Dear Brethren,

There is a multitude of people out there that think it is OK for a Christian to smoke. It has become a "Bad habit", "crutch", "addiction" or just a "weakness", but in God's eyes it is still a sin!

What do you think? And why do you think so?

In Christ,
Gery

smoking is a sin as it harms the body, but in my experience, God deals with smoking in some and not others, why? I believe the 'others' have greater sins that need to be dealt with, and God will get to the smoking later on. Please remember we all have vices and will not be perfect this side of Heaven, but God will deal with us a bit at a time and get rid of weaknesses we have. I foe ex have a foul mouth, though not in front of others, and I know it's wrong and do try to deal with it, however there is a darker problem that needs to be addressed first :-( . Please don't think I am excuising my sin, I am ashamed of it, but one day at a time, please.

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Ste

Certainly smoking is still a sin. And no, we will not be perfect this side of heaven, but smoking is so incredibly harmful to one's temple.
I was a smoker for 16 years- I loved it! But it was killing me. I knew I needed to quit- I told Jesus I was finished with it, but I would need His divine help to quit it. I wanted to repent-
I set a date- put on the patch and never looked back. It has been 1 &1/2 years and I have not touched a cigarette since!
Really, if I would have known that it was so easy-(I was actually scared to quit) that Jesus really wanted to help me- I would have quit a long time ago. I do not and am not trying to be preachy about it- but if you smoke- quit! you will be amazed at how the Lord will deliver you from the bondage satan wants to keep you in. Stop harming your temple and you will get power to overcome other issues and you will grow spiritually. :-)
Our God is mighty to save!
Mary

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Mary Beth Ersig

It's better to ask: Is smoking unhealthy?

Keep in mind that the eating habits of our nations are killing us - processed foods, refined sugar, fat, etc etc.
Generally speaking, we are in denial about food issues. We know overeating is sin, but at church we have gluttonous pot lucks - with foods containing harmful poisions. We don't feel any guilt about that, so why should we say anything about smoking?

To follow your train of thought, we would ask: Is eating hot dogs a sin? It is better to simply say, Hot dogs have very little nutritional value, and the chemicals in them harm our bodies. So we shouldn't eat them (and a whole lot of other "foods". Add to that a lot of pharmaceuticals, cigarrettes, lack of excercise, too much worry, air polution etc.

What is the sin: It is loving the things in this world more than Christ. 1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world."
This includes the "delicacies" of the culture - which for us is refined foods.

Our bodies are amazing. They can get rid of alot of bad chemicals. But there is a limit to what our bodies can handle and so we should not excede the threshold.
One who smokes only a little bit is far better off than a chain smoker.
Diane

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Diane

I feel I have to disagree with you here. If a person overeats, that is only harming oneself. Cigarettes produce 2nd hand smoke that causes much harm to others.

Hardly the same. If it is not harmful to others, why has smoking been banned in so many restaurants, malls, most public places and eating hot dogs has not? Here in Michigan, you can't smoke in Mc Donalds, but you can eat junk food.


Also, smoking cigarettes is being addicted to a very dangerous drug, you don't have to be at least 18 to buy a hot dog, and eating hot dogs and junk food doesn't make people sick who happen to be standing near you.
They really don't have anything to do with one another.

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Mary Beth Ersig

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

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Hal Bachman

So someone has been newly born again from the world, and they're a smoker. God doesn't deliver them from their habit straight away - are they in sin when lighting up? I personally don't think so. I think there is a big misunderstanding about what sin actually is (not saying that i've got it!) that has more of an "law" approach than the new testament pattern. Surely the whole answer is in Romans 14:23:
"But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin."
As soon as you're at that point - "doubting', unable to smoke [i]in faith[/i] it becomes sin to the individual, I think. As I see it there are some things that I imagine can never be done in faith, others that can for some and not others. Is watching a film a sin? I know some people who can't watch one in faith...

Is smoking a sin?

The issue is this - If one is to follow Christ, they must understand that their life isn't their own. Their bodies aren't their own, their time is not their own, and their desires to pursue their own interests in this world must be left at the cross.
The message that Christ (along with the whole bible) brought was an ultimatum between serving yourself and denying yourself to take up your cross and follow Him.
In smoking a ciggerate, the issue of sin does not lie in the ciggerate or the science of it's affects. The sin in the heart is the pursuit to "make this world your home." To pursue earthly pleasure is to reject the call of Christ. Is pleasure bad? Of course not. It's a by-product. However, the pursuit of pleasure is a direct result of a heart that refuses to count ALL a loss for Christ.
Christ refused to love this world and was only set on the will of the Father and the eternal things. To be His disciples, we must do the same. We must not love our lives in this world.
Smoking is no different than goin to starbucks, reading a book, working out, watching TV, hangin with friends, or even pursuing missionary work and other things that seem "good" in and of themselves. The question is, "deep in our hearts, why do we pursure these things? Is it to better follow Christ, serve His kingdom, and know Him more? Or is it to make our stay on earth a little more pleasuralbe to our tastes?"
And, if it IS to pursue God's interests, is it something done in obedience to what He has said? Or do we have an agenda as to how we want to do it?
Paul says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable."
He also says that we must "do ALL things as unto the Lord."
Again he says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition."
Smoknig is not a "sin". However, serving yourself IS the essence of sin in that your allegiance is to yourself rather than God.
Let us, in our hearts, reject this world and all the temporary pleasures that we may have God as our soul's contentment. Let us leave our idols and pleasures in Egypt and be willing to endure this temporary wilderness on earth in full allegience to God.....and one day, after being tested to see if we love Him, we will enter into His promise- eternal life.
Ernestito

I heard a preacher talk about this once:

a man came up to him and said "Pastor will you pray for me i want to give up smoking" the pastor said yeah sure, so they prayed and the pastor lead him in a prayer and at the end of the pastor told him to promise God he'd never put another cigarette in his mouth! the man said "I'm not promising God that!!" and the pastor said "Then you dont to be delivered from smoking at all!"

a bit extreme as Jesus warns us from making vowes before God:

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: [b]But I say unto you, Swear not at all; [/b]neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. (Matt 5:33-37)

but you get the picture

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matt

Ernestito said:

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Diane