IS SMOKING A SIN WORTHY OF DISFELLOWSHIPMENT?

[dcontroversal]

I did read the rest of your post, but trimmed to just this, to say I agree. Smoking is a self indulgent self destructive habit that amounts to slowly committing suicide, among quite a few other other not so pleasant things, none of which are life affirming. Everything God has given us is good but man uses it to his destruction. The nicotine in cigarettes stimulate and release chemical messengers like epinephrine and dopamine that allow the smoker to relax, and also sharpens your brain and increases your alertness, but surely there are better ways to achieve the same effect?

A particular side note....the Indians smoked and had no lung ailments until European men and women brought them over....and I suppose all of the added chemicals to make it addictive are not helping.......Tobacco itself is a plant that God gave.....I do not smoke so...not promoting, just saying....

 

[Muzungu256]

A particular side note....the Indians smoked and had no lung ailments until European men and women brought them over....and I suppose all of the added chemicals to make it addictive are not helping.......Tobacco itself is a plant that God gave.....I do not smoke so...not promoting, just saying....

what about the other plant mon??????? do we get some love too hahaha

 

[Marano]

I believe smoking is a sin, because it indeed defiles the body, that doesn't mean pride, overeating, covetousness, and other grey are things aren't sins too.

It all comes down to a fruit of the spirit called self control, I believe we all should pray that we have the fruits of the spirit which self control is a part of, so we don't need these discussions.

 

[Depleted]

I don't smoke, but been to AU numerous times...cigs in AU are $25 to $35 pack........imagine that..........

I'm a three-pack-a-day smoker, American, live in the Northeast, and am poor. I would love to quit. I just haven't found any way, (including through God's strength in me), to quit.

And yet, despite all that information, I spend about $120 a month to smoke. (And for anyone who wants to say I waste that much money -- question for you. How much do you spend a month for your vices? And vices include smartphones, coffee out, cable TV, shopping for anything but the necessities, etc. Because I really can say I do none of those things, except an occasional pack of seeds and bananas. I'm just not going to try to condemn you, if you do.) A pack of smokes in my city costs between $8-$10. There are legal ways around buying cigs over-taxed by the government, just as there are ways not to spend 1.5 cents an ounce for sweetened drinks. (Philly doesn't just tax sugared-sodas, they tax anything you can drink that is sweet, including almond milk, diet sodas, and flavored water.)

 

[Magenta]

Birds of a feather flock together. Smokers use smoking as a way to socialize
even as smoking itself more and more becomes an anti-social activity. It is
a bit odd to remember being able to smoke in grocery stores while hanging
over the produce display to select your fruits and vegetables, smoking on
public transit, or in restaurants while others ate right beside you, and the
assumption that is was perfectly acceptable to smoke pretty much wherever
you wanted. As a kid I don't think I noticed the residual smell of cigarettes
after the visiting relatives left, but now as an ex smoker, cigarette smoke
and the pungent stinging smell of a crushed cigarette are quite unpleasant.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known
cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins.

These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as
formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.

Nicotine is highly addictive. Smoke containing nicotine is inhaled into
the lungs, and the nicotine reaches your brain in just six seconds.

http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm

 

[Marano]

I'm a three-pack-a-day smoker, American, live in the Northeast, and am poor. I would love to quit. I just haven't found any way, (including through God's strength in me), to quit.

And yet, despite all that information, I spend about $120 a month to smoke. (And for anyone who wants to say I waste that much money -- question for you. How much do you spend a month for your vices? And vices include smartphones, coffee out, cable TV, shopping for anything but the necessities, etc. Because I really can say I do none of those things, except an occasional pack of seeds and bananas. I'm just not going to try to condemn you, if you do.) A pack of smokes in my city costs between $8-$10. There are legal ways around buying cigs over-taxed by the government, just as there are ways not to spend 1.5 cents an ounce for sweetened drinks. (Philly doesn't just tax sugared-sodas, they tax anything you can drink that is sweet, including almond milk, diet sodas, and flavored water.)

There's always a way to quit I believe, I say this as someone who has never struggled with cigarrete addiction and who has never smoked, but I believe through the holy spirit you can have self control and quit, not that it's you or your own strenght doing it, but the holy spirit in you will help you through.

Also three-pack-a-day sounds a bit excessive.

 

[Magenta]

A particular side note....the Indians smoked and had no lung ailments until European men and women brought them over....and I suppose all of the added chemicals to make it addictive are not helping.......Tobacco itself is a plant that God gave.....I do not smoke so...not promoting, just saying....

