Smoking

I thought the original posting simply asked if Biblically smoking was sinful, not whether or not its practice was critical to salvation.

If I taught that not smoking (among other things) was necessary for salvation, that would be Pharisaism, but no one, as far as I recall has proffered such an argument. Though those who oppose smoking as a practice unsuitable to believers have been charged with Pharaisism. (Is slander a sin?)

I have rarely, if ever, heard a preacher rave and rant about smoking. I think there are good Biblical principles which make smoking a dubious and sinful practice, many of which have already been detailed here. Some of them apply to many other sins such as gluttony, or watching lewd TV programming.

I think if the OP had asked if being a non smoker was conditional to salvation this topic would have been a great deal shorter.

 

Mark, at the cost or repeating myself:

There are certain acts which are sinful as you noted, there are other acts which may or may not be sinful for the individual.

Here are some of the NT criteria:

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Romans 14
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

NKJV 1 Peter
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

In my own life I was led of the Spirit to eliminate my strong desire for tobacco which served no other purpose than to gratify my flesh by quiting and thereby breaking the bondage.

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

In my case, it would have been sin to continue in this bondage.

It is a matter of the faith principle of Christian liberty and/or giving offence to the brethren or encouraging those who are not sure to violate their conscience.

The Scriptures don't tell us whether the act of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is sinful.

However I can thank God for and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to His glory, but I personally coudn't light up a cigarette and do the same.


HankD

 

1Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

You damage something that does not belong to you.

 

Mark,

I agree that watching many of the shows on TV is sinful. I have no problem with people who have opted out of it completely.

 

Hmmm, alright I have thought about it. And the significance of police responding to situations where people are impaired has not so much to do with illegality, as with the fact that people are being put in danger, that lives and families are being ruined. Not so with tobacco, and a person could smoke an entire carton of cigarettes and have not the slightest urge to hurt someone or take stupid risks on the highway.

Your entire case for calling tobacco sinful is that it is 'addictive'. It is true that tobacco contains a substance, nicotine, that causes a person to want to continue using it. I don't really see that that makes it a sinful activity, but have it your way.

No one has asked you to "pat them on the back" for smoking. Some of us have suggested that labeling smoking as a sin is presumptuous, and it is only considered sin because it has become socially unacceptable. That is what Phariseeism is all about.

 

And having said all that, excuse me bapmom for the sarcasm

 

Here are 54 pages of websites containing articles written by professionals from all walks of life (including medical) concerning one of the most powerfully addictive substances know to man: Nicotine.

http://www.tobacco-facts.info/tobacco_addiction.htm

When you go to the site click on the second line of the following to access the writings.

But even aside from that NiteShift, "addiction" is not the entire case.

The entire case also concerns Scriptural principles of our liberty in Christ versus our responsibility to others, the glory of God, our walk of faith and being led of the Spirit to eliminate those things from our life which grieve Him as well as breaking the bondage of those desires which ruled our lives when we walked in the flesh.

But yes, it is a personal matter between the Christian and His Lord.

To lay a "legal" burden on a Christian that he must quit the use of tobacco to be "right" with God is IMO, not ours to meddle with unless he/she asks for help.

HankD

[ December 10, 2005, 08:39 AM: Message edited by: HankD ]

 

I am a smoker, one who has never felt the conviction of it as a sin, though several good meaning Christians and some non-Christians have attempted to give me such a conviction.

I determined to not hide it but also to not flaunt it.

Caffiene is also an addiction, or else missing my morning cup would not result in my head pounding.

Many people in the seventies who did not know the Gospel preached tobacco, that is why so many today associate the habit of smoking as being on the level of adultery.

It is funny how preachers, in some cases fear preaching against the sin of missing worship services; of setting our hearts upon the treasures of this present world; of moving our feet on the Lord's day to our own purposes as being idolotry, but they will preach to the smoker as if he/she already is a child of Satan.

I even heard one preacher, say in my presence not too long ago that he is so opposed to smoking that he 'preaches' a message against it at least every other Sunday.

INMHO, he needs to take the advice of Spurgeon and go back to the elementary graduated Sunday School class until he learns what is needful for his hearers is not his pet peeves but their true need to recognize their inability to please God apart from Christ.

I smoke and I am a child of God.

Bro. Dallas

 

NiteShift,



I also don't remember going on the record as saying that anything but the addiction is wrong. When the addiction controls you, then you have a problem and ought to get help.

That being said, I also do not go around and "inform" others of my opinion without them asking. Nor do I try to foist my "aid" upon them without them asking for help.

We offer a program at our church for addicts. I do understand addiction. Our program does not specifically concentrate on smoking, per se. It applies to any area a person is feeling convicted about. This could be porn, gambling, drunkenness, anger, etc....and for several it does mean smoking.

Thats ok. Im just saying that we as Christians need to have more outreach to people who are struggling with, and want help overcoming things like this.

Bro. Dallas says he smokes. Im not sitting here doubting his salvation. Nor have I re-evaluated my impression of him as a person.

 

LOL!
Thanks for that.
I had a friend whose husband thought nobody who smoked was saved, and that was the attitude of a few people. It was hilarious to have them try to "git her saved"!

