Featured Smoking Cigar's

What I heard is old Chuck quit his tobacco because one day he came to a town where he was supposed to hold an evangelistic meeting, looked up, and saw a big face of him on a billboard, with a cigar between his teeth, and the caption, "smoke (name of cigar), the brand Charles Spurgeons love", or something to that effect.
lol.
Should be enough to make somebody with a conscience quit.
That said, no, a tobacco habit, whether it be a cigarillo, a cigarette, a cigar, or a pipe is not a sin.
Consuming alcohol is not a sin, either.
BUT, alcohol can make one look and act and talk like a fool, when excessive.
I remembered one instance, I was working as a quartermaster in an inter-island tugboat in the Philippines, and we were docked waiting for the barges we were towing to be loaded, we went to town, drank from dusk till dawn, and somewhere near dawn, our chief mate went missing, and I was told to look for him.
Found him laying on a ditch, smelling to high heavens, from his mouth and his behind, and he was demanding to be told why there were three moons "up there".
We took him home to the tug, stripped him buck naked on the prow, took his wallet and money from his pants' pockets, took a rope and looped it around him, the armpit area, tightened it so he doesn't slip into the water, and washed his filthy behind by dipping him five times into the sea, half-expecting him to miss a leg each time we pulled him up, because hammerheads abounded in that area.

 

I have a question. If one is anti abortion the prevailing opinion is one is prolife. You are saying to be prolife one has to be pro birth control. How do you reach that conclusion?

I can not reach that conclusion through Christian ethics. One must take the position that which has the power to be already is. That comes from Aristotle and not historic Christianity. If one changes (the pill, no conception, nothing ever was resultant) the game to that notion, how can we say that which never was is still presently is. There seems to be a disconnect. How you make a case for if there is no conception something is still abortion. The Roman doctrine is total abstaining from intercourse. I am sure they must explain in similar manner

I wish planned Parenthood would abandon abortion but in areas planning parenthood they so a good job and circumvent the need for abortion. This confuses me. Thx

 

Uh PP never works to circumvent the need for abortion. It is their whole reason for existence. Second it matters not what else they do good (if that were even the case) when one slaughters unborn children handing out condemns does not make up for it.

 

When I was kid in the 1960s, it seemed like most of the preachers smoked. Maybe most of them were World War II vets. Seems I remember some veterans saying that is when they got started smoking. They may have even said that the army supplied cigarettes to the soldiers for free. Anyone know?

I don't like smoking or the smoke of someone else blown in my face. But I think this is an area we have largely been influenced by culture rather than the Bible. Back when "everyone" smoked I don't recall many folks making a biblical argument against it. But when it became politically incorrect to smoke we all got on that bandwagon. In the 1960s preachers that smoked were held in high esteem. Today a minister might run off with his church secretary and be able to stay in the ministry, but could not in many places be a pastor if he smokes.

Now, I don't want to go back to the former days of smoke. But we also need some introspection on how we were driven to the position we hold.

 

Abortion ?

IMO ~ a person in the womb does not yet have a living soul. Their "life" is dependent upon the blood of the mother, (not their own), via the placenta.

Gen.9
[4] But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof...

However, the BODY of the baby in the womb, is in the process of being FORMED "by God".

So, the decision to ABORT the baby, is a decision the individual makes to disrupt what Gods hand is doing.
It matters not, what others like or dislike about the decision, because the blessings or lack thereof AND the consequences befall the individual who makes the decision, and follows through to ABORT.

The beauty of Gods WAY, is individual choices and the individuals responsibility and consequence.

The corruption of Mans WAY, is FORCING individuals to PAY for things, THEY are adamantly AGAINST.

IF an individual chooses to:
Abort, (killing a forming body) Support War, (war bonds) Participate in War, (enlist, not draft) Smoke, (whatever) Drink excessively, Kill, Murder, Rape, Steal, Lie, Cheat...
etc. so be it. IF those such acts INFRINGE on an others LIBERTY, <--- that is the purpose of LAW, to provide a viable and EFFECTIVE consequence and reparation FOR the injured party, (not the government who makes decisions regarding the dispute and not the generational offspring of the party.)

IF an individual chooses a STANCE against such things, being FORCED to condone it or participate in it, (physically or financially), <---that IMO IS corrupt.

 

Profoundly and completely disagree.

 

Smoking ? ~

I could care less who smokes or what they smoke.
However, smoke is a substance that fills the air we breath, as is exhausts and other things released into the air.

Banning of smoking in Government buildings, "their business" to control within their "jurisdiction".
Banning of smoking in PRIVATELY owned buildings, whether or not the Public has access, should IMO, be a decision of the Building OWNER, not the government.

We have zero expectation to privacy. Everyone (including the government) pry's, into other people's business, through an extensive network of means to obtain information about others. And IFY, information gathering for the most part is for a hopeful use against people. And IFY, the government is the largest collector of information on individuals. Pfft ~

The 4th Amendment is not a protection for citizens, but rather a legal limit for the government to adhere to and one such government limit that has been abused, ignored and walked on for eons!

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

 

Blood is the life of the body. The body is formed by God in the womb. The body in the process of being formed is reliant on the mothers blood, not it's own blood (bodily life source). The body once formed, receives the breath of life from God. (ie a living soul). It is the breath of God, that brings the body into LIVING. It is the body's blood that maintains the LIFE of the body. It is Gods breath that maintains the life of the soul. Take away the blood from the body, the body dies. The soul maintains it life, from Gods breath, (until such time) (ie the Lord removes LIFE from the SOUL), which shall be the case for those whose soul was not forgiven and restored (ie saved).

