1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Featured Smoking Cigars

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by evangelist6589, Apr 3, 2016.

  1. evangelist6589

    evangelist6589 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2010
    Messages:
    10,285
    Likes Received:
    163
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Why are there Baptist Churches that will place someone under church discipline for smoking a cigar? Yes smoking is not healthy for the body, but on occasion I see no harm with it. I mean this is a grey area (like alcohol) and churches have no right and often get themselves in trouble for placing someone under discipline for a grey area. What say you? Whats your reasoning for grey areas?
     
  2. HAMel

    HAMel Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    2,099
    Likes Received:
    96
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Why? ...piousness!

    I live in (once) tobacco country, Eastern NC. The Broad Leaf was king. Let me tell you a little story that happened to me. Shortly after coming to the Lord we relocated to Danville, VA (also tobacco country) and became members of a Baptist Church. I still smoked but volunteer to drive their Church Bus as no one else would step up to the plate.

    I never smoked on church property or around any of the members but one Sunday Morning I went for the bus to make my rounds and it was gone! Come to find out the Pastor had found another to drive the vehicle..., one who didn't use tobacco.

    I was upset to say the least but come to find out..., The eldest deacon of the church was a farmer and grew tobacco!

    Then, once this "other" driver sold insurance to everyone in the church he moved on to another place of worship. This boy had been a Baptist, a Methodist, a Mormon, a Church of God member, a Holiness, you name it and he had been one.

    Visit any Baptist church in Tennessee or Kentucky and ask if any of those folks sip a little Home Brew (Whiskey) now and then.

    I don't see where smoking a cigar, pipe, cigarette or chewing a plug is going to send anyone to hell. It might not help ones testimony but then again..., some ex-Hell's Angels now ride proclaiming the Gospel to other bikers.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2010
    Messages:
    33,376
    Likes Received:
    1,568
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Well..... its called legalism.....or the retentivenessSneaky as in (anal) of the need to be correct with everything humans do in life. It could drive ya nuts if ya let it, so dont let it!Biggrin
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. HAMel

    HAMel Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    2,099
    Likes Received:
    96
    Faith:
    Baptist
    EW&F, "retentiveness". I like that. Yep, you're right on target.

    They can spot a speck in another's eye but fail to notice the beam in their own eye.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  5. Rolfe

    Rolfe Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 17, 2014
    Messages:
    6,898
    Likes Received:
    638
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Nothing like a Gran Habano Gran Reserva 2010 with a Mike's Lemonade...

    *laugh*
     
    • Like Like x 2
  6. Rolfe

    Rolfe Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 17, 2014
    Messages:
    6,898
    Likes Received:
    638
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Just realized how appropriate my avatar is to this thread. :)
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  7. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2010
    Messages:
    33,376
    Likes Received:
    1,568
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Brother, I just calls dem as I see's dem. Sneaky
     
  8. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2010
    Messages:
    33,376
    Likes Received:
    1,568
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Ahhh ......I prefer them with 12 yr old single malt scotch..
     
  9. TCassidy

    TCassidy Late-Administator Emeritus
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    20,080
    Likes Received:
    3,490
    Faith:
    Baptist
    It would depend on what your church covenant says. The boiler plate baptist church covenant usually says something like:

    However, newer revisions started to show up back in the 1960s that include the words:
    So, it seems it is up to the church covenant you agreed to when you joined the church. If it doesn't mention it then you should be free to exercise your Christian liberty. If it does mention it you are bound by your agreement to the church covenant as long as you remain a member. If what you want to do violates the church covenant you should find a different church. And this time read the covenant you are agreeing to before joining. :)
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  10. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,013
    Likes Received:
    3,649
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Where are these churches?
     
  11. Alcott

    Alcott Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2002
    Messages:
    9,404
    Likes Received:
    353
    Faith:
    Baptist
    This thread appears on a weekend in which I have been considering pipe smoking once again. Cigars and pipe smoking seem to be related in the "how harmful" sense, going back, at least, to the well-known-- perhaps exalted-- surgeon general's report of 1964. Since that report so largely linked cigarettes with health hazards, primarily cancer-- with that very intention, which has always cast doubt on its scientific objectivity-- it does not say a lot about cigars and pipe smoking. It does mention them on pages 92 and 112 (? as I'm going from memory), and it says there is very little difference in longevity between pipe smoker and nonsmokers, and even goes so far as to indicate that pipe smokers who 'don't inhale' even have a longer expected longevity than nonsmokers. So it's little wonder that for years it was cigarettes which got all the flak, requiring warnings and limiting their advertising, et al. It wasn't until the 80's and 90's that other forms of smoking, and smokeless tobaccos, started getting similar restrictions as cigarettes.

    During that time, I bucked the trend toward cigarettes (though I did smoke a few) and, at my high school, the snuff fad, particularly the promoted Skoal and Copenhagen brands, and I went for pipe smoking. One reason, I knew, was because of its association with sailors and navigation (sea novels and movies were my favorites), as well as with deep thinkers, such as Einstein, and Fred MacMurray and his character on one of my favorite shows, My Three Sons. It seemed to fit my calm, laid-back approach, which I now know is defined as a "type B personality."

    And I think that may be what really differentiates pipe smokers from cigarette smokers, who tend more toward type A personalities. That means it is probably other factors that make the difference in health problems and longevity; smoking being only one factor, while anxiety and stress play a bigger role, and cause a type A to crave many quick fixes, and thus to have many smokes and to inhale..