I've heard people say that the moment they were "saved", all desires for nicotene and alcohol or anything else just melted away. Oddly enough, none ever mentioned caffeine. I pretty much just smiled and nodded anytime a caffeine addict tried to preach to me about nicotine.

I've come to the conclusion that they're one of two things.

1. Liars

2. God loves them more he loves me

3. They weren't addicted to anything anyhow

(see why I did so bad in math?)

Don't get me wrong, I don't think smoking is great and wonderful. I just am highly amused at the number of people who declare people unsaved, especially when I look at some of their own habits. Maybe they're not similar addictions, but I've found that EVERYONE has questionable behaviors and things I don't approve of, but I can't see judging their Christianity by it. Like those people who put those freaky nutcrackers up for display. That's just wrong. There's gotta be something evil about those!

Gina

 

Amen brother.

HankD

 

Or they might just be mistaken Gina.

HankD

 

Like I said earlier, I smoked cigars for several years.

I haven't had one in probably 6 or 8 months now, but it's not because I believe it is a sin. It's because my mama said she was gonna beat me next time she smelled that stuff on me.

It's something I still have a desire for, but I have chosen not to buy anymore simply because it's one more habit that I really don't need. If, however, I feel a great enough desire to go and buy a pack of Black & Mild, then I will do so and smoke them without feeling like I'm sinning.

That "habit" was something that I would only partake of a couple times a month anyway. Just for very stressful times. I get more harm done to my body by the pollution in Houston than I did from smoking occassionally.

All that said, my grandmother was a chain smoker, lighting one cigarette from the one she had just smoked, and rolled her own, using no filter. She had cancer the last few years of her life, albeit at 80 years old.

Both of my grandfathers smoked. One had throat cancer which caused his salivary glands to stop functioning. This then led to his drinking heavily in order, in part, to keep his mouth and throat from drying up. This was the direct cause of his death at 62.

My other grandfather had asthma and died when his lungs collapsed at 45. He still had his lit cigarette in his hand when my dad found him.

My only grandparent who never smoked is still alive and functioning fairly well at almost 83 years old. She has never had any major medical problems.

3 of my grandparents had deaths related to their smoking. My only non-smoking grandparent is still alive and has no major health problems. It looks like there is something to this "smoking is bad" thing.

Of course, my grandmother knew very well a Primitive Bapatist preacher who smoked constantly. I don't know if that's what killed him, but being that he died at 100 years old, I really don't think that matters anyway.

Bottom line, it is healthier for people to either quit or drop the habit down to seldom occassions.

I would never want to be a chain smoker and have that much more risk of dying a painful death, with cancer eating up my body from the inside and chemo destroying it from the outside.

My aunt was a smoker for 50 years or more. She has emphesema (sp?) and chronic congestive heart failure. She has to wear an oxygen mask most of the time and gets winded just saying a few words. If she makes it, she will be 63 in February. Her making it is doubtful because the doctors told her a couple weeks ago to starighten her affairs because she is close to death.

I don't know about any of you, but I would like to live longer than 62. And I sure as heck don't want to die at 45. Why on earth would I want to so dramatically increase my chances of dying young by making smoking a constant habit?

On top of all that, it makes you stink, except of course for Black & Mild cigars, what with that wonderfully smelling pipe tobacco. Mmmmm...

 

Thanks for not being offended bapmom. I get a little carried away sometimes.

In my case, it is all moot, since I don't smoke anymore. I just think smoking is one of those visable faults, shortcomings, whatever, that people concentrate on.

Also, in the past there were so many other things that would kill people before smoking would, that the health risks weren't really an issue for most people. The average life expectancy was something like 55 in the 19th century, and people died early from such things as typhoid, pnuemonia, septicemia etc, and lung cancer was way down the list of things to worry about.

 

Smoking is strange. Sucking smoke into your lungs, then blowing it out. What a curious act to observe. Sometimes you can blow it back out through your nostrils, or even have some fun making smoke rings.

And think of the benefits:

Coughing up hockers.
Loss of regular breathing.
Increased heartbeat.
Yellow fingertips.
Stained teeth.
Smelly breath.
Smelly clothes.
Forum topics.

Smoke up, Johnny!

 

Oh Gershom! Possibly the best post I have read all day!

 

I had an uncle die from Emphisemia---when my brother and I would spend our summers with him on his dairy farm---we'd ride into town on occasion for one of his doctor's appointments---and we'd go in the exam room with him----the doctor would come into the exam room---smoking a cigarette-----I kid you not---he'd run that stethoscope up and down my uncle's chest with that cigarette danglin' from his(the doctor's) mouth----and then he'd tell my uncle

"Those cigarettes are gonna kill you!!"

We'd watch him roll his own cigarettes---those Prince Albert loose tobacco and that thin cigarette paper---he could roll cigarettes "one handed"

Date----1965

I was 6 then

we'd visit our uncle through the years until he passed away in 1981---he'd hack and hock and couldn't win a foot race with a turtle two steps forward---he encouraged my brother and I to-----Don't smoke!!

We both told him we won't!!

We didn't and still don't!!!

I encourage any man or woman---if you smoke---do your best to stop!! I encourage any young people---don't start!!

 

Interesting. I had a great-uncle who passed a few years ago at age 98. His lungs had been burned by mustard gas as an infantryman in WWI, but he smoked every day of his life. A tough, leathery little man. I admired him quite a bit.