would smoking a pack a day....

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

17Bees

Senior Member
Oct 14, 2016
1,380
813
113
#3
be considered Gluttonous?
I don't know if "gluttony" could be considered here. That word is usually associated with greed or over eating or any kind of over indulgence. I do think it's defiling the holy spirit's temple. Your body. In effect, smoking is like an idol. It represents a thing you are more interested in than God. So interested, in fact, that you choose to use it twenty times a day or more.

But besides the hurt and disappointment smoking causes God because you're not even thinking of Him twenty times a day, consider what people you don't know are doing to you. People have long been able to separate nicotine from the plant and, more importantly, add nicotine to a cigarette. Since nicotine is practically the only addicting chemical in a cigarette, they've learned that adding a little more makes the user more likely to want more. And when you think about it, smoking the cigarette in order to inject your bloodstream with nicotine is a horribly stupid way to go about it considering the 7000 chemicals found in the smoke.

When I was a teenager, I picked tobacco for a little extra coin where I lived. The kind I picked was "twist" chewing tobacco and I'll explain how you picked it in a second. First two family members loved the stuff. There is not a single picture of them at any age where they didn't have a big glob of twist in their mouth. They're both dead, one buried without a jaw and the other who's throat and esophagus was eaten. And neither of them ever inhaled the stuff.

So, when you picked the leaves of tobacco, it wasn't like cigarettes. The whole stalk is taken green for cigarettes. The chewing and cigar tobacco was taken leaf by leaf. They were usually the bottom leafs taken one at a time and by September, there's a field full of long stalks with just a clump of top leaves. When you picked them, you never pulled them. You broke them off. You'd guide your hand down the soft leaf till you got to the stalk, then you'd break the stem at the stalk. But if you ever tried to pull the leaf, there's tiny little sharp hairs on the leaf slanted in the opposite direction and they'd ruin your hand big time. It's easy to do and I can remember my hands being so sore from that. But I thought that was kind of the nature of the plant. It's smooth going down but it's painful going out, rather like my relatives discovered.
 

stepbystep

Well-known member
Aug 31, 2020
619
496
63
#4
be considered Gluttonous?
Is there a standard number of smokes one can have in one day to compare your pack of smokes to? Can not determine what is gluttonous without a standard to compare it to.
 
Aug 16, 2020
540
363
63
29
#7
So, no one in my family as far as I’m aware smokes that much, but yeah if it takes over your life, that isn’t good.

Currently right now, my brother started vaping when he joined the army (To fit in with his new friends), my Dad was on chewing tobacco, tried to quit a few times, but now just vapes instead because it is “Healthier” according to stuff he looked up, pretty sure my sister has done drugs, not being mean but she hanged out at parties in her college years and for my mom’s remarriage, we went to Jamaica and yeah from what I heard, it’s very easy to get your hands on marijuana. Like legit, we were bicycling in a group, not in the city but in a place not near our resort, and we stopped to have a break, guy at our break spot knew our tour guide and just happened to be smoking some marijuana, so yeah I wouldn’t past my sister to be able to get some on that vacation/scheduled wedding (From what I heard, my cousin, my aunt’s sister, also got to join my sister in smoking some weed), I know one of my cousin’s does smoke, and I believe that’s it for the drugs in my family life right now, lol

But I just wanted to bring up this story: My mom has successfully been off smoking cigarettes for 8 years. She tired when we lived in New Jersey, and that didn’t work out cause she said she gained weight. But her second time trying, which if I remember she said she prayed about it, but she says she can breath better and feels healthier. So I like to share my mom’s story as inspiration for others trying to quit smoking/whatever drug addiction you have, with prayer and perseverance, it can be done.

Meanwhile I’ve never done drugs, my only addiction problem is spending my money on hobbies and collecting, that’s my addiction, lol 😅
 
F

Fundamental

Guest
#8
I don't know if "gluttony" could be considered here. That word is usually associated with greed or over eating or any kind of over indulgence. I do think it's defiling the holy spirit's temple. Your body. In effect, smoking is like an idol. It represents a thing you are more interested in than God. So interested, in fact, that you choose to use it twenty times a day or more.

