Friday, February 20, 2009

Is Smoking Sinful?

Tim Challies takes up a thoughtful examination of that question. I think he hits on a lot of good points here, and examines things fairly. My conclusion is pretty similar to his - no, smoking is not necessarily sinful, though an addiction to it could be. The Bible has nothing to say about the subject whatsoever, so I would have major concerns with someone who would say that it unequivocally is sinful - that is the territory of legalism. Can good arguments be made against smoking? Sure - though Challies shows that these reasons aren't as airtight as they might seem when viewed with consistency across the spectrum of the Christian life. In any regard, it's a good article to get you thinking about how we define sin. Check it out, and if you've got thoughts on the issue, let me know in the comments.

1 comment:

Darius said...

I liked that article, though it had one glaring omission (which many discussions of "modern sins" like smoking and McDonalds usually omit): a discussion of Matt. 15:11.

"What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'"