I place smoking under this category: All things are lawful for me but all things are not profitable for me.
It is not those things that enter into a man that defiles a man....
All things unto Paul were lawful, but not all things were expedient....
All things unto Paul were lawful, but not all things were expedient....
Our body is a temple because God resides in it by His Spirit.
It is not what goes into our bodies that defiles us (the temple). It is what proceeds from a mans heart that defiles him (the temple).
So I do not agree that a man defiles himself by smoking a cigarette.
He is doing something that is not profitable.
It is not what goes into our bodies that defiles us (the temple). It is what proceeds from a mans heart that defiles him (the temple).
So I do not agree that a man defiles himself by smoking a cigarette.
He is doing something that is not profitable.
Here's the scripture:
14After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. 16[“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”] 17When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. 18And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, 19because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) 20And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. 21“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
The context of what Jesus was talking about was FOOD!
This scripture, or any like it should not be used to excuse an addiction to something that is poisonous going into your body.
Tell the alcoholics & drug addicts that nothing that goes in them defiles them!
Go eat a handful of black widow spiders & come back & tell me how it didn't defile you.
God didn't design our lungs to inhale smoke. That's why so many people die in burning houses.