Is smoking wrong or not?

[twhicke]

thistle:

Smoking is a venial sin whereas excessive smoking is a mortal sin (5th Commandment).

Now, if someone started smoking at a young age and was unaware of it’s dangers and sins, or if someone started smoking before coming into communion with the church, it is not a mortal sin. For something to be a mortal sin, you must have three criteria met.

CCC:

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”[131]

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”[132] The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart[133] do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

“full knowledge and deliberate consent”… If one is addicted, they do not have “deliberate consent.”

“Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense.”… One, if ignorant of the gravity of the sin, or that it is a sin itself, can lessen it.

"The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. " An addiction to tobacco is a disease, just like alcoholism and other such diseases, and therefore makes it unvoluntary

But, just because it is not necessarily a mortal sin, does not mean that it is not bad, evil, or still a sin.

In Him,
Tim

 

[Trelow]

mumto5:

The Bible tells us that the body is a temple to be kept pure and holy.
Smoking defiles the temple of the body and is known to shorten and kill life by engaging in it. How can any Catholic smoke when this is the case? Yet the church allows this. Every cigarette shortens your life - life that is gifted by God. I can’t see how anyone reading that verse referred to in the first sentence can justify smoking.

Actually there have been some studies that have shown that pipe smoking lengthens ones life.

 

[thistle]

Trelow:

Actually there have been some studies that have shown that pipe smoking lengthens ones life.

Can you refer us to these studies because I don’t believe that.

 

[mumto5]

Trelow:

Actually there have been some studies that have shown that pipe smoking lengthens ones life.

Yeah right. It can protect against altzheimers and the black death but that’s about it’s limitations. Specific references?

 

[Scott_Waddell]

Trelow:

Actually there have been some studies that have shown that pipe smoking lengthens ones life.

Here is an interesting article here: meerschaumstore.com/health.htm

Of course none of the studies show that pipe smoking lengthens life as was suggested.

A subsequent revision of this report, which appeared in 1979, concluded that pipe smoking increased the mortality ratio slightly, when compared with non-smokers, but the effect was minimal when compared to cigarette smokers. Pipe smokers using four or fewer bowls of tobacco per day had a lower mortality ratio than non-smokers - meaning the death rate was less for occasional pipe smokers than for the general population.

So once again we are back to the main issue of how much. For instance. I smoke maybe three bowls a week not inhaling into lungs. This is an amount so little that no one has studied it because it is statistically insignificant.

 

[Katie1723]

If you like smelling like an ashtray , then I would say NO…smoking is not a sin.
~ Kathy ~

 

[twhicke]

Katie1723:

If you like smelling like an ashtray , then I would say NO…smoking is not a sin.

          ~ Kathy ~

That statement is a little rough. Whether or not someone will smell like an ashtray, has nothing to do with whether or not it is a sin.

 

[Trelow]

Scott Waddell:

Here is an interesting article here: meerschaumstore.com/health.htm

Of course none of the studies show that pipe smoking lengthens life as was suggested.

So once again we are back to the main issue of how much. For instance. I smoke maybe three bowls a week not inhaling into lungs. This is an amount so little that no one has studied it because it is statistically insignificant.

That’s the one, I read. Close enough for me. I tell ya, if the anti-tobacco bigots would just enjoy it as God meant, I bowel hither and tither, then they wouldn’t be so wound up.

 

[Katie1723]

twhicke:

That statement is a little rough. Whether or not someone will smell like an ashtray, has nothing to do with whether or not it is a sin.

I forgot to put this ~~~~~~~> in my last post. Goodness, I was being sarcastic. I suppose you know where in the catechism it specifically says smoking is a sin. I know we are supposed to take care of our bodies, but taking the original question at face value without reading between the lines, I am unaware of smoking being a sin.
~ Kathy ~

 

[sconea]

Smoking is not and has never been a sin. It is nowadays politically incorrect. I know several priests who smoke and have heard many other priests say that smoking is not sinful. Those who run around saying smoking is sinful sound like fundamentalist protestants. It’s what comes out of the heart that is sinful!

