Is smoking a sin?

[Mangetout]

*Originally posted by enolancooper *
**The commission of any act in which you know causes harm
(to others, yourself, God, etc.) is a sin.

Do you know you’re harming yourself when you smoke? **

Do you know how many cells in your body die when you just go for a walk, or sit down, or scratch your ear? sheesh!

[The_Ryan]

*Originally posted by Hippy144 *
I see this from two ways, smoking is concidered suicide because it contains chemicals that kill you.

If you worship someone who engaged in a course of action that he knew would lead to his death, then the belief that anything that risks death is a sin seems strange to me.

So you see, I can’t figure it out.
I thought of going to a preist, but if he thought I was kidding and got pissed off… well god doesn’t seem to like me too much right now and I don’t think I can afford to piss off a preist.

Any religion in which members are afraid to ask questions disturbs me.

grimpixie:

I’d consider gallons coffee, tonnes of burgers, etc as abuse of those substances, whereas simply smoking a reasonable abount of tobacco each day will greatly increase your change of dying from a lung/throat-related disease.

Well, that depends on what one considers a “reasonable” amount. I don’t consider a pack a day “reasonable”, but there are plenty who do.

enolancooper

The commission of any act in which you know causes harm (to others, yourself, God, etc.) is a sin.

By that definition, Jesus was a sinner. After all, throwing those guys out of the temple definitely caused them harm.

Do you know you’re harming yourself when you smoke?

If someone chooses to smoke, that implies that the pleasure they get from it exceeds the harm they believe exists, so I don’t think they think there’s a net harm.

[elfkin477]

I thought the OT endorsed smoking. You don’t boil burnt offerings… <ducking>

[kniz]

Tis a hard question to answer, but I’ll go with Its Not

[Qwertyasdfg]

Gluttony is a sin according to the Bible. Overindulgence, be it in food or cigarettes is a sin. However, I’m not religious.

[mangeorge]

*Originally posted by Qwertyasdfg *
**Gluttony is a sin according to the Bible. Overindulgence, be it in food or cigarettes is a sin. However, I’m not religious. **

Mmmm, gluttony.
http://www.deadlysins.com/gluttony.html
Plus a yummy lookin’ recipe.
Peace,
mangeorge

[curwin]

According to a pamphlet I have, according to Judaism, smoking violates 36 biblical prohibitions.

[sdimbert]

*Originally posted by curwin *
**According to a pamphlet I have, according to Judaism, smoking violates 36 biblical prohibitions. **

curwin:

I’d like to see that pamphlet. Can you tell us where it’s from?

A number of years ago, the great Halachist (arbiter of Jewish Law) Rabbi Moses Feinstein (since deceased) penned a responsa that said Jewish Law prohibits a “Yeshiva Student” from starting to smoke.

[Captain_Amazing]

Well, according to this opinion, smoking’s a bad idea, and it includes a link saying that Rabbi Feldman probably would have changed his opinon (saying that smoking is permitted), given today’s medical knowledge.

http://www.jlaw.com/Commentary/smoking.html

[Hippy144]

quote:
Gluttony is a sin according to the Bible.

Gluttony isn’t in the ten commandments (unless you put it before god). I’ve been trying to find the source of the seven deadly sins and I believe I heard they were eventually narrowed down over time to 7 by the Greeks, but I have no confermation. I haven’t read the bible, but I don’t believe it lists the 7 deadly sins, besides, didn’t they drink wine at the last supper?

[Qwertyasdfg]

Ooops. I’m sorry. Apparently the 7 Deadly Sins are not actually part of the scripture.

However, in my mind that doesn’t mean you can commit the pseudo-sins with impunity. They still seem like things to avoid if your religious.

[Philosophocles]

I would say that smoking is a sin, in the sense that it’s a self-destructive habit. Even so, we should keep things in perspective. Consider the following well-known example:

Hypothetical Question: It is time to elect a new world leader, and your vote counts.

Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:

Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologers. He’s had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B: He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whisky every evening.

Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He’s a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn’t had any extramarital affairs.

Which of these candidates would be your choice?

Candidate A is Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolf Hitler

And for what it’s worth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a chain smoker too. That doesn’t change the fact that what companies like RJR and Philip Morris do is essentially the moral equivalent of what we throw heroin and cocaine dealers in prison for…but it does suggest that we’re sometimes very narrow-minded in writing people off for “bad character” because they have a few bad habits–drinking, smoking, womanizing, etc.