Smoking on Church Property

If you can't smoke at church, why smoke at all?

 

Chemical imbalance.

 

Ok.

Smoking is horrible and nasty, and smokers should lock themselves in a closet in their home and smoke in there.

Actually, I'd rather them do it outside away from everyone who doesn't smoke.

 

A room used for smoking will be rendered useless for any other purpose. As someone with allergies and mild asthma, I can recognize if someone has been smoking in a room, even days before. Children are especially sensitive, as well.

I think it is an unconscionable waste of resources to dedicate a room in a church to such a harmful habit.

 

No, no, no, no, no.

Feel free to check notes of mine from Organic Chemistry and Qualitative Analysis: I, II, and III. Even a P-chem lab thrown in. Hard evidence, my friend. My lab partner quit smoking after Organic and Qualanalysis II. Good move on his part.

You might want to retract your statement here. Actual evidence proves otherwise. Name your carcinogen...it's probably airborne.

Is passing by one smoker gonna kill you? Nope.

But constant, repeated exposure to secondhand smoke is harmful. The only dissenters are nicotine addicts and uninformed folks. I sincerely hope you're the latter.

The one fun thing about discouraging smoking at church...you can look at a crowd and say "Get your butts off this property!" and not get in trouble for it.

(yes, I'm just kidding about that line)

 

You goodie boys should be careful about approving of the states' telling you where you cannot smoke; next, it will be where you cannot preach. I say, "light em up"; besides, the cig butts make for better traction on walkways during the bad weather months.

SB

 

Smoking on Church property is disrespectful to our Lord. The ground where one worships in spirit and truth should be regarded as holy.

 

Who here has been extolling the virtues of anti-smoking legislation? Most of us have just said, "I don't want smoking in my church." That has nothing to do with government.

It's nice to see someone encouraging people to destroy the temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

I am assuming you mean the same things most people mean when they say that-- anything harmful to one's physical body is to be considered sinful. But in that quote from scripture, "...your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,..." your is plural [if really correct, it would be "y'all's"]; so it's not the individual body, but the body(sing.) of believers-- the assembly.

Nevertheless, if you still want to argue your same point in spite of the scriptural grammar, the obvious answer is that, while smoking does increase the probabilities of certain diseases, it is no guarantee of producing such diseases. So, there is an inconsistency applied here-- one is less likely to drown if one never swims, less likely to be hurt or killed in an auto wreck if one never drives... but more importantly, less likely to develop certain diseases if one eats no foods high in fat, energy, or cholestrol, even though churches [certainly Baptist churches] have dinners where members deliberately exploit these kinds of foods and joke about eating too much of them.

And as for the "But tobacco smoke contains carcinogens" angle, the Bible does extol the burning of incense, which also has carcinogens, and there's no way that unknown to God.

But in the end, this all comes down to one thing... the arguments against smoking go right along with its popularity; and as its popularity continues to go down, more of these arguments will be used... but it's really about this: I HATE THE SMELL OF SMOKE, SO GET IT AWAY FROM ME!

Even though I hate the smell (and taste) of butter, it's too popular to have a chance of banning it using the high-cholestrol agnle, so I don't try.

 

• I'm bothered by our cavalier attitudes toward other aspects of caring for our bodies. You're right about how we often ignore diet, exercise, etc.
• This is like saying, "investing in a mutual fund is gambling, and so is Russian roulette." It ignores the aspect of wisdom. It is terribly unwise to smoke. The upside is a chemical rush; the downside--the inhalation of toxins, a huge waste of money, an increase in family illness, etc.

• People don't inhale incense for a chemical rush. People don't spend hours inhaling insence. Apples and oranges.

• For me it's twofold: Smoke causes allergic reaction in my wife. It makes her sick. My daughter nearly died at birth. She has asthma, and I've seen it triggered once...in a room where there were several people smoking. So for me, it's about my family's health as much as anything. Believe it if you wish. I'd feel the same if everyone around me smoked, or if 1% around me did. And BTW, as I've gotten older, I've learned that I can deal with smokers without being a jerk. Wish I would have learned that earlier. I hurt my witness several times, and that wasn't necessary. I sincerely try to "speak the truth in love" when I'm asking a smoker to be considerate.

• Keep in mind...there's a huge difference in saying, "we would rather no one smoke at church" and banning in the sense many folks are talking about. I've seen a few instances even in this thread of confusion between restricting it at our own place of worship and asking the government to outlaw it here, there, or everywhere.

 

rbell, I would be one that would support anti-smoking legislation...

If we have to wear seatbelts to protect us... ban the smokes.

I remember growing up, our church was 45 minutes away, and both mom and dad were chain smokers.. We had a 74 chevy pickup, and in the winter months mom was afraid to roll down the windows a little, she was afraid I would get sick.. but both her and dad smoked...

