Is smoking biblical?

Question

Are there any verses in the Bible that forbid people from smoking?

Answer 1

No

Answer 2

it is a defilement of the flesh and a sin.

Answer 3

the goat herderds did not know the weed or tobbacco

Answer 4

It is when you use pages of a bible to make a roll-up.

Answer 5

OBVIOUSLY, the Bible does not mention either tobacco or smoking, since they were unknown in the ancient Middle East. The simple reason is that the tobacco plant is native to South America, Mexico, and the West Indies and was not introduced to the rest of the world until the mid-16th century.

Does that mean that the Bible says nothing relevant to smoking? Not at all. It clearly states principles that have universal application and are guidelines for our conduct. What are some of these basic principles?

Love of God and Neighbor

The fundamental motivating force for a Christian has to be that which Jesus expressed: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole strength and with your whole mind,’ and, ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”—Luke 10:27.

How can one render love to God with one’s whole heart, soul, mind, and strength if one is deliberately corroding one’s faculties by indulging in a habit, a vice, that leads to premature disease and death? How does one show appreciation for God’s gift of life when inhaling an addictive drug like nicotine? God gave “to all persons life and breath.” (Acts 17:24, 25) Should we pollute that God-given breath? From God’s viewpoint it truly is a vice, “an evil, degrading, or immoral practice or habit.”—The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

How does smoking show love for neighbor, when a smoker’s foul breath and smoke pollute clothing and the surrounding air? What about a smoker’s closest neighbors, his spouse and children? Is it love to pursue a course that might lead to an early, slow, and painful death that they must observe? Does it show Christian consideration for other people to oblige them to be passive smokers, inhaling a smoker’s poisonous exhalations? Little wonder that the botanical garden in Blanes, Spain, has the tobacco plant in its poisonous plants section!

What about love of self? It is legitimate to love oneself to the point of caring for one’s bodily, mental, and spiritual health. The apostle Paul stated that “no man ever hated his own flesh; but he feeds and cherishes it.” Does it show love of self to indulge in a habit that slowly subverts one’s health?—Ephesians 5:28, 29.

Jehovah God has promised that there will be ‘new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness is to dwell.’ (2 Peter 3:13) That will be a clean new world, without pollution of any kind. Smoking will not be permitted or even desired then, so why smoke now? Logically, Paul’s counsel applies here: “Therefore, since we have these promises, beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear.” (2 Corinthians 7:1) Nicotine defiles the flesh quite literally. Smoking makes it impossible for a Christian to present to God his body “a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with [his] power of reason.” (Romans 12:1) The power of reason dictates that smoking is harmful and against Christian principles. There, then, is the primary motivation to quit smoking if one wants to please God.