sorry bluecat if my wording put you on the defensive. it is too bad that a simple question stirs defensiveness, instead of friendly and civil dialougue. i can't say that i blame you as weed smoking christians are not overly accepted in the larger christian community.

as far as your interpretation of my directing a question at a particular group of people means that nobody elses opinion counts, well, you couldn't be further off. i am directing it at a particular group of people because it is their answer that i am most curious about. people who are not literalists in biblical interpretation breeze by the question by personal opinion, which is totally fine, but are answers i could have come up with on my own. my interest is for a particular way of thinking. asking non-bible believing (in the mainstream literalist sense of the term) christians is of no gain as any opinion is good enough. i am researching the perspective of literalists so focusing my question is a necessity, as i am looking for biblical backing.

as far as asking about christians who do not believe in the bible... please listen... I SAID FROM A MAINSTREAM LITERALIST PERSPECTIVE which is very different that those who believe in the bible as a general guide and not as god's inerent and infallible word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! people who pick and choose what is valid and what isn't doesn't help me. i am looking for valid scriptural backing as to how people get around the biblical text as it over and over again gives "commands" about obeying the law of the land and authority. i am not a literalist anymore so that is why i need to ask literalists. i look at it as a general guide, but not law/rules. so i once again dont need to hear from people of my same perspective, i want to hear from others so i can grow and learn. if that means to you that other people's perspectives don't matter at all, well, then you should probably ignore this thread as it is "close minded."

as far as your opinion that medical and recreational weed should not be seperated... well that i disagree simply because medical uses are completely different that entertainment/recreational uses. i do not think that recreational should be banned, but regulated differently than medical mj.... but guess what? this thread is not for that discussion, but i would be happy to discuss it with you in another thread if you begin it, but please not here.

lastly to your post... i made no statement that marijuana is a sin... please read my posts carefully. i am not asking about the substance itself being immoral as it is not and there is no sound, clear, or distinct law against it. i am talking about the immorality that would be associated with disobeying of authority. there is no clear biblical backing that would associate marijuana with immorality, but a pretty strong arguement can be made about the fact that it is against the law in this country and disobeying the law is immoral. i am not looking for asnwers like, well it shouldn't be against the law so it is fine... i am looking to see if anyone has biblically sound backing to navigate around the issue of disobeying authority as immorality... NOT WEED BEING IMMORAL so it is not putting the fight to legalize back at all as it should be legalized so that this issue of immorality from disobedience is no longer an issue!

i will try to be more clear in my posts (though i don't know how much more clear it could be when i stated the exact group i was addressing, and if you are in that group the question would not be so confusing)... maybe you could work on reading posts and the entire thread a little more so that i don't need to repeat myself so many times and talk to people who the thread was no even directed toward.. as it is pretty safe to assume that you are not a biblical literalist as "weed shouldn't be illegal therefor it is fine, is not a biblically backed opinion and certainly not a literalist comment.

thanks...

passthatshit,
no the bible says nothing about smoking being wrong. the main scriptures used to fight the use of marijuana or smoking of any sort are related to the following...
1. your body is the temple and should not be intentionally injured (As smoke does hurt); though to be fair this would need to cover everything like that including over-eating, eating processed sugars, sun tanning, etc. making it a very weak arguement)
2. the bible says that your body should not come under the control of any substance or person other than yourself (which they associate being high as falling under this; then again caffeine could just as easily fall under this as it is the widest used psychotropic drug)
3. any addiction is shunned in the bible and as some become psychologically addicted to THC, hence its "sin"; though christians arguing this have some serious justifying of the caffeine addictions of so many christians... "caffeine is the choice drug of christians"