The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Spurgeon

Okay.. okay! I'll "pipe" in! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes2.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I obviously don't consider smoking a pipe a sin; i.e., a violation of any of the moral laws of God. There are situations where I do choose not to smoke my pipe for the sake of a weaker brother/sister. But this is my right and duty as is laid out by Paul, particularly in Romans 14.

As to the health issue and tied in with that the biblical texts, e.g. 1Cor 3:16 that speak of my body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. First of all, the Holy Spirit isn't being affected by my pipe smoking. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Secondly, just living on this corrupted earth exposes my body to all kinds of pollutants and foreign substances which were not here before the Fall. People are dying of cancer, strange viruses, heart disease, etc., where smoking or drinking or any of the other "cardinal no-no's" aren't done. George Burns lived past 100 and was a very heavy cigar smoker. Yes, heavy cigarette smoking is a definite contributing factor to lung cancer, emphysema, and other ailments and is something I think should not be done. However, many years ago, I took out a large life insurance policy. One of the questions asked in the preliminary interview was, "Are you a smoker?" I answered, "Yes, I smoke a pipe". The salesman replied, then we will check "No, non-smoker" because we (the insurance company) don't consider pipe-smokers to be smokers. The company also required that I submit to a rigorous physical examination to ascertain my physical health for obvious reasons. After the examination report came back, the salesman sat down with me once again to tell me that I was in great physical health and that he could then proceed to process my policy. I asked him what the examination revealed about anything that would relate to my pipe smoking and he said that all the blood tests, lung x-rays, etc. all showed no signs whatsoever that I smoked. There was distinguishable nicotine in my blood, lungs where clear, etc.

So.... bottom line for ME is that I will continue to enjoy smoking my pipe as long as I am able to do so. In almost 30 years, I have only had [color:"red"]2[/color] people complain about my pipe. Both were radical environmentalist, healthniks that looked like they could use a healthy dose of vitamin supplements. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> The overwhelming majority of people enjoy the aroma of my pipe tobacco.

Again, if someone thinks that they can build a biblical case to prove that I am sinning against God by smoking a pipe, they are free to try and do so. But like Spurgeon, I am not convinced there is any such "proof", for if there was, I would surely repent and quit smoking a pipe immediately. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

In His Grace,