What is the Christian position on smoking? Is smoking considered a sin?
The Bible never explicitly mentioned smoking. But still, there are several chapters that clearly relate to smoking. First, the Bible instructs us not to allow our bodies to be subject to anything.
There is no doubt that smoking is a serious addiction. Further, the same passage says:
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?For you are bought dear at a price. Therefore glorify God both in your bodies and in your souls, which are God's.
Smoking is undoubtedly harmful to our health. Smoking has been proven to damage the lungs and often the heart.
Is smoking considered “healthy” (1 Corinthians 6:12)? Can we say that smoking is “glorifying God in your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:20)? Can a person smoke “for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)? We believe that the answer to all three of these questions is “no.” As a result, we believe that smoking is a sin and therefore should not be practiced by followers of Christ.
Some counter this opinion by appealing to the fact that many people eat unhealthy food, and it is just as addictive and it also has a harmful effect on their body. For example, many people are so hopelessly addicted to caffeine that they simply cannot function without their morning cup of coffee. Even if this is true, how does this justify smoking? Our point is that Christians should avoid gluttony and excessive junk food. Yes, Christians are often hypocritical, condemning one sin, and, at the same time, allowing themselves another... but, again, this does not contribute to the glorification of the Lord through smoking?
Another argument that contradicts this opinion is the fact that many devout people smoke, such as the famous British preacher Spurgeon. Again, we do not believe this argument has any force. We believe Spurgeon was wrong about smoking. Was he otherwise a pious man and an excellent teacher? God's Word? Definitely! Does this make all his actions and habits glorifying the Lord? No!
By saying that smoking is a sin, we are not saying that smokers will not be saved. Many believers in Jesus Christ smoke. Smoking does not prevent a person from subsequently being saved. Smoking is forgiven in the same way as any other sins, and this does not depend on whether a person is just planning to become a Christian or whether a Christian has already admitted his sin before God.
At the same time, we firmly believe that smoking is a sin that we must get rid of and God's help defeat him.
Greetings, dear friends on our Orthodox website. Many of us wonder, is it a sin to smoke? Is smoking a sin or not? Is smoking a sin?
Smoking in Orthodox faith considered a sinful passion. At its core, this process is an unnatural act, contrary to the innate needs of the human body and soul.
Is it really a sin for an Orthodox person to smoke?
The Russian Orthodox Church gives a clear definition of smoking as a serious matter and an obstacle to achieving the salvation of a person’s soul. By distorting the spiritual nature, the sin of smoking changes the original image created by God.
The craving for smoking gives rise to idolatry of one’s passions. A person’s will and consciousness are dulled, he becomes a hostage to habits.
Advice. Go to confession in church!
By developing selfishness through bad habits, a person puts himself above others, considers himself entitled to set a disastrous example, to provide harmful influence on the fragile consciousness of children who imitate adults in everything.
Being a wound on the soul, smoking gives rise to a whole range of problems that envelop a person. The health given by the Lord is destroyed, life is shortened. No one has the right to interfere in God's providence.
Why is smoking considered a sin?
Nicotine demons will make you addicted, which distances the smoker from the temple of God on earth. It is impossible to imagine a full-fledged experience if a person took a drag on a cigarette before or after it. Smoking destroys a person's connection with God.
An addiction is a crime against oneself that slowly kills the body. A Christian who has decided to eradicate his dependence on tobacco must make every spiritual and physical strength and start your cleansing with.
Smoking contradicts God's plan for human nature, representing a senseless and harmful occupation. The Lord created the world around us wisely and meaningfully; there is no place in it for sinful passions that afflict the human soul.
Every believer is obliged to preserve the gift of God and not to injure his health. Protecting his soul from sinful passions, a person does not stray from the path, the end of which will be a grace-filled reunion with God.
It is easy to show weakness in the face of sin, but it is much more difficult to show perseverance and follow the commandments of God. Throughout life, the pristine state of the soul will face many tests; overcoming them preserves the purity of conscience before oneself and before God.
Video with a priest: is the habit of smoking a sin? Is smoking considered a sin?
Why do many people smoke in the modern world?