 

[lifeisbeautiful]

thistle:

My emphasis is on excessive smoking being a mortal sin (5th Commandment).
I have a book How To Make A Good Confession. It states that **excessive ** smoking and excessive drinking are mortal sins.
The book has both Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat.
Also watching EWTN Father Corapi said that in the past people never fully understood the risks to health of smoking so it was not a mortal sin but now nobody can argue that which means people who smoke excessively know that they are doing something deliberatley that can lead to their ill health or death.

Sorry, since you said:
“**Smoking is a venial sin ** whereas excessive smoking is a mortal sin (5th Commandment).”

it sounded like you thought smoking was always a sin, at least a venial one. That is what I disagree with.

 

[Myangel]

Hi everyone, I am sill unsure as to whether smoking is a sin or not, but I smoke 1 packet every day (25 cigarettes) and I could not imagine that being to pleasing to God. I am attempting to at least cut down and eventually quitting. I have decided to try my hardest to rid myself of the attachment to smoking as its running my life. Please I ask that you all pray for me so I can achieve quitting! Many thanks.

 

[thistle]

lifeisbeautiful:

Sorry, since you said:
“**Smoking is a venial sin ** whereas excessive smoking is a mortal sin (5th Commandment).”

it sounded like you thought smoking was always a sin, at least a venial one. That is what I disagree with.

I agree with you. I think in both cases it is only since it was recognised that smoking really can damage your health. As far as I know in the past it was neither mortal nor venial.

 

[JimG]

Mark Twain was neither Catholic nor a very good theologian, but he once commented that he could not understand why the three things that people enjoy most–alcohol, sex, and tobacco, seem to be excluded from heaven.

 

[Lorrie]

geojack:

The Vatican sells cigarettes. Duty free. They are 40% cheaper than in Rome. The Vatican is full of ashtrays and smokers. If you are one of those that hate to be around smokers you should stay away from the Vatican. Pope Paul VI was a heavy smoker.

Does the Vatican take international orders?

 

[Anna_s_Mom]

sin or not??? not sure on that, but it is just plain stinky!!! I smoked as a teen when I thought I was soooo cool. Then I grew up realized I wasn’t and quit. Who wants to date an ashtray?? makes your teeth yellow, hair face and clothes stink. It is expensive. Can’t think of any reason why anyone would want to smoke.
Please quit. Smoking causes cancer, premature birth and could be linked to SIDS. among many other things…

 

[twhicke]

sconea:

Smoking is not and has never been a sin. It is nowadays politically incorrect. I know several priests who smoke and have heard many other priests say that smoking is not sinful. Those who run around saying smoking is sinful sound like fundamentalist protestants. It’s what comes out of the heart that is sinful!

An old priest of mine once said that smokers are modern day lepers… Another priest friend of mine, who smokes, once said jokingly that “I smoke to protest abortion”…

 

[Consecrated]

Trelow:

I hear you get a partial indulgence if you smoke a pipe once a day.

My husband will LOVE that!

 

[Tibbar]

Wrong because others around you are forced to breathe in second hand smoke which eventually leads to health problems like COPD. It’s an inconsiderate and bad habit to smoke in public. I hate walking behind people and having to breathe in the smoke because they have a lit cigarette in their hand.

Like the bad habit of drinking, smoking affects others around you in a negative way.

 

[Consecrated]

Myangel:

Hi everyone, I am sill unsure as to whether smoking is a sin or not, but I smoke 1 packet every day (25 cigarettes) and I could not imagine that being to pleasing to God. I am attempting to at least cut down and eventually quitting. I have decided to try my hardest to rid myself of the attachment to smoking as its running my life. Please I ask that you all pray for me so I can achieve quitting! Many thanks.

You have my prayers!

Anything that is not God that is “running our lives” should be worked against. I think that’s obvious, and it definitely applies to more that cigarettes!

I think it’s possible to enjoy tobacco without letting it “run our lives.”