Mis-interpreting the Bible: Homosexuals/Marijuana

[Oldguy]

Several states have legalized both same sex marriage and the use of marijuana. Is that Biblical?

Sure it is. Doesn't it say in Leviticus that homosexual's should be stoned?

See? We just THOUGHT we understood that verse!

 

[eots]

is this what they mean by open to interpretation ?

 

[Dreamy]

Put down the bong Oldguy.

 

[laughinReaper]

Several states have legalized both same sex marriage and the use of marijuana. Is that Biblical?

Sure it is. Doesn't it say in Leviticus that homosexual's should be stoned?

See? We just THOUGHT we understood that verse!

I like that interpretation!

 

[Glensather]

That was funny the first time I read it.... on reddit.

 

[waltky]

Granny says there'll be a switch to cocaine...

US marijuana legalisation fuels Mexico drugs war debate
20 November 2012 - Will Mexico's drug cartels see a drop in profits as a result of changes in the US?

Earlier this month, two US states voted to legalise, regulate and tax marijuana. The BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City looks at what this shift in stance could mean for Mexico and its fight against the drug gangs. Every year, pro-marijuana campaigners in Seattle hold their annual Hempfest, a two-day festival along the city's shoreline. Thick pungent clouds of pot smoke waft over the crowd who are sitting out with a joint in their hand, listening to the live music, or pottering among the dozens of stalls selling bongs, pipes and other smoking paraphernalia. The police are on hand to ensure there is no open buying or selling of the drug. But at the next 'Hempfest', they may not even need to do that.

On the day voters in Washington state chose to re-elect President Barack Obama, they also chose to legalise the recreational use of marijuana. Over the Rockies in Colorado, it was a similar story. "What happened in Colorado and Washington was truly revolutionary," says Beau Kilmer, the co-director of the Rand Drug Policy Research Centre in California. "No modern country has ever removed the prohibition on the production and distribution of marijuana for non-medical purposes." When the measure comes into effect in Colorado in early December, it will be legal to possess 1oz (28g) of marijuana if you are over 21; it will be legal to grow up to six marijuana plants in your house; and it will be legal to give away up to 1oz.

There are still complex questions about creating a regulatory framework for the production and distribution of the drug, which may take at least another year. Needless to say, such a move puts the two states on a legal collision course with the federal government and its drug enforcement policies. But Dr Kilmer believes it is a mistake to view the Obama administration as a single entity in this regard. "At this point no-one knows how the federal government is going to respond to these two states. But it's important that we don't think of it as a homogenous actor." The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the US Attorney-General's office and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) all have a degree of jurisdiction, and discretion, over these issues, Dr Kilmer points out.

Use of force

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometres away, in a "smoke shop" in Mexico City, the news of Colorado and Washington's decision has been warmly welcomed. Surrounded by glass cabinets full of expensive-looking vaporiser, the proprietor tells me that many of his customers are hoping for a similar law in Mexico. "People don't want to contribute to the drug cartels' profits any more and I've sold a lot of copies of this recently," he says, holding up a book called The Ecological Cultivation of Cannabis. The man in Mexico currently leading the charge to change the law is left-wing politician Fernando Belauzaran. He has introduced a bill in Congress along similar lines to the one in Colorado, which would bring marijuana under the same regulation as alcohol.

More BBC News - US marijuana legalisation fuels Mexico drugs war debate

 

[Moonglow]

rimshot

 

[waltky]

California Drivers Prefer Pot Over Booze...

California Drivers are Twice as Likely to be High Than Drunk
Nov 21, 2012 - Study finds drivers twice as likely to have drugs than alcohol in system

Drunk drivers are not the biggest problem on California's roads according to a new survey from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Out of 1,300 drivers who were tested in nine cities on Friday and Saturday nights, 14 percent were found to have drugs in their system, while only 7.3 percent were found with alcohol. Marijuana was slightly more prevalent than alcohol, found in 7.4 percent of drivers.

The official line from the director of the Office of Traffic Safety is that the "results reinforce our belief that driving after consuming potentially impairing drugs is a serious and growing problem." A press release explains that drugged driving goes less frequently noticed and it's pricey to test for toxicology. But, at least in the case of marijuana, which is now legalized in some states, there have been questions as to just how dangerous driving stoned is.

Maia Szalavitz at Time writes that "Research suggests that stoned users on the road are not as impaired as those who drink alcohol are, and there is some evidence that those who use marijuana, particularly for medical purposes, may be staying off the roads anyway." In summer 2011 the addiction and recovery website the Fix looked at the challenges involved in determining just how much marijuana makes a person impaired.

Though Szalavitz explained that the drivers who participated were not threatened with legal action, she also points out that the new research "likely under-represents the real rate of potentially performance-impairing drug use by drivers" people who are aware of their state of intoxication probably aren't going to pull over.

Source

 

[ABikerSailor]

Several states have legalized both same sex marriage and the use of marijuana. Is that Biblical?

Sure it is. Doesn't it say in Leviticus that homosexual's should be stoned?

See? We just THOUGHT we understood that verse!

Actually, Leviticus is a manual for Jewish priests (the Levites). That also explains why there are so many rules in that book. So, if you're not Jewish, nor a member of the priestly class, then obviously that is not the book you should be using. Nice cherry picking though.

As far as cannabis? Well................it WAS one of the ingredients of the Holy Anointing Oil of Israel, and Jesus was anointed with it.

On the basis of cognate pronunciation and Septuagint readings, some identify Keneh bosem with the English and Greek cannabis, the hemp plant. Most biblical authorities and commentators also identify the keneh bosem as the cane balsam[21] of the plant variously referred to as sweet cane, sweet flag, or calamus. The Targum Onkelos, however, clearly translates this Hebrew kaneh bosem as Aramaic q'nei busma, which is the same phrase used in the Mishna (concerning textiles) to refer to hemp.[citation needed][22] Citing the Targum in his annotated Torah translation, The Living Torah, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan notes cannabis as one among several other possible interpretations of keneh bosem as an ingredient in the holy anointing oil.[23]

The main advocate of the idea that kaneh bosm was cannabis was Sula Benet in her Early Diffusion and Folk Uses of Hemp (1967),[24] Benet identifies it as the hemp plant, or cannabis. Benet argues that in support of the theory that reads cannabis as an ingredient of the holy anointing oil is that most of the other ingredients, if not all, are also theorized to come from Central Asian lands in which, Benet claims, cannabis was frequently used for spiritual (Scythian) and medicinal use (sana of the Buddhist vinya shared by many ancient schools of Buddhism).

Holy anointing oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia