is it a sin to smoke?

HatGuy

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Is it a sin to smoke?

No.

Certainly not for me.

I am a pipe smoker though. I'll smoke a pipe every couple of months. I feel absolutely no conviction that it's bad. I'd like to do it more but don't to honour my family who've asked me not to so it often.

Pipes and cigars tend to be far less addictive than cigarettes. That's been my experience and the experience of countless others. I think cigarette smoking can be foolish but I don't think it's a sin, unless it really becomes and idol in your life
 
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Sabertooth

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Your "why?" suggests that you believe it is.

Smoking is not a Biblically-defined sin. It is an unhealthy choice with terrible consequences. You are poisoning yourself.

If you are aware of those consequences, it is a sin to make other people, who do not have a choice in the matter (like one's own children), breathe concentrated, second-hand smoke. You are poisoning them, too.
 
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Saint JOHN

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1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.
1Co 6:19 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?



even unbelievers and sudo Christians out of respect to a church ( building which it isn't really !) don't drink alcohol or smoke etc in there..but once your filled with the Holy Ghost your body is now the temple.. NO WAY..!!
 
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Jonaitis

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1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.
1Co 6:19 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?


even unbelievers and sudo Christians out of respect to a church ( building which it isn't really !) don't drink alcohol or smoke etc in there..but once your filled with the Holy Ghost your body is now the temple.. NO WAY..!!

What does your daily diet consist of? How many meals a day do you have? How often do you exercise daily? How many hours do you sleep every night?

I am not a smoker, and none of my immediate family smokes, but if we use the argument that we are temples of the Holy Spirit for why we shouldn't smoke, then we should take into consideration all other things that damage or harms our bodies.
 
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The Faceless

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If you smoke and you're out of cigarettes, would you pray to God that someone would give you a smoke or that you could somehow come up with a pack of smokes? Would you feel guilty? Wrong? Convicted? That tells you whether or not it's a sin for you.
 
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The Faceless

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It is a sin because smoking is extremely harmful to us and our body.
This position only makes sense if you don't ingest bad foods. If you do, you're sinning as well according to this position. Food is necessary; processed food, fast food, etc is not.
 
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coffee4u

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oddlerdlerUOTE="lambofgod43985889, post: 74304194, member: 410964"]why?[/QUOTE]

I do believe smoking is sinful. Firstly because the health issues it causes are now well known and your body is a temple, you are meant to care for it not actively be trying for lung cancer.

By smoking, you are harming other people. I for one (and my daughter and I am sure other people as well) am highly sensitive to it, so much so that simply talking to a heavy smoker who is not even currently smoking is enough to make me start coughing and gasping for air. Smokers are often not aware of this aspect. When I was in hospital with my second child my window opened out above an outdoor courtyard where people went to smoke. Any idea how horrible that was for me? I was supposed to be resting, instead, I had to get up and shut the window and even then I could still smell it. That doesn't sound like loving your neighbours when your actions cause someone to be so uncomfortable.

It's addicting making you a slave to it or bringing you under its power as was mentioned above. Related to this is the money it wastes. May as well roll up your notes and set fire to them. Just imagine if all the cash wasted on smoking went to the poor instead.

Lastly, what about the butts. Seems like many smokers feel free to toss them on the ground. That is littering and a fire hazard. Cigarette Butts are the single most reported litter item across Australia, representing 20% of all recorded items. Within one hour of being dropped onto soil or in water a butt will start to leach nicotine and pyrene. These chemicals are toxic for small crustaceans and bacteria - all it takes to trigger a week of carnage for these minute creatures is one butt in 40L of water. Tossing butts is polluting and poisoning the environment that God gave us.
If a toddler picks up and eats a cigarette butt they can get nicotine poisoning. 1 cigarette butt is enough to poison a toddler. Other forms of nicotine are also extremely poisonous: cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, nicotine gum and patches if chewed by a child and liquid nicotine used for electronic cigarettes. If 20 milligrams of nicotine is ingested by a small child, the nicotine can cause respiratory failure, paralysis and death.
As you can tell I am anti-smoker.
 
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The Faceless

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oddlerdlerUOTE="lambofgod43985889, post: 74304194, member: 410964"]why?

I do believe smoking is sinful. Firstly because the health issues it causes are now well known and your body is a temple, you are meant to care for it not actively be trying for lung cancer.

By smoking, you are harming other people. I for one (and my daughter and I am sure other people as well) am highly sensitive to it, so much so that simply talking to a heavy smoker who is not even currently smoking is enough to make me start coughing and gasping for air. Smokers are often not aware of this aspect. When I was in hospital with my second child my window opened out above an outdoor courtyard where people went to smoke. Any idea how horrible that was for me? I was supposed to be resting, instead, I had to get up and shut the window and even then I could still smell it. That doesn't sound like loving your neighbours when your actions cause someone to be so uncomfortable.

