Question For Jehovah's Witnesses?

Question

Please do not get me wrong , I am asking this question only out of curiosity as I am not a smoker or belong to the Kingdom Hall. I have a friend that is a witness and my girlfriend is an Ex - Witness and we had the subject arise that years ago JWs were at one time alowed to smoke but the rule changed at some time and they where no longer alowed to smoke. I was told that positivaly ....NO JWs SMOKE AT ALL!!! Is this possible that all who did smoke quit? She said there are 6,000,000 JWs in the U.S. and this does not at all seem possible that none smoke ....so ....Do any of you smoke and just hide it , Do any of you know any JWs that smoke????
Remember please this question is not at all judgemental I just want to know???

Answer 1

hmmm...i'm not at all sure if what BEAR is right about the investment....but the first paragraph is true..

it's the conscience that will make a JW not to impure himself if he is "truly a devoted JW"....

Answer 2

Indeed, smoking is a disfellowshipping offence for a Jehovah's Witness. A Jehovah's Witness is also not permitted to be employed in the tobacco industry, even to the extent of working at the cigarette serving counter of a store. There can be no doubt that if an individual Jehovah's Witness invested in the cigarette industry, the Watchtower would consider this an unchristian type of investment.


Yet, a trust which exists for the primary reason of generating income for the Watchtower, invests in a cigarette company. While the amount of the investment is small, it is not the amount that is the issue, but the principle: the Watchtower Society will benefit from an investment made in the tobacco industry.

They will do this knowingly, because if I can get hold of this information, do you really think that the Watchtower Society doesn't have a copy of these very same documents? And while the objection could be made that it is not actually the Watchtower Society itself making the investment, but just receiving the cash, is this a valid defence? If they know that the money is from a source they have condemned as unchristian, are they not hypocritical in receiving it? Remember that the sole purpose of this trust is to generate income for the Watchtower.

Answer 3

My JW father-in-law smoked cigarettes from being a young man, before he became a JW, and continued to smoke thereafter. Although smoking became a disfellowshipping 'crime' and his JW wife scolded him something awful for not being able to give up the drug addiction, he continued to smoke in private, in his shed where he did woodwork. He was not a happy chappy, however. Nobody 'shopped' him, I'm glad to say, otherwise he would have been disfellowshipped. Addicts cannot stop just because they are threatened with some punnishment, or because they are correctly told that it is harmful to themselves. Addicts need help and encouragement and an acceptance of themselves as persons, despite their bad habits. Doesn't sound like JW smokers get much of that.

But the theological point here is serious. Because nobody can be baptized as a JW if they smoke, JWs are saying, "You cannot be a Christian if you smoke." Because a baptized JW caught smoking will be kicked out if s/he doesn't repent in sackcloth and ashes (as long as those are not tobacco ashes, of course) JWs are saying "We judge you to no longer be a Christian." Ah well, "With the judgment you judge others, you will be judged," Jesus said. Some of them have got it coming to them.
(Oh, and there are less than 7 million baptized JWs in the WORLD, not the US.)

Answer 4

Hi I think there was a break down in communication, there are roughly 6000000 of us Globally, not just in the US.

There may be some who decide to live a double life, smoking and claiming to be a Witness, however to be a Christian, one would not smoke, as smoking is VERY harmful to the body. Also it can be very addictive. The bible tells us you cannot be a servant to 2 masters. If someone lets an addiction into their lives, they become servant to that addiction, and thus cannot be devoted to God

Answer 5

Jehovah's Witnesses understand the bible to teach that all humans have inherited "sin", that is, a tendency toward behavior which displeases God.

(Romans 3:23) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God


Sadly, even a devout Christian may occasionally commit a sin such as lying or disrespecting his spouse or disobeying some traffic law. Godly humans do not pretend that they know exactly what level of sin is tolerated by God and Christ. However, the Christian congregation recognizes that each Christian has a personal accountability to heaven.

(Galatians 6:5) For each one will carry his own load.


Thus, relatively "minor" sins are left to individuals and family heads to resolve; congregation elders do not become involved unless and until such sins begin to affect worship by the person or congregation. Very rarely, but occasionally, a preponderance of seemingly "minor" sin conglomerates to become a "serious sin" such as may disqualify a purported "Christian" from continued fellowship with practicing Christians. For example, an otherwise healthy "Christian" who patently refused to practice even a minimal level of hygiene could eventually be disfellowshipped by the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.

(2 Corinthians 7:1) Let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God's fear.


In fact, cigarette smoking was always included in this understanding by Jehovah's Witnesses. Smoking was always "frowned upon" in the same way that any blatantly unhealthy practice is "frowned upon" by those who value the gift of life, and perhaps more so because smoking is a decision which requires planning and preparation in a way that neglecting hygiene does not.

(Acts 17:24,28) The God that made the world and all the things in it...by him we have life and move and exist

(Psalm 139:14) I shall laud [God] because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful


For most of its history, society in general viewed smoking as at worst "unhealthy"; some even contended that smoking might have a handful of therapeutic uses. However, it was not until the 1970s that it became undeniable that smoking was far more than merely "unhealthy". In fact, the evidence had become undeniable that smoking disrespects life itself, and the giver of life.

(1 John 3:3) Everyone who has this hope set upon him purifies himself just as that one is pure.

(Romans 6:23) The gift God gives is everlasting life


The scientific evidence enabled Jehovah's Witnesses to reason that smoking is incompatible with the will of God and Christ. In fact, smoking 'flies in the face' of the command that the Christian congregation must be clean and holy and without blemish. Unlike simple neglect, smoking involves a 'planning ahead for the desire'.

(Romans 12:1) Present your bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason.

(Ephesians 5:25-27) Christ also loved the congregation and delivered up himself for it, that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.

(Romans 13:14) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh


Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_09.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19961022/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19990708/article_01.htm

Answer 6

I used to be a Witness, and it's true: we weren't allowed to smoke. I never used to and neither did any of my Witness friends. But now I smoke just to piss them all off.

Answer 7

haha