    Nevertheless, smoking, while it seems to be a stress reducer, is a stimulant.And between the ages of 16 and 23 I was hooked on smoking surely as much as if I smoked cigarettes. Once I did quit for about 6 months, then a deep disappointment seemed to lower that shield I had put up (because I let it), and it was as if I had not quit. One bowl full destroyed my resistance. About 10 years ago I went through something similar to what I have now-- I played with the idea that it wouldn't be the same and I could just smoke once a day, as in my 'unwinding' time when I get home from work. And, of course, if we continue to entertain a vice that no one is going to stop us from, we'll eventually do it.So I did it, and it really wasn't the same. But I quickly went to cigars and cigarillos, as if pipe smoking didn't satisfy any more, and that was what proved hard to stop.

    So I don't know what triggers these rather sudden reversions, which come only rarely, but if I let them in, they can rekindle old addictions, sometimes in surprising ways. I may have to just deal with it again.
     
  12. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,013
    Likes Received:
    3,649
    Faith:
    Baptist
    As a former smoker I can say that lighting something on fire and intentionally inhaling the smoke from it is just plain. Dumb.
     
    • Like Like x 3
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
  13. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    33,287
    Likes Received:
    3,547
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Evan, since you are in Colorado, have you notices this Issue (drinking and smoking) extending to prohibiting or allowing marijuana?
     
  14. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I'm trying to figure that out as well.

    Could they be the churches with tract walls? The ones that don't have outreach programs? Or the ones that don't preach repentance and use the Law when evangelizing?

    Sent from my Motorola Droid Turbo using Tapatalk.
     
  15. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,013
    Likes Received:
    3,649
    Faith:
    Baptist
    We have a track cart. We preach repentance (because it is scriptural). We do not enforce no smoking.
     
  16. Rolfe

    Rolfe Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 17, 2014
    Messages:
    6,898
    Likes Received:
    638
    Faith:
    Baptist
    • Like Like x 1
  17. padredurand

    padredurand Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2004
    Messages:
    4,541
    Likes Received:
    102
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Sixteen posts about cigars and nobody mentioned Spurgeon? :eek:

    "
    The matter was widely discussed both in the newspapers and in private circles; and as the phrase "smoking to the glory of God" became associated with his name, Spurgeon addressed a letter to The Daily Telegraph with a view of scattering any misapprehension which might arise. The pastor of the Tabernacle wrote:

    "I demur altogether and most positively to the statement that to smoke tobacco is in itself a sin. It may become so, as any other indifferent action may, but as an action it is no sin. Together with hundreds of thousands of my follow-Christians I have smoked, and, with them, I am under the condemnation of living in habitual sin, if certain accusers are to be believed. As I would not knowingly live even in the smallest violation of the law of God, and sin in the transgression of the law, I will not own to sin when I am not conscious of it."

    "There is growing up in society a Pharisaic system which adds to the commands of God the precepts of men; to that system I will not yield for an hour. The preservation of my liberty may bring upon me the upbraidings of many good men, and the sneers of the self-righteous; but I shall endure both with serenity so long as I feel clear in my conscience before God. The expression 'smoking to the glory of God' standing alone has an ill sound, and I do not justify it; but in the sense in which I employed it I still stand to it. No Christian should do anything in which he cannot glorify God; and this may be done, according to Scripture, in eating and drinking and the common actions of life."

    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name; this is what I meant, and by no means did I use sacred words triflingly. If through smoking I had wasted an hour of my time—if I had stinted my gifts to the poor—if I had rendered my mind less vigorous—I trust I should see my fault and turn from it; but he who charges me with these things shall have no answer but my forgiveness."

    Source
     
  18. HAMel

    HAMel Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2009
    Messages:
    2,099
    Likes Received:
    96
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Some are most definitely in a society of a Pharisaic system adding to the commands of God the precepts of men. Right On Target. How true, how true.
     
  19. blessedwife318

    blessedwife318 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2014
    Messages:
    2,358
    Likes Received:
    445
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I used to live in CO before moving to AZ and I found it ironic that the same group that worked so hard to de facto outlaw smoking everywhere but your own home in CO, also worked so hard to make smoking marijuana legal. Its a strange state in many many ways. Now I have always been one that if someone wants to give themselves lung cancer they could do so,(I actually was quite opposed to the smoking ban in public in CO, since I felt it was a slippery slope to banning other things but that's another topic).

    On the other hand I've also been one that if you join an organization with rules about XYZ you shouldn't complain about not being able to do XYZ after the fact. For example when I was in Bible college there was a rule that we could only watch G rated movies. So for the time I was there I only watched G rated movies, I knew the rule before I went there, and still made the choice to go there meaning I made the choice to be under that rule. The same goes with churches with covenants, if you join you are choice to put your self under that authority. I think the issue here is ecclesiology and how one views authority that we put ourself under.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Useful Useful x 1
  20. JonC

    JonC Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2001
    Messages:
    33,287
    Likes Received:
    3,547
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Decades ago I smoked. I suppose I had gotten used to walking through those smoke clouds others produced because only as smoking is growing less and less a public activity have I come to recognize it's effect on others. It is odd because I remember when an ash tray was central on all restaurant tables, and now I don't think I could eat in a diner that allowed smoking.

    Your comment with church covenants (and bylaws...I'd add) is spot on. My last pastor explained to me that interpreted the qualification for a deacon to be against polygamy but our bylaws interpreted it as divorce. He respected the qualifications set forth in the bylaws, although he disagreed with the reasoning. There are few things more damaging to a church...or a marriage for that matter...than someone who joins in that relationship with the intent on changing it to their preferences. I can't help but see a level of dishonestly in that.
     
Loading...