Is smoking a sin? What makes smoking sinful?

[Gloria]

why do people smoke?.. how do you feel after smoking?.. what are some of the effects of smoking?... is smoking sinful ?

People START to smoke for different reasons, but people continue to smoke because smoking is addictive: the presence of a chemical called nicotine which is very addictive makes people want to continue smoking, even if they are aware of the fact that it is bad for them.

When people want to smoke, it makes them feel nervous and agitated. The feeling is very urgent and is quelled by the nicotine. So when habitual smokers smoke, they feel very relaxed.

As for smoking being a sin, in the Roman Catholic tradition it is not recognized as a sin that you have to confess, but it is still a sin because you are not respecting your body. In other words, in the view of the Church, it is not ranked with drug use or abuse of alcohol, but it's still not good. The medical perspective, however, states that smoking is actually WORSE than some drugs (i.e. marijuana, which is still not good for you but does not contain the levels of tar and chemicals that smoking tobacco does).
What do you think? Is smoking a sin?

[Liberty Bell]

Smoking as a sin I suppose would be categorized as the response above has categorized it. Smoking effects many people differently. Some people feel a bit of euphoria, at least at first, some find a reduction in stress level, or at least report this, while many others feel an increase in stress levels. Some just feel sick as well.

[keeper]

Originally Posted by Gloria

why do people smoke?.. how do you feel after smoking?.. what are some of the effects of smoking?... is smoking a sin ?

Yes it is. Corinthians 6:19-20, the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians, "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God's". Much modern evidence shows smoking to be a health hazard to the extend that each package of cigarette must, by law, bear this message, "Warning: the Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health". Obviously, something dangerous to the health cannot possibly enhance, or build up, the body. Smoking is contrary to healthful practices and acts to weaken or destroy the body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Christians do not own their own bodies their bodies are Christ's, bought and paid for by his death. Christians are not free to use their bodies for pleasure and in any way they choose. They are to glorify God in their bodies and since smoking does not glorify God, smokers are in violation of this precept.

[Serenity]

I don't see how smoking's a sin anymore than pigging out at McDonald's or not exercising- you're still abusing your body. I'm not a smoker by the way though I used to be.

[justjoy]

I'm agreeing with Serenity. I fail to understand how smoking can be a sin anymore than any of the other numerous ways we can abuse, mistreat and neglect our bodies and health.

[RFL1986]

Definitely. I'm not going to defend smoking but I feel like it could be a sin along the same lines as gluttony and so forth if so much of the population hadn't always done it. If smoking were a sin than a lot of other behaviors would have to be declared as such too.

[master]

I never smoke,but I don't think smoking is a sin.It's a bad habbit & it adversely affects the health of a person.It also pollutes the atmosphere.So it should be stopped.

[mollyL]

I am an ex-smoker and it's said that they are the most adamantly against it. However, a person having a cigarette in their own house or away from people, I don't see as a sin. As has been said, there are alot of ways to mess up a body, and cigarettes are only one way.
It's when a person is smoking around other people, and especially around KIDS, that is definitely a sin! It's been proven that second hand smoke can kill; people who insist on smoking around people because they think it's "their right" need to consider their karma and their souls. It's passive-aggression at it's worst!

[keeper]

Smoking is a form of abusing your body. I’m glad to say that I never smoke and thus am not committing sin on doing so. For me, smoking is a sin because you are depriving everyone around you of a clean air.

[Brandbla8]

I would have to agree with alot of the others. I am not sure that it is any different from going to a fast food joint. Either way you are doing damage to your body. That would be like saying someone who is over weight is living in sin. I just am not comfortable with that labeling of others. And was it not God who said to judge no man.

[twinkle88]

Nobody says that smoking is a sin but it should be considered as a sin winin ourselves because it spoils our health and also if we do it before elders who are older than us, it may create bad impression on us.

[wickidd1]

I don't believe it is a sin. I think that as a human you have a right to indulge in these kinds of activities (alcohol is another). You have to conclude that people should be allowed, within reason, to do what they want to themselves as long as their behaviour is not going to harm others.

[harpreet_singh]

I don't know how you are relating smoking with sin. I personally beleive that if you are not hurting other or doing anything wrong to others is cosidered bad in eyes of god.

[sb123]

Originally Posted by Gloria

why do people smoke?.. how do you feel after smoking?.. what are some of the effects of smoking?... is smoking a sin ?

I can understand why you have used the word "sin" here. To me, sin is a "cause" that we believe will definitely hurt or will cause us a result (in the form of some punishment) as an action of that cause (sin). So, in that sense, yes, smoking is a sin, because it is a well-known fact that smoking causing harm to our body. The word "sin" is created for all beings to stay away from, or if that "sin" is performed, then there shall be a punishment of some sort.

The ill-effects of smoking are mentioned above by many friends on the forum and most of them are medically correct.

