Can A Person Be A Smoker & Still Be Saved

[BrotherEastman]

Originally Posted by Michael Phelps

One has a very real choice in OVEReating food.

To say that I have no choice but to eat, that's why I'm 100lbs overweight is absurd.

Did I say that, or are you just artistic enough to put words in my mouth Hoss? We're talking about eating food compared to smoking cigarrettes. Overeating is just as much of a sin as smoking. (there, does that help?)

[BrotherEastman]

Originally Posted by Rico

So do cheeseburgers and soda. Are you prepared to give them up?

Along with the other 99.9% of all other foods.

[MikeinAR]

Originally Posted by ForeverBlessed

The Holy Ghost shouldn’t be viewed as a magic potion that “poofs” fills this physical body up and we “hold” him within us like a container and because we are “filled” we are automatically good... or produce good things. It takes action on our part... We submit to him, he takes control. I believe the initial evidence of that control is speaking in tongues…. the continued evidence is by what is revealed in our actions or “Fruit of the Spirit”

Forever, your entire post is fantastic and I agree with it 100%. The quoted paragraph above should be required reading for new converts and those that are new to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Action combined with submission to the spirit of God will lead to changed lives in every area.

The amazing thing is when it's done through humble submission to the Holy Ghost with him leading a person, they find theirself convicted of things they hadn't expected or even thought of as wrong. Personal submission to the Holy Ghost daily and his will will change people much more effectively than programs and workshops and guidelines, IMO.

[Tim Rutledge]

Originally Posted by AbundantGrace

Put more plainly, is it possible for a person who smokes/uses tobacco products to truly be a Christian? Is it possible for that person to be saved while still smoking/chewing/dipping? Why or why not?

A) No. They know better, and went backward.

B) Yes. They realize they are sinning, and keep trying to quit, and are going forward.

C) Really... only God knows.

[RevDWW]

I do know that everyone that is not saved will be a smoker!

[Tim Rutledge]

Originally Posted by RevDWW

I do know that everyone that is not saved will be a smoker!

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Sherri

Why in the world would you keep all those pipes? Just curious. If it's something you felt to give up, why keep the pipes around?

Because I happen to like my pipe collection. I didn't feel led to give up smoking a pipe. I didn't feel led to give up smoking cigarettes either. I just got tired of stinkin all the time and practically coughing up a lung every now and then. My body told me it was time to say adios to the cigarettes, but there's nothing anyone could have said to convince me it was a sin. At least not any more of a sin than any of the other things I see the holy people addicted to, like coffee, sugar, greasy foods, watching too much tv, etc. etc. It just so happens that this cigarette addiction is an easy target for those addicted to other things that can cause just as many health problems as smoking does. I wonder how many folks have died from heart attacks (the number one killer in the USA) over their arteries being clogged from all the junk food we eat in this country. What I am saying is that there are very few people who have reason to point fingers at anyone when it comes to doing things that are unhealthy.

[Sherri]

Originally Posted by Rico

Because I happen to like my pipe collection. I didn't feel led to give up smoking a pipe. I didn't feel led to give up smoking cigarettes either. I just got tired of stinkin all the time and practically coughing up a lung every now and then. My body told me it was time to say adios to the cigarettes, but there's nothing anyone could have said to convince me it was a sin. At least not any more of a sin than any of the other things I see the holy people addicted to, like coffee, sugar, greasy foods, watching too much tv, etc. etc. It just so happens that this cigarette addiction is an easy target for those addicted to other things that can cause just as many health problems as smoking does. I wonder how many folks have died from heart attacks (the number one killer in the USA) over their arteries being clogged from all the junk food we eat in this country. What I am saying is that there are very few people who have reason to point fingers at anyone when it comes to doing things that are unhealthy.

You're right. Eddie and I still laugh about a really large UPC minister who was ranting and raving over people going to the rodeo!! Never did figure that one out.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by stmatthew

The bible says that I can eat McDonalds hamburgers as long as I thank God for the food.

1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:


So your argument is invalid.

Smoking is taking into the body something that you know to destroy the body.

Smoking can and usually leads to a bondage of addiction. The cigarette becomes your master.

The financial cost of smoking is enough to keep the wise man from taking up the habit, or quiting if he started in the past.

Those that smoke put themselves at a greater risk of emphysema, lung cancer,and heart attacks.

Even unsaved people recognize cigarette smoking is destructive and a "sin" to the human body. Let not your good be evil spoken of. Abstain from the appearance of evil.

Keep eating them greasy cheeseburgers and you'll be thanking God He didn't let you die from the heart attack they gave you or the diabetes you developed from being so fat you can't even tie your own shoes.

Also, what makes you think people aren't slaves to sugar? Try giving up everything you eat with some sort of processed sweetener in it and see how crazy you go in a short amount of time. Lemme know how that one works out for you.

The bottom line is that it has become popular to point fingers at people who smoke, so that we can feel better about the number of other things we are doing that aren't good for our bodies. It has become the politically correct thing to do, so church people now have made bedfellows with the rest of the world on this one issue. Never mind the fact that it isn't the chemicals that occur naturally in tobacco leaves that is causing all these health problems. It's all the other chemicals sprayed on the crops to make the tobacco grow a certain way, or taste a certain way, or have a certain consistency to it. Of course, no one is interested in reading about that kind of truth because it doesn't fit with their "it's evil and of the devil" mindset. It's easier to write people who smoke off as being rebellious against God, even though God is the one who created the tobacco leaf in the first place. Kinda reminds me of the arguments against the use of marijuana, another plant God created.

Oh well, I've come to expect this kind of warped thinking from the Church, so I can't say that I am surprised by it anymore.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by BrotherEastman

Along with the other 99.9% of all other foods.

I hear ya, Bro. We're trying to get completely off fast food, but sometimes grabbing a burger on the run is the only feasible option. The other night we ended up ordering from Wendy's because it was the only feasible option for us, seeing as how we got in around 9pm, that's too late to cook up a regular meal. Still, we've managed to cut the fast food out quite a bit over the last couple of years.