IS SMOKING A SIN?

[AbigailZeke]

It's not a sin, per se. Like my pastor would always say:

People who smoke can still go to heaven. Much faster.

 

[Stranger36147]

It's not a sin, per se. Like my pastor would always say:

People who smoke can still go to heaven. Much faster.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like some of the people who live the longest are, ironically, lifelong smokers. My Grandma has smoked since she was like 14 or so. Yet she's still here at 81. Sure she has some health problems, but she still gets around okay.

 

[zeroturbulence]

It's not a sin, per se. Like my pastor would always say:

People who smoke can still go to heaven. Much faster.

Good ppoint, Abi!

 

[mailmandan]

Did you know you have to be 21 to buy?

I was only around 12 years old when I used to buy cigarettes for my dad at the drug store. The law was different back in the 70's.

 

[Depleted]

It's a bad habit that is not good for you and it's also an expensive habit!

I remember walking down to the drug store back in the 70's and buying my dad a pack of cigarettes for only 50-60 cents a pack.

Whoa! Cheap prices. It's about $9 a pack in Philly now.

(Truthfully, I can't afford them at that prices, but I'm still addicted, so roll-my-own. Cost me a little over $110 a month, plus lots and lots of time rolling my own. lol)

 

[joefizz]

That didn't make sense, since whether someone smokes or not doesn't change the fact he/she will die. With that logic then eating flour is sin.

yeah but it can lead to death in either case,for smoking cigarettes or marijuana over a course of years can kill someone,as with ingesting flour,neither is necessarily fatal to someone but they potentially can be fatal,as with sin,sin overtime can lead to physical and spiritual death,it stands to reason.

 

[Depleted]

Yes it is.
How can you love someone as you love yourself while you are killing yourself?

My husband had a heart attack. He smoked a pack a day before having that heart attack. He now says he quit smoking the hard way -- having a heart attack and being unconscious for 6 weeks. (He was sedated while on the EKMO and vent, so he was awake enough to shake his head no when the nurse was asking me if he wanted a nicotine patch, so he did intentionally quit then, even if he has no memory of withdrawal symptoms.)

One thing I really wanted to give him before he came home was a smoke-free house. Desperate to give him that before he came home, and we were already working toward quitting together before the heart attack.

SEVEN months! Seven months before he came home, so I asked for prayers, I sought God's help with as much as I could, I got nicotine patches, Nicorette lozenges, (I hate chewing gum), got rid of all temptations in the house, contacted the Quit-line for support, and was busy enough visiting him, signing stuff and talking to doctors about him, and maintaining the house while he was gone, that it was the best time ever to quit with the right motivations and prayer.

Three times I tried to quit. Made it 4.5 days once. HIS life depended on me quitting. Can't be any more motivated than that!

Couldn't do it.

Fortunately, I'm married to him, not you.

There are two hurdles to jump to quit smoking -- addiction and habit. Seven months of not smoking for hubby, and by the end of the sixth month, he was able to wheel around the nursing home by himself, so he could go outside. Outside had two things going for it in his mind -- fresh air, (which isn't entirely fresh, since we live in Philly, but it really does smell fresh compared to being couped up in a hospital that long) and people. In his case, "people" were people like him. It was a VA nursing home (with short-term and long-term units), so the people were all veterans like him. All guys too. (The one woman I got to know was leaving right then, the first time I pushed hubby through the corridors in his wheelchair.) Oh, and the fresh air was also the only place people could smoke there. (How I got to know the residents before hubby did. lol)

Wonderful thing he learned then. God did another miracle. He didn't simply pass by the withdrawal symptoms. God also handed him the lack of desire to smoke as a habit too.

All that and he came home. Habit is so bad, he couldn't figure out what was missing when he watched TV on his sofa, and what was missing when he was on his computer. He laughed when he figured it out. There is ritual in lighting a cigarette, smoking it, and a place to flick ashes and extinguish the cig, aka ashtray. He laughed when he finally figured out what was missing. The ritual of smoking. God gave him no desire.

