Smoking

[PhatCat]

I have a question for both the KJVers and the MVers. And I would like you to back your answer up with Scripture, although I know you can't literally.

What about smoking? It is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture, not even a remotely vague description of something similar.

Many say that smoking is bad for your health, so they make a "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" argument, but many say that smoking is not bad for you. May I point out those many, many people who have smoked for 4 or 5 decades, yet have no health problems and x-rays show lungs clear as crystal.

How can you prove that smiking is bad for you? Certainly Scripture is silent on the subject. The only verses you can use only INFER that smoking mught be included in the list of no-no's for the Christian.

Please post not only your opinions/convictions but any Scripture you might use to back your position. I am trying to see how folks come to the answers they do, as there would be a similarity to how they came to their convictions/preferences about which version they use.(In other words, this is a comparative phrenic/psychologic study for me, aside from the spiritual)

Thank you

 

[npetreley]

Originally posted by PhatCat:
Many say that smoking is bad for your health, so they make a "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" argument, but many say that smoking is not bad for you. May I point out those many, many people who have smoked for 4 or 5 decades, yet have no health problems and x-rays show lungs clear as crystal.

Whether or not smoking is bad for you has nothing whatsoever to do with the verse about the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. That verse, in context, is referring ONLY to sexual immorality. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how well we take care of our bodies, whether "not taking care of our bodies" includes smoking, eating sugary foods, or whatever.

 

[Petrel]

Originally posted by PhatCat:
Many say that smoking is bad for your health, so they make a "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" argument, but many say that smoking is not bad for you. May I point out those many, many people who have smoked for 4 or 5 decades, yet have no health problems and x-rays show lungs clear as crystal.

Smoking can reasonably be expected to adversely affect your health and shorten your life span. Smokers have an average life span several years shorter than nonsmokers.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

This is not a version debate and is therefore being moved to General Discussions

 

[PhatCat]

Originally posted by C4K:
This is not a version debate and is therefore being moved to General Discussions

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Please post not only your opinions/convictions but any Scripture you might use to back your position. I am trying to see how folks come to the answers they do, as there would be a similarity to how they came to their convictions/preferences about which version they use.(In other words, this is a comparative phrenic/psychologic study for me, aside from the spiritual)

 

[webdog]

If you are addicted to nicotene and smoking, it would be sin. An occasional cigar? I don't think it can be classified as "sin" unless you have a problem with nicotene. This is similar to the alcohol argument.

 

[Andy T.]

Is it just me, or does the OP appear to be looking for a license to smoke? If you want to smoke, go right ahead and put your body (and wallet) in peril. Oh, and please don't do it around me, because I think it is disgusting. Second-hand smoke is one of the most vile things I have to encounter. And the addictive nature of nicotine is incredible. I live in a rural area with low to moderate incomes, and at my kids' baseball games I see all these parents just throwing away their money and health for their smokes. It's sad.

Scripture? No, there is no Scripture that says, "Thou shall not smoke." But smoking is an incredibly unwise thing to do, and Scripture has plenty to say about wisdom.

 

[gtbuzzarp]

Originally posted by npetreley:
Whether or not smoking is bad for you has nothing whatsoever to do with the verse about the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. That verse, in context, is referring ONLY to sexual immorality. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how well we take care of our bodies,

I don't agree, but I can see how one would come to that conclusion. The entire context of the passage is not ONLY talking about sexual immorality. I think the verses preceeding and the verse following verses 17-19 mean it applies to not just sexual immorality. I could be mistaken, but didn't the Corinthian church have a particular problem with sexual sin, hence the need for particularly mentioning sexual immorality?

But I think verse 20 clarifies any doubt. We clearly do not glorify God when we are addicted to anything, whether it be tobacco, alcohol, or chocolate, because we are relying on those things to give us comfort, etc, rather than God.

Even if it is referring to only sexual immorality, the application is much more general than that. If I think about my body being a temple of God, then sexual immorality should not be the only thing I flee from. It can't be only a "temple" in regard to sexual immorality, that makes no sense.

