| Is Smoking Sinful? |
We (Christians) cringe when other people (who identify themselves as Christians) spend a great deal of time and energy telling the world, in the most strident way possible, that God is no fan of homosexuality.
We (the rest of us Christians), with almost one voice are quick to balance that thought by saying that homosexuals are sinners like everyone else, and they are in need of salvation from their sin, not because they are homosexuals, but because they are sinners. We like to distance ourselves from people who present truth in such an unbalanced way. Yes, it is true that the unregenerate homosexual is going to go to hell if he doesn't repent of his sin - but so will the morally upstanding heterosexual, whose only sins are "white" lies. Both will be in hell, and isolating one sin as especially condemnable, is "sensational" at best, and more than a little phobic in the middle, and likely driven by hate and bigotry at the extreme.
But what does that have to do with smoking?
Listen: Failing to walk, even for a moment, in the Spirit is sinful. Can I phrase that more simply? I believe I can. It is a sin to light up a cigarette unless God has made it clear that it is His will for you to do so. How is that for a standard?
You see, people don't often stop to think just how sinful they are. They go to church, develop moral/religious habits, and once they have established a level of religion that works for their congregation, they more or less tread water spiritually speaking. They don't walk in the Spirit, though they may have momentary lapses where they actually stop and think about what God would have then do, or even <--gasp!--> pray about what they should do. But mostly, and I am painting with a large brush here, they are on a sort of "spiritual" auto pilot wherein they keep themselves from the big sins, and grapple pointlessly and fruitlessly day in and day out with the "little foxes that spoil the vine."
It is usually these carnally minded folks who ask a question like, "Is smoking sinful?" because the answer is - duh? Of course it is! Do you think the Holy Spirit is leading you to poison your own body and the bodies of those around you? Did Jesus ever do that?
The point of this post however is not to discuss smoking, it is to discuss majoring on the minors. That kind of question ("is smoking sinful?") is not really a question about what is right for a Christian, so much as it is a question about what is right for your religion. The Christian has the Holy Spirit whom he is supposed to be obeying. Thus the question for the Christian is not "is smoking okay?" - rather it is, "Does the Holy Spirit desire that I smoke?" - and the Christian struggle is in walking in the reality of the answer to that question - an answer we already know before we ask it, if we are indeed spiritual.Labels: smoking |
posted by Daniel @
6:54 PM
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