5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom

I'm not Catholic.  But a lot of places are named after Catholics.  Mount Saint Helens, Santa Barbara, Saint Louis, the Saint Lawrence River... is it okay for me to say the 'saint' part of their titles?  I feel weird about it; I'm pretty sure they weren't Biblical saints.

Signed,
Sounds Like ‘Paint’

Dear Sounds Like ‘Paint’,

Recognizing the names of certain places in America and abroad (foreign countries also have scores of places with religious labels) doesn’t mean you are agreeing with the religion that those places find their origins from.  Calling the St. Lawrence River (named after Saint Lawrence of Rome… a Catholic saint) after it’s given name simply means that you recognize that location’s existence; it is not a statement of your own personal beliefs.

The christian Luke was divinely inspired by God to write the book of Acts.  In that book, he talks about Paul visiting the Areopagus (Acts 17:22).  ‘Areopagus’ literally means the ‘rock of Ares’.  Ares was a Greek false god.  This was the name used by the society to describe that location.  Yes, the name had pagan origins, but nobody would accuse Luke of being an idolater because he used the word ‘Areopagus’.  Likewise, no one will consider you Catholic when you say, “St. Louis, Missouri”… and even if someone did bring it up, it would give you an opportunity to tell them how all christians are saints (Rom 1:7).

I want to know, is it wrong to smoke cigarettes?

Sincerely,
Burn Baby Burn

Dear Burn Baby Burn,

Yes, cigarette smoking is wrong.  There is no direct verse that condemns smoking, but there are many verses that indirectly condemn it.

1. Cigarettes are known poisons.  There was a time when people were unaware of the effects of cigarettes upon the human body, but we now know that there is no redeeming health value to cigarettes.  Cigarettes directly poison the human body.  God tells us to treat the human body as a temple (1 Cor 6:19).  Purposefully poisoning your body is not exactly honoring that command.
2. Cigarettes are known to be highly addictive.  Cigarettes are designed to get people addicted to them, so that one will do just about anything to continue to get their “fix”.  Cigarettes become your master.  Christians cannot afford to have any master other than God (Matt 6:24).  Christians should never be brought under the power of anything other than God (1 Cor 6:12)
3. This life is a gift from God; He created us (Gen 1:27).  Christians are supposed to live lives that are preparing us for whatever work God has in store for us (2 Tim 2:21).  We are to purge ourselves of anything that would keep us from being the best servants to Jesus we can be.  If you die ten years early from cigarettes, who knows what work you will have failed to do?
4. Smoking not only harms you, it harms others.  Second-hand smoke is a known carcinogen and poison.  If you know that what you are doing is harming others, you must stop (Jas 4:17)

Whatever we do, it should be done to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31).  Cigarettes wouldn’t fit into the category of “glorifying God”.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom