dawook4420
Active Member
Judging by the number of posts on these threads, I don't expect a response anytime soon. But I wanted to post this anyways because it's something that's been on my mind for a long time. No questions, just sharing my experience and curious what others think.
So I've been a toker for 20 years but I only got into religion about 7 years ago. I won't go into details but I had a very spiritual experience which turned me into a devout believer. I wouldn't say I was agnostic before. I think I always wanted to believe but I never knew what to believe in. After this experience I did a lot of research on different religions, science, etc. I would say now that I accept Jesus as my savior, but I don't believe that one has to accept Jesus in order to be saved. Basically, I think each of our religions are merely just pieces of a puzzle, or pieces of a much larger picture, whereas religions (especially monotheistic religions) tend to think their specific religion IS the big picture. But I'm not starting this thread to argue beliefs ...
The strange thing about my experience is that the world now makes a lot of sense to me. Not that I'm necessarily right, but I don't question why we have terrorism or why kids in Africa starve while we have an obesity problem in the U.S. It all makes sense to me ... which I think is a rare thing. I'm not much of a preacher, though, so I've actually been working on a fictional novel for the last 2 ½ years which goes deeply into my beliefs. This is not for the purpose of convincing others of what I believe, but more as an outlet to express my beliefs.
Anyhow, what I struggled with for a long time was my marijuana usage. Not that I think weed is bad, but it says in the Bible that we're to follow the laws of our land. So since I got into religion I've been down on myself because I'm not following this directive of the Bible. It eventually led to me giving up weed altogether (although for the sake of honesty I will add that the financial burden of buying a half ounce per month played into this as well). This was in December of 2015. Well, fast forward to December of 2016 and low and behold, weed is now legal in my state. So I've started growing my own in order to control cost, but I still pick up a little here and there to get me by until my first grow is ready for harvest.
What's surprised me in all this is the effect smoking has had on my writing. I always thought that my writing was better when I smoke, even if it comes at the expense of the difficulty I sometimes have in getting my ideas from my brain to my word processor. And this is not to say that my writing was bad during my year of hiatus, but now that I'm smoking again, I'm blown away by the difference it has made. I'll write a chapter and look at it and think, "This is bland", or "It lacks substance" or "It just doesn't flow properly." Then I smoke a bowl and BAM!!! All of a sudden the conversations are flowing, the descriptions are so much more vivid, and the writing as a whole is just far and away better than when I'm sober.
Now, I don't consider myself to be an artist. I'm very amateur. But I consider fictional writing to be an art just as music is an art, as is painting and filmography and so much more. I'm sure we all can admit that marijuana has had a major effect on music and movies, etc. I honestly believe that art is influenced by God's spiritual connection to us, and after this year of hiatus and my experiences since, I am absolutely convinced that weed enhances that connection. Looking at the other posts here, I know I'm not the only one who thinks this.
Now, I'm not some hippie (for lack of a better term) that believes marijuana enhances everything. Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's just not me. I definitely believe in the benefits of weed, but I also believe in moderation and responsibility. For some people I think weed is great, whereas for others it's detrimental to their lives — such as its propensity toward influencing sloth. And while I love my weed and I can't wait for my first grow to be ready for harvest, I wonder about people elsewhere in the world — places where it's still illegal, people who allow their lives to go to waste because they're too stoned to get off the couch. I'm not one to judge nor am I one to tell other people what is right or wrong for them. But it makes me question how something can be ok for me, but based on local laws and the positive or negative influence it may have on their lives, maybe it's not ok for others.
So these are just my experiences and the kinds of things I wonder about. I've made peace with my own marijuana usage and yet the questions still linger. So I just felt like sharing and I look forward to hearing the opinions of others on any of these topics I've brought up. Thanks for listening everyone. God bless!
So I've been a toker for 20 years but I only got into religion about 7 years ago. I won't go into details but I had a very spiritual experience which turned me into a devout believer. I wouldn't say I was agnostic before. I think I always wanted to believe but I never knew what to believe in. After this experience I did a lot of research on different religions, science, etc. I would say now that I accept Jesus as my savior, but I don't believe that one has to accept Jesus in order to be saved. Basically, I think each of our religions are merely just pieces of a puzzle, or pieces of a much larger picture, whereas religions (especially monotheistic religions) tend to think their specific religion IS the big picture. But I'm not starting this thread to argue beliefs ...
The strange thing about my experience is that the world now makes a lot of sense to me. Not that I'm necessarily right, but I don't question why we have terrorism or why kids in Africa starve while we have an obesity problem in the U.S. It all makes sense to me ... which I think is a rare thing. I'm not much of a preacher, though, so I've actually been working on a fictional novel for the last 2 ½ years which goes deeply into my beliefs. This is not for the purpose of convincing others of what I believe, but more as an outlet to express my beliefs.
Anyhow, what I struggled with for a long time was my marijuana usage. Not that I think weed is bad, but it says in the Bible that we're to follow the laws of our land. So since I got into religion I've been down on myself because I'm not following this directive of the Bible. It eventually led to me giving up weed altogether (although for the sake of honesty I will add that the financial burden of buying a half ounce per month played into this as well). This was in December of 2015. Well, fast forward to December of 2016 and low and behold, weed is now legal in my state. So I've started growing my own in order to control cost, but I still pick up a little here and there to get me by until my first grow is ready for harvest.
What's surprised me in all this is the effect smoking has had on my writing. I always thought that my writing was better when I smoke, even if it comes at the expense of the difficulty I sometimes have in getting my ideas from my brain to my word processor. And this is not to say that my writing was bad during my year of hiatus, but now that I'm smoking again, I'm blown away by the difference it has made. I'll write a chapter and look at it and think, "This is bland", or "It lacks substance" or "It just doesn't flow properly." Then I smoke a bowl and BAM!!! All of a sudden the conversations are flowing, the descriptions are so much more vivid, and the writing as a whole is just far and away better than when I'm sober.
Now, I don't consider myself to be an artist. I'm very amateur. But I consider fictional writing to be an art just as music is an art, as is painting and filmography and so much more. I'm sure we all can admit that marijuana has had a major effect on music and movies, etc. I honestly believe that art is influenced by God's spiritual connection to us, and after this year of hiatus and my experiences since, I am absolutely convinced that weed enhances that connection. Looking at the other posts here, I know I'm not the only one who thinks this.
Now, I'm not some hippie (for lack of a better term) that believes marijuana enhances everything. Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's just not me. I definitely believe in the benefits of weed, but I also believe in moderation and responsibility. For some people I think weed is great, whereas for others it's detrimental to their lives — such as its propensity toward influencing sloth. And while I love my weed and I can't wait for my first grow to be ready for harvest, I wonder about people elsewhere in the world — places where it's still illegal, people who allow their lives to go to waste because they're too stoned to get off the couch. I'm not one to judge nor am I one to tell other people what is right or wrong for them. But it makes me question how something can be ok for me, but based on local laws and the positive or negative influence it may have on their lives, maybe it's not ok for others.
So these are just my experiences and the kinds of things I wonder about. I've made peace with my own marijuana usage and yet the questions still linger. So I just felt like sharing and I look forward to hearing the opinions of others on any of these topics I've brought up. Thanks for listening everyone. God bless!
