is it a sin to smoke?

RaymondG said:

The reason of your faith should not be only in words. If we are only speaking words before and after the study, what makes one set of words better that the other? Do we believe the person who speaks the best or makes the most sense? The one who has more education? Dresses better, or who has studied longer?

After the holy ghost is come ye shall have power.....which we should be able to demonstrate.... and this should speak louder than any words we can utter. a demonstration of the power of God......

lest we only have a form of godliness.....denying this power.....

"And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."

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And what of the many Christians who live and talk there faith, never seeing signs but faithfully serve their God.

I leaned on nicotine the way I was supposed to lean on the Lord. I'm glad the Lord granted me the strength the finally and fully tear myself completely away from this addiction.

I believe it is a sin.

I take nicotine tabs. I hope that's not sin

zoidar said:

I take nicotine tabs. I hope that's not sin

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IT is, unless you know it's not. No room for hope.

zoidar said:

I take nicotine tabs. I hope that's not sin

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Similar to taking medicine every day for something, but only until finding out what to do and/or correcting the errors in the body....

If a cast is put on a broken ankle, it is expected to be removed after a few weeks, right?

lambofgod43985889 said:

why?

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its not.

But smoking have addictive qualities that is easy to succumb to, the unwise thing to do is address it carelessly.

If you're consistently being careless about it, that's where smoking can be sinful.

yeshuaslavejeff said:

Similar to taking medicine every day for something, but only until finding out what to do and/or correcting the errors in the body....

If a cast is put on a broken ankle, it is expected to be removed after a few weeks, right?

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Can't you use medicine or herbs to feel good? Does it have to be for treating illness?

Maybe this question could be asked....

Is it possible that God would tell someone or inspire someone to give up smoking?

There are many who ask God to meet their needs but they spend great sums of money a year to smoke. Maybe God could say he did meet their needs but they burned their resources away.

zoidar said:

Can't you use medicine or herbs to feel good? Does it have to be for treating illness?

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Most all the United States has been trained since conception to take something to feel good, "go ahead" - it's okay - "everybody does it",
and sin daily.

yeshuaslavejeff said:

Most all the United States has been trained since conception to take something to feel good, "go ahead" - it's okay - "everybody does it",
and sin daily.

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I may be wrong, but I don't have as wide spectrum as you on what sin is.

Of course, just because it feels good doesn't make it right.

zoidar said:

I may be wrong, but I don't have as wide spectrum as you on what sin is.

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That's okay.
The Shepherd leading us is not like some instant fix, instant breakfast, or quick solution all the time.
Only by learning from Him and from the Father, in line with all Scripture, as written,
can we know what is sin and what is not.

lambofgod43985889 said:

why?

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Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, ask yourself, "Would you smoke in the church if they allowed it?"

GraceBro said:

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, ask yourself, "Would you smoke in the church if they allowed it?"

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Not that I say smoking is right, but isn't that like saying playing football is sin, because you wouldn't do it in church?

lambofgod43985889 said:

it's kinda not the same

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All I am saying is if you wouldn't smoke in church, why would you smoke when your body is the true temple of God? You're free to smoke, but is it beneficial to do so? I say no, but that is just my opinion.

Semper-Fi said:

You are free to smoke, but you
will end-up being a slave to it.

Just like inappropriate content, free to look,
but you will become a slave to it.

This is not freedom, it's enslavement.
You will also pay physically for this sin.

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The possibility exists. My father quit smoking anytime he wished
and stopped anytime he wanted to, years on or years off.

lambofgod43985889 said:

it's kinda not the same

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Naturally. If it were the same thing, it would be the same thing.

SPF said:

Define sin?

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When you know what is right and do not do it, that defines a sin.

I think for most people it is a sin but it is not in and of itself a sin (like so many other things.

I am a smoker and have smoked since college. I was raised by parents who were virulently anti-smoking and in a Church where I was taught it was a sin (period). When I started smoking, I was rebelling against a lot of things in my life - some rightly, some wrongly. A large part of my taking up smoking was out of rebellion. Looking back, I view the rebellion as the sin, not the smoking itself. As a matured and learned who I was and became more responsible, I stopped rebelling. I did things that were because I made a conscious choice to do them and not out of rebellion. I did things in line with my beliefs instead of out of rebellion. I of course slipped up and sinned but mostly I would repent and make a true effort to not repeat those sins.

There was one exception - smoking. I was hooked. Since then, I have tried to quit, sometimes I've stopped for a while, but it is a strong addiction. Those on here who say you become a slave are right in most cases. There are a few people out there who can smoke a little and not be addicted, but that is not most people and it certainly is not me.

I hate that I am a slave to it but it is what it is. I do try to stop but it is extremely difficult. I still keep trying, though. There is a lesson for me in all of this and that is to not judge others so harshly for what they are going through and for their sins (or what I perceive as their sins).

As I look back on my life focusing on my health, smoking was not the worst thing for me, believe it or not. I am not a super heavy smoker; I'm not trying to make excuses or anything but in reality I don't smoke very heavily. I've also always smoked lighter cigarettes. Due to this, I have luckily and by the Grace of God not developed any serious smoking-related illnesses; I know I need to quit so I reduce the chance of getting them, but so far I have not (and many people do go through life smoking and don't develop smoking-related illnesses).

Anyway, I certainly am not saying I want to keep smoking but when I said it hasn't been the worst thing for my health I really believe that. Worst than smoking was my poor eating and exercise habits. I was overweight all my adult life till abou 42 years old, 70 to 100 pounds overweight. I also had a sugar addiction. I think these things have hurt me more than the smoking. I fear that future health problems I may have will more be a result of my sugar addiction than my smoking. I am still pre-diabetic although I have drastically changed my diet.

Sugar is a good example to compare to smoking. Sugar and tobacco addiction are both devastating. Are they sins? Not necessarily but often they are or they start out as sins.

But here's the difference: Many will view a smoker as sinning but the same people will not view a person with a sugar addiction as sinning. However, the two are similar addictions and both can be (and often are) sins.

The subject of sin is relative to circumstances in many cases. Is it a sin to drink alcohol? It can be and often is, if it is to get high or if it is in excess such that it harms the body. But if you use alcohol medicinally it is not. Even if you use alcohol moderately it is not a sin, it can even benefit your health when used moderately.

It's not the tobacco, alcohol, sugar, junk food, etc. that we use so much as how we use them and what role we give them in our lives. The sin isn't in those items, it's in our use or abuse of them. A hammer is not a sin. Hammering can be a sin if you're hammering people's heads, but it's not a sin if you hammer a nail; or it could be a sin if you hammer a nail, if you were one of the Romans who hammered a nail into Jesus' hands.

So the best thing to think of here is it's not "smoking" so much that's the sin as what the role of smoking is in one's life and what their heart is in doing that action. I don't beat myself up for it anymore because I have an addiction that I'm fighting. Just like I don't beat myself up for eating sugar anymore because I have beaten that addiction. I don't think a person with a food/sugar addiction is sinning when they overeat if they are truly making an effort to stop. A setback or failure to break the addiction is part of the process. It is the heart of the person where the sin does or doesn't happen.

lambofgod43985889 said:

why?

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Yes, because it is unholy.