Smoking and Beer

Another one of the vice threads. I think the Holy Spirit guides us into all things. If a person feels comfortable doing such, then go for it. My reasons for not doing either, or at least believing it is wrong have nothing to do with old Baptist tradition, which I could care less about. It has to do with witness, health, and guidance from above. Smoking and drinking hurt the body, which I think violates Romans 12:1. I also cannot imagine teaching a SS class, or witnessing with a cigarette and beer in my hand. So, I have no use for either.

The point remains, if you are abstaining from these because of some old rule, or thats the way its always been, you are using faulty reasoning and do not understand the Scripture.

 

There are way more than enough opinions on alcohol on this board if you'd just search. Doesn't need to be a new thread about it.

However, since both of these things were mentioned, I have to say, I am shocked, confused, a little angry, and lots of other things due to the fact that so many baptists can get so hung up on alcohol, yet smoking seems to be acceptable comparatively.

According to many folks, I can't have a beer or two in the privacy of my own home, yet affluent church members can smoke in the church parking lot before church, between Sunday School and church, and after church? It doesn't make any sense.

 

After a couple of beers, it is no longer you talking but the alcohol. After a couple of cigerattes it does not take over your senses.

 

First of all, two normal beers at a normal rate of consumption HARDLY makes me or anybody else I know talk out of control.

As for the cigarettes... they may not make you talk funny, but I can guarantee that they're doing lots of other extremely bad things to your body. Moderate smoking is far worse for you AND other nearby people than moderate drinking. Plus, it's simply recreational drug use. You're getting a buzz off of nicotene at the expense of your body's well being.

Too many people jump the gun and associate moderate drinking with drunkenness and this is how they compare the two. Cigarette smokers don't appear to be drunk, so it must be ok... right? :BangHead:

 

yea, but the tongue is full of deadly poison. Also, you can not tell me anything about drinking a couple of beers, been there done that. I have known people that a couple made them drunk and the rest I have known, a couple led to a couple and then a couple and so on. Nothing good ever came from drinking. All you have to do is read the posts on here where a marriage broke up, it usually leads to drinking and adultery. I am not talking from hear say, I know that drinking will cause anyone to do things they would not do without the beer, etc. Only people who can stand a drunk, is another drunk.

 

I agree with what you have said, but you gave me a funny image tied into another thread! With the "I cannot imagine teaching a SS class with a smoke or a beer" comment, I pictured myself with, "I cannot imaging teaching a SS class in my swim trunks".

 

You're right on Corndoggy. It is inconsistent for Christians to be anti-alcohol, anti-hemp, and pro-nicotene.

 

The Law stopped me and my brother-in-law back in the 60's and we were 2 sheets under the wind. The officer ask us "are you fellows drinking", my brother-in-law, while trying to keep from falling down said "moderately". So, almost everyone thinks their drinking is moderately. Its is a joke among law enforcement that when they pull over a drunk, he will always say, he just had 2.

 

I don't like either one . . .

btw, are we neighbors? We have a lot of folks from NC here on the board :laugh:

 

Ah, let's see, regular smokers and people around them regularly often experience much higher rates of...

all kinds of horrible cancers
wrinkles
various illnesses due to a weakened immune system
slower healing time from injuries
MUCH slower healing time from broken bones
age related blindness
impotence
dulled tastebuds
restricted blood vessels
mental illnesses
chronic bronchitis
emphysema
COPD
financial burdens due to the high cost of cigarettes
often times HUGE financial burdens due to medical bills
stroke
dementia
cataracts
stinky clothes
addiction stronger than most hardcore drugs
withdrawal symptoms almost immediately upon trying to quit
heart attacks
altered mood (nicotene seems to act both as a stimulant and depressant)
asthma
sudden infant death syndrome
smokers cough due to damage of the hairs that cleanse the lungs



How exactly does this go along with "your body is a temple"???

 

So, the one justifys the other, good logic.

I don't like either, either.

 

I'm just saying it's highly irrational for some people to be so down on any form of drinking (even very low quantities) yet any form of smoking (even very high quantities) seems to be perfectly fine.

 

Maybe I have seen too much how that alcohol destroys homes and lives. I don't compare the two, but thats just me.
As I said, I don't like either.

 

It is human nature to tend to classify things. In reality, so much of what we put in our bodies defiles the temple - even too much of good things. But there's caffeine and sugar and preservatives.

Smoking and beer are just gross IMHO :thumbs:

 

Having done both I can say from experience that neither is good. Intentionally lighting something on fire and inhaling the smoke from it just is insane. There may be some who can maintain a single beer at a time. But what is the view of alcohol in the publics eye?

If I were to buy a six pack at the store and that one fella who I have been talking with about Christ and trying to get to come to church sees me, he isn't going to know that it will take me a month to finish that six pack. All he will know is that "the preacher drinks just like I do". So my drinking is ok.

It is a poor testimony and quite a temptation. It was Paul who said to "abstain from all appearance of evil". Drinking doesn't meet this standard.

 

One of my great problems in life is DUI. I don't think the laws are nearly tough enough on DUI. Even back in my wild days, I was very anti-DUI, and would walk through a dangerous neighborhood rather than drink and drive. I was so anti-DUI that I would plan ahead and when I was going to be drinking and in a bad neighborhood, I would park my car elsewhere and get there by walking or riding with someone.

That being said, I had a cop stop me for PD one time. I wasn't really doing anything, but they were just checking us out. He said, "Let me guess: You've only had a couple of beers, right?" To which I responded, "Well, I've had three, but they were REALLLLY big beers," and I showed him with my hands how big the pitchers were. He laughed, and since I was honest and not causing trouble, he let me go.

An interesting thought and a question: I know the Bible says it's OK to drink wine, and liquor wasn't invented back then, but does the Bible say anything about beer or mead? (I'll tell you why I'm wondering later.)

 

LOL! Ever hear Bob Newhart's take on it?

You can read the monologue Here
. You can probably do a Google and find an audio of "Introducing Tobacco to Civilization" by him. It's funny! (I think it's public domain by now, but I'm not sure enough of that to post it.)

 

I do neither!! And for those who do smoke---I will encourage them to stop!

Nothing is worse than watching a relative "hack & cough" their lungs out after contracting Emphysema or Lung Cancer

For those who drink---I will encourage them to stop, also!! Nothing worse than witnessing a car wreck caused by drunkeness---nothing worse than a wife calling the preacher "Come help me! My husband's drunk again and he's tearing up the house!!! Hurry!!"

 

do you mean.........heavy tithers ?