smoking survey
Earlier this week I had a friend who was working on a survey of people around him that did not smoke.
The survey was for a class he is taking, and I say that because I think it’s important that you know I don’t have friends who superfluously survey those around them. Anyway, he had to find something about himself that was different than the people he was surveying.
He smokes a lot, I have only smoked experimentally, and even that was back when I was in high school.
After completing his questions, I wanted to attach a little caveat about my views on smoking. Here is what I said:
One more thought – as a follower of Jesus, I’m generally careful with anything that can become an addiction. This is one of the reasons I gave up espresso during lent. It had progressed from an enjoyable, every once in a while drink, to an every day need. And that’s not healthy. So for me, I don’t see anything socially or Biblically wrong with smoking. But when I see someone addicted to anything, I hurt for them because I believe that God created us to live free from all addictions.
I guess you could say it’s the thing behind the thing. I grew up in churches where smoking was bad… just ’cause. Of course the people telling me smoking was bad were addicted to coffee, sugar, overeating, sarcasm and a host of other things. But smoking was bad.
Maybe it goes into the story Jesus told about taking the log out of your own eye before you worry about the speck in another person’s eye. Maybe it ties in to not judging. But people who smoke socially or enjoy a cigar every now and then aren’t mine to judge. And as far as I can tell the espresso addiction I struggled with for two years was just as bad, if not worse.
Addiction to cigarettes hurts your lungs. Addiction to caffeine (espresso, soda, energy drinks) hurts your bones. Addiction to technology hurts your relationships. Addiction is addiction. It’s all bad, it’s all destructive.
So maybe what we need is grace.