It's addicting making you a slave to it or bringing you under its power as was mentioned above. Related to this is the money it wastes. May as well roll up your notes and set fire to them. Just imagine if all the cash wasted on smoking went to the poor instead.

Lastly, what about the butts. Seems like many smokers feel free to toss them on the ground. That is littering and a fire hazard. Cigarette Butts are the single most reported litter item across Australia, representing 20% of all recorded items. Within one hour of being dropped onto soil or in water a butt will start to leach nicotine and pyrene. These chemicals are toxic for small crustaceans and bacteria - all it takes to trigger a week of carnage for these minute creatures is one butt in 40L of water. Tossing butts is polluting and poisoning the environment that God gave us.
If a toddler picks up and eats a cigarette butt they can get nicotine poisoning. 1 cigarette butt is enough to poison a toddler. Other forms of nicotine are also extremely poisonous: cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, nicotine gum and patches if chewed by a child and liquid nicotine used for electronic cigarettes. If 20 milligrams of nicotine is ingested by a small child, the nicotine can cause respiratory failure, paralysis and death.
As you can tell I am anti-smoker.[/QUOTE]
Unless you live a completely organic and green lifestyle, you're just as guilty of harming your body the temple, the environment, and others.
 
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GodLovesCats

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There is a difference between sin and a mere cultural taboo.

The Gospel of Christ is not a case of drink not, smoke not, dance not.

Since when has smoking been nothing more than a cultural taboo? It was culturally supported in America for many decades. In central Europe, the sidewalks and streets are covered with used cigarettes.

Smoking is obviously a sin. You harm your body and the bodies of everyone around you when you smoke if you are a smoker. It is also being selfish, putting man before God and yourself before your neighbor.
 
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The Faceless

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I'm not saying I am perfect, a long way from it, but please explain how I am harming the environment and others and my body as much as the person who is smoking?
I said you're just as guilty as a smoker for harming yourself, the environment, and others if you don't live an organic and green lifestyle; not that you're just as bad. In an extreme example, the homosexual and the adulterer are both sinners, but people focus on homosexuality being something so much worse when the reality is they're both the same but with different issues.

If you're not eating organic, you're pumping your body full of poison that's in food these days. People are getting cancer and other illnesses from poor foods. If you're not living a green life, you're littering the earth with plastics and other things. And if you drive, you're putting toxins into the air that mess with people's asthma.

It's all the same even though it's different. ;)
 
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coffee4u

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But the smoker is doing all of the above + smoking and their smoking directly affects me. If I sit and eat a packet of chips fall of salt, bad oils and chemical flavours I am hurting no one but myself, but if a smoker sits next to me they are directly harming me simply by being there. I never litter, I do recycle and I eat quite a lot of organic. 100%? Nope, I'm not that good, I enjoy my processed chocolate bars way too much.

In one of my other posts I also mentioned that I don't focus on one sin being worse than another. I think people do that to feel better about themselves. All sin is bad and we all fall short. The way people focus on one type of sin as if that sin is so much worse than all the other sins annoys me. I am always trying to divert my family away from such talk, but none of that sin directly affects me. That is between them and God. They need to work on that themselves.
Smoking though directly affects me physically, which is why I can't stand it.
This is kind of diverting away from the original question of is smoking a sin? Which is yes for all those many reasons given on this thread. Even if none of the other reasons such as health risks and pollution and poisoning was a thing it is well covered by the golden rule of "love your neighbour as yourself" causing others physical distress is the very opposite of that.
 
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iLearn

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Contaminants from food or vapour or smoke won't defile a person holy body. Sin from your thought and action is what defile you.

Eating pig meat is also dangerous too as it contains many harmful bacteria and can poison and kill you. Yet it is not a sin to eat it.
 
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Kate30

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Is smoking a sin. Some do think so here in Australia. More so the government I think. I have a work college who nearly pays $280 dollar for a 6 pack of Benson 30’s every wk, due to government indexation along with the add ons for when ever they feel extra cash is needed for the economy. All done under the banner of health. I’ve never seen the smoke as a sin. Simply it’s something that men like to enjoy after strenuous activity or when they like to relax to gather their thoughts. The only sin I see being committed are those who continually allow smokers to be robbed legally.
 
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zoidar

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I don't think so. Why would it be sin? Because you are mistreating the body, surely not good but sin? Is it sin to sleep too little, eat too much candy, regularly take asperins that may be bad for you health?
 
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