Is there really any point telling you how bad smoking is for your health...and for the health of everyone else you smoke in front of? There is now so much scientific evidence that smoking causes cancer and drug addiction that only the willfully blind will deny the data. More to the point, it's a matter of common sense: Everyone knows that

And yet, amazingly, there are still Christians who ask if smoking is a sin. If smoking is so obviously wrong for everybody, how could it possible be right for a Christian?

One hears the most stupid argument: "Smoking won't send someone to hell because we're saved by grace!" Well, to begin with, murder is a capital offence in the Bible. Smoking kills the vast majority of people who use tobacco both actively (those who smoke) and passively (those forced to smoke in front of smokers who are too selfish to think of anyone but themselves). Well, the act of smoking may not send you to hell but you'll certainly smell as though you've been there!

We don't need to beat about the bush or quote statistics everyone knows (you can check up the sites below if you're that interested). The Bible doesn't mention smoking, cocaine, glue sniffing or hard metal rock music, but does it need to? The central message of the Bible concerning these things is:

• 1. We are to be in control of our bodies (i.e. not addicted to anything);
  
• 2. We are to treat our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit (i.e. keep them pure)

• 1. Is nicotine in tobacco smoking addictive?
  
• 2. Is inhaling smoke containing carcinogens and other poisons like tar keeping our body pure?

I'm sorry, but there's no other way to put it. They belong to the same category of people who take cocaine, hash, ecstasy, and other drugs. The fact that governments don't put tobacco in the same category is irrelevant -- everyone knows that it is money that keeps tobacco legal. It's big business.

The second question has an equally obvious and clear answer. Go and stick your head in the smoke of a bonfire one day (not the flames, of course) and tell me if that is "pure". Again, everybody knows that those who inhale tobacco line their lungs with a lovely, thick, black tarry substance -- the sort you've always wanted to wear on your face as makeup (just joking). No, but seriously, would you take a can of liquid tar and pour it into your lungs?

Having said these things, is it not true that smokers are sinning against their own bodies and against the bodies of others who are forced to passively smoke? Do not our bodies, according the scriptures, belong to Christ? Then what right do we have polluting and murdering them? Cigarette smoking is a form of self-murder (suicide) and killing others (murder).

We must therefore ask, IS SMOKING A SIN? Then the answer is a very clear YES -- it is a sin against self, others, and the Holy Spirit.

Having said all these things I realise that quitting smoking is not easy. Recognising it as a sin, however, is much more motivating than trying to whitewash the habit. It ruins lives and families. Those who recognise that smoking is a sin and are making an effort to quit not only have God's forgiveness but grace. He can and will help you stop. And when you have, you can be an encouragement and a support to others. You'll not only be healthier, wealthier and happier, but you will be walking in a path of discipleship that is pleasing to God and which brings many blessings.

There is also alot of peer pressure to smoke too, especially amongst youngsters. You are made to feel weak and stupid if you do not smoke. But who, really, is the bigger fool? The one that leads into sin or the one that follows blindly? If someone gave you a revolver and told you to point it to your head and fire it to look tough, would you still do it? Of course not. The only difference between a bullet and a cigarette is that a cigarette takes longer to kill you. Ask your friends to put a bullet through their brains first and then you'll take up smoking -- if they survive.