Advice Needed. Nazarite Vow

[theconvolt]

So I'm getting out of the military in 9 days. I was watching "The Bible" miniseries last night and saw the Samson episode. And I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the Nazarite vow. I would consider myself a somewhat heavy drinker and have been looking for a deeper reason than just health related reasons to quit drinking all together. My wife is currently pregnant so abstaining from sex is not too hard, even though that's not explicitly a guideline, as far as I know. Some of the questions I have though are: would I be allowed to smoke marijuana? I know one of the key factors into being rasta involve not cutting ones hair or shaving, but I dont really know if that's related. Another question being the closing of the vow. If I do go through with it, I would like to not have to go through the sacrificing of the lambs and ram and all that. Not a vegitarian, just think thats kind of brutal. Any advice would be greatly apprrciated

 

[PsychoSarah]

I would suggest you don't smoke, of only to protect the unborn child and your wife from the smoke.

 

[Standing_Ultraviolet]

I don't think that Nazarite Vows are something that modern Christians do. I mean, you could, but it would be more of a personal vow than anything, and you could just leave off the "sacrificing an animal" part.

Why not just vow not to consume any more alcohol or marijuana? I understand that you're Catholic, and so you're allowed to make vows as long as they're serious and not just for petty reasons. Maybe you should discuss this with your priest.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

So I'm getting out of the military in 9 days. I was watching "The Bible" miniseries last night and saw the Samson episode. And I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the Nazarite vow. I would consider myself a somewhat heavy drinker and have been looking for a deeper reason than just health related reasons to quit drinking all together. My wife is currently pregnant so abstaining from sex is not too hard, even though that's not explicitly a guideline, as far as I know. Some of the questions I have though are: would I be allowed to smoke marijuana? I know one of the key factors into being rasta involve not cutting ones hair or shaving, but I dont really know if that's related. Another question being the closing of the vow. If I do go through with it, I would like to not have to go through the sacrificing of the lambs and ram and all that. Not a vegitarian, just think thats kind of brutal. Any advice would be greatly apprrciated

You may need outside help. Do-it-myself plans seldom work.

 

[theconvolt]

I don't think that Nazarite Vows are something that modern Christians do. I mean, you could, but it would be more of a personal vow than anything, and you could just leave off the "sacrificing an animal" part.

Why not just vow not to consume any more alcohol or marijuana? I understand that you're Catholic, and so you're allowed to make vows as long as they're serious and not just for petty reasons. Maybe you should discuss this with your priest.

Honestly, I think the fact of John the Baptist being a perpetual nazarite and his role in the story of christ creates a good precedence for modern christians to take the vow.

 

[seeingeyes]

I think that if you're going to take a Nazarite vow, you have to do the whole bit. (Otherwise it's not the Nazarite vow.)