He loves me, and he remembers how grumpy he was just trying to not smoke for 90 minutes, while knowing I smoke twice as much as he does, and yet sat with him for 90 minutes before cig break, and then another hour after. He loves me enough to know how much can't-quit bothers me.

And I love him for not being you and making my incapability a good excuse to brag on how much more superior you are.

I'm an ex-drug addict. I quit drinking when I quit getting high. God gifted me that skill level when needed. And because I went through drug rehab with other ex-addicts and addicts, I also know people who quit heroin, coke, smack, and three liters of whiskey a day habits, but tobacco is the one they couldn't quit.

I pity the fools who think they are so far superior because babble-babble-babble Bible verses to prove their superiority. At least I know why God has me on the short-leash. To remind me of how incapable I am without him.

 

[Depleted]

OP- Nope. Nothing wrong with smoking. It isn't the healthiest thing in the world, most health issues occur due to a long term addictive habit.


But anything can become an idol- especially items of addictive nature. If you find yourself in a position where cigarettes are more important to you than God- then smoking can be a sin.




You all aren't in CoMO, are you? Did you know you have to be 21 to buy? City council is doing whatever they can to ban smokers without outright banning them. Even as a non-smoker... it drives me nuts. In cases like this- live and let live.


Then again.... CoMO has a lot more problems than how they treat smokers....

Well, something is very much wrong with smoking. But there is something very much wrong with rolling through poison ivy too, yet neither is sin.

As for the politics? Seems really stupid to legalize marijuana while making tobacco more and more illegal. I've never crashed a vehicle while "stoned" on a cig. I've never operated heavy machinery while stoned on tobacco. I've never lit my hair on fire while stoned on tobacco. (Did while stoned on marijuana. )

Funny thing, alcohol is just as bad for you as tobacco, but politicians, who get lobbyist money and campaign money while drinking, don't seem to have any problems with alcohol. Coincidentia? I think not!

 

[claysmithr]

It's a sin against your body

However, you will not go into the lake of fire (hell) for it.

I agree, smoking is bad. But so is gluttony. So is self-mutilation.

 

[Depleted]

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like some of the people who live the longest are, ironically, lifelong smokers. My Grandma has smoked since she was like 14 or so. Yet she's still here at 81. Sure she has some health problems, but she still gets around okay.

George Burns smoked cigars and drank all the way until he was 100. Guarantee his death certificate said he died from smoking.

When he was 99, someone asked him how to live to be 100. He said, "Make it to 99, and then be very careful."

 

[BillG]

"the wages of sin are death" so yep smoking cigarettes is a sin because it hurts a person even to the point of death just the same as sin.

All sin leads to death. The main one being rejecting Jesus and his forgiveness is sin.
Paul addresses in Romans with regards the weaker brother and eating food sacrificed to idols. Some thought it was sin.
So to them those who did eat such meat were sinning.
Did Paul say such who Do were gonna end up in hell?

Some denominations say drinking alcohol a sin.
If so are believers who like an alcoholic beverage going to hell?

Do you know what hurts a person, what has the power to bring death to a person.

OUR TONGUE.

Proverbs 18:21
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

I would rather be with a believer who smokes yet loves people than one who doesn’t Yet has a spiteful condemning tongue.

 

[Depleted]

yeah but it can lead to death in either case,for smoking cigarettes or marijuana over a course of years can kill someone,as with ingesting flour,neither is necessarily fatal to someone but they potentially can be fatal,as with sin,sin overtime can lead to physical and spiritual death,it stands to reason.

Well then, you either just said flour is sin too, or everyone dies. But what you didn't prove was cigarettes are sin. Just unhealthy. Agree there.

 

[BillG]

Yes it is.
How can you love someone as you love yourself while you are killing yourself?

How can you love someone if you don’t love yourself or can’t understand that God loves you.
You don’t even have to smoke to fall foul or not loving someone like yourself.

Lets not limit it to smoking.
Lets add gluttony that can lead to obesity and lead to health issues.

So I would just ask you.

A believer smokes, going to heaven or hell?

 

[BillG]

George Burns smoked cigars and drank all the way until he was 100. Guarantee his death certificate said he died from smoking.

