Puff, Puff…

Puff, Puff…

Despite the oversized warnings on cigarette cartoons, the massive amount of research demonstrating how harmful smoking is to the human body, and all the deaths related to use of tobacco products, people still insist on smoking.  Marijuana, or “weed”, is one of the most popular recreational drugs of all time, and one young person has been heard to quote, “ALL the kids my age do it.”  Although that might be an exaggeration, all the kids who do smoke weed aren’t using it to treat medical conditions!  What does the Bible teach about smoking tobacco or marijuana?  Here are two articles by Dan Shipley and Matthew Dockens that should give a Christian reason to pass when they are invited to “puff, puff…”

Still Smoking?

As a former smoker, I know how easy it is to ignore messages from the news media and the pulpit that discourage smoking. It is difficult for most of us to be objective in considering that which condemns what we want to practice. As someone as well noted, "Affection is a briber of the judgment; and it is hard for a man to admit a reason against the thing he loves, or to confess the force of an argument against an interest." Convincing Christians to give up tobacco wouldn't be nearly so hard if they could first be convinced to face the issue objectively and with an open mind. And yet, of all people, the Christian should recognize the difficulty of dealing with prejudiced and closed minds. As a follower of Christ, he knows that personal preferences must be subordinated in seeking to please the Lord. The smoking Christian owes it to himself and to the Lord to consider the evidence relative to smoking. When he does, he will certainly consider such facts as those recently released by the Surgeon General's office in The Health Consequences Of Smoking. In the forward section of that report, Dr. E.N. Brandt, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Health, writes: "Cigarette smoking is the major single cause of cancer mortality in the U.S. Tobacco's contribution to all cancer deaths is estimated to be 30 percent and cigarette smokers have total cancer death rates two times greater than do nonsmokers. Heavy smokers have a three to four times greater excess risk of cancer mortality...There is no single action an individual can take to reduce the risk of cancer more effectively than quitting smoking..." According to statistics released from the Public Health Service research, lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and coronary heart disease are the principal causes of death attributable to cigarette smoking, but they are not the only ones. They have concluded that the rate of early death from all causes ranges from 40 to 120 percent higher for smokers than nonsmokers, depending upon the amount smoked daily. It is not without good reason that the word "Warning" appears on the cigarette package. Those who are told to glorify God in the body (1 Cor 6:20), should seriously consider the health hazards of smoking.

Equally important for the smoking Christian to consider is the possibility of enslavement to tobacco. To be brought under the power of a habit is to violate the principle of 1 Cor 6:12. For the smoker who wants to know, "What about the glutton, the cokeaholic, the coffeeholic?" The same principle applies equally to them! With Paul, every Christian must resolve, "...I will not be brought under the power of any." Rather, "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage..." (1 Cor 9:27).

Finally, the Christian smoker must consider the possibility that smoking may hurt his influence. Shouldn't every Christian be "an example to them that believe, in word, in manner of life..." (1 Tim 4:12)? Justified or not, many are offended by the smell, the pollution, and being forced to inhale second-hand smoke. Honestly now----everything considered, wouldn't it be better if Christians didn't smoke?

Dan S. Shipley

What’s Wrong with Weed?

Eroding social standards notwithstanding, it remains a violation of divine will to consume marijuana. Here’s why:

God enjoins sobriety. Repeatedly, it is written, “Be sober” (I Thessalonians 5:6-8; I Peter 1:13; 5:8). Sobriety is an awareness of mind which requires, at a minimum, abstinence from mind-altering substances. No one under the influence of marijuana meets God’s expectations in this matter.

God demands self-control. “The fruit of the Spirit” includes “self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). And “self-control” is among the things a Christian must “add to… faith” (II Peter 1:5-6). Deliberately distorting one’s perception of reality certainly diminishes personal restraint.

God forbids intoxication. “Drunkenness” is among “the works of the flesh” that result in condemnation (Galatians 5:19-21). It’s acceptable for “drunkenness” to be among the behaviors of one’s “past lifetime”, but not among one’s current activities (I Peter 4:3). The injunction against drunkenness has less to do with substance than effect. Whether one is drunk on beverage alcohol or high on cannabis, the Lord disapproves.

The consequences of alcoholic intoxication include the facts that “your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things” (Proverbs 23:33). How much more is this true of pot smoking than wine drinking? Seeing strange things does harm to one’s ability to see spiritual danger as required by the command to “be vigilant” (I Peter 5:8).

Bryan Matthew Dockens