Smoking has become firmly established daily life person. There is a substitution of concepts, addiction to cigarettes tobacco companies They are trying to present it as a fashionable and harmless activity. The media constantly cultivates the topic of smoking, which has a particularly detrimental effect on the fragile consciousness of young people.
Smoking is a weakness human soul, which is easily used by devilish forces. IN modern world It is difficult to list all the variety of temptations that lead a person astray from the true path.
It is important to understand that Orthodoxy, in its essence and in official statements, does not accept the vice of smoking in any form, therefore smoking is a sin that must be gotten rid of immediately, at this very second.
Is smoking a sin? Orthodox Christian doesn't ask that question. When discussing the dangers of tobacco, a person must understand that physical harm is not comparable to the severity of spiritual sin.
Not a single destructive passion comes alone, but always gives rise to new ones. The longer a smoker continues to retain and justify sin within himself, the more he erases his image before the Lord.
God's mercy has no boundaries and a person who is firmly determined to put an end to the devil's passion with the help of willpower, prayer and faith will be able to overcome any obstacle. Only internal indecision and reluctance to give up tobacco addiction can become an obstacle to the healing of the human soul.
Contributing to the spread of tobacco large companies refer to famous personalities who did not disdain this habit. By creating advertising for cigarettes in this way, one forgets the fact that these are the same ordinary people, weak before smoking.
It is impossible to imagine a true believer holding a cigarette in his hands; these are two incompatible things. It is within the power of the human soul to overcome tobacco addiction and atone for your sin before the Lord. So, smoking is definitely a sin, stop smoking now!
Secular medicine has long proven the harm of tobacco use for human body. Many people believe that smoking is allowed by Orthodoxy because it is not stated in the scriptures. However, they are wrong: the Russian Orthodox Church speaks negatively about the habit of using tobacco products. Smoking is a sin, a passion that does not allow a person to follow the righteous path to the Heavenly Throne. This habit is the reason mental illness and distance from divine forgiveness.
Is smoking considered a sin?
Turning to faith, a person must reconsider his view of existence and abandon harmful habits, which the Church considers as sinful. Orthodox people You should definitely give up smoking, because it attracts negative energy and various troubles.
Orthodox Church has a negative attitude towards the tradition of smoking
- A person who indulges in tobacco loses health and is vulnerable to passions and vices. He becomes incapable of performing works for the good and in the name of salvation of the soul. Next, smoking people They are engaged in useless squandering, although they could have used the money to give alms to temples or orphans.
- Tobacco smoke has a tremendous impact on the spiritual component of a person. Smoking weakens vigilance and allows passions to more easily take hold of the mind. Causing addiction, it darkens the mind and leads to a slow and disgusting death from various diseases.
- A soul infected by tobacco smoking becomes irritable and sad if it does not receive smoke within the allotted time. Smokers quietly become slaves to this terrible sin, despite the fact that each person is born for freedom in Christ the Savior. He who knows the truth is liberated by it, and the divine gift of love is perceived only by those who have managed to throw off the shackles of meaningless habits.
- Knowing about the colossal harm to health (as noted by manufacturers), people rarely stop in front of this harmful problem. Cigarette provokes oncological diseases, gastrointestinal disorders and brain activity. Today people are informed about these ailments, but they continue to use tobacco, therefore, they commit evil actions that will not allow them to approach the bliss of the heavenly realms.
- Every reasonable person should understand that smoking is a sin because it only brings trouble. If you continue to inhale tobacco smoke, the meaning of most prayers aimed at acquiring health disappears. A person who has recently held a oral cavity sinful cigarette, asks for help from the Almighty Creator. There is a contradiction here because the Scriptures teach us to embrace purity and integrity in our worldview.
It is necessary to remember the words of the Apostle Paul, who noted that everything is permissible, but much is harmful and should not have the consciousness of the individual.
Decline of morality through smoking
During the time of Peter I, tobacco was not considered a sin; clergy even supported the tradition. However, with the development scientific technologies Every person has learned the whole truth about smoking, so they should not turn to past mistakes.
Church says smoking is a sinful addiction
Habit creates a lot of troubles that move you away from the true vision of things.
