Sunday, 20 September 2015

Cannabis: The Church, Bible, Moses and Jesus




The Church, Bible, Moses and Jesus

Genesis 1:29 Does, in all fairness, speak for itself. As far as the bible is concerned, there is nothing in there about - "Oh, except this one - my mistake" - Unless of course you want to make an argument for it being the Tree of Life - but I'm pretty sure that was an apple tree, and a very special one at that.

Jesus and the Holy Anointing Oil

Anointing oil, mentioned 20 times in Scripture was used in the Old Testament exclusively for the ordination of the priesthood and the Tabernacle and later extended to prophets and kings. (Exodus 25:6Leviticus 8:30Numbers 4:16). It was forbidden to be used on an outsider or to be used on the body of any common persons and it was forbidden for them to duplicate it for themselves (Exodus 30:32)

The holy anointing oil recipe described in Exodus 30:22-25 is:
·         Pure myrrh (mar deror): 500 shekels (about 6 kg)
·         Sweet cinnamon (kinnemon besem): 250 shekels (about 3 kg)
·         Kaneh bosem (kaneh bosm): 250 shekels (about 3 kg)
·         Cassia (kiddah) 500 shekels (about 6 kg)
·         Olive oil (shemen zayit) one hin (about 4-7 liters?)







The controversial ingredient is Kaneh bosem, which literally translates as "Sweet Cane" and has been linked to several plants, the two most credible being, Calamus and Cannabis.

Calamus


Calamus contains an ingredient called aserone. This is a hallucinogen which is metabolized in the liver as trimethoxyamphetamine or ecstasy, however, the indigenous Middle Eastern version of this plant is far more toxic being deadly to flies and other insects. In 1936, Sara Benetowa (Aka: Sula Benet) an etymologist from the Institute of Anthropological Sciences, in Warsaw argued that the translation of Calamus was a mistranslation  which occurred in the oldest Bible the “Septuagint” and the mistranslation was copied in later versions. The Exodus 30:23 reference refers to "sweet" Calamus

Cannabis


Sula Benet did a study on the word Cannabis. She demonstrated that the ancient Hebrew word for Cannabis is Kaneh-Bosem. "The sacred character of hemp in biblical times is evident from Exodus 30:23, where Moses was instructed by God to anoint the meeting tent and all of its furnishings with specially prepared oil, containing hemp." In the course of time, the two words kaneh and bosem were fused into one, kanabos or kannabus and according to the Webster's New World Hebrew Dictionary the Hebrew for hemp is kanabos.


Jesus Healing the Sick

Many New Testament passages refer to the practice of anointing with oil; In Mark 6:13, the disciples anoint the sick and heal them. In James 5:14, the church elders anoint the sick with oil for healing. In Hebrews 1:8-9, God says to Christ as He returns triumphantly to heaven, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever," and God anoints Jesus "with the oil of gladness."

Jesus is widely reported in the Bible as being able to (miraculously) heal the following:
  • Blindness - (Matthew 9:27-31, 20:29-34) (Luke 18:35-43) (Mark 10:46-52)
Patients with severe Glaucoma would in all practical ways present as being blind, or having significantly restricted vision and we know that this was one of the first conditions identified as being improved and even cured through the use of cannabis.
"The ability of cannabis to improve the symptoms of glaucoma has been demonstrated in various studies and many medical cannabis patients utilize cannabis for glaucoma, and report improvements in various symptoms."
  • Helping the crippled to walk, and other physical disabilities (Matthew 12:10-13) (Mark 3:1-7) (Luke 6:6-11) (Acts 14:8)
Patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, which is a neurological condition, struggle with the correct functioning of muscles and would have appeared to be "crippled" in the times.
There is a clear consensus amongst scientists and doctors that cannabis is safe and effective as a palliative treatment for MS and was the first condition for which medical cannabis was approved for legal access. GW Pharmaceutical's first full plant extract medicine, Sativex, is currently approved for MS, but is too expensive for our NHS at roughly 10 times the cost of growing your own at home.

