Mamabudz

I'll have to take a look back -- however, the only references I am aware of are the actual Hebrew I've read. The transliteration you refer to appear to refer to other things, although bes'em and bosem may be transliterations of the words "spice". Smim is too similar to the "im" ending that is the plural ending in Hebrew to have a separate meaning on its own to me.

Hey "old geezer" starts at about 26 around these parts -- which in my book IS a toddler. Jung said you didn't conclude adolescence until after 40. Me? I'm just barely in adulthood!

We could try putting them in an SUV and hotboxing -- but why waste the weed?

Why certainly...

...have a cookie

bonghits4christ

Hey my herb smoking homies! Haven't talked to you guys in a few milleniums. Anyway, right on bongzila, those are great passages. The Bible totally promotes legalization of a plant that was created by God, as opposed to the synthetics that man tries to exalt above his own creation.

The bible I think also hints toward zen meditation. In psalms, I don't have the verse, but I know it says something like "Be still, and know that I'm God". That verse rules. I've felt that indescribable virtue flow within me while smoking the good herb. I know Jesus would be cool with Christians toking, but not how most of you guys use it. I don't think God would be cool with daily smoking, but for occasional use its all good. Like the good Aristotle said, "Everything in moderation". I recently decided to take a break from the herb, and I don't know when I'm coming back, but I'm just going with what God wants me to do. I think I'm at a stage where I think God is trying to prepare me for bigger things, and weed probably wouldn't benefit me too much right now. But I know I'll be back, but first, I think I need to take care of some stuff, but I know it'll all be worth the break when I take that first toke. Peace out.

Mamabudz

Good to see you man!

All the Love and Joy of the Season be with you now and throughout the New Year ...and may we enjoy it with Peace and Prosperity and the Liberty of Freedom for All Humankind

~ have a cookie

Hugz

CLUBFOOT

for me this is the most powerful aspect of the marijuana issue. i hope i can shed some light. i would like to ask Mama budz if she has read Green Gold the tree of life . Marijuana in Magic & Religion.by Chris Bennet Lynn Osburn Judy Osburn.?( google it) it documents all the biblical references to marijuana. if you are interested in the subject, i advise you to get a copy. here are a few of the references metioned :

exudos 30: 23
jeremiah 6:20
ezekial 27:19
1 kings 14:23
2 chon 24: 4,5
song 4: 8, 14
isaiah 43: 23-24
isaiah 6 : 4-7
like you said the terms were improperly translated so you can gt any king james or english bible that hs an index and look up sweet cane or calamus and when you read those references realize that they are actually referring to marijuana. to the doubters( i see one on this board), the term calamus cant be accurate theplant is nearly worthles and does not emit an aromaitc odor like incense. truth be told the bible has been mistranslated on many subjects.

Mamabudz

Hi!

Yes I am familiar with the Bennet book, but prefer to go further back to the source of the etymology and that takes you right back to the Hebrew and to the Tanakh (what is referred to in Christianity as the Old Testemant).

Exodus 30:23 is the first exact reference tot he plant by name and you are correct that it was "mis-translated" into the extant versions of the King James and other popular bibles as calamus.

Of more interest to me is the pre-biblical use of the plant as well, and the cults of Ashera/Ishtar/Ashtarte which are the Goddess cults and survive to this day in various and fascinating incarnations.

As cannabis was early on recognized as a being a plant of a female and male nature (there are female and male plants) it has been used in fertility rituals since, well, fertilitiy rituals were ritualized

A parallel can be drawn between the timelines of the biblical restrictions of Goddess worship and the manner in which the use of caanibis has fallen out of favor over the past 2500 years.

Now that I find fascinating...of course, I've been known to smoke pot

~ have a cookie

CLUBFOOT

the pre-biblical use of the drug is a topic almost completely separate and on to itself. but as this topic relates to the western attitudes towards drugs, this information is earth shattering. I can not think of any church which does not say that using drugs is immoral. yet it is pretty much documented that drugs have been an integral part of every major religion in the world. and how many times have you heard a politician say that using drugs is wrong? Donna shalala said it. and many others have too. and if you said that marijuana use isendorsed in the bible most people would scoff in disbelief. if this information was at the center of nation wide debate it could change the way many peope feel about drug use. it would be hard for them to say that its immoral when thier bibles say it is not. then the absurdity of locking drug users up would seem even more extreme because before this revelation they were viewed as sinners but afterward they can be seen as people involved in an activity endorsed by the bible.

Mamabudz

I didn't state drug use was endorsed by the bible. I stated that cannibis is mentioned in the bible for the first time specifically by name in Exodus 30:23.

It's use is not endorsed for the common people. In fact it's use in in the recipe for annointing oil is strictly limited.

This is in contrast to its more wide use in the religions of the Asian Steppes and its use in the Goddess centered and Fertility centered religions that predate the bible in the Fertile Crescent and Ethopia (Africa)

If we were to say the biblical era and it's predating historical mythos on which it is based are roughly 5,000 years in the past, what occured in mankind that created a situation where the use of cannabis -- one highly prized mind expanding, highly useful pharmeceutical, fibrous, edible plant -- went from being widely used to it's use being tightly governed six millenia ago?

CLUBFOOT

It may or may not be endorsed for common people. I dont own a copy of green gold so i cant check. I think your incorrect though. I dont know what you mean by ordinary people. please define this term. isnt jacob, in Isaiah 43:23-24 , an ordinary person? they used it for religious purposes so the people in question are hebrews . but are you saying that hebrews we not ordinary people? when i see a jew today or any religious person i think of them as ordinary people. their not automatically kings, presidents royalty,etc. their just ordiny people who believe in religion. and part of that religiopus status, if i understand correctly, was to go to a special struture, which was on every hebrew property, and participate in annointing with oil and burnt offerings. i dont know whether it falls into burnt offerings but one of the things burned was incense . marijuana was one of the things they used as incense. the smoke from the marijuana filled the room and common sense tells you that if smoke fills a room you will breath it.that was the purpose of burning it.most people refer to the result as a contact high. so itswas not just used for annointing. aside from that, the bible endorses the use of alcohol for ordinary people on an everyday bases. not just for religious purposes.the point of green gold is that people from all major religions ingested drugs aspart of their religious rituals. peyote for the indians, wine for christians,etc.

Mamabudz

The oil was used to annoint the ark of the covenant and the Kohanic Priests and later the High Priests and the Temple in Jerusalem. It was used to annoint the Kings of the Davidic line but was not used to annoint the Kings outside the Davidic line.

To my knowledge it was not used in common homes as incense

CLUBFOOT

Well i will have to check on whether ordinary people used it but you do admit that someone in the hebrew community did use it as incense in which it was burned and inhaled? if so thats ingestion. no different from someone smoking a joint. ingestion is ingestion.