- A person who uses tobacco gradually justifies himself, creating the illusion of freedom and the belief that it is easy to get rid of the addiction. Pride in the soul is becoming increasingly worse, which pushes people away from the rituals of confession and communion.
- Dependence on tobacco provokes drunkenness and gluttony, since in weak human character there is a peculiarity of looking for something new when one passion ceases to give great pleasure. Hence it turns out that cigarettes lead to gluttony and the desire to isolate oneself from the present.
- People who smoke rarely control themselves and allow themselves to behave immorally. Gradually other weaknesses appear, the person no longer wants to take care of his own health. However, the Scriptures remind us that he who destroys the body will certainly experience punishment.
- Some clergy, speaking about constant smoking, recall possession. They warn what's inside cigarette smoke there is a demon of addiction that grows stronger with every puff. The first thing a person does is succumb to the influence of his evil master and continues to destroy the body given by the Lord.
- Smoking is seen as an empty act that does not bring any benefit: the nervous system is depleted, appears psychological dependence, organs suffer and terrible diseases gradually appear.
- A cigarette distances one from the Lord and does not allow one to sincerely participate in the sacrament, which is celebrated on an empty stomach. The believer must stand for the service and drink church wine, which represents the blood of the Savior. Before this ritual, as well as during it, you should not smoke, but a person dependent on tobacco is not able to withstand torture without harmful smoke. It turns out that the smoker exchanges the great sacrament for a senseless craving for tobacco.
- The Church prohibits smoking because the Lord commanded his children to maintain physical and spiritual purity. A cigarette will not allow you to adhere to this law, since toxic tars settle inside the organs, and the psychology of the individual also suffers in a similar way.
- The clergy claim that the soul of a smoker does not find peace after death, since it did not get rid of the demon of addiction during life. The sin of smoking is condemned and called spiritual weakness, lewdness, and tobacco is regarded as a gift from the devil. An addiction brings a person closer to negative energies, leads to moral decline and brings physical death closer.
Church attitude
The Orthodox Church has a negative attitude towards the tradition of smoking, because tobacco is addictive, pollutes organs with tar, and destroys nervous system. A cigarette is contrary to Christian rituals, which call on believers to maintain purity of the shell and balance of mind.
Smoking is a meaningless activity that has absolutely no benefit for people and their environment. A person does not receive anything good from this destruction. Therefore, Orthodox believers must avoid this destruction, which does not bring any benefit to the development of personality.
A believer is obliged to strive for things that are thorough and useful, because the Lord, when creating the world, created it correct and rational. Hence it turns out that smokers, by inhaling toxic smoke into their lungs every day, destroy the bodies given to them by the Almighty Creator and shamelessly contradict the original plan of God.
Orthodox Church on smoking
How does the passion of smoking harm the soul? What happens to the soul while smoking? Various diseases The Holy Fathers define souls by the concept of passion. There are various classifications passions. Man combines the carnal and spiritual principles. Therefore, in accordance with this, passions are divided into physical and mental. The former have their basis in bodily needs, the latter in mental needs. It is difficult to draw a clear line between them, since the “epicenter” of all passions is in the soul. The most common bodily passions: “gluttony, gluttony, luxury, drunkenness, different genera voluptuousness, adultery, debauchery, uncleanness, incest, child molestation, bestiality, evil desires and all sorts of unnatural and shameful passions...” (Philokalia. Vol. 2, Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1993, p. 371). The sin of smoking refers to an unnatural passion, for chronic poisoning yourself poison is not rooted in the area natural needs bodies.
All passions are stumbling blocks on our path to salvation. By its origin, human nature, as the creation of the Wise God, as His image and likeness, has perfection. The goal of all our Christian life- to unite with God and find bliss only in Him alone eternal life. In carrying out the work of salvation, we must restore in ourselves the image of God, distorted by many different sins, and acquire the likeness of our Heavenly Parent.
