Is smoking acceptable for Christians?

[Vee]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate.

Here's two of those principles:
Acts 17: 24, 25 "The God who made the world and all the things in it does not dwell in handmade temples, nor is he served by human hand because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things". Life is a gift and we shouldn't deliberately do things that shorten our lives. Smoking is one of the leading causes of premature death in the world.
Matt. 22:39 "You must love your neighbor as yourself". People who are exposed to second hand smoke have a very high risk of developing the same illness as smokers, sometimes even higher. When we love others we don't expose them to something harmful, like smoking.

Since smoking is this toxic, damaging to the body, filthy habit, I believe Christians who want to live according to bible principles shouldn't smoke.

 

[Lyndon]

in bible times the Israelis smoked rose petals and hashish. i think a lot of those small oil lamps the archeologists find are actually pipes

 

[Sand Dancer]

Well, Christians probably shouldn't get drunk and get tattoos, but they still do. I'd say many smoke but they definitely shouldn't, especially since it's a definite health hazard.

 

[Exaltist Ethan]

Smoking and Christendom isn't like the light and the dark; they aren't mutually inclusive topics. Ultimately what people decide to put in their bodies is their own accord, the best thing we can do is to advocate for them to not start. But risk to health is as important, if not more so, to the atheist than it is towards the Christian. At least in Christianity that premature death leads to Heaven, whereas most atheists believe in nonexistence and have a really good excuse because of it not to smoke. I actually wouldn't be surprised because of this if there's more atheist non-smokers than Christian non-smokers for this very reason, by the demographics and percent that smokes.

 

[PureX]

The ideal, I suppose, would be not to disrespect the gift of being. Of being alive, and human, and able to love and be loved, etc.,. Yet we are born with bodies that disrespect themselves by breaking down, dying, and rotting away. So how strong is this "divine ideal" of respect for life, really?

Which is probably why it's not clearly stated as an ideal by religion, but only sort of hinted at.

 

[Riders]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate.

Here's two of those principles:
Acts 17: 24, 25 "The God who made the world and all the things in it does not dwell in handmade temples, nor is he served by human hand because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things". Life is a gift and we shouldn't deliberately do things that shorten our lives. Smoking is one of the leading causes of premature death in the world.
Matt. 22:39 "You must love your neighbor as yourself". People who are exposed to second hand smoke have a very high risk of developing the same illness as smokers, sometimes even higher. When we love others we don't expose them to something harmful, like smoking.

Since smoking is this toxic, damaging to the body, filthy habit, I believe Christians who want to live according to bible principles shouldn't smoke.

I hink there another scripture also about our bodies being the temple of the Holy GHost.

 

[SalixIncendium]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate.

Here's two of those principles:
Acts 17: 24, 25 "The God who made the world and all the things in it does not dwell in handmade temples, nor is he served by human hand because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things". Life is a gift and we shouldn't deliberately do things that shorten our lives. Smoking is one of the leading causes of premature death in the world.
Matt. 22:39 "You must love your neighbor as yourself". People who are exposed to second hand smoke have a very high risk of developing the same illness as smokers, sometimes even higher. When we love others we don't expose them to something harmful, like smoking.

Since smoking is this toxic, damaging to the body, filthy habit, I believe Christians who want to live according to bible principles shouldn't smoke.

We've determine that you shouldn't smoke based on your interpretation of Scripture. Why can't we just stop there?

Why are some people so concerned about things that others do that don't affect them?

 

[Brickjectivity]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate.

Here's two of those principles:
Acts 17: 24, 25 "The God who made the world and all the things in it does not dwell in handmade temples, nor is he served by human hand because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things". Life is a gift and we shouldn't deliberately do things that shorten our lives. Smoking is one of the leading causes of premature death in the world.
Matt. 22:39 "You must love your neighbor as yourself". People who are exposed to second hand smoke have a very high risk of developing the same illness as smokers, sometimes even higher. When we love others we don't expose them to something harmful, like smoking.

Since smoking is this toxic, damaging to the body, filthy habit, I believe Christians who want to live according to bible principles shouldn't smoke.

[Jas 4:17 NIV] 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.​

So its kind of a sin, unless for some reason smoking is important. Suppose for example that you are smoking for a good purpose? Or maybe everyone in your house smokes, and the only way for you not to smoke is to abandon them and don't want to do that. Obviously you are damaging your health, but maybe there are ways to mitigate that. Maybe you can vape instead or cut back, or hide it in the stairwell?

I know the weakness for cigarettes, and I never would have quit without help. I'd be smoking today, and I'd have older skin and weaker lungs. The time came when I could quit, finally.

Even if you are a smoker here is a nice verse that suggests you can build yourself up holistically. Growth is not like a pyramid where you become perfectly good and then have perfect knowledge and then perfect self control etc. Its more like a wheel where as you improve in one area it will help you in all other areas:

[2Pe 1:5-8 NIV] 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.​

 

[stvdv]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate

Is smoking acceptable for Christians?

