Smoking and Getting into Heaven?

Question

If you smoke ciggarettes is it possible to go to Heaven? I mean if a smoker lives a good life and believes in the Lord and comits no big sin like killing, stealing etc...could they still get in? Your thoughts please.

Answer 1

Smoking is not mentioned in the Bible. Smoking wasn't considered to be a sin until people decided that God must consider it a sin because people become addicted to cigarettes and they are not good for your health. The Bible does teach that a person should not be mastered by anything but that in and of itself doesn't make smoking a sin.

For instance what about a person who smokes an occasional cigar or even a person who smokes cigarettes in moderation and doesn't have a problem when they don't smoke? When it comes to issues that the Bible doesn't talk about then there are verses that can set guidlines for those behaviors but as long as they don't lead to behavior that the Bible actually calls a sin then it becomes a matter between the individual and God. A person who engages in a questionable behavior like smoking should always be open to hearing God tell them to put that habit away but until that happens other believers are not to sit in judgment about something that the Bible doesn't call a sin.

The Apostle Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 6:12 "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything.

but then he goes on to say about sinning against the body that is the temple of the Holy Spirit..."Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

In the book of Romans he writes:

"It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. Romans 14:21-22

So if a Christian does not feel convicted by the Holy Spirit about smoking and they don't smoke around people who think that it is a sin and they don't allow their smoking to interfere with serving the Lord and they keep an open mind to what God might have to reveal to them about this habit, then as far as I can find in the Bible it's OK to smoke.

Answer 2

They may not keep you out of heaven, but they may get you there quicker!

On the serious side, all those "really bad" things you mentioned avoiding should not even be listed, as if sinning, but not too badly would be the standard. God said you shoulnd't sin, but because He knew you would blow it, He sent Christ to save you. Have you received Christ? In Christ, there is no counting sins and their worse and worser qualities. We trust Christ's crucifixion to have paid our penalty and nothing we can do will add to or detract from that.

But you may still be comitting sin, abeit forgiven, if you think what you are doing is wrong. You don't just sin anyway if you think God dissaproves. You try to honor the ones you love, and expecially THE ONE who gives you your life and eternity. Trust Christ, and stop sinning. But understand that your sin was covered, IF, you have received that covering in Christ.


Rom 14:23-15:1
"everything that does not come from faith is sin."

PS, there may be those to whom smoking has never crossed their mind as sin, and for them it may not be. God has not said anything about it specfically, except that your body is His. Only educated people make the connection between the harm of smoking, and the stewardship of your body which is really not yours to harm.

Answer 3

Another good ?....some great theologians smoked. Great people who explored and settled the N.American continent smoked all while expanding west. It came up as unhealthy and that is why it is not 'good'....everything is almost sin to us, so picking 1 out is just smug. Do you eat processed food? Breathe air in Los Angeles? Don't and move...... I vote YES you can into heaven. not because stealing is bigger. Because you are forgiven past/present/future.

Answer 4

We are all sinners and smoking is a sin. If not getting into heaven was caused by one sin then we would all be going to hell.
God will give us grace, thankfully but you should ask to be forgiven and then try and quit. Be sincere and all of your needs will be met. If you have accepted Christ, he changes us in his time and you will want to quit eventually for good. It always amazes me when change happens through GOD as I don't even know what is happening til its done.

Answer 5

Smoking is bad for you surely but who declared it was a sin? A lot of people smoke. Heaven's population would be pretty thin. Especially if it were really full of only born-agains and non-smoking born-agains at that.

Answer 6

Your question shows how the media works in our country. Amazing. When was smoking declared a sin? Anyway God either smokes a pipe or $50.00 cigars, and there isn't a non-smoking section.

Answer 7

When you accept Jesus as your savior, your body no longer belongs to you, but to Jesus.

John 2:21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

2 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

You are not to pollute your body in any way. Ask God to take the desire to smoke from you and He will.

Answer 8

Smoking is bad but the person that is doing it is not bad.
Of course, if you wish to go to heaven your spirit will find its way.

It is the cigarette that is bad. That would mean all the people that work in the cigarette factory are condemned as well.

Answer 9

Good Lord, George Orwell was right, he was just a bit early.

Answer 10

Yes as long as you've accepted Jesus as your savior then all sins are forgiven way before you even committed them.