Thursday, December 16, 2010
Chronic Christians: Did Jesus Heal with Pot?
Cannabis Culture David Downs — Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 1:16 PM
As the day of Jesus' birth sweeps across the land, a sect of Christians will be celebrating with more than Christmas trees. A rising tide of Christians not only smoke pot, but think Jesus used the drug. They're gaining mainstream legitimacy, challenging religious and political dogma, and sometimes going to jail for their faith in unprecedented numbers. Sure, Jesus rocked some sandals, a beard, robes, and a message of everlasting love, but did he round out his hippie persona with dope?
According to pot historian Chris Bennett's chapter on “Early/Ancient History” in Dr. Julie Holland's The Pot Book - 2010 Park Street Press - Jesus didn't smoke pot, he rubbed it on people in the form of medicinal holy oil. Archaeological evidence shows Mesopotamia had been rife with the stuff since the time of the Assyrians until 400 years after Jesus' death. Through a strange story of linguistics, being a Christian literally means 'a person with pot oil smeared over their face,' Bennett says.
Bennett's a self-described Vancouver stoner/surfer-turned-hemp activist and weed historian. In short, he has a credibility problem. But the 48 year-old high school drop-out has become a leading authority on the topic. He's published three books, one with Neal McQueen, who speaks ancient Hebrew and is getting a PhD in Religious Studies. C. Scott Littleton, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus Occidental College blurbed his last book as follows:
“As Chris Bennett amply demonstrates in this seminal book, the ritual use of cannabis has a very long history. It extends from Vedic India in the second millennium, B.C.E., where the hallucinogen in question was known as Soma, classical Greece, ancient Israel where it appears as keneh bosem, and the steppes of Central Asia, where, according to Herodotus in Book IV of his History, the ancient Scythians ritually inhaled the fumes given off by burning cannabis leaves. Indeed, the plant has consistently occupied a central position in shamanic cults almost everywhere.“I heartily recommend Bennett’s book to anyone seeking a better understanding of this well-nigh universal, albeit all too often misunderstood hallucinogen and its crucial role in the history of human spirituality."
The King James Bible doesn't contain any of this stuff for two reasons: a mistranslation from Hebrew to Greek by Alexander the Great's people; and Constantine's suppression of the gnostic gospels.
Bennett points to Polish comparative etymologist Sula Benet who discovered in 1936 that the original Hebrew word keneh bosem, literally 'sweet cane,' had been mistranslated as 'calamus.' Versions of the Hebrew word 'keneh bosem' appear five times in the original Hebrew Old Testament. Moses made holy oil with it and preached underneath its spell, Bennett says.
Working with McQueen on Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible, Bennett says the two found lost references to Jesus' use of pot oil. In the Acts of Thomas and elsewhere there are references to Jesus' “unguent box” and “pouch of medicine." These books were cut when Constantine consolidated Christianity under one book. Only the gnostic Book of Revelations — where plant medicine is considered a form of sorcery — made the cut. Ever since, fundamentalist Christians have waged a war against the “devil” weed. All of these suppressed texts have since come out through leading scholars like Elaine Pagels.
Bennett says a pot doctor Jesus makes more sense than a deity Jesus. The Son of God does pull a lot of lightweight miracles like treating skin lesions, stomach problems, menstrual issues, eye problems, epilepsy and asthma, all of which respond to the cannabis therapies.
“These theories that he was performing supernatural miracles, I just kind of think that's just less believable than the idea that it was knowledge of plants like other cultures, where use of plants was considered spiritual.”
The ancient Jews had a love-hate relationship with the tall, fragrant cane stalks of hemp, according to the original Old Testament. First Jehovah spoke to Moses through it, but later Jehovah rejected sacrifices with pot-infused oil because of its foreign roots. By the time of Jesus' birth, pot use was restricted to royalty, and Jewish priests like the Levites, Bennett says. There's no way to know who taught Jesus how to heal with pot oil, but there's a huge gap between Jesus' alleged virgin birth and the time he begins to minister. It's possible Jesus learned it from outlaw priests, Bennett speculates. Supplies would've come from traders along the Mediterranean coast. No one knows for sure.
But since the 19th century with French poet Gerard de Nerval, stories of chronic-tinged Christianity have grown. Rastafarian use of pot combined with Christian ideas started to flourish by the 20th century, and in the 21st the Internet is now driving the debate, Bennett says.
“The tide is always rising. I think that even if I drop dead tomorrow, god forbid, the idea would keep perpetuating and growing,” he says. “It's the type of thing people scoff at and then they look at it and they go, 'Oh, hey, there's something to this.' It's not easily poo-poo'd.”
Sites like Google Books are putting entire libraries online, allowing for new research, and spreading news of persecuted chronic Christians. Hawaiian THC Ministries leader Roger Christie has become somewhat of a cause celebre online after he was arrested on federal weed trafficking charges in July, 2010. Christie is being held without bail as a “danger to society” with trial set for April, 2011.
Bennett has also brought his own case against the Canadian government for denying his request for a religious exemption to the country's anti-pot laws.
“I think sooner or later there'll be some documentary on National Geographic or something like that and they'll go into it and then the idea will really spread all over the place,” Bennett says. “Once it's out it's hard to put back in the bag.”