When he was 99, someone asked him how to live to be 100. He said, "Make it to 99, and then be very careful."

The prince of preachers Mr Spurgeon smoked.

He invited a fellow preacher to speak. Mr Moody. An overweight fellow


Moody accepted and preached the entire time about the evils of tobacco, and why the Lord doesn’t want Christians to smoke.
Spurgeon, an avid cigar smoker, was surprised at what seemed to be a cheap shot leveled by Moody, using the pulpit to condemn a fellow minister for violating an issue of personal conscience — Moody’s conscience.
When Moody finished preaching, Spurgeon walked up to the podium and said, “Mr. Moody, I’ll put down my cigars when you put down your fork.”

 

[BillG]

I drive a big car. The carbon emissions are not great.
I drive 15 miles on the motorway and the 4 miles in town to get to my workplace.

In town I’m polluting the air along with others who drive such cars.
As a result this leading to pollution which is causing early deaths for those with health issues affected by pollution.

Am I sinning driving my car?

 

[joefizz]

All sin leads to death. The main one being rejecting Jesus and his forgiveness is sin.
Paul addresses in Romans with regards the weaker brother and eating food sacrificed to idols. Some thought it was sin.
So to them those who did eat such meat were sinning.
Did Paul say such who Do were gonna end up in hell?

Some denominations say drinking alcohol a sin.
If so are believers who like an alcoholic beverage going to hell?

Do you know what hurts a person, what has the power to bring death to a person.

OUR TONGUE.

Proverbs 18:21
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

I would rather be with a believer who smokes yet loves people than one who doesn’t Yet has a spiteful condemning tongue.

remorse is key in determining that,if a person sins unremorsefully and willfully then that person is not for God but against him,"to be a friend of the world is to be at enmity(war)with God" so on that basis one can choose to delight in sin or in God,choose iniquity or uprightness,choose death for no reason or choose to live for God when his son spared us from dieing in such sin,I for one appreciate Jesus's sacrifice,if I were to willfully decrease my life for no just cause through habit,then I would feel that I would be squandering the life Jesus protected through his sacrifice and the life he gave me thereafter,for the holy spirit weighs on my conscience keeping me from being quick to seek or act upon iniquity,people can call it what they will,I see keeping from useless death filled habits as paying respect to Jesus's sacrifice and other great blessings he gave,because in my view,such deadly things even before I was truly with God I viewed and still view as "Stupid",now I see it also as being "unappreciative" of all Jesus did for us,not to mention "Useless" and "a waste of time".

 

[joefizz]

hmmmm

i wonder what other addictions tied to man made substances that not only harm the body
but those directly around the user

that cost money which could be used on something God would approve of

that arent of faith and the user KNOWS isnt "good"


are not counted as sin....or an idol


(if smoking is not a sin, i haven't seen one person give a valid reason it is not.... )

(but boy have we seen smokers and other substance users get defensive)

 

[BillG]

(but boy have we seen smokers and other substance users get defensive)

Ever asked why?
Ever wondered why?

We can tend to think of the obvious like smoking and drinking.

What about those who need a coffee fix or those who need a chocolate fix and so on

 

[joefizz]

Ever asked why?
Ever wondered why?

We can tend to think of the obvious like smoking and drinking.

What about those who need a coffee fix or those who need a chocolate fix and so on

Yes,Yes,I don't like even the smell of coffee,I'm allergic to chocolate,and rather not seek out sin,I have plenty of example people who have shown that any such obsessive or compulsive habits are not worth having,though popular.

 

[Prov910]

I drive a big car. The carbon emissions are not great.
I drive 15 miles on the motorway and the 4 miles in town to get to my workplace.

In town I’m polluting the air along with others who drive such cars.
As a result this leading to pollution which is causing early deaths for those with health issues affected by pollution.

Am I sinning driving my car?

Well I'm in the habit of breathing. For every breath of CO2 that I exhale I take away life sustaining oxygen from the atmosphere. Oxygen that every human and animal on earth needs to live! Oh the sin!!

lol