These are two subjects which weigh heavily on my mind todayfor two completely different reasons. Prayer is something that I wish todevelop in my own growth as a Christian. This does not stem from not knowinghow to do it, but rather focusing on me during my prayer time and less on the
real focus, which is NOT me. As for weed, I am all over the board on what
should be done about it, legalize or not.
First we should focus on God and prayer and the primary
focus for the next few days is the Lord’s Prayer. Matthew 6:9-13 is what Jesus
gave as a model for prayer:
9 Your
prayers, rather, should be simple, like this:
Our Father in
heaven,
let Your name remain holy.
10 Bring about Your kingdom.
Manifest Your will here on earth,
as it is manifest in heaven.
11 Give us each day that day’s
bread—no more, no less—
12 And forgive us our debts
as we forgive those who owe us
something.
13 Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
[But let Your kingdom be,
and let it be powerful
and glorious forever. Amen.]
In the following days I will break down each verse and work
towards the pieces we should all include in our prayers to God, but the key I
want to look at today is the simplicity of how God wants us to come to him. Not
in some grand and formal way but rather with humble adoration. God wants our
prayers to be FOR Him and not an audience.
I tend to get hung up here since one of the reasons I want
to develop a better prayer life is so when we are in our Small Groups I don’t
sound like a fool giving short concise prayers. I love it when people like my
friend Patty can on the spot pray eloquently for someone in need, quoting
scripture and all. My prayers are “God heal so and so for they really hurt”. (notice
I used “for” and not “because” because that sounded more “churchy”)
So while this study is about understanding the simplicity of
pray, it’s also to help develop an ability to pray on something more than a 1st
grade level.
Now to weed, this one I am all over the board. One thing I
have been consistent on for 30 years now is it should be legal and you should
not smoke it. Recently I have seen people benefit from use of this drug and
have looked at the positive aspects of smoking. At the same time the heavy
users I know who can quote all the data on why pot is good are stereotypical “pot
heads”. So while I agree it’s not as harmful as many say, it still has some
serious potential problems that no supporter is addressing.
First fallacy I want to address is “IT’S NOT ADDICTIVE”.
Actually it is addictive, not like tobacco or caffeine that have withdrawal
symptoms when trying to stop, but I know more people who cannot stop smoking
and will justify it by saying it’s not addictive. Heck, beer is not addictive
per se but liking to be drunk is. It’s not normal to be high all day long!!
Just because it’s not addictive and you are not an addict in your mind does not
justify smoking in the morning, afternoon AND evening, with an occasional toke
in between. I drink 1 alcoholic beverage an evening, because it is “heart
healthy” I don’t get buzzed or drunk I just drink. Can those who smoke say the
same thing?
Second problem, unlike alcohol, some of the marijuana stays
with you for a long time. With beer, the liver is designed to process it so
within a short time there is no trace in your system. You smoke pot, there is
between 20 to 90 days before it’s out of your system. That has always bothered
me. Sure it’s natural, but so is LDS and I would not say do that daily …
although I agree there are cases where it helps reset one’s brain, so “clinical”
usage should be allowed.
Finally, (for this rant) is every talks about “big pharma”
who supports the legalization of pot. I am on the leading edge of the Pharmaceutical
industry being out of control and trying to produce a pill for everything. They
even “make up” problems just to provide a solution. That is wrong and when the
pill can have side effects far worse than the problem it’s solving, then
something is wrong. Now at the same time why is no one talking about “big weed”
and the lobbying arm there?
There is HUGE money being spent to legalize it! My
question is who? Notice when they do legalize it, the individual is limited or
not allowed to produce their own supply. Notice the cost of the “product” does
not go down much. I do admit the cost of illegal production is probably close
to the cost of legal production since the government is involved in both cases.
Also, it’s no different to booze in school … the only difference between pot
before and pot now is the “pusher” can get product legally and at a much lower
cost to sell it illegally to kids in school. Everyone is being manipulated in
this debate. Again mine is simple, legalize it and if you do it only smoke on occasion.