Mormons who Vape

[chinaboy]

Hello. I was raised in the Mormon church and am currently married to a very true believing member of the church. I served a mission and married in the temple, and did all of that stuff that was expected of me.

About 5 years ago I stumbled on some stuff about my church on the internet which started my journey of discovery and investigation which eventually led to me completely rejecting the truth claims of the Mormon church.

About 6 months ago I decided to try cannabis for the first time.

One of the main reasons for trying it was I never got to experience that phase in a person's life, right around the end of high school and during college, when they experiement with different things. Nope, I was on my mission during those years and then I married pretty much right after my mission, so that normal, healthy part of a person's life was missed out on by me.

I still attend church because of my wife, but I don't believe in the doctrine. In fact, I've had stronger spiritual experiences through the use of cannabis than anything I had ever experienced as a Mormon.

In case you're wondering, my family is in the dark about my cannabis use. I know that's not a good thing, but the alternative would be a disaster of collosal proportions were they to find out.

So, I'm just wondering if there are any other 'Mormons' on FC, or for that matter, any other people who were raised in a cult-like religion, and how does it affect your cannabis use?

 

[Stu]

Thanks for sharing your story, chinaboy. My path was similar to yours except that our particular religions differ somewhat. I think any institution that controls that much of our thought process and indoctrinates us into believing that faith is more noble than reason is worthy of being thrown into the same bucket, so I feel I can safely say that I empathize.

I also had my awakening a little sooner than you as I was about 17 when I left the church. That was about the same time that I tried cannabis, maybe not coincidentally?

Strange world we live in, ain't it?

 

[jackmormon]

Calling my name Chinaboy!

If you want some ammo on the subject of cannabis, read Joseph Smith's Words of Wisdom AS WRITTEN, not an interpretation. There are many mormon splinter groups that split off from the main mormon church due to the mormon church straying from Joseph Smith's original teachings. (Polygamy, spiritual wifery, interpretations of the D&C, etc.) Several of these splinter groups in Utah have been prodigious cannabis breeders/growers for over a hundred years. They seem to think the original Words Of Wisdom encourage consumption of all seed bearing plants and grain based drinks John Jrakauer in his book "Under The Banner of Heaven" discusses some of these groups.

Another weird thing in mormon-land is the availability and price of Cannabis. Over the last few years, Utah has been absolutely flooded with cannabis. In fact, the availability is so high that prices keep going down!

Tell your family you have been in contact with a 'jackmormon' and let them tell you what THAT term means!

 

[Trever]

Utah is definetly flooded and allllot of mormons i know chief all day

 

[chinaboy]

Jackmormon, are these the verses that splinter groups think encourage cannabis use:

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence andbthanksgiving.

I don't know how the splinter groups think the WOW condones the use of grain based drinks, i.e. beer, because the WOW says

7 And, again, strong drinks are not for the belly, but for the washing of your bodies

I'm originally from the South, so not as many Mormons out there, and we really didn't use the term Jackmormon, so I'm not sure that my family would even know what it means. But I myself did listen to the Mormon Expressions podcast on Jackmormons, so I understand a little. Basically, a Jackmormon is someone who is Mormon because their family and friends and community are Mormon, but they themselves are not really interested in the church. Right?

 

[t-dub]

As a recovering Catholic, I can honestly say that organized religion has very little to do with God, and a whole lot to do with money (look at the robes & vestments and $$$ of the Vatican) power, and control over people and telling them how they ought to live. I used to work with a Jehovah's Witness. He would smirk at me and laugh that I was going to hell and he wasn't. He would point to his "bible" and say it was the only way to salvation. According to him only his "church" had the "real" answer. Well, they kicked him out of their "church" a few years later and now all of a sudden maybe they don't have the answer after all? I don't care what anyone put in any book hundreds or thousands of years ago, you can't prove that any of it is real as far as I'm concerned. Personally I prefer a personal relationship with what I feel may be the creative force behind the universe . . . ymmv

 

[chinaboy]

As a recovering Catholic, I can honestly say that organized religion has very little to do with God, and a whole lot to do with money (look at the robes & vestments and $$$ of the Vatican) power, and control over people and telling them how they ought to live.

I don't know about the Catholic church, but with the Mormon church I don't think it's about money, at the local and regional levels anyway, because none of the clergy is paid. Also, having grown up in the church, I never felt like greed was a motivation for the leadership. Now, the church at an organizational level and the upper levels of leadership might be a different case completely. The Mormon church is very rich and owns lots of property, but its assets aren't really put into the pockets of its leaders, with the exception of the top leadership.

I think the people in the church are pretty great for the most part, but the doctrine of the church is destructive, in my opinion. The doctrine of temple marriage drives families apart. The church is anti-intellectual and discourages asking questions and the church is dishonest about its history.

There are good things to be said for the church as well. I have very positive memories of the community the church created while I was growing up. Also, I live in Taiwan right now and the church provided an instant and strong support network for my wife and kids. I just wish we could keep the good and get rid of the bad. My dream is to resign my membership but still attend just for the sense of community. Unfortunately, the Mormon church casts those who resign as apostates and tells its members to avoid contact with such people.

Oh, and they have no tolerance at all for the consumption of cannabis.

 

[stickstones]

my experience with churches and cults is that the boots on the ground are almost always good hearted people willing to help. It's the people at the top that get corrupted and fuck it all up.