But besides the hurt and disappointment smoking causes God because you're not even thinking of Him twenty times a day, consider what people you don't know are doing to you. People have long been able to separate nicotine from the plant and, more importantly, add nicotine to a cigarette. Since nicotine is practically the only addicting chemical in a cigarette, they've learned that adding a little more makes the user more likely to want more. And when you think about it, smoking the cigarette in order to inject your bloodstream with nicotine is a horribly stupid way to go about it considering the 7000 chemicals found in the smoke.

When I was a teenager, I picked tobacco for a little extra coin where I lived. The kind I picked was "twist" chewing tobacco and I'll explain how you picked it in a second. First two family members loved the stuff. There is not a single picture of them at any age where they didn't have a big glob of twist in their mouth. They're both dead, one buried without a jaw and the other who's throat and esophagus was eaten. And neither of them ever inhaled the stuff.

So, when you picked the leaves of tobacco, it wasn't like cigarettes. The whole stalk is taken green for cigarettes. The chewing and cigar tobacco was taken leaf by leaf. They were usually the bottom leafs taken one at a time and by September, there's a field full of long stalks with just a clump of top leaves. When you picked them, you never pulled them. You broke them off. You'd guide your hand down the soft leaf till you got to the stalk, then you'd break the stem at the stalk. But if you ever tried to pull the leaf, there's tiny little sharp hairs on the leaf slanted in the opposite direction and they'd ruin your hand big time. It's easy to do and I can remember my hands being so sore from that. But I thought that was kind of the nature of the plant. It's smooth going down but it's painful going out, rather like my relatives discovered.
I would say they add a lot more to cigarettes these days then nicotine to make it more addictive.
Consider that smoking generates over 70 toxic poisonous and carcinogenic smokes. People surrounding the smoker get exposed by them as well.

My grandparents from mother side smoke more then a pack a day and got over 80. My uncle from dad’s side smoked more then a pack a day and got 65.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#9
yes I suppose as well as a complete waste of money.
arent they expensive?
 

jb

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2010
4,940
591
113
#10
would smoking a pack a day....

be considered Gluttonous?
Rom 12v1,2: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
27,734
9,660
113
#11
be considered Gluttonous?
Hmm...

Would going to the casino twice a day be considered gluttonous?
(Once a month or twice a day, either way, you throw money away.)

Would having sex with somebody else's wife three times a day be considered gluttonous?
(Once a month or three times a day, you wouldn't BELIEVE the crap it can stir up in your life...)

The same can be applied to any of the things we avoid because they cause harm. "Gluttony" would not seem to apply here. Gluttony is something good - eating - done to excess and making it bad for you. Smoking a pack a day is something bad for you, done very often and making it even worse for you.

No, I can't say smoking a pack a day would be gluttony.
 
Mar 4, 2020
8,614
3,691
113
#12
be considered Gluttonous?
Honest question: I always assumed smoking even a little bit was a sin. It seems like we aren't even looking at that elephant in the room.

So what is your belief behind being able to smoke cigarettes (even if just a little bit) with a good conscience? Not trying to judge, just curious how that works
 

Bleed

Active member
Dec 8, 2019
128
87
28
#13
because i asked about the Gluttony aspect, i know it's something i think about in a spiritual sense.
 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
27,734
9,660
113
#14
Now if you took something beneficial - exercise, for example - and turned it into the main focus of your life, something you do all the time to get REALLY beefed up (which has deleterious effects of its own, working out that much) then that would be closer to gluttony.

Or you could even take something good and right, like being kind to others, and turn it into your whole religion, to the point that you drive yourself nuts over switching lanes in traffic because somebody might want to use that lane, or berating everybody around you for not being as nice as you think they should be - that might be closer to gluttony.

But doing something harmful, and doing it a lot so it is much more harmful... nope, that doesn't fit gluttony.
 

seoulsearch

OutWrite Trouble
May 23, 2009
16,713
5,623
113
#15
be considered Gluttonous?
I'm just curious, but what was the train of thought that led to wondering if smoking would be categorized under gluttony? It's almost as if there is some certain kind of psychological/intellectual need for it to fit into that particular classification of sin?

