Thank you for sharing that experience with us. That really is just the attitude a Christian should have. We shouldn't take sin lightly or treat any sin as trivial, but neither should we let the devil occupy us with past sins. If we value the work of Christ on the cross, we'll be maintained in both those things. If I know that Christ died for my sins, I'll get an impression of how grievous sin is in the sight of God. And, if I know Christ died for sins, I'll know that the judgement has been exhausted, the penalty has been borne by that perfect One, and only the love's left for me.
Is smoking consider as a sinful act?
- Thread starter mely.pearl
- Start date
Amen!
As inhaling smoke into one's lungs is as foreign a thing to the body as anything, and it causes disease and death, and as we who know Christ are to take care of the temple where God dwells, it should definitely be considered that smoking cigarettes (tobacco, or any other substance) would be a behaviour that would rob God of His rightful dominion in that life, and over that one particular area of a carnal pleasure.
I once smoked between the ages of 18 and 28 (10 years, also!) and then quit. I also felt very guilty and would hide it from those I knew who were Christians...and that is because the Lord was convicting me about it.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
btw: Welcome to CFS!
Agreed!
Remember....YOU aked! My advice is to STOP smokeing NOW. Not tomarrow but TODAY.
Printed right on every package is a warning that cigerettes cause cancer. I have burried more people who died of lung cancer than I can remember including my own father.
A person who smokes is "selfish". They want to smoke more than they want to spend their life with their loved ones. Every draw on a cigerette takes away a minute of your life that could have been spent loving and spending time with family.
Now, the Bible never directly mentions smoking. There are principles, however, that definttely apply to smoking. First, the Bible commands us not to allow our bodies to become "mastered" by anything.
1 Corth. 6:12..............
"Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything".
Later in the same passage we are told...........(19-20)
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body".
Can smoking be considered "beneficial" ?
Can it be said that smoking is truly honoring God with your body ??
Can a person honestly smoke "for the glory of God" ?
You know as well as I do that the answer to these three questions is a resounding "no."
As a result, can YOU say and believe that smoking is NOT a sin and therefore should not be practiced by followers of Jesus Christ????
Thank you. God bless you
Leviticus 19:28 is perfectly clear:
'You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.'
They may be popular today, but tattoos defile the body and do it permanently.
If we are pulling levitical law into play, stone me now, as I have violated laws that deserve that death.
Remember, we are free through Christ.
Can a tattoo be a sin? Yes
Can a tattoo honor God? Yes It all depends on the motives behind getting the tattoo.
What God sees is our heart and our relationship with Him and not how well we follow the rules.
Absolutely!
It's not just Leviticus, many preachers and exorcists today warn us against tattoos, they are not as harmless as they seem.
It's disturbing to see how popular they've become today, it's probably another sign of the end times.
If I've presented my body as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), then surely it's no longer mine to do what I want with? In fact, the scripture says as much, "ye are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19). I don't have the authority to modify my body, because it no longer belongs to me. Worldly people use tattoos to express their 'individuality', an expression of their 'personality'. If I'm walking in nearness to the Lord Jesus, all that should be expressed by me is Him. Can I display features of Christ by a tattoo - a cross or a Bible verse, perhaps? I leave that up to the individual reader to judge.
Absolutely. At one time, tattoos were solely sported by soldiers, sailors and labourers. No-one in so-called respectable society would've dreamed of having one. These days, so much which was once viewed as disreputable is now both acceptable and popular, in western society particularly. I think it's safe to say that many things that become inexplicably popular and widespread in the world are being actively promoted by Satan.
Here in Scotland, if a survey was a carried out, I believe that there would be far more people with tattoos than without. It's sinister - you can walk down a busy street, and not see anyone without a prominent tattoo. I think it's a sign of the general course of the world, and the evil that's in the world, coming into more and more prominent and blatant expression.
The passage you quoted is contextually about "Slavery".
I agree, the bodies are not our own, but we are stewards of a body. i agree that the majority of tattoos people get are for the wrong reason, but the majority of people aren't saved either.
Is a tattooed on wedding ring any different than a traditional wedding ring? Just because it is ink, does it make it a sin?
On the same notion, if a man gets a tattoo in honor of his dead father, or a women gets a tattoo of a bible verse that helps her every day, is there wrong in those?
We are stewards of a body, yes. Doesn't that give us even more of a responsibility to care for it?
A tattoo is body modification, which is what makes a tattooed band different from a wedding ring.
Well, we aren't called upon to judge those outside, and worldly people will do what they will. I would think it was odd though, if a believer got a tattoo by which to remember a loved one. A believer should know that a person, though they might be absent from the body, isn't gone forever. Unbelievers hold onto a vast amount of sentiment connected with death, sentiment which really is an attempt to escape the fact that they don't know what happens after death, and they fear it.
Personally, I've never understood the phenomenon of tattoo Bible verses onto our bodies - the word should be in our hearts, surely? Only if it's in the heart will it help us.
Would you consider piercings a sin too because they are a body modification?
I know for me personally, I have no desire to get a tattoo, however, if a brother in Christ got one, I do not see how it is being a bad steward of the body, so long it is not vulgar/obscene/pointless
Yes, it's a tricky question but I believe all tattoos are sinful, whether they're obscene or not.
I'm not saying that people with tattoos are 'evil' or 'bad', it has nothing to do with that but God's reasons are different than ours.
When you're altering your body, you're messing with God's creation. And the fact that you do it permanently is what really bothers me here.
Nevertheless, in ambiguous cases such as this one, I always prefer to play safe and don't risk my relationship with God.
Thank God for the cross and a new covenant and GRACE...........
I dont believe God is all that up in arms over tatoos, after all it is the heart He is after.
If we are going to get into all the old laws then we have to live by them all. Does your wife wear pants ? Old covenant laws puts her in SIN. For that matter - how many people would be in sin for coloring their hair or removing a wart or plucking facial hairs and so forth?!!!!!
It is always good to obey your conscience in these matters but to force them towards others would be a poor choice.
God Bless
Jim
Personally, I don't think a believer should have piercings either, since that's effectively the same as cutting oneself. Not many would agree with me about that though, so I don't press the point.
Again, though many would disagree with me, I don't see why the divine view of tattoos should have changed in this dispensation, since it's not dietary or ceremonial law. But, that's a whole new discussion! How do we know which elements of the law apply to us literally and which morally.