Is Smoking a Sin?

Here is a question that I never even questioned when I was growing up in the Southern Baptist Convention. I never even thought to bring up this question and never even expected that there would be any other answer to this question than an unequivocal, "yes." But, wait, is it? Is smoking a sin?

Let's take a look at some of these facts of the following product:

Some health problems that are associated with the following product includes but not limited to sleep and anxiety disorders, elevated risks of Parkinson’s disease, elevated heart beat and stress, breathing problems in infants, and dependency syndrome

It is a diuretic it can cause people to become dehydrated; a lack of fluid in an individual’s body causes constipation

over an extended period of time can lead to an individual developing yellow teeth and cavities

contains acknowledged carcinogens and other chemicals such as creosote, pymdine, tars and hydrocarbons

Interferes with adenosine

Cortisol levels are raised which in turn results in contstriction of the blood vessels, harder pumping of the heart and higher blood pressure.

Has been assiciated with low birth rate, birth defects, miscarriages, premature birth, inability to conceive, sluggish sperm



These are all cons of, you guessed it...not smoking...but drinking coffee!

As far as smoking there is absolutely nothing mentioned of smoking in the Bible, so when people bring it up as a sin, they usually go to one place in the Bible:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

People actually use this verse for anything that they disagree with, whether it is smoking, tattoos, drinking alcohol, etc. What I find interesting is that if you sit down and exegete the text with them, the passage is speaking about prostitution and sexual immorality, not some dreamed up sin that people think is sin.

People love to point to the fact that smoking causes cancer and many other problems and that if your body is a temple you should definitely abstain. The problem? Well, look at what coffee does to you, look up what sugar does to the body, look at what too much of anything does to the body. Over consumption of anything is bad for you.

Now, do I advocate smoking? No, but to condemn people that do smoke is very wrong. It is setting up extra-biblical eisegesis that can put a load on someone's back that is ridiculous. Every once and a while I enjoy a cigar or a pipe. Recently my buddy had a baby and we had a good smoke together. Am I supposed to be afraid of condemnation because of it? Am I an antimonian because of it? Well maybe, because I had a cup of coffee right afterwards.

Are there dangers in smoking? Of course there are. But there are dangers in making money (greed), sex (lust or out of wedlock), alcohol (drunkenness), etc. but that doesn't make the thing itself sin, but the attitude and over concumption of it by the person can become sin.

I think what people do is see an end result and they decide that the factor that was behind it was the product and not the person behind the product.

Because if you consider smoking a sin because of health concerns, you should also think that money is a sin because it has destroyed many families and many churches.

And if we started to do this with other things it would get ridiculous. Such as. A man was murdered with a pencil...pencils are now sin because God says, do not murder.