Ive been a christian for a long time now and the Lord has really grown me up through the years.I usually go to the bible for my answers these days but I was wondering about something that I dont find in the bible.Is chewing tobacco a sin?I dont feel bad about it but Ive heard some people say its wrong.Any advise would be helpful.

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God,family,work,hunting,hunting,hunting..........

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There's lot the Bible doesn't tell us in specifics so we have to consider what it tells us about things related to it. The Holy Spirit also leads the believer in wisdom and truth but never into something the disagrees with the Bible. For me I look at passages that tell husbands to love their wife and to raise their children to be wise and honor the Lord. I take that in consideration with scriptures that tell us to manage our money and property wisely and I see that those dollars that could go to tobacco or beer and wine are better used for things that are more healthy. Now I know fellow Christians that enjoy these things and I don't question if they are true followers of Christ. For me and my family it would not be a good use of my paycheck and I don't want to show my sons things that could become traps as addictions in their lives. I know plenty of folks who are trapped by alcohol and tobacco so it is a real danger. I also know those who use these things and seem to not be trapped so it can go either way. I would think a wise man or woman would stay as far from danger as possible and for me I can't touch those things anymore. Now scripture is real clear about staying out of sexual sin and says only a little about where you might seek that sort of thing out. Everyone can figure that avoiding it means as much about staying out of clubs as it does about keeping your internet use off of porn sites. Back in Bible days they had the same sorts of temptations just with fewer options. Meat sacrificed to idols was another issue that they dealt with. Lots of that meat had been part of vulgar rituals so it was associated with demonic animal/sexual abuse. If there was meat sold today that had been part of that I would not be buying it and supporting that behavior. Anyhow, maybe more than you were asking but the Bible is reliable and can help us understand how to chose our recreations so they are God honoring. By the way, my grandparents raised nine kids out in Breckinridge County KY on tobacco money along with the other crops they grew. So do lots of folks today and a whole lot of folks who love our Lord so it is not a simple issue. Look at the question in relation to who you are responsible to take care of and be an example to. Also if finances are tight you have to look at what things are extra and could be done without. There's the whole health issue to look at also. I don't always want to tie the 1st Cor. passage about our bodies being the temple of the Lord to tobacco use. It was written more in the mind of the sexual sin that the Corinthian church was stuck in. Some folks use that as only related to tobacco.. sort of to narrow an interpretation. Lots of us are carrying more lard on us than we need and that makes our temples all lumpy and makes us get diabetes and heart trouble.

If your addicted then yeah it is a sin!! But if you quit for god then will reward u for your sacrafice!

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~*Telse's Babi Boi*~


Ive hunted almost everyday of my life, the rest have been wasted!!

Hey Skynard-
1 Corinthians 10: 23 says.."Everything is permissible—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible—but not everything is constructive".... And Paul goes on speaking about the freedom believers have. I aggree with Paul on this. But more importantly, Christianity is so much bigger then a little chew in the lip. There are so many more important things in life then whether or not someone chews... I would say no, it is not a sin. Just like in Paul's situation, he was talking to those who were eating meat offered to idols.. when it becomes a stumbling block for others, that is a problem. For me, I try not to chew in front of those this offends. But God is concerned with matters of the heart. If tobacco controls us, or we allow it to dominate our lives, then it becomes a problem... But this is not a sinful act.

I sure appriciate all of your advice I will think on this.God bless.

I got to church and i dip...i dont see n e harm in it as long as it doesnt come between yourself and god. It also talks about tattoos and i have a few of the to.

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Hunting is not a passion, its an obsession.

For me that is what I try to use as my standard for how to act and what to do. If I am going to have my Lord tell me, "Well done good and faithful servant" then I need to be around the folks who need to hear about how he can set us free from sin and show them that He is the real deal. They will see that if I care about them and let His love work through me. If my lips use coarse or harsh words then I am not going to be helping lost folks find their way and if my mouth gets cancer from something as trivial as tobacco I have wasted what I was given to use for testifying about Jesus. Same goes for if I drink a few beers, maybe my mouth gets to loose and I start sounding more stupid than I really am. Not saying that tobacco and beer are sins but they can lead to compromise or wasted opportunities to show Jesus clearly. I want to let my friends see me enjoy life fully but do so while I honor my Lord fully. Another thing I learned is that when you allow habits to go on and believe they are not going to hurt, later if something tragic happens those habits can dominate your life and control you. My wife and I had a baby girl who was full term but still born. She was a Downs Syndrome baby and her heart was not made to keep going so we had to let her go and keep trusting God. Some "little" sin I had allowed in my life privately really began to take over and I had to find help to get free or it was going to destroy us at a weak point in our lives. I realized that if I had been a moderate drinker over the years I could have slipped into alcoholism or if it could have been recreational pot use or whatever. Those things that can take God's place in my life have no place being there in small doses. We don't know what God will allow us to go through but I do know that storms will happen in all of our lives to prove what our house is built on. If you have sand under the footing you're going to crash. If it is stone under there from following Jesus faithfully you won't be wrecked, you might need a few repairs but not a total rebuild. Ya'll take care and don't let your pleasures get roots into to you so deep that you can't tell them goodbye at any point and for those things that are clearly sins, and the Bible shows it to be, run away, kick it out, dump it, burn it, confess it and let your pastor know you need to pray with him about it. You might be the one who God uses to start a revival in your church and town, maybe our whole country.

I have wondered about that same thing from time to time.

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Its not the size of the dog in the fight, Its the size of the fight in the dog.

Willseeyalater, i think your posts are so incredibly wise and scriptualy insiteful. I really wanted to make a post here but after reading the 2 you made i don't see anything to add at this point. Thank you for your posts. I think you have given some sound Biblical advice.

nbrown. thanks for the kind word. In my case God has done some powerful teaching me through the years, sometimes in deep water and other times in the shallow end. He never lets me swallow to much water but always reaches out and asks me to keep trusting Him. I am not to good at quoting verses from memory but the Holy Spirit does rattle my memory of how to apply it to situations. Most important is how to make it apply to myself. Splinter in your eye/log in mine kind of deal. Just keep telling folks how much God has done for you and what He has brought you through. He can always be trusted.