Smoking

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Smoking cigarettes is a stupid idea, but not all stupid ideas are sinful. Smoking in itself is morally neutral. (I’m a cigar guy, not a cigarette guy)

We all know that cigarettes cause a host of sickening diseases, and if you deny that, you are, well, to put it bluntly, stupid or naive. However, I don’t think smoking, even to an access, is sinful-addiction must drop the sinful level from mortal to venial, to perhaps nothing.

Again, smoking cigarettes at all is a colossally stupid thing to do.
 
white_sheep said:
Smoking 4 or fewer cigarettes a day has no or negligible health effects from the literature I have read. I have also seen studies done that 1 or 2 cigarettes a day can have positive health effects.
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Using tobacco in moderation does have positive effects. I can’t speak to unnatural cigarettes or the lung damage that could occur if inhaled. I don’t see why someone would want to smoke a roll of paper rather than tobacco inside a tobacco leaf, though. It destroys 90% of the taste.
 
Smoking is pretty much in the same ballpark as drinking and gambling. It’s not evil in itself, only when you’re stupid about it and overdo it. I’ll have a cigarette once in a blue moon, but I’m not addicted.
 
I’m not sure that I agree with the term “morally neutral,” which some of you apply to smoking. I mean, there are such things as natural goods. For instance, eating cheerios. Tasty and good for you. Now I’m not saying it’s the most charitable act in history or anything, but eating cheerios on occasion is a good, although a very small good. That is, it’s good to each cheerios, not evil to eat cheerios. (Obviously there’s no possibility of determining the good of cheerios versus some other cereal, but it’s still a good).

My point is, the cigarette itself is morally neutral. Actually, it’s morally nothing because the term moral specifically refers to something of or having to do with the will. But the act of smoking the cigarette, that’s a different question. According to St. Thomas and to Elizabeth Anscombe, all actions either tend toward man’s last end or they don’t, by which you can determine whether an act is morally good or evil. (I mention Thomas and Anscombe because both have fantastic arguments to back up that claim).

So, the question is, aside from excess or mal-intent, or some circumstantial factor that makes that act of smoking imprudent, is the act of smoking morally good or morally evil? I guess you could try to convince me of morally neutral acts instead, but that would have to be an act that tends neither toward nor away from God, that is, it neither has God as the last end nor does not have God as the last end.
 
ad_altare_Dei said:
So, the question is, aside from excess or mal-intent, or some circumstantial factor that makes that act of smoking imprudent, is the act of smoking morally good or morally evil?
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Good when used as directed by reason, evil when directed contrary to reason (excess).
I guess you could try to convince me of morally neutral acts instead, but that would have to be an act that tends neither toward nor away from God, that is, it neither has God as the last end nor does not have God as the last end.
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There are several acts that aren’t morally good or evil in themselves but are good or evil when actually acted out (that is, with circumstances and intention). It isn’t morally good or evil to talk, walk, etc. These become good or evil when applied to a particular situation. In and of themselves, they are morally neutral. I would say, however, that smoking seems to be morally good in se (just as alcohol is) and only becomes evil when used improperly.
 
IntegraCatholic said:
Good when used as directed by reason, evil when directed contrary to reason (excess).

There are several acts that aren’t morally good or evil in themselves but are good or evil when actually acted out (that is, with circumstances and intention). It isn’t morally good or evil to talk, walk, etc. These become good or evil when applied to a particular situation. In and of themselves, they are morally neutral. I would say, however, that smoking seems to be morally good in se (just as alcohol is) and only becomes evil when used improperly.
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I understand what you are getting at. What you’re talking about is the difference between the act per se and the particular act. I don’t want to tease out everything at the moment, but I can get behind that.

It’s nice to know that someone else thinks that you when smoking (though not to excess), you are actually tending toward heaven. It’s especially nice to think that, if you are in a state of grace, all good acts have a supernatural character to them, that is, they are done in charity, guided by God and directing back to him. So if you’re in a state of grace, and you are smoking, we could say that you’re smoking has a supernatural character.

If you disagree, you probably haven’t had a Cuban with a glass of Scotch.
 
micahmike said:
I cigarette is probably no more harmful than a handfull of french fries or a spoonful of cheesecake. .
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I have to respectfully disagree with you there, given that fries and cheescake don’t have rat poision, floor cleaner, jet fuel, industrial solvent, lighter fluid, cadium (goes into batteries), the list goes on and on and on… all coupled with that thing that leads to addiction - nicotine.

50% of people who smoke will die from illnesses directly caused by these Hoover things.

And while I’m no fan of obesity, the difference between you eating all the pies and someone smoking up a storm, your gluttony won’t harm anyone else, unless you have a heart attack and fall on someone, but when a person smokes, everyoen around them gets a share. Even AFTER they’ve stubbed out that fag they stink they emit is rather dangerous, oh, and that rubbish you breath in, you ooze it out your pores, that’s why smokers always smell.

this website is part of a campaign run down in NZL to get people to reconsider that habit of their’s. The facts aren’t just reliant on NZL stats.

facethefacts.org.nz/quiz/result/one-in-two-smokers-will-die-from-smoking

I dont’ think its in of itself sinful, but I do think its by God most high, the dumbest thing you could ever do to your health and the health of those around you.
 
vera_dicere said:
I have to respectfully disagree with you there, given that fries and cheescake don’t have rat poision, floor cleaner, jet fuel, industrial solvent, lighter fluid, cadium (goes into batteries), the list goes on and on and on… all coupled with that thing that leads to addiction - nicotine.
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How do you know what isn’t in french fries and cheesecake? Chocolate has rat hair, rat feces, cow mucus, cannabinoids, hallucinogens, insect parts, and all sorts of things in it.

