Did Jesus Smoke Pot?

Now, Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from Asian News International January 6, 2003, with the headline:“Jesus Used Cannabis to Heal Ailments Study Reveals.”A new study of scriptural text has revealed that Jesus and his disciples used cannabis to heal sufferings of many during that time.According to a report in the Guardian the study suggests that the drug was used to cure problems like eye and skin diseases as referred to in the gospels.The anointing oil used by Jesus and his disciples contained an ingredient called kannabosm which has since been identified as cannabis extract says an article by Chris Bennett in the drug magazine, High Times entitled:“Was Jesus a Stoner?”The incense used by Jesus in ceremonies also contained a cannabis extract suggests Bennett, who quotes scholars to back his claims the report adds.There can be little doubt about a role for cannabis in Judaic religion, Carl Rutt Professor of Classical Mythology at BostonUniversity stated.Referring to the existence of cannabis in anointing oils used in ceremonies he added, obviously the easy availability and long established tradition of cannabis in early Judaism would inevitably included it in the Christian mixtures.Bennett suggests those anointed with the oils used by Jesus were literally drenched in this potent mixture.Although most modern people choose to smoke or eat pot when its active ingredients are transferred into an oil-based carrier it can also be absorbed through the skin.Quoting the New Testament, Bennett argues that Jesus anointed his disciples with the oil and encouraged them to do the same with other followers.This could have been responsible for healing eye and skin diseases referred to in the gospels.If cannabis was one of the main ingredients of the ancient anointing oil and receiving this oil is what made Jesus the Christ and his followers Christians, then persecuting those who used cannabis could be considered anti Christ, Bennett concludes.

Tom:

Dave, does it surprise you that where the world can use Jesus, it will? I remember billboards backed with an image supposedly Jesus and it said Jesus was a vegetarian, an organization called, PETA, (the people for the ethical treatment of animals).We had a story of just a few weeks ago—what kind of car would Jesus drive, what kind of clothes would Jesus wear?We’re always looking to Him.

Dave:

Tom, first of all, animals are not ethical so we don’t have to treat them ethically.Secondly, Jesus obviously was not a vegetarian, He ate the Passover, He ate fish after His resurrection and so forth.Judaism did not involve vegetarianism.But getting back to this, Tom, I don’t know where you get this nonsense.This is in the Guardian, it’s supposed to be a decent paper.I think they are really stretching, like the cloning of this baby and the aliens, you know, from outer space and why in the world that could get into—what would we say?

Tom:

Dave, it sells newspapers, number one, number two, it’s supposed to be a support for a cause and in many cases liberal causes, or causes that run contrary to really common sense.

Dave:

But shouldn’t the media be more responsible?The idea that—Jesus, first of all, didn’t use incense, nor did he anoint his disciples with oil and to speculate and say there was cannabis in them—

Tom:

You say, speculate?I mean, they were using words like, may, if, could?

Dave:

Now this is not going to account for instant healing.Here’s the man in John 9, we were just there not too long ago, and he was blind from birth.Come on, guys!You see, I mentioned the evolutionist, you’ve got to be really perverse and these people have to be really perverse.They are not willing to admit that miracles happen. That Jesus is God in flesh who does miracles.This universe is full of miracles.Now, a miracle violates the laws of physics and chemistry. But there are things out there that you cannot explain according to the laws of physics and chemistry.You have language imprinted on DNA.We all begin as a single cell and someone put the manufacturing and operating instructions in there in words, coded words that have to be decoded by protein molecules.And the instructions for building and operating the most sophisticated chemical engines, machines, they are beyond our comprehension in the tiniest speck of life.

Tom:

But a cell develops into, what, how many cells, Dave, almost a trillion?

Dave: Oh, no, no, many trillions of cells.In the human body?Oh yeah, many trillions of cells and how does it know what to do.So, miracle?I would have to say that’s a miracle to get—well, Einstein said matter cannot produce information and—what is it, Tom, I don’t keep up on all these things, my brain is getting feebler and feebler as I get older and older, but it seems to me they called this in philosophy, the Einstein Gap.There is a gap between matter and information and you cannot possibly bridge it, okay?So, an intelligent source put that on the DNA.I would say that’s a miracle!Because God did it, there is no natural process that could explain it.

Tom:

Well Dave, the other part here that’s not laid out in this article, why cannabis, why marijuana? Why use these things except to…? They say it has medicinal purposes, but really the point is, altered states of consciousness.

Dave:

Well Tom, you get the reason at the end.That to forbid marijuana is therefore, anti Christian.These guys, that’s what they are promoting and they’re really stretching to try to find that Jesus used it, therefore we ought to be able to use it.Tom, it’s too much!

Tom:

Dave, one last point.If to deny the use of mind altering drugs as anti-Christ, what does the Bible have to say about sorcery, pharmacia, it condemns the very thing that they are talking about in clear and very simple terms.

Dave:

Absolutely.