35. Smoking
The first consideration to suggest itself is the
sizeable expense. But the real disadvantages of smoking are physical and
medical: Every athlete, amateur or professional, who takes his pursuit
seriously, is a non-smoker. And it is now proven that smoking can cause lung
cancer and contribute to other respiratory diseases.
The nicotine stain on one’s fingers can be
eradicated by a file or some other means, but the nicotine deposit can hardly be
removed from one’s lungs except by giving up smoking and by other
treatment.
To smoke or not to smoke will probably never be
decided by argument. Instead, one who lives in Christ has to ask, “Could I
justify it to Jesus?” And can one do as Paul advised young Timothy —
“Keep yourself pure” — and smoke?
(It should be said that this advice is aimed most
directly at those who have not yet begun to smoke, and is not intended as an
indictment of the character of those already “addicted”. We
recognize the great difficulty in breaking a confirmed habit such as smoking,
and have every sympathy with the brother or sister who is struggling
unsuccessfully to do so.)