But then, at least in one religion, the saints are depicted as smokers. So, the question arises whether they sinned? To me, not really. If the body is super strong to absorb the ill-effects and still maintain complete harmony and health, then smoking is not injurious. In other words, we all inhale deadly gases in the atmosphere every second or so. The deadly poisonous gases present in the atmosphere can kill as surely as the injurious elements present in the cigarettes. But we see some people overcoming that deadly pollution and still are living very healthy life, but others are easily succumbing and getting fatal diseases. Those who overcome the deadly components and still live have great bodies and super organs that have the power to overcome the pollutants while others don't have that power.

So, in a way, yes, smoking IS a sin.

[ebittner]

Smoking is not a sin at all and I do not see it as a form of abusing your body either. It is like anything as long as you can do it in moderation you are fine. I feel you thinking it is a sin is the same thinking eating food is a sin. Unhealthy eating kills more people then smoking does. Everything just needs to be done in moderation.

[nick08]

Smoking cannot be a sin because it has never been forbidden by god. It is only a bad habit which can be detrimental to our own and others health. But we can be committing a sin if we know that someone just cannot tolerate smoke, we just ignore him and do so in his presence.

[balajisas]

Ya its definitely a sin because it affects not only the smoker but also others.The one who is near the smoker is also affected by the smoke and he is called the passive smoker.It causes mouth cancer and tuberculosis.So please stop smoking...

[Walker]

I would definitely consider smoking as a terrible sin.

How else would someone justify harming his body by carrying on such shameful act?
Smoking is done in the guise of elevating oneself from stress. I consider this logic to be bogus since there are many activities a person can do to relieve himself from stress.

Smoking is a bad habit and it can never be justified correct by any reason.

Regards,

Walker

[sham]

No . it is not. but when u think it's wrong it is a sin. every aspects are on our way . the way we think .... the attitude of us . so smoking is a sin by the way people think... all smoker are not too bad & not every non-smoker is a good man. it goes accordingly

[crowhit]

Originally Posted by Gloria

why do people smoke?.. how do you feel after smoking?.. what are some of the effects of smoking?... is smoking a sin ?

1. Most people smoke because of maybe - show-off. they feel infinity when their friends smoke and they don't.

2. Well I myself don't smoke.So I can't answer your second answer.But some people say they feel relaxed after smoking and feel to smoke more.

3. Smoking "kills" you. You get addicted to it.Your lungs get caught in its hand. You want to be alone and don't want o talk to other people. You cant live without it.

4. It basically cannot be a sin because none knows when did smoking first took place and what God thinks about it.

[zowie]

If you smoke and harm yourself, then it is not a sin. But when you smoke in public and expose other non smokers to passive smoke, then it is a sin. In this later case you are ruining the health of some one else. You have the right to destroy your health. But not that of some one else.

[Aleiah]

I agree with crowhit that smoking cannot be considered as a sin. I've never heard that God forbade smoking, it's not part of the commandments also, so basically there is no basis for it to be deemed as a sin. I am not a smoker also so I can't say how it feels but I know that some smoke to relieve stress or tension as well as kills off hunger and boredom. Some just get addicted afterwards and takes a whole lot of will to break off the habit. And I know that smoking kills also, so I try to stay as far away possible to anyone smoking.

[BlueSword]

I don't believe that smoking is a sin also. I was once a heavy smoker but stopped ultimately because my wife, then girlfriend, will break off with me if I don't kill the habit, and I love her more than the stick so I break off with the stick for good.. I've been smoke-free for almost 4 years now, and it feels good. What prodded me to smoke actually are my peers as most of them were already smoking, I just wanted to try and eventually got hooked on it.

[jessika]

when people start smoking it's usually backed by a thought that we won't get addicted and it's just to try for once but such feeling vanishes with every blow. people feel like heaven after smoking and want to keep on doing it. it is not a sin in literal sense but yes it is truly a sin for the persons around who become prey of passive smoking, to the family members of smokers and to the body of a smoker. so it can be regarded as a sin.

[Ami69]

well, smoking as an act is not a sin but what smoking does to the body is rather sinful and that makes the whole smoking thing sinful.

Smoking is a sin and it is written in the Bible. Treat the temple of God right and don't forget our bodies are the temple of God. He who smokes therefore destroys the temple of God and shall be thrown into the lake of fire forever and ever if he or she does not quit smoking.

[winny]

One starts smoking as a result of many factors; peer influence, lonliness, adventure and the likes. The question of how one feels after smoking is more or less a psychological thing, the way you want to feel is the way you feel after smoking.But in the actual sense, it solves no emotional problem. About being a sin, I don't think it is. But as rational human beings, we should be able to know what is best for us: the more stick you buy, the more cancer you buy, so you can imagine one buying death with the money he could use to solve a better problem. So the earlier one stops the better.of the

[PUURO]

Same opinion here..
Just want to add another opinion: smoking can be a sin in a different meaning.
It is dangerous to our health. by not taking care of our own health means we do not love our own life. And it means we do not love God who created us isn't it?

[bodil4o]

I think it is sin!
OF coure!
The cigaretes are killing you slowly...
It is said - Dont kill! For me the cigaretes do exactly this!
I wont smoke in my life!

[penelope]

I don't think smoking is a sin. I don't smoke But I have read the ill effects of smoking not just for the smokers but as to the people around them who are not smoking. It becomes a sin when you done against the will of God.