Can Christians Smoke Cigarettes?

[Claudya]

Yes christians should smoke. The more you smoke, the sooner you will meet your maker. And wanting to meet Him is a very christian thing, right?

:shades

Seriously, what's with all those "should a christian have tattoos/ smoke" threads? There are more pressing matters for us in this world than that.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Yes christians should smoke. The more you smoke, the sooner you will meet your maker. And wanting to meet Him is a very christian thing, right?

:shades

Seriously, what's with all those "should a christian have tattoos/ smoke" threads? There are more pressing matters for us in this world than that.

Then you should start a more pressing matter thread.

 

[Claudya]

Yes christians should smoke. The more you smoke, the sooner you will meet your maker. And wanting to meet Him is a very christian thing, right?

:shades

Seriously, what's with all those "should a christian have tattoos/ smoke" threads? There are more pressing matters for us in this world than that.

Then you should start a more pressing matter thread.

I would, but I'm too shy to start threads. :-(

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

Yes christians should smoke. The more you smoke, the sooner you will meet your maker. And wanting to meet Him is a very christian thing, right?

:shades

Seriously, what's with all those "should a christian have tattoos/ smoke" threads? There are more pressing matters for us in this world than that.

Then you should start a more pressing matter thread.

I would, but I'm too shy to start threads. :-(

C'mon!
I bet there's a lot of good stuff on your mind we can talk about.

How about:

"Drawing closer to God"
"Morality"
"Conceptions of God"
"Practical solutions to life's problems"
"Worldly and spiritual virtues"
"Forgiveness"
"Is Christianity hard or easy?"


Just to name a few.....

 

[Claudya]

Its like if someone if someone sees a preacher with a cig in there mouth at church they would run and people are going to judge and be like... 'This guy is a sinner!!!', and people judge, yet knowone is perfect, and im sure every single person has something hidden even the strongest of faith.

Hehe when I was still an agnostic atheist I thought all christians I met were weird... they didn't smoke, they didn't drink, they never made sex jokes... weird people. But then I met a female pastor that smoked like a chimney and was a champion drinker. I was like "My gosh some christians are normal people after all!" That helped open my mind towards christianity. So that drinking and smoking lady pastor was the perfect witness I needed at that time.
Kiwi, you are right we aren't perfect. But sometimes our imperfection is just perfect for God, He can make all those seemingly imperfect things in us work for His glory.

 

[King James]

Under the body is your temple, smoking isn't any different than drugs or alcohol, or eating unhealthily and being overweight. Being on 10 different psych and pain meds is also using drugs. It doesn't matter that a doctor gave them to you. The original question. Can you be a Christian and smoke? Yes. You should know that it is bad and try to stop eventually. I remember these judgmental Christian guys at my work shaking their heads in judgment over one of their fellow Christians smoking saying how he couldn't be a real Christian if he smokes. In the meantime one of them was at least 50lbs overweight begging for a heart attack. In present day, the one that smoked has successfully stopped, while the overweight one hasn't lost a pound.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Hehe when I was still an agnostic atheist I thought all christians I met were weird... they didn't smoke, they didn't drink, they never made sex jokes... weird people. But then I met a female pastor that smoked like a chimney and was a champion drinker. I was like "My gosh some christians are normal people after all!" That helped open my mind towards christianity.

Sadly, what that does is misrepresent Christianity, and adds converts to that particular brand of Christianity. Speaking generally, of course.

Smoking is a lousy witness. It does one of two things: It repels people from the faith, or it creates converts who approve of that behavior in the church which propagates that poor witness to the world.

Personally, I think the second thing is the worst of the two. At least people who reject the faith because of the lack of discipline (or whatever) of people they see in the church still have a chance somewhere down the road to be led into the faith by more sincere, faithful, disciplined believers. But those who come into the church with an undisciplined concept of obedience to God will only end up misrepresenting the faith themselves and make the problem of leaven in the church worse, not better.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Under the body is your temple, smoking isn't any different than drugs or alcohol, or eating unhealthily and being overweight. Being on 10 different psych and pain meds is also using drugs. It doesn't matter that a doctor gave them to you. The original question. Can you be a Christian and smoke? Yes. You should know that it is bad and try to stop eventually. I remember these judgmental Christian guys at my work shaking their heads in judgment over one of their fellow Christians smoking saying how he couldn't be a real Christian if he smokes. In the meantime one of them was at least 50lbs overweight begging for a heart attack. In present day, the one that smoked has successfully stopped, while the overweight one hasn't lost a pound.