Google simple says,

"Gluttony - habitual greed or excess in eating." Wiki expands it to "over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, and wealth items, particularly as status symbols."

So I suppose if smoking a pack of cigarettes a day were being done in a manner as to show off one's wealth (the way Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to show off smoking expensive cigars,) perhaps it would be considered gluttony.

I just looked up the price of a pack of cigs in my home state, and it said prices vary from $5.25 to $12.85 (not including tax.)

If someone is smoking a pack of $6-$13 cigarettes everyday as a way to show off that they don't have to worry about money (or their health,) then maybe it might fit under gluttony... ?
 

Bleed

Active member
Dec 8, 2019
128
87
28
#16
If someone is smoking a pack of $6-$13 cigarettes everyday as a way to show off that they don't have to worry about money (or their health,) then maybe it might fit under gluttony... ?
wouldn't that be more Pride than anything else?
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
42,665
17,120
113
69
Tennessee
#17
Is there a standard number of smokes one can have in one day to compare your pack of smokes to? Can not determine what is gluttonous without a standard to compare it to.
If there is a standard amount before being considered gluttonous it would probably be 19.
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
42,665
17,120
113
69
Tennessee
#18
I'm just curious, but what was the train of thought that led to wondering if smoking would be categorized under gluttony? It's almost as if there is some certain kind of psychological/intellectual need for it to fit into that particular classification of sin?

Google simple says,

"Gluttony - habitual greed or excess in eating." Wiki expands it to "over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, and wealth items, particularly as status symbols."

So I suppose if smoking a pack of cigarettes a day were being done in a manner as to show off one's wealth (the way Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to show off smoking expensive cigars,) perhaps it would be considered gluttony.

I just looked up the price of a pack of cigs in my home state, and it said prices vary from $5.25 to $12.85 (not including tax.)

If someone is smoking a pack of $6-$13 cigarettes everyday as a way to show off that they don't have to worry about money (or their health,) then maybe it might fit under gluttony... ?
Price in Florida, depending on brand is $4 - $7. $13 sounds like the price per pack in NYC. Could be higher though.
 

seoulsearch

OutWrite Trouble
May 23, 2009
16,713
5,623
113
#19
I'm just curious, but what was the train of thought that led to wondering if smoking would be categorized under gluttony? It's almost as if there is some certain kind of psychological/intellectual need for it to fit into that particular classification of sin?

Google simple says,

"Gluttony - habitual greed or excess in eating." Wiki expands it to "over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, and wealth items, particularly as status symbols."

So I suppose if smoking a pack of cigarettes a day were being done in a manner as to show off one's wealth (the way Arnold Schwarzenegger likes to show off smoking expensive cigars,) perhaps it would be considered gluttony.

I just looked up the price of a pack of cigs in my home state, and it said prices vary from $5.25 to $12.85 (not including tax.)

If someone is smoking a pack of $6-$13 cigarettes everyday as a way to show off that they don't have to worry about money (or their health,) then maybe it might fit under gluttony... ?
wouldn't that be more Pride than anything else?
In that particular context (if someone is just showing off or trying to impress,) I would agree with you that it would probably be pride.

If one was adhering to the Wiki definition of gluttony as "over-indulgence" and "over-consumption" of "wealth items," and if a pack a day of cigarettes for that person is over-indulgence and over-consumption, and they consider smokes to be objects of their own wealth, then perhaps it might fit.

I must ask again, is there any particular purpose behind trying to categorize smoking a pack a day as gluttony -- or not?

I'm trying to discern what you're really asking for in the thread.

* Are you trying to clarify the different "categories" of sin?

* Are you someone trying to make your example somehow qualify, or not qualify, as gluttony?

* Are you trying to figure which "sin" smoking is? Or not?

* Are you just trying to get the rest of US to think about how we would classify this?

I'm not meaning this as a criticism at all. I'm just wondering what it is you're really looking for, and now even doubly so since you didn't answer that part of my first post (which of course, you don't have to do at all... I just always wonder what the story is behind the original post and what inspired it.)
 

Bleed

Active member
Dec 8, 2019
128
87
28
#20
i got the answers i seek.
thanks all for your comments!