While a person is in captivity of passion, his soul cannot restore the distorted image and return to the primordial likeness of God. The sin of smoking is the most real captivity. If a person overcome by passions, then his soul becomes defiled, his mind becomes dead, his will turns out to be powerless. The Holy Fathers call this state the second idolatry. Man worships his passions like idols. An idolater cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (Eph. 5:5). “Without purity from passions, the soul is not cured of sinful ailments, and does not acquire glory lost by crime” (St. Isaac the Syrian).
Any passion, being a disease of the soul, is linked by invisible links to other ailments. There are no impenetrable walls in the soul. Ingrown passion contributes to the formation of other vices. Egoism manifests itself rudely. It’s scary when the sin of smoking captivates a woman who has become a mother. A mother who smokes while walking over the stroller in which the baby is sleeping puts satisfaction of passion above the health of her child. Parents who smoke usually teach this to their children. Children are not their property. When they infect them for the rest of their lives with this destructive habit, they act not only against Christian conscience, but also contrary to universal morality.
If a person has realized the harmfulness of smoking, he often becomes despondent, seeing that he has become a prisoner of this habit and has no freedom. The sin of smoking is also closely related to the sin of self-justification. Having come to terms with this passion, a person forgives himself other weaknesses, for the power of precedent is great.
The passion of smoking is also a sin because it destroys health. According to the general teaching of the holy fathers, life and health are given to us by God as a gift. Shorten your life bad habits and an unhealthy lifestyle is a serious sin. A person exposed to the passion of smoking harms his health and the health of those present. There is probably not a single vice or perversion that they would not try to justify. Attempts to talk about the “positive” sides of smoking look pathetic in comparison with the data available to medicine.
Tobacco contains nicotine (up to 2%) - a strong poison. Nicotine sulfate is used to destroy agricultural pests. plants. When smoking tobacco, nicotine is absorbed into the body and soon enters the brain. A person smokes every day for many years. The average smoker takes about 200 puffs a day. This equates to approximately 6,000 per month, 72,000 per year and over 2 million puffs for a 45-year-old smoker who started smoking at age 15. Such a prolonged nicotine attack leads to the fact that the poison eventually finds a weak link in the body and causes serious illness. Over the course of 30 years, a smoker smokes approximately 20,000 cigarettes, or about 160 kg of tobacco, absorbing an average of 800 g of nicotine. One cigarette contains approximately 6-8 mg of nicotine, of which 3-4 mg enters the blood. For humans, the lethal dose of nicotine ranges from 50-100 mg (2-3 drops).
IN tobacco smoke a number of carcinogens have been discovered, causing cancer. A huge amount in tobacco and radioactive substances. When smoking one pack of cigarettes a day, a person receives a radiation dose that is 7 times higher than the dose recognized as the maximum permissible dose by the International Agreement on Radiation Protection. Smoking is a terrible problem. It has been proven that radiation from tobacco origin is main reason occurrence of cancer.
The passion for smoking is the result of the combination of human sinful will and the activity of demonic forces, although invisible, but very real. Demonic forces carefully try to hide their complicity in the fall of people. However, there are types of destructive vice in which the special role of the devil is obvious. The most striking illustration is provided by the history of tobacco smoking. The Spaniard Roman Pano in 1496, after the second voyage of H. Columbus, brought tobacco seeds from America to Spain.
From there, tobacco penetrates into Portugal. The French ambassador in Lisbon, Jean Nicot (nicotine got its name from his surname), in 1560 presented tobacco plants as a medicine to Queen Catherine de Medici (1519 - 1589), who suffered from migraines. The passion for tobacco quickly began to spread, first in Paris, and then throughout France. Then the victorious march of tobacco began throughout Europe. The devil strives to impose everything that is destructive for humans on people under the guise of being “useful.” Among 16th century doctors, many considered tobacco medicine. When evidence of the harmful effects of smoking appeared, the hobby went so far that it was no longer possible to stop the infection. At first, smoking was persecuted and smokers were severely punished. In England, smokers were led through the streets with a noose around their necks, and stubborn smokers were even executed.