Yes, how do you love God with all your heart, body, mind, and soul when you can't even scale a flight of stairs because of smoking.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Seriously, what's with all those "should a christian have tattoos/ smoke" threads? There are more pressing matters for us in this world than that.

I disagree completely.

A dumb downed, compromised church is an ineffective church. It may be the most disheartening thing I see in the church today. Jesus designed to church to build itself up as we each do our part (Ephesians 4 somewhere). But when so many people are unequipped to do their part because of worldliness and compromise we all suffer.

 

[Rollo Tamasi]

I'm into polls these days.

What can I come up with next?.....

 

[Claudya]

I disagree completely.

A dumb downed, compromised church is an ineffective church. It may be the most disheartening thing I see in the church today. Jesus designed to church to build itself up as we each do our part (Ephesians 4 somewhere). But when so many people are unequipped to do their part because of worldliness and compromise we all suffer.

I understand what you mean. Yet there are two ways the church can fail, one is becoming compromised and watered down. The other danger is following the letters of the Bible rather than a living God, being legaistic and too obsessed with details and missing the great whole, becoming stagnant and pharisee-ish. So there's a liberal cliff (that's where I'm probably close to falling down) and a legalistic cliff just as deadly.

 

[Skillet]

I think Christians shouldn't smoke because it says in the Bible your body is like a holy temple of God. You'd put so much bad stuff into the temple.

One alternative for smoking which I think is fine though: Electronic cigarettes. Can contain zero nicotine or around 30 if you'd be a heavy smoker, but other than the nicotine they wouldn't contain any bad stuff

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I'm into polls these days.

What can I come up with next?.....

Take a poll to see how many people like polls.


...or, poll to see who thinks it's a sin to twerk.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I disagree completely.

A dumb downed, compromised church is an ineffective church. It may be the most disheartening thing I see in the church today. Jesus designed to church to build itself up as we each do our part (Ephesians 4 somewhere). But when so many people are unequipped to do their part because of worldliness and compromise we all suffer.

I understand what you mean. Yet there are two ways the church can fail, one is becoming compromised and watered down. The other danger is following the letters of the Bible rather than a living God, being legaistic and too obsessed with details and missing the great whole, becoming stagnant and pharisee-ish. So there's a liberal cliff (that's where I'm probably close to falling down) and a legalistic cliff just as deadly.

Would you believe that I come across as irreverent to the reverent crowd?

I'm not the conservative legalist some suggest I am in this forum. I'm really not.

 

[farouk]

I'm into polls these days.

What can I come up with next?.....

[MENTION=92945]allenwynne[/MENTION]: Well, you've already 'done' cigarettes, and if it's a another poll about tattoos that you're considering, these already exist and the mods will think any more will be too many!...

Blessings.

 

[evenifigoalone]

I agree with the majority here--it's bad for you, but it doesn't make you unChristian. Not much more to say, is there?

 

[evenifigoalone]

When we point out to people that smoking is harmful to our health, we must also remember that Monosodiumglutamate (MSG), high fructose corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated oils have all proven to produce cancer cells and a slew of other health problems.
Have you eliminated these products from your diet?
Have you shared the health issues with others?

True enough.
To be fair, though, government mandates make it hard. Almost everything you buy at the grocery store other than fruit or meat have corn syrup as a major ingredient. Even most yogurt.
Companies have to spend more to avoid using corn syrup, and if I remember correctly this is because of a government mandate. We don't have a free market and haven't for a long time.

 

[farouk]

I agree with the majority here--it's bad for you, but it doesn't make you unChristian. Not much more to say, is there?

[MENTION=89910]questdriven[/MENTION]:

Maybe not; except that among legalists not smoking has become almost 'the fourth member of the Trinity'. Whereas there need to be a clear distinction between doctrine and practice; much of the latter is cultural.

Blessings.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Most of the people I know who are a little legalistic have a relaxed attitude on smoking. Some of them were former smokers themselves.

 

[farouk]

Most of the people I know who are a little legalistic have a relaxed attitude on smoking. Some of them were former smokers themselves.

[MENTION=89910]questdriven[/MENTION]:

Well, a wise observation there!

I guess, like Heinz Beans, there are 57 varieties of smokers and legalists.

Blessings.