  • Cured Skin diseases Skin Diseases/Leprosy: (Matthew 8:1-4) (Mark 1:40-45) (Luke 5:12-15,  17:11-19)
Leprosy is a disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis, which belong to the same genus as the tuberculosis bacterium, M. tuberculosis.Cannabis is a historic treatment for leprosy, which has affected humanity for millennia, and continues to infect hundreds of thousands per year.
  • Demonic Healings - (Matthew 9:2-18) (Mark 1:23-28, 2:3-12) (Luke 4:31-36, 5:17-26) - and many many more
Epilepsy, Alzheimer's Disease, Anxiety, Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses could and would all have been diagnosed in those times as "Demonic Possession". 

Individual reports of children with refractory (or intractable) epilepsy who have tried cannabis, usually with high ratios of cannabidiol to THC, have reported marked improvements in seizure frequency, including a report describing the results of Charlotte, a girl with Dravet's syndrome.

Research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease “strongly suggest that THC [the main active ingredient in marijuana] could be a potential therapeutic treatment option for Alzheimer’s disease through multiple functions and pathways.”

It can be a debilitating disorder that affects how people socialize and cope with daily stress. And though there are pharmaceutical options available—including benzodiazepines such as Xanax—the fact of that matter is, those drugs are highly addictive and dangerous. Marijuana is non-toxic and non-addictive, and it is still an effective form of treatment.

GW Pharmaceuticals have unveiled trial data raising hopes that its cannabis-based drug cannabidiol might prove an effective treatment for schizophrenia. The placebo-controlled clinical trial involved 88 patients with schizophrenia who had previously failed to respond adequately to first-line treatment with anti-psychotics.

"These findings further reinforce the potential role of cannabinoids in the field of neuropsychiatric disease," said GW’s chief executive Justin Gover. “We believe that the signals of efficacy demonstrated in this trial, together with a notably reassuring safety profile, provide GW with the prospect of new and distinct cannabinoid neuropsychiatric product pipeline opportunity”



Moses, Mount Sinai and The Burning Bush



All we really know is that Moses got the inspiration to lead his people out of Egypt after travelling to the top of Mount Sinai (Aka: smokey mountains), where he was confronted by a burning bush that spoke to him with the voice of God. 

When he came down, he made the first menorah, an oil lamp with seven flames which could be a reference to the seven points of a cannabis leaf and "smokey mountain" of Mount Sinai could actually be a reference to cannabis intoxication. It was only after becoming intoxicated with cannabis smoke that Moses received the inspiration to make a menorah and lead his people out of slavery. 

Today, many people recognize the inspirational powers of cannabis. For example, Carl Sagan attributed all his important scientific discoveries to inspiration he received after smoking a joint. Louis Armstrong and John Lennon also spoke of the inspirational powers of cannabis. And wherever you find cannabis use, you’ll find spiritual cultures seeking to throw off the chains of oppression, whether it be Rastas in Jamaica or hippies in North America.


Summary and Conclusion

The conspiracy theory that the Church has suppressed the use of cannabis in their Holy Anointing Oil in order to both protect the miracle healing power of Jesus and to keep this privilege to the highest members of the church is feasible but in the absence of a more credible alternative explanation for all of these events and stories, Kaneh Bosen actually being cannabis, used by a healer to heal many sick people from a wide range of illnesses and disabilities does seem most credible, given the growing evidence we have of its therapeutic benefits. 

In addition, anyone who identifies as a Christian and has an issue with the use of cannabis should have a bit of a think about that.





Jon Liebling – Political Director of United Patients Alliance

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Thank you to the following sources:
https://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/jesus-healed-using-cannabis-study-shows/
https://stevenhager420.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/the-true-story-of-mount-sinai-and-the-burning-bush/
http://stronginfaith.org/article.php?page=9
http://www.gotquestions.org/anointing-oil.html
http://contextout.blogspot.co.uk/p/moses-used.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page