So I brought up the subject of caffeine somewhere else on this board and that was a fun romp. So I thought I would bring up smoking. Tobacco. I had quit for twelve years but with the level of tension in society these days.. we’ll, you know. So at the beginning of the month I go to the convenience store and buy five packs of Camel Crush cigarettes for $55. They last however long they last, that’s it for the month. I so desperately want to develop the virtue of temperance and have one pack a week but I just can’t seem to do it. I’m filled with lust and gluttony and smoke my five packs rather quickly and then alas go without for most of the month. my belief is tobacco was made by God and is therefore good and can be enjoyed but we need to enjoy in moderation. Temperance!!!! so who smokes! Cigars, pipes, cigs? Can we learn and become holier from our use of tobacco?
I wouldn't go so far as to say that smoking is a sin. However, I do think it is a good thing to caution Christians when it comes to using tobacco products. They can be used responsibly, to be sure, though it is difficult to responsibly use the tobacco products sold in local convenience stores. This is because they contain nicotine, a chemical stimulant that is both addictive and harmful to health. I think the use of natural tobacco is fine if done, as you said, in moderation. There are plenty of people who will smoke a cigar on a special occasion or enjoy a pipe when the mood calls for it. I see nothing wrong with any of that. These are just my brief thoughts on the matter.
I see nothing wrong with using it in moderation just like alcohol. I just don't drink or smoke at all. I do miss drinking a bit though. One of life's pleasures is a good glass of wine or good drink. The meds I am on just say don't drink so I don't.
While I don't drink or smoke much, I'll never understand why so many Christians are tee-totallers. If "neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" hiw does a good glass of bourbon and a cigar do it? Don't we remember the words of Our Lord, that it is "not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man; but what comes out". It all just seems like the public piety of the Pharisees. So exacting in the minor things while at the same time totally ignoring the weightier matters if loving one's neighbors, even the unlovable ones, forgiving as one wants to be forgiven, trusting in God's grace even in the midst of all of one's personal failures.It's enough to drive one to drink, lol
The problem with tobacco products IMO is that nicotine is so infernally addictive. This causes one to use more tobacco than is healthy, and we know scientifically how deleterious its effects are on the body. Since the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, some people feel that a tobacco user is fouling and incrementally destroying God's temple. If one looks at it that way, it seems sinful. That's the rationale. Plus, of course, the sin of gluttony is specifically named, and gluttony applies to more things than food; 20 cups of espresso every day would probably be gluttonous, for example, as would be bedding one's spouse 10 times a day (might need all the espresso for that!). Personally, I don't judge anyone who has the habit. I might advise them that it's not good for their health, but in the end it's really between them and God. And let's face it, we all knowingly ingest plenty of things (lots of sugar, for example) that aren't good for us. 'There but for the grace of God go I,' as the saying goes. None of us are prone to asceticism, are we? Quite the contrary. A glass of liquor and a cigar won't separate anyone from the love of Christ, but too much bourbon & cigars can certainly separate one from his mortal body sooner than God willed it to happen! We should want to keep our bodies healthy so we can fulfill God's will and plan for our lives. BTW, I'm reminded of one old gentleman who would come to services (at a Protestant church I attended previously) with an oxygen tank to aid his breathing. He looked like he was close to death already, and his emphysema was giving him plenty of trouble. But he still sometimes slipped out the back door toward the end of a service to have a smoke.... oxygen and all!
I totally agree with you. I keep trying to convince myself that if I could cultivate the proper virtues I could smoke a few now and then and enjoy cigarettes without wrecking my health, or at least with a minimum of damage. I think the virtue lies not in giving up smoking entirely but in being able to take it or leave it, to be its master. I believe the occasion of smoking can be one where we can cultivate virtue, something I have so little of!