I now have breathing problems, and a Dr. about 10 yrs ago, said that my lungs look like a 50 yr old's lungs... And I haven't smoked a day in my life!
Second hand smoke is dangerous... I have experienced it.

On a side note, my oldest boy is active in RAZE... the organization that is trying to get rid of tobacco use... And I couldn't be prouder...

It had to be a pea brain that was walking along one day, decided to roll up a leaf, and light it, and take a draw...

But it is even a dumber person that still does it, knowing it can cause a person to die..

People realize that suicide is a sin... smoking is suicide in slow motion!

 

Then is "second-hand smoke" alright as long as one does not inhale it and spends only minutes, not hours near it?

 

I am glad that MN passed a smoking ban that goes into affect Oct. 1. Smoke in you cars or homes, but keep it away from me. My dad used to smoke 4 packs a day and I smoked for a short time after high school. The smell of smoke just makes me sick now.

 

Would you not agree that the harmfulness of anything inhaled is based upon three factors:

• The nature of the substance being inhaled (what's in it? What chemicals are being inhaled?), and
• The volume of inhalation (how much is inhaled? How much is in the air to be inhaled?); and
• The degree of exposure (did you ingest this for 5 minutes, or cumulatively 10 years?)

If one is inhaling secondhand smoke, they are ingesting numerous nasty chemicals...1,3 butadiene, lead 210, carbon monoxide, propylene glycol and others. The chemicals I listed are some (they are the ones I remember) that I and others in my class identified as airborne by-products of burning cigarettes (full disclosure: they were not "low-tar" or "low-nicotine" cigs. But by using the "full-strength" sticks, we were able to more readily extract and identify compounds--which allowed our professor to more fully evaluate our quantitative analyses). Nonetheless, as I said earlier...it was enough to make one of my lab partners quit smoking. (good for him! Haven't seen him in years...hope it stuck)

Second hand smoke is not all right, insofar as it is not harmless.

And yes, there are plenty of "not harmless" activities that many Christians participate in (or don't participate in...sedentary lifestyle is one such "not harmless" activity).

However, your eating fried chicken won't directly at that moment harm me. Your lighting up might.

I stand by this: smoking is not wise. We're called to be wise. So even if we don't couch it in terms of "sin," shouldn't we choose what is wiser? Shouldn't we encourage our church folk to do the same?

 

So is incense alright? You condones that by saying people don't inhale it for hours. Is that same thing not true of tobacco smoke?

Perhaps the Israelites should have been "wise" enough to ignore lighting up the carninogens God instructed them to burn and breathe.

 

In defense of the Israelites, the incense they were told to burn may not be the same as the incense people burn today. God would not have told them to breathe something that would be a carcinogen.

 

I'm not getting your point.

• Did the priest burn incense for his own enjoyment?
• What evidence do you have that the OT incense is carcinogenic?
• Incense in many passages represents the prayers of God's people. Are you likening tobacco to this?
• Are you saying that God wanted his people to smoke?
• Exactly how is inhaling tobacco smoke an act of worship?
• Exactly where in scripture is anyone told to "inhale" incense?

I don't see any way to refute my argument that smoking is not wise:

• It is damaging to the smoker's body.
• It is damaging to others' bodies who breathe in the toxins.
• It is a terrible waste of resources (poor stewardship).
• Because it is a destructive habit, those who watch and admire us (our children, our youth, etc.) will be negatively influenced by us.
• It is consuming an addictive substance which ultimately controls us (ask anyone dying of emphysema who still smokes. If you don't know anyone who fits this category, see my uncle. He'll tell ya).

Honestly, I can't see a correlation between Old Testament worship and smoking a cigarette.

 

I've been in churches so legalistic that cigarette smoking is considered to be almost positive proof that someone is surely lost, but then after the service everyone heads downstairs to the church dinner filled with enough fat in the fried chicken and deserts to cause everyones cholesterall level to skyrocket out of the stratosphere.

Everyone talks about how how WONDERFUL the fellowship supper was while the cigarette smokers are thought of the be practically demon possesed because of how they "defile the temple of the Lord".

I am a non-smoker, and I love to give my testimony regarding how God delivered me from them 25 years ago. I encourage everyone willing to listen to quit. But I NEVER make christians who smoke feel like anything less then dearly loved children of God who can still be wonderfully used of God to witness to others and be fruitfull as christians. And I never shun them. They are not lepers.

Mike

 

I know "defile the temple" isn't from the same text, but one of my pet peeves is when people quote 1 Cor 6 in the context of things like smoking.

This is talking strictly about sexual immorality. It has nothing to do with smoking or eating a cheeseburger.