JESUS AND JOINTS

First I would like to apologize for some of the things I said and for the
cynical nature of my last letter ("Rev. Pothead," Letters, March 15-21). I
would also like to apologize and ask sincere and humble forgiveness for the
judgmental nature that my letter took. I do, however, feel as though it is
necessary for me to address a few certain things.

My past is littered with a lot of problems, and I can tell you with honesty
that I can attribute depression, anger, unkindness, poor performance in
school and run-ins with the law, completely to the fact that I spent ninety
percent of my high school career under the influence of marijuana.

I understand that this is not the case for everyone, but for me it was, and
until I came to Christ broken and bruised, I was still being torn down by
the hooks of marijuana. That is why I can't understand why people who are
Christians, would promote the misuse of an intoxicating substance.

Now, it is correct that in Genesis God did say, "I give you every seed
bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit
with seed in it."(ch. 1 v. 29a) However, the second part of this scripture
is God saying, "They will be yours for food."(ch. 1 v. 29b) Therefore,
cannabis, being a seed bearing plant, is good in the Lord's eyes, for food.
The seeds of the cannabis plant do contain more protein than soy beans and
they contain a very small amount of THC, the psychoactive substance found
in the plant.

Now, if you grow the male and female plants together, all you will get is
seeds.

Which can be eaten for food. Which the Lord said was "Good." (Gen. 1:12)

Now I'm going to move on to some other scripture that I believe will lead
to some interesting points.

First, in Galatians chapter five, Paul tells us, "The acts of the sinful
nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry
and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissension, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like."(verses
19-21) So let's examine just one of these, drunkenness. Now I realize that
being drunk and being stoned are two very different things, however, the
last part of this scripture does point to the fact that it is still an act
of the sinful nature if you are doing something like these things, that is
drunkenness. Now I'm going to turn to the dictionary for some simple
references to the definitions of certain words.

First, drunken means to be intoxicated. Second, cannabis is any of the
various parts of the plant from which hashish, marijuana, bhang and similar
drugs are prepared.

Third, marijuana is the dried leaves and female flowers of the hemp plant
used as an intoxicant. Now, we can draw some conclusions.

The first one being the fact that marijuana, which stems form cannabis, and
drunken, taken directly form the Galatians scripture, both have a form of
the word intoxicate. Therefore, we can assume that they are related to one
another in the affects produced in the body. Now, if the scriptures tells
us that things related to being drunk, i.e. the affects produced after
smoking or ingesting the female parts of the cannabis plant, than smoking
marijuana to get high, is an act of the sinful nature.

One more point I would like to bring to attention, would be 1 Corinthians
3:16 and 17. "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that
God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will
destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple." I
believe that this scripture is talking about willingly misusing what God
has given us, in a manner which will cause our bodies to become unclean, or
destroyed.

Smoking anything, tobacco, marijuana or crack for that matter, is not good
for your lungs, heart, brain, or most of the other organs in your body.
Smoking anything, will lead to various types of cancers, as well as
emotional and chemical imbalances in your brain.

Therefore, by smoking any of these things, you are willingly destroying
God's temple.

Now, I'm not saying that marijuana can't help people.

However, most of the people out there who use marijuana do not have a
dilapidating medical condition that would require them to do so. Also, if
grown together, both the male and female parts of the plant that is, they
will produce seeds which in all of my experience, will not get you high.
The seeds can be eaten, for food, and are of course, can be seen as being
good in God's eyes. Again allow my sincere apologies for all of the
judgment that I passed and some of the things I said. I just have to say,
that if it weren't for the love of Jesus in my life, I would still be a
slave to sin(Romans 6:8) and still be under the cruel blanket of marijuana
addiction.

Love In Christ,

Jeremy Erhart, Louisville