For more info, check out:
1) Boston University Linguist Carl Ruck.
2) C. Scott Littleton's bio and work.
3) Sula Benet's work and 4) the work of Vera Rubin and 5) the references in Bennett's online chapter for The Pot Book (pdf).
Comments (7)
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Aaaaaaand did that pot raise laz. or Jesus of Naz (aka: Christ/Messiah) from the dead.....?
Just wondering.... you know....for all the smart people out there that pretend they know anything..........lets have a go!
Oh and remember that when Jesus healed people it was right away...........so the point being.............,no matter how much pot u want to use..........there will never be any leper. blind, demon possessed, DEAD, lame person walk away healed....IMMEDIATELY! <--------- remember we are speaking DEAD people too............duh!
pot...HA...what a farce....................@ Christopher John Campbell and all the people who simply want to chill and get high/stoned. This has nothing to do with healing...............admit it.........stop talking all this Obama beat around the real topic/issue by clouding it all up with this garbage and simply say, "i just want to get stoned"
Any idiot can manipulate Jesus into their agenda.............if they want it bad enough!
The problem is, speaking from the understanding of hermeneutic consistency, and from reading you ALL don't understand, the bible will NOT, NOT, NOT allow anybody to manipulate Jesus into this pet little theory.
You want to throw a few quotes out there and spout out how pot is legit, but don't want to do any homework that might be completely contrary to what you believe. So then you throw out things like (dumb ass!) and claim that JBD never reads the bible and you all, as some kind of great bible "scholars", counsel JBD in biblical understanding......all the while knowing nothing of hermeneutics (apparently)......................................................................................................................................................IGNORANCE!.................................................................................................................................................... And you choose to stay there so you may remain in the small world you live in!
Total IGNORANCE!
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Galatians 5:19-20 has one of Paul's famous lists of sins:
"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like."
See how that's all related, in a way? You didn't just do one of those things, it's a lifestyle. It all goes together. So the word there for WITCHCRAFT in Greek is pronounced "PHarmakiea." You can hear the word "pharmacy" or "Pharmaceuticals" in there. That's where it comes from.
Revelation has the same word wherever you see "magicians," or "sorcerers."
The idea is that there is a whole sorcery / witchcraft thing tied up with a lifestyle of sexual promiscuity, crazy orgies, witchcraft, drunkenness, losing control, going nuts, and forgetting your morals.
That's where we get our term for "pharmaceuticals," or simply, drugs.
JBD, you might want to remember that your Jesus HATES hypocrisy. Since alcohol is way more dangerous than cannabis, to life limb and fetus, you're supporting some hardcore hypocrisy. I'm not going to pray, but I do hope you'll start taking the idea of justice and fair play more seriously. Not to mention the miracle of medicinal marijuana. You might need it yourself someday.
@JBD your "christian" attitude is a farce!
You wouldn't know Jesus the christ if He walked up and slapped you in the face, LOL!
Jesus IS God according to YOUR own bible:
"Joh 14:8 and :9 Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "HAVE I BEEN WITH YOU SO LONG, AND YET YOU STILL DON'T RECOGNIZE ME, Philip? He who has seen Me HAS SEEN THE FATHER; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? "
According to YOUR bible (which you never read) Jesus is the creator of all plants, even Marijuana (dumb ass!)
People like you not only don't enter into the kingdom, but you plug the gates so others can't enter either, this makes you TWICE a child of death as seen in the below verse:
Luk 11:52 "Woe to you "bible experts"! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."
See if this isn't to much for your hamster brain... guess what they call Marijuana in IsRaEl today.?.?
CannaBosm, the same EXACT thing they called it when they put it into the Holy Oil.
All denominational Satan inspired "religions" are going to bite the dust... and I will be singing praises as all the world religions fall to the dirt, right where they belong.
The bible CLEARLY states that there is only ONE WAY to heaven... and that way involves Marijuana.
Oh but that's right, YOUR bible speaks against you when it says:
And here is another little "tid-bit" for your sheeple brain, christ is NOT Jesus' last name, Christ is a title declairing that the very God you claim to worship was in FACT SMEARED with marijuana oil.
REPENT OR PERISH.
Now go smack your preacher in the chops for acting like He knows the creator.
Hey JBW, you must be a very blessed person to be able to speak for Jesus! If you want to start pointing fingers just remember what the bible also said about pointing out the speck in your neighbours eye while having a plank in your own eye. Also we are celebrating the birth of Christ but it's not even close to his birthday. You need to educate yourself before damning people to hell and making an ass out of yourself. I will pray for you because I know God still loves you even if your a moron. Merry Christmas!
It's obvious that JBD above is an emotional liar about GOD and history...people like this feed the EVIL EMPIRE of global narcissist domination. Bomb dropping Christians and prohibition morons rule our gorgeous world...and they think they're going to heaven,as they create hell on Earth.
Its more likely than anything written in this article, that the person who wrote this article was on pot when he did. You should invest your time in reading the Bible for yourself and find out what happens to people who lie about our Creator and write such garbage about our one and only Savior and Creator, Jesus Christ. How disappointing it is to Christians as well as Jesus Himself to hear things like this written about Him especially on days that are so close to His birthday. I pray with all my heart that God touches your heart tonight and that you believe in Him.
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