Despite being a committed smoker, I do believe smoking is a sin, and here's why: "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). We are trying to serve two Masters as Christians who smoke (our addiction and God). I have asked myself if what I would choose if I only had the options of either smoking or being with God (church attendance, bible study, prayer and worship). I would like to think that I would choose God but the power of this addiction makes me unsure.
"You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). Smoking is a priority in my life. It controls my thoughts and actions. I would do whatever I needed to do in order to be able to smoke. I have bought cigarettes on credit, even though I didn't have the money or the money was needed elsewhere. I'm really ashamed to admit that but it's the truth. I would most likely purchase cigarettes instead of Tithing or giving back to God if it came down to that.
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). I am certainly not treating my body as a temple by polluting it daily with a substance that is hurting it. There are no physical benefits to smoking. I am destroying my temple one puff at a time.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2). I am not offering my body as a sacrifice to God. I am offering my body instead to this addiction. I know that what I am doing to my body is not pleasing to God. The popular phrase "What would Jesus do?" has sort of become cliché but I know that Jesus would not have smoked.
"Avoid every kind of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22). I'm not avoiding this evil. I am participating and indulging in it. Evil is defined as anything that is not of God. Addiction and abuse of my self is definitely not from God. There are several other verses in the Bible that talk about smoking although none which call it by name. Smoking is a sin; I know it is but that knowledge does absolutely nothing to force me to stop.  |