The English king James I in 1604 wrote a work “On the dangers of tobacco”, in which he wrote: “Smoking is disgusting to the eyes, disgusting to the smell, harmful to the brain and dangerous to the lungs.” Pope Urban VII excommunicated believers. Other measures were also taken. However, each time the winners were people who were addicted to the passion of smoking, tobacco producers, tobacco dealers - all those who made the spread of destructive vice their profession. The whip and executions were powerless in the face of this destructive passion, rapid spread which strongly resembles an epidemic (more precisely, a pandemic). Some power superior to man makes people slaves bad habit, from which the vast majority do not part until death.
In Russia, the passion for smoking appeared at the beginning of the 17th century. Time of Troubles. It was brought by the Poles and Lithuanians. Tsar Mikhail Romanov severely persecuted lovers of the devil's potion. In 1634, it was published, according to which smokers received sixty stick blows on the soles. The second time my nose was cut off. According to the Code of 1649 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich provided for punishment for the one who was found with tobacco: to beat him with a whip until he confessed where he got the tobacco from. Severe measures were envisaged against traders: cutting their noses and exiling them to distant cities.
The import of tobacco into the country was prohibited. Efforts to stop were unsuccessful. Tsar Peter I was a lover of smoking. In 1697, all prohibitions were lifted. Peter I granted the British a monopoly on the tobacco trade in Russia. The rapidity with which this destructive vice began to spread among the people gives rise to the saddest thoughts. Now about 250 billion cigarettes are produced in Russia every year and another 50 billion are imported. Thus, the country consumes 300 billion. Russia currently ranks first in the world in terms of smoking growth. A significant number of smokers are teenagers.
And another sad feature of our country is the feminization of smoking. According to World Organization healthcare, in Russia 70% of men and 30% of women smoke. On female body the sin of smoking is especially destructive. Based on materials from the annual conference of the Radiological Society North America, smoking women all other things being equal (the researchers took into account the age of the patients, smoking experience, type of used tobacco products and other factors) develop lung cancer approximately twice as often as men.
Canadian doctors, based on statistical data collected in Vancouver and Quebec, claim that women who started smoking before the age of 25 are more likely to develop malignant tumor breasts increase by 70%. Specialists in the field social psychology The power of influence of the environment on a person is well known. Nowadays, a significant part of our urban environment is made up of huge billboards advertising poison that is destructive to health. At least for a second, at least for one moment, do the people involved in the mass poisoning of people think that Last Judgment you will have to answer for everything.
Is it possible to quit smoking? Can. In England, about 10 million people have stopped smoking over the past 10-15 years. Almost 2,000 people quit smoking every day! Smoking passion is not easy to fight, but it is possible and 99% achieve success. According to the general teaching of the Holy Fathers, man, with the help of God, can overcome any passion. The great elder Ambrose of Optina gives advice in the fight against the disease of smoking: “ You write that you cannot stop smoking tobacco. What is impossible with man is possible with the help of God; You just have to firmly decide to quit, realizing the harm it causes to the soul and body, since tobacco relaxes the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys bodily health with a slow death. - Irritability and melancholy are consequences of the pain of the soul from smoking. I advise you to use spiritual healing against this passion: confess in detail all your sins, from the age of seven and throughout your entire life, and partake of the Holy Mysteries, and read the Gospel daily, standing, a chapter or more; and when melancholy strikes, then read again until the melancholy passes; will attack again and read the Gospel again. - Or instead, place, in private, 33 large bows, in memory of the earthly life of the Savior and in honor of the Holy Trinity«.
Why do so few people give up the sin of smoking, this “gift of the devil”? Because most smokers do not want to give up the passion of smoking. And those who want to quit smoking and take steps towards this, in reality, do not have the inner determination. Despite impulsive efforts, people who repeatedly quit smoking have become close to this passion deep down in their souls. God is always ready to help a person in this saving task, but expects heroism from him. " When, out of love for God, you want to accomplish some deed, set death as the limit of your desire; and thus, in fact, you will be worthy of ascending to the level of martyrdom in the struggle with every passion, and you will not suffer any harm from what meets you within this limit, if you endure to the end and do not relax. The thinking of a weak mind makes the power of patience weak; and a strong mind even imparts strength to the one who follows his thoughts, which nature does not have"(Venerable Isaac the Syrian).
Father Afanasy Gumerov