Some people do smoke without inhaling, though I suppose even that could lead to some oral cancers. I do realize that Aboriginals used tobacco in sacred rituals. I have done the same even as a non-smoker

 

[Depleted]

I believe smoking is a sin, because it indeed defiles the body, that doesn't mean pride, overeating, covetousness, and other grey are things aren't sins too.

It all comes down to a fruit of the spirit called self control, I believe we all should pray that we have the fruits of the spirit which self control is a part of, so we don't need these discussions.

So sugar, more than 2300 mm of salt, processed meat, white flour, MSG, nitrates and nitrites, and processed-cheese-foods are also sin?

 

[OldSoldier]

Wow. This is a real sore point for me. I once sat under a Pastor that was getting reports from other memebers that my wife and I smoked. So he announced one Sunday that he had some serious matter to talk about. He said that it had been reported to him that some of the members were smokers and did so right out in Public! He then said "So let me be clear to ALL of you, our brothers and sisters that smoke are not going to Hell, but they may get to Heaven before you do". Yes, Christians can be thier worst enemies. I also attended a church that had an amazing praise and worship band. The drummer was a young kid that was there every Sunday ready to rock. Sat right up front. One Sunday he was not present. Real let down, he was very good. Come to find out, the music director for the church found out that he played in bars on the weekends with a band. He was told to stop with his band or he could not play in church. So he quit. Hello, here was a young man hearing the Word of God every Sunday for about a year, and he is told he is not worthy to play in our church? I was really upset. I quit that church because of some other matters I did not agree with as well as that one. I am close friends with the Pastor now, he is retired and we fish together. I did not carry a grudge but I did act out of principle when I quit the church. Why do we get into that self rightous bubble? Jesus ate with and taught the dregs of society. He did not shun them. We run off those we are so concerned with getting save with our hypacritical attitudes.

 

[Meggido]

Birds of a feather flock together. Smokers use smoking as a way to socialize
even as smoking itself more and more becomes an anti-social activity. It is
a bit odd to remember being able to smoke in grocery stores while hanging
over the produce display to select your fruits and vegetables, smoking on
public transit, or in restaurants while others ate right beside you, and the
assumption that is was perfectly acceptable to smoke pretty much wherever
you wanted. As a kid I don't think I noticed the residual smell of cigarettes
after the visiting relatives left, but now as an ex smoker, cigarette smoke
and the pungent stinging smell of a crushed cigarette are quite unpleasant.

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known
cancer-causing (carcinogenic) compounds and 400 other toxins.

These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as
formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT.

Nicotine is highly addictive. Smoke containing nicotine is inhaled into
the lungs, and the nicotine reaches your brain in just six seconds.

http://www.quitsmokingsupport.com/whatsinit.htm

Vaping is all the rage where we are at...it removes the 4,000 chemicals,f ire and smoke. Some state it is far healthier for you, but we hear of a new medical issue with vaping...it builds nitrogen bubbles in the inside of your lungs and can give you the very same condition as the BENDS does to divers...

 

[dcontroversal]

I'm a three-pack-a-day smoker, American, live in the Northeast, and am poor. I would love to quit. I just haven't found any way, (including through God's strength in me), to quit.

And yet, despite all that information, I spend about $120 a month to smoke. (And for anyone who wants to say I waste that much money -- question for you. How much do you spend a month for your vices? And vices include smartphones, coffee out, cable TV, shopping for anything but the necessities, etc. Because I really can say I do none of those things, except an occasional pack of seeds and bananas. I'm just not going to try to condemn you, if you do.) A pack of smokes in my city costs between $8-$10. There are legal ways around buying cigs over-taxed by the government, just as there are ways not to spend 1.5 cents an ounce for sweetened drinks. (Philly doesn't just tax sugared-sodas, they tax anything you can drink that is sweet, including almond milk, diet sodas, and flavored water.)

I personally hate cigs, but do not condemn anyone who smokes....and I chunk it under the first post I made on this thread...it is not those things that enter into a man that defiles a man....I was surprised at the cost in Australia for a pack, but then realized that is part of the reason why they have universal health care...they tax the crap out of cigs, liquor etc. it seems to make up some of that cash.....My mom who smokes and has had a Quintuple bypass is still smoking....I did get her to start smoking roll your own which has less added chemicals I think, and she recently went on the patches trying to quit, but they are like $30 for 14

 

[Marano]

So sugar, more than 2300 mm of salt, processed meat, white flour, MSG, nitrates and nitrites, and processed-cheese-foods are also sin?

I believe anything that is harmful to our bodies if we know it and also ingest it is a sin, anything you mention, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't eat of it, if there are ways that you can go to to have a healthy diet, I believe we should go that direction, but some people are happy to eat anything, not everyone is wealthy and can have that much control over their diets, now I understand every person is a different case, and God knows the heart, and He knows best how to judge every situation, I wouldn't be the best judge of all cases.

