May 2000 Issue

Tobacco

by Dick Ward

Did You Know the use of TOBACCO is harmful to your body and for that reason its use is prohibited in the Word of God? Yes, we are able to find various Bible principles which clearly show the professed follower of the Bible cannot smoke, chew, dip, or pinch tobacco. Do you smoke? Have you ever considered the various warnings with reference to tobacco?

Keeping The Body Pure

Paul clearly pointed out to the saints at Corinth that God is concerned with the Christian's body, "...Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." (I Corinthians 6:13). Again, he wrote, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Corinthians 6:19,20). Obviously, we are to keep the body clean and take up no habit that will work toward the destroying of the "temple of the Holy Ghost". When we make the claim of the Father being "our" Father and of Jesus Christ being "our" Saviour, we are saying we have committed our soul, mind and BODY to His keeping and use. Should we find TOBACCO and various other drugs harmful to the body and thus in violation of the stated principles in this article, we must put them away from us and, as Christians, we must repent of the time when we were using them.

The Question: Is Tobacco Harmful To Your Body?

If you do not believe tobacco is harmful to your body, what does the warning label on the packaging say? Does it tell you smoking cigarettes will help prevent cancer or does it say such can "cause" cancer? When sick folks ask their doctors for the road to better health, do the physicians say, "Keep smoking is the way to perfect health."? You know better than that! The message from the medical world is, "Stop smoking if you want to prolong life; keep smoking if you want to shorten life." I personally appreciate tough laws dealing with smoking in public places. Too much information is available to the public for one to successfully argue tobacco cannot hurt you. I hope, if you are a smoker or otherwise use tobacco, you will consider the rights of others and your own health and quit that unhealthy and unclean habit! - Dick Ward

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Dick Ward for the article! He can be reached at 18 El Dorado East, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405; (205) 556-2407).

Email the Editor at markjward@yahoo.com