Life given us is much more than blood. All are given a life source from God called a soul. And for those WHO, submit to God in faithfulness, they also receive an eternal life source from Gods seed, called an eternal "spirit", that shall never experience death ( physical death or spiritual death) <--- ie separation from God.

Your profound and complete disagreement is not with me, but rather with Gods own teaching and medical proofs concerning the life source during a baby's formation within the womb.

The placenta is the organ that develops and implants in the mother's womb (uterus) during pregnancy. ... All the necessary nutrition, oxygen, and life support from the mother's blood goes through the placenta and to the baby through blood vessels in the umbilical cord.
Blood Circulation in the Fetus and Newborn - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center

Lev.17
[11] For the life of the flesh is in the blood:

Gen 2
[7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground

Isa.44
[2] Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb,

Gen 2
...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Ezek.18
[31] Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit:

 

Who are you responding to? No one has brought up smoking rights inside of buildings.

 

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb.

 

I did, and commented. So what? Smoking is per ones choice, where one can smoke is being limited, even to the point of an individuals own personal property.

 

Yes he was, and information given us tells us why, and does not proclaim that what was particular to him, is the same for others.

 

Already did.

God formed Adam - formED indicating the BODY was completed, but not yet brought into its own independent living state.

God THEN - gave that form (BODY), LIFE, via His breath. Thus it is the BLOOD of BODY, that IS the LIFE "OF" the BODY, (as Scripture I gave states) and the breath of God, that is the LIFE "OF" of the soul, (as Scripture I gave states).

Perhaps you believe a baby in the womb BREATHES (inhales and exhales), and capable of receiving the breath of life from God, BEFORE it is competed forming. I don't. Scripture does not support that theory, and neither does science.

The point of anyone breathing is to obtain oxygen, and a baby in the womb is dependent upon the mothers blood, via oxygen in the placenta to sustain the baby DURING formation.

I have given Scripture to support what "I" trust, but I can not understand it "FOR YOU".

You may certainly counter what I have said, with Scripture that states a person in the womb DOES have a soul.

 

Jeremiah 1
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

What is someone's inmost being if not the soul?

 

Have never noticed before that Adam was in the womb!!

 

That has been my position, too-- that smoking was quite acceptable until the 1960's-early 70's when measures began to be taken to forbid it in public places (enclosed public places at that time). And then the Bible started to be used to push this anti-smoking movement further. There were, of course, venues in which smoking had never been acceptable, at least in most cases-- in church, in a courtroom, and in schools janitors had to smoke outside or in the broom closet. I do remember in 1969, at 10 years old and a new Christian, I went to to an RA (Royal Ambassadors) camp at a local lake, and they showed an anti-smoking film with depictions of rotten lungs and a man who defended smoking, saying he was in good health at age 45, but when he caught his teenage son smoking he jumped on him about it. The son expectedly reminded his dad of his support of smoking-- for himself-- and the dad replied, "Yes-- but I didn't start when I was fourteen!" I was naive about business, being a working class kid, so I asked this older guy I came with why, if cigarettes are so bad, do they make them. This future CPA said "They do it to make money," which I did not think could be so bad So all in all, what little impression that film made turned out to be almost nothing, except that I avoided cigarettes, which so many of my peers smoked, and went for a pipe when I was 16.

It seemed to be then that I started hearing the Bible being invoked in the issue. At school there was an attempt to begin a smoking room for students because the restroom could become so smoke-filled between classes. A member of my church wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper against this proposition, and quoting the Bible about the body being the temple. I had become an avid reader of the Bible by then, and my 'research' showed that "your" in your body is plural, so it means the assembly of believers, not an individual's body-- so I had my argument if one was needed. Then a year or so later that same woman who wrote the letter came with another to visit my mother, and they sat in the living room, where my pipe and tobacco were on the coffee table. My mom mentioned that, saying she would have hidden them if she had known they were coming. But I was glad she came and saw them there-- I guess we are all at least a little rebellious as teens. This lady later took a job in a drug store, and as I understand she refused to sell tobacco products to customers, and the store always got someone else to do that when she was asked. Now, stores typically don't so the same thing for those who do not wish to sell birth control products, or other things.

But yes, the church followed, rather than led, in the anti-smoking movement. Really, a similar conclusion can be said about other public issues, such as race relations. Only when change has begun and more is inevitable were there lessons and sermons on the subjects. Were churches trying to put in their bids for the spoils? Maybe. Many churches, of course, are still doing this with 'gender identification' and such stuff.

 

In South Vietnam we ate the left over C Rations from WW II and in every meal was a mini-pack or for or five cigarettes of one of the major brands. But my 20 pack of Pall Mall were much fresher.

 

Hello Happy, haven't seen you for some time. You need to get yourself up tp speed on both scripture and on the facts about that Baby in the womb. No abortion is ever performed before 10 weeks and at that time the Child has ten little fingers and ten tiny toes and I seem to recall that at this point the heart is beating and often has a different Blood Type, making it impossible for the two blood groups to inter mingle. And scientists have also tested for Brain Activity, either at or just after this point and the child is thinking, already.