Trace quantities of any of these things is negligible. Do you know what happens to you if you are exposed to a hundredth of a gram of rat poison? Nothing.
 
Hi All,
Very intersting, especially the picture of the Pope with a lit cigarette in his hand. Does that make it all ok ?

About if it is a sin…We all are aware that it is bad for our health. But we still do it . It is not something that anyone “needs” to live. But we love to smoke. Argument could be there are a million other things that you dont need in your life , but you still crave for them and like to have them and many of those things we already have and possess.

Here is the thing. Does it make you addcited to it? Yes it does. What does my addiction doing to myself? I am getting hooked to something. As christians what we are desperately trying to do… To love and serve the Lord. Whom we put first in our life ? Answer: Our God. So what do we do, we say I am not committing a sin so let me do it, but we know it is just an excuse. Try quitting, then say for my love towards you I quit. lol…No its not gonna work. Our Love towards God too not gonna stop us from smoking… If that happens… brothers and sisters , we are sinners ( leaving you to decide how serious it is) Are we not serious enough to think that a cigarette just after receiving Holycommunion will smoke Jesus out from uor heart. If you feel wrong to do it after the mass, then it is wrong anytime of the day! Well… It is an addiction… a wordly addiction. A wordly addiction is not heavenly… Thats why i put it… If you choose wordly , you don’t choose what’s heavenly!
 
Pope John XXIII died in 1963. I think the cigarette warnings came out in 1966 (not sure about Italy). So I guess he didn’t know (if I am correct on the years).
 
white_sheep said:
There are people on both sides of the issue. My case against this argument is that many smokers never experience any significant negative health effects. If 98% did, I’d say they have a good argument, but since the number is more like only 40% I don’t think it holds water. You can’t say it’s grave matter because it harms your health if it doesn’t actually harm your health…
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So 40% is morally OK? How about if I fire a gun into a crowd of people just for fun, knowing that there is only a 40% chance that I will hit someone? Or how about if I use a low-dose birth control pill, knowing that it will only prevent pregnancy or cause an abortion 40% of the time? On the other hand, risking your life on a 40% chance in order to save some else’s life seems a lot more defensible since the potential good that could come of it outweighs the chance that your life could be lost. But in the case of smoking, there is no corresponding good that comes from it. In light of what we know now, it is just a blatant disregard for the precious gift of life we have been given, and an abuse of our lungs that God made to breath air and sustain life.
 
white_sheep said:
How do you know what isn’t in french fries and cheesecake? Chocolate has rat hair, rat feces, cow mucus, cannabinoids, hallucinogens, insect parts, and all sorts of things in it.

Trace quantities of any of these things is negligible. Do you know what happens to you if you are exposed to a hundredth of a gram of rat poison? Nothing.
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Jet fuel? In Cheescake and chips?

I think you’re reaching there, sheep.

Regardless, it’d be highly unlikely that someone eats 20 cheesecakes a day for 40 years.
 
ad_altare_Dei said:
This topic started to come up in a different thread, so I think I decided to start this one.

Is smoking a sin? or could it be? Let’s not talk so much about pipes and cigars, but cigarettes. Few get bent out of shape over pipes or cigars but I’ve met quite a few well-meaning Catholics who think smoking cigarettes at all is just plain sinful. Thoughts?
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Smoking a lot is a sin in the same way that gluttony is a sin. Overeating a lot is a sin because it is harmful for your body, the same way smoking is a sin because it is harmful for your body.
 
Aside from the health questions, is it a sin to knowingly expose innocent bystanders to the risks of the addiction?

Smoking doesn’t often happen alone, everyone surrounding them is forced to participate as well.
 
mgreen77 said:
Aside from the health questions, is it a sin to knowingly expose innocent bystanders to the risks of the addiction?

Smoking doesn’t often happen alone, everyone surrounding them is forced to participate as well.
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I guess if you sit around and do it in your house with your family around you, then yes I think it would be a sin because it’s inconsiderate and harmful to others. But some smokers make it a point to only smoke outside when non smokers aren’t close by, and at least that’s not harming anyone else, (not directly anyway) but I think it’s still a sin because you’re hurting yourself. It’s gluttony.
 
I once heard Fr Corapi say that it is a serious sin. Thou shalt not kill (yourself).
 
white_sheep said:
Smoking 4 or fewer cigarettes a day has no or negligible health effects from the literature I have read. I have also seen studies done that 1 or 2 cigarettes a day can have positive health effects.
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oh how I wish this were true!

what studies are you referring too??

I have smoked about 3 cigs a day for 2.5 years, and feel like three a day is enough to really mess me up. I have a cough a lot of the time, a sore throat, and feel like I can’t breath like I used to. Even one day damages your arteries in my opinion. I’m trying to quit, but am just not ready… 😦
 
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