 

[Meggido]

I very rarely smoke in any public place and I will never smoke around someone who is trying to quit or around anybody that might stumble if I do smoke around them. I don't act this way because I think smoking a sin because it isnt. I do so to prevent any unrighteous judgement that might occur in the hearts of others around me.

WOW!, what a great example...Thank you for being spiritually mature and the adult in the room in a world of spiritual babies and stupidity...

 

[Muzungu256]

I'm a three-pack-a-day smoker, American, live in the Northeast, and am poor. I would love to quit. I just haven't found any way, (including through God's strength in me), to quit.

aww dont say that!!!!!!!!! surely you can quit easily with God's help!!!!!!!!!!! many people quit even without God's help many atheists do so i am sure u can do it....... dont get sad and discouraged i know u can do it if u want to!!!!!!!!!!!!! stay positive dont let the devil make u depressed.

 

[OldSoldier]

I might also add, it is amazing to me how a Pastor will rant and rave about the evils of booze and cigs, but never mention obesity as he looks out on a congrgation full of grossly obese people. Why is that acceptable. They are injuring thier body, by some statistics, more than smokers. The old "your body is the temple of the Lord" argument against smoking gets no traction with me because of that. I am a former smoker now, but I do not judge a persons commitment to God by thier vices. That is between them and God. Not them and me. I have to many planks to remove before I go out and save the world from its "sins".

 

[Magenta]

Vaping is all the rage where we are at...it removes the 4,000 chemicals,f ire and smoke. Some state it is far healthier for you, but we hear of a new medical issue with vaping...it builds nitrogen bubbles in the inside of your lungs and can give you the very same condition as the BENDS does to divers...

You can always tell a vaper but you can't tell them much (that is supposed to be a joke, modified from its original form referring to alcoholics) Some vapers have returned to cigarette smoking due to the problems associated with vaping. I had the most success quitting smoking when I well and truly gave it to God. I had really struggled with it too, but when I let it go to God I did not even experience any cravings.

 

[dcontroversal]

Wow. This is a real sore point for me. I once sat under a Pastor that was getting reports from other memebers that my wife and I smoked. So he announced one Sunday that he had some serious matter to talk about. He said that it had been reported to him that some of the members were smokers and did so right out in Public! He then said "So let me be clear to ALL of you, our brothers and sisters that smoke are not going to Hell, but they may get to Heaven before you do". Yes, Christians can be thier worst enemies. I also attended a church that had an amazing praise and worship band. The drummer was a young kid that was there every Sunday ready to rock. Sat right up front. One Sunday he was not present. Real let down, he was very good. Come to find out, the music director for the church found out that he played in bars on the weekends with a band. He was told to stop with his band or he could not play in church. So he quit. Hello, here was a young man hearing the Word of God every Sunday for about a year, and he is told he is not worthy to play in our church? I was really upset. I quit that church because of some other matters I did not agree with as well as that one. I am close friends with the Pastor now, he is retired and we fish together. I did not carry a grudge but I did act out of principle when I quit the church. Why do we get into that self rightous bubble? Jesus ate with and taught the dregs of society. He did not shun them. We run off those we are so concerned with getting save with our hypacritical attitudes.

I so agree with this.....Jesus ate with publicans, sinners and whores as well as the self righteous Pharisees....he was not "shocked" at their sin and that is one reason why I have been able to approach and witness to more people than I can count....we are to be in the world but not of the world.....I absolutely despise this self righteous Pharisee(ical) hypocritical attitude that permeates (so called) Christianity today............makes me want to spew and fires me up

 

[OldSoldier]

I brought my best friend to Christ while home on leave and at deer camp with him. We were drinking plenty of beer that night. I was saved long before that and he was a Catholic that never really got the message of true salvation in church. I bothered me because I love him like a brother. Well into our cups, I told him about accepting Christ and we did a "sinners prayer" that night and he came to Christ. Yes, while we were drinking, holy rollers. We were in our late twenties back then, we are 60 now and he is still a practicing Christian.

 

[Magenta]

I personally hate cigs, but do not condemn anyone who smokes....and I chunk it under the first post I made on this thread...it is not those things that enter into a man that defiles a man.... edit

I think when one inhales or even takes the smoke into your mouth without inhaling, it does eventually have to leave and come out of you

 

[dcontroversal]

I think when one inhales or even takes the smoke into your mouth without inhaling, it does eventually have to leave and come out of you

Hilarious and you know full well it means the thoughts and intents of the heart HAHAHHA PUFF PUFF