Is breaking the law a sin?

[dmart]

Under a Christian perspective is breaking the law always a sin?

For example under age drinking, smoking marijuana, and speeding.

I'd like to think not, which may or may not be from personal experience.

I know Jesus said to give unto caesar what is caesars and to give unto god what is gods, could this also be implied to all laws?

[Confused]

Under a Christian perspective is breaking the law always a sin?

For example under age drinking, smoking marijuana, and speeding.

I'd like to think not, which may or may not be from personal experience.

I know Jesus said to give unto caesar what is caesars and to give unto god what is gods, could this also be implied to all laws?

It depends on some. In some states, sodomy is still illegal. Fundamentalists would say breaking this law is a sin. For what you have mentioned though, I doubt it.

[McCulloch]

I am not a Christian, so I can only answer this question by quoting someone who is usually considered an authority on Christian ethics.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

[cnorman18]

Seems obvious to me that it depends on the law.

At one time, it was a crime in some states to teach freed slaves how to read.

Rosa Parks comes to mind, as do the Freedom Rides of the 60s. Dr. Martin Luther King was not only a civil rights leader, but a Baptist minister, and everything he did was done specifically on the grounds of his Christian faith. His "Letter from Birmingham Jail" makes it rather clear that breaking the law is sometimes not only not a sin, but a positive Christian duty.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but obeying the law in Europe in the 1930s and 40s entailed actively participating in the mass murder of Jews. It is no accident that Dr. King was accompanied by several rabbis and Jewish scholars in his March on Selma, and that two of the three civil rights workers murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1961 were Jewish men from New York.

[cnorman18]

An afterthought:

Breaking most reasonable laws would be sinful whether they were laws or not. Speeding, for instance, endangers the lives of others as well as one's own. Even if no one else is around, I would not think it a blessed act to be careless with the life one has been given by God.

[dmart]

An afterthought:

Breaking most reasonable laws would be sinful whether they were laws or not. Speeding, for instance, endangers the lives of others as well as one's own. Even if no one else is around, I would not think it a blessed act to be careless with the life one has been given by God.

Hmmm, I agree with the most part, but as for the speeding not so much. Although I suppose it depends on the definition of speeding whether it is anything over the speed limit, or anything that is 5 mph over or whatever. Anyways I think that really is a minor point.

My point with alcohol or marijuana is that drinking or smoking those substances are not inherently a sin, and partaking in such things despite the law of the land doesn't really affect anyone but yourself(not including drunk driving or things of that nature). So I don't see how doing those things could be justified as a sin.

[dmart]

I guess the reason I am asking questions is because is seems to me the church(at least some of the ones I've been to) makes these things to be such an evil, but other than the standpoint that its breaking the law I don't see how they justify it being evil.

[cnorman18]

My point with alcohol or marijuana is that drinking or smoking those substances are not inherently a sin, and partaking in such things despite the law of the land doesn't really affect anyone but yourself(not including drunk driving or things of that nature). So I don't see how doing those things could be justified as a sin.

True enough, and I did not address those issues.

Drinking per se is not against the law. Underage drinking is quite a different matter, if only because alcohol has a much more deleterious effect on a growing brain than on an adult one, particularly in the case of binge drinking.

On marijuana my opinion is mixed. It has a number of beneficial effects--it is a specific for anorexia, for example--but I know from bitter experience that its potential for abuse and dependence (as opposed to true addiction) is very high. To be honest, I love it; but I have not had a joint for many years, because I know that when I use it, it takes over my life and leaves me with nothing pleasurable but the anticipation of my next high.

There is a health issue there too, though it is of less importance. A friend once remarked that he had read that marijuana smoke contains all the same toxins as cigarette smoke other than nicotine, and was just as likely to cause cancer--or more so, since joints are rarely filtered. He wondered why no one ever expressed concern about that.

I replied by asking him if he had ever met anyone who smokes four packs of joints a day. That would be about a quarter-pound. For such a person, I think a greater health hazard than cancer would be trying to walk across the room without falling down.

[servant]

Hmmm, I agree with the most part, but as for the speeding not so much. Although I suppose it depends on the definition of speeding whether it is anything over the speed limit, or anything that is 5 mph over or whatever. Anyways I think that really is a minor point.

What if your speeding in an Elementary School Zone?

1 Corinthians 6:10
nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

This sounds like abusing alcohol is a sin.

I guess the reason I am asking questions is because is seems to me the church(at least some of the ones I've been to) makes these things to be such an evil, but other than the standpoint that its breaking the law I don't see how they justify it being evil.

I would say stay clear of heavy drinking (liver damage), smoking weed (brain damage) and speeding (fines are expensive if you're caught).

[TheHate]

of course it is
you are ruining the temple of God
your body is a temple of Gods


read these
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The 10 Commandments - God's Revelation in the Old Testament
The 10 Commandments are found in the Bible's Old Testament at Exodus, Chapter 20. They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt:

"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God…

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'