The topic comes back like a boomerang, and by the way causes a lot of controversy: is smoking a grave sin? After all, clergy also happen to smoke, just as they drink alcohol. At what point is there a limit according to which the examination of conscience should lead directly to the confessional? This is a very complex problem, despite its simplicity. But it is worth starting from the most important point: smoking is harmful to health, and everyone should avoid falling into the trap of such an addiction.
Is smoking a sin?
Health aspects are the domain of scientists, and they sound the alarm - hundreds of thousands of people around the world die every year from lung cancer due to regular smoking. Some of them are even undiagnosed, others receive a clear verdict from the doctor. In smoking, the worst thing is the beginning: conscious, undertaken with specific motives and, unfortunately, in a straight line leading to addiction. This fact is well known, but still the shelves of shops are full of "packets that will go up in smoke".
On the cigarette package itself, you will see a hint regarding the question whether smoking cigarettes is a grave sin. These are the effects of pulmonary and other diseases that accompany smokers. Reaching for nicotine is an assault on one's own health and life, so - fortunately - such actions are seen by Church in the nature of a sin, most often a grave one. The mention of "fortunately" is not coincidental, after all, perhaps the clear position of the church authorities will be able to bring back to the right path those who, by smoking cigarettes, went into the snare of sin.
Why is the answer to the question, is smoking cigarettes a sin? There are several reasons:
- When you smoke, you put your own health under strain, causing internal and external degradation in many areas of your body,
- in the extreme, you're playing with death,
- unfortunately, you're polluting the environment by smoking repeatedly,
- You also contribute to the effect of so-called passive smoking, i.e. you harm others.
Commandment Love is very much in vogue here, and unfortunately most of society forgets about it, smoking in front of children, in closed spaces or among people, e.g. at bus stops.
Is smoking cigarettes before 18 a grave sin?
Smoking among adolescents deserves separate consideration. There, in addition to all the factors mentioned above, comes the one that is responsible for reducing the rate of development of one's own body. Scientists have proved in many detailed studies that both alcohol and smoking have a very bad influence on young people. Social awareness is very high in this regard, so yes - smoking before eighteen is a grave sin. Another question is if someone is already a heavy smoker. Is he, in God's eyes, to be forgiven? This is an individual question, but first of all, one should take care to try to quit smoking. Only from this perspective can it be determined whether smoking is a grave sin in this particular case.