empire changed its policy.

Starting in 249 C.E., various emperors launched a string of bloody persecutions, which included the troublesome Christians. By 306 C.E., it was clear that this was not working. Emperor Constantine called off the executions and began to patronize the Christian clergy, which promptly adopted a dogma lifted from "Mithraism," among other religions: "Royal Blood by Birth," the "Divine Right to Rule other humans."

The ambitious Constantine saw that while underground, the church had developed into an intolerant, tightly-knit hierarchy; a well organized network second in influence only to his own. By combining church and state, each was able to double its power and seek out the crimes/sins of all its political rivals and enemies with the full support/blessing of the other.

Columbia History of the World, Harper & Row, NY, 1981.


this was one unabridged section; much more here (pdf)