I despise smoking but I think there are other things, such as gluttony, that deserve equal treatment. If you reach for a tub of ice cream, cigarette, Jim Beam, hohos, whatever, before your Bible, or before "hitting your knees" then
it is not glorifying to God. We all do it from time to time, but there are those who rely on those things on a consistent basis, instead of God.

1 Corinthians 6 (NASB)

12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be!

16Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH."

17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

 

[standingfirminChrist]

No scripture to show smoking in the Bible? Not even Genesis 24:64 when Rebekkah lit off her camel?

Seriously, there is no real verse, unless one looks at 1 Corinthians chapters 3 and 6 where Paul says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

I believe we are to take good care of our bodies. The Bible mentions in 1 Corinthians 4 that we are to be faithful stewards. I believe that faithful stewards applies to taking care of our body. The Greek is translated as 'house distributer, an overseer.' I believe that means we are to be attentive to that which we put in our bodies that will destroy them.

 

[Trotter]

Smoking doesn't send you to hell, it jsut makes you smell like you've been there. ~Steve Brown of KeyLife Ministries

In Christ,
Trotter

 

[Andy T.]

Originally posted by Trotter:
Smoking doesn't send you to hell, it jsut makes you smell like you've been there. ~Steve Brown of KeyLife Ministries

In Christ,
Trotter

That is hilarious! And so true.

 

[donnA]

A lot of things in life are not mentioned in scripture. But we must take what we learn from scripture and wisely apply them to our lives, even in situations that are not mentioned in scripture, like smoking.
I think to be good stewarts of our bodies we need to take care of them as best we can. Smoking is of no benefit at all to the human body, and nicotine is even a drug that we become dependant on.

 

[Shiloh]

May I point out those many, many people who have smoked for 4 or 5 decades, yet have no health problems and x-rays show lungs clear as crystal.
by fat cat
------------------------------------------------
FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE and FALSE

 

[Hope of Glory]

Oh, those people do exist. It's just that they're the exception and not the rule.

 

[Shiloh]

Dear Friend, NO HUMAN BEING THAT HAS SMOKED FOR 50 YEARS HAS CRYSTAL CLEAR LUNGS!

 

[pinoybaptist]

Originally posted by Shiloh:
by fat cat
------------------------------------------------
FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE and FALSE

True True True True True and True and Truly False.

 

[Gershom]

Originally posted by PhatCat:
May I point out those many, many people who have smoked for 4 or 5 decades, yet have no health problems and x-rays show lungs clear as crystal.

X-rays show up clear as crystal because there's nothing left.

 

[gtbuzzarp]

I don't smoke, but if you smoke a cigar or pipe you don't inhale, correct?

So the worst that would happen is perhaps gum disease and nasty yellow teeth, right? (that may be over simplyfying it a bit)

If cigar mfg's were smart, they would have a picture of George Burns on every pack with his smoking statistics.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I believe that if we live our lives the way God intended for us to live - ie eat right, exercise, refrain from bad habits, etc. we are designed to live long lives - way beyond the 70 years or so average lifespan most people have today.

As a teenager, I watched my Grandfather die a very slow and agonizing death from cigarettes when he contracted emphysemia. He was only given 5 years to live by the doctors, but somehow managed to hang on for 15 years, and to watch him have to carry an oxygen tank with him wherever he went was pitful.

I can honsetly say that after that, I have never had any desire what so ever to pick up a "cancer stick" and take up that vile habit. Smoking doesn't just ruin your lungs, it turns your skin yellow and makes your face have ugly wrinkles with every draw a person takes.

I used to work for a 95 year old lady who never drank or smoked a single day in her life - she still mopped her floors and hung her clothes on the line! Her mind was sharp as a tack, and she was full of vim and vigor and humor! I sure did love her!

 

[standingfirminChrist]

Originally posted by gtbuzzarp:
I don't smoke, but if you smoke a cigar or pipe you don't inhale, correct?

So the worst that would happen is perhaps gum disease and nasty yellow teeth, right? (that may be over simplyfying it a bit)

If cigar mfg's were smart, they would have a picture of George Burns on every pack with his smoking statistics.

From what I have read, Sigmund Freud smoked a pipe. He developed cancer of the jaw and had to have a good portion of his jaw removed because of it, so damage is more than yellow teeth and nasty gums.