I’m not sure I’m in the right forum, so my apologies to the mods in advance if it isn’t. My question: Is smoking worse than drinking? Not health wise, but religiously. I wait tables. The other day I was going over my opening greet with a table. I tell the people about the specials and things and point out that we have beer and wine coolers at the bar, but no liquor. The man at the head of the table who was older, informed me that they were christian church going folks and they did not drink therefore no need to go over all that. No problem. But as he is telling me this I’m looking at his shirt pocket which contained a pack of cigarettes. They were sitting in non-smoking. I am a smoker and drink some, so I am not here to judge anyone on anything. I just thought it was odd that he would not drink as a christian, but smoke as a christian. So is one sin worse than the other or not? Any thoughts?
The interesting thing about Christians is that they display such a wide variety of thought on any number of matters. For example, some sects see all alcohol as forbidden, while Roman Catholics use wine for communion – in church as part of the service. And there are those whose views lie in between those points and beyond those points.
In comparing smoking to drinking, there are any number of ways to look at things. There’s harm done to one’s body, potential and actual harm done to others, the effects on society, economic side effects on one’s family, etc., etc., etc. Depending upon which aspects one stresses, a case can be made either way as to which is worse. And all of these factors can be tied in to one’s religious understanding of the practices.
The replies to your question will vary widely with different folks’ views based upon what they’ve been taught, how they interpret the Bible (and make no mistake – EVERYONE interprets the Bible), what they’ve observed and experienced personally, and the thinking they’ve done on the matter. So the answer essentially comes down to, it depends whom you ask.
Ethics-wise, social smoking seems to me generally worse than social drinking. The vice of smoking is forced upon those in the vicinity in a way that drinking really is not. It’s not like social drinkers force alcohol down the throats of non-drinkers. (Except maybe in college fraternities.) Also, many social smokers have a bad habit not paralleled in the world of social drinking: i.e. throwing a still burning cigarette butt out the car window into traffic. (Short tangent: Hey, smokers! What’s up with that?)
From a religious standpoint though, social drinking can lead to abusive drinking, and that can impair your moral judgement. That’s probably the root of the some Christian sects’ objection to it.
Since this is IMHO…
It’s my own personal interpretation that neither is, in and of itself, a sin. Drinking to excess, IMO, is, smoking when you know it’s likely to harm someone else, IMO is (e.g. smoking in a house or car where there’s a baby or child present).
I haven’t thought this through completely, but in my own mind, when I see someone walking down the street smoking, I don’t think “SINNER!” and when I see someone having a drink in a bar, I don’t think it either. YMMV.