I won't speak for God, just my opinion:
Some Christian Priests rape boys and girls. Smoking issue seems tiny compared to that

Not harm others is my first priority

IF they want to smoke I have no problem, as long as they don't harm others with it

 

[Heyo]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate.

Here's two of those principles:
Acts 17: 24, 25 "The God who made the world and all the things in it does not dwell in handmade temples, nor is he served by human hand because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things". Life is a gift and we shouldn't deliberately do things that shorten our lives. Smoking is one of the leading causes of premature death in the world.
Matt. 22:39 "You must love your neighbor as yourself". People who are exposed to second hand smoke have a very high risk of developing the same illness as smokers, sometimes even higher. When we love others we don't expose them to something harmful, like smoking.

Since smoking is this toxic, damaging to the body, filthy habit, I believe Christians who want to live according to bible principles shouldn't smoke.

Burning things and sending the smoke up to the heavens is a tradition older than Christianity, even older than Judaism. Temples of all religions smell of burnt frankincense.
I'm not advocating for smoking but I think you can't construct a case against it from the bible without some serious mental gymnastics. Your second point however, not smoking in the presence of non-smokers is valid.

 

[Glaurung]

You could argue that to take up smoking as a habit is tantamount to a sinful disregard for one's health.

But I don't think you could credibly argue that any and all use of tobacco is sinful. The occasional cigar may still be bad for you, but that doesn't make its consumption a violation of moral law.

 

[Vee]

I hink there another scripture also about our bodies being the temple of the Holy GHost.

There are other scriptures making similar points.

 

[Vee]

Well, Christians probably shouldn't get drunk and get tattoos, but they still do.

true

 

[Vee]

Not harm others is my first priority

IF they want to smoke I have no problem, as long as they don't harm others with it

Fair point, but smokers do harm others, first by polluting the air they breathe - and you have many parents smoking in the car or in the same room as their children, second by the extra cost in medical treatments that all of us have to pay for, either by taxes or higher insurance costs.

 

[stvdv]

Fair point, but smokers do harm others,

first by polluting the air they breathe

and you have many parents smoking in the car or in the same room as their children,

second by the extra cost in medical treatments that all of us have to pay for, either by taxes or higher insurance costs.

1) Compared to industries and cars, planes, buses, trains this is not much of an impact. Mother nature can easily handle this. Plastic, paint, chemicals etc are worse

2) True. I told my parents I don't go in the car if you smoke. I had bronchitis. They were smart and stopped. Both still alife age 85

3) Not a good reason, unless you want a dictatorship being told what to eat, drink and do for recreation

I can give you a food list from here to Tokyo (well a long one) which are detrimental to health.

IF you prohibit cigarettes THEN you must prohibit much more to avoid being hypocritcal.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking but its principles make me believe that smoking is an unhealthy and unclean habit and therefore, inappropriate.

Here's two of those principles:
Acts 17: 24, 25 "The God who made the world and all the things in it does not dwell in handmade temples, nor is he served by human hand because he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things". Life is a gift and we shouldn't deliberately do things that shorten our lives. Smoking is one of the leading causes of premature death in the world.
Matt. 22:39 "You must love your neighbor as yourself". People who are exposed to second hand smoke have a very high risk of developing the same illness as smokers, sometimes even higher. When we love others we don't expose them to something harmful, like smoking.

Since smoking is this toxic, damaging to the body, filthy habit, I believe Christians who want to live according to bible principles shouldn't smoke.

The other side of it is spending money on smoking, rather than the actual consumption.

Smoking isn't a necessity; it's a luxury item. If I were a believer, I'm not sure how I'd be able to square the idea that my wealth has been given by God as a tool to help further his mission with the idea that I should ever "squander" that wealth on making myself more comfortable or indulging my own desires.

Smoking (or at least buying cigarettes) is far from the only thing that this would apply to.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Is smoking acceptable for Christians?

I won't speak for God, just my opinion:
Some Christian Priests rape boys and girls. Smoking issue seems tiny compared to that

Not harm others is my first priority

IF they want to smoke I have no problem, as long as they don't harm others with it

Well, people who don't smoke have had cancers (and died) from working in smoke-filled environments - clubs and bars, for example - with this well-known celebrity in the UK being one:

Tragedy of Roy Castle as he died of lung cancer without ever smoking a cigarette - Mirror Online

And no doubt such was going on for a long time before it was realised that one's own silly habit did affect others.

 

[Vee]

1)
I can give you a food list from here to Tokyo (well a long one) which are detrimental to health.

IF you prohibit cigarettes THEN you must prohibit much more to avoid being hypocritcal.

I wish I could. My dream is to ban bad food.

 

[stvdv]

Well, people who don't smoke have had cancers (and died) from working in smoke-filled environments - clubs and bars, for example - with this well-known celebrity in the UK being one:

Hence I specified it with the red part

IF they want to smoke I have no problem, as long as they don't harm others with it

 

[Vee]

Smoking (or at least buying cigarettes) is far from the only thing that this would apply to.

Agree. Smoking is an example, but the list can be quite long.