Yes, I am aware that North American's in general, and Christians especially hate smokers. That's too bad, Jesus really loves them. The anti-smoking campaigns of the West haven't had any impact here. Christians are just about the only people that don't smoke here . . . and to be honest, many Christians here smoke too. It is interesting for me to watch how we so easily spiritualize that which we don't like. I have had many Western visitors to my home over the years . . . and it is almost comical to see their faces when they realize that we allow people to smoke in our home . . . which really isn't our home right? It seems that Christians from many parts of the West, not only think that smokers are sinners, but we that allow people to smoke in our homes are sinners too.
I am starting to realize that many things I allow in my home, you might find very offensive, but I will save those for another blog-day. Today smoking is the gig . . . and for a very special reason which I will get to in a moment. To be honest, I love the smell of second-hand smoke. I am pretty sure that Jesus does too. Now as an ex-smoker I must be in the .001 percentile because I can handle second-hand smoke, and it does not make me want to smoke. Nor does it even bother me most of the time. Sure sometimes it gets super-old and my contacts are screaming grit between the eyes and all that jazz, but for the most part, I enjoy second-hand smoke.
In fact, when in North America, I generally go through second-hand smoke withdrawal, because I can't find anyone who smokes any more! It doesn't even help to go to bars anymore, because you can't smoke in there either!! Shesh! What is this world coming to?? Tell me! Now I will be honest that while I don't mind the smell of second -hand smoke in the air, I don't usually appreciate it hanging on my clothes for hours afterwards. OK, I am inconsistent, bite me. I still don't let that dislike keep me from hangin' with the smokers.
Brenda and I go places all the time where invariably we come out smelling like a pack of Winston Lights. That is where the people Jesus died for are . . . that's where we (all of us) are called to be, to go . . . but I have even heard missionaries say that "no one will ever be allowed to smoke in my house . . .." blah blah blah. It's got to be breaking Jesus' heart. My health is more important than the lost . . . hhhmmmm . . . the worst that happens to me at death is I get to go to heaven in a new body . . . you are right, that is horrible, can't have that, OK, no smoking around me, I want to live forever!!!! Somehow we seemed to have become confused about our role, calling, purpose, and destination here.
And what begs me to write this certainly-not-to-be-well-received-blog today? Well a miracle happened today. One of my students, Kosta, asked me out for a coffee after class. He wanted to talk to me about the subject of prayer that we had been discussing last week, and he was still puzzling over some of the issues. So we went out for a coffee, at the corner cafe-bar. There were 37 people in the cafe-bar counting Kosta and me, and 35 were smoking, including the waitress taking our coffee orders. Kosta and I spent about an hour in there . . . smoke so thick it was a cloud around us . . . taking about the dynamic process of prayer. We drank our coffees and paid our bill, got our gear and headed out of the cafe-bar. The miraculous event was that when we got outside and were walking down the street back to the Seminary, I realized that we did not even have the smell of smoke on our clothes! I know, its impossible. But tell that to those fellows in Daniel 3:27.
7 comments:
Good post, Dr. D - with excellent points. Sometimes I think that we forget that eternal life in the body requires the resurrection!
But... "bite me"?
lol man . . . ok, so you got me :-)
Thanks for another great post, Dr. D! Some of the people I've loved the most have been smokers, including my mom, my grandpa, and my mother-in-law (who, at 75, quit a little over three months ago). I remember the first time I mentioned to a fellow Christian that my mother-in-law smoked, the response was, "Oh, so she's not a believer?" When I said she was, the person seemed surprised that someone who smoked could actually be a Christian.
My favorite kind of second-hand smoke is cigar smoke, and I especially enjoy the scent of cherry-flavored cigars, which my husband smokes on occasion.
Several years ago my husband and I were visiting an unsaved friend of ours who asked if we minded if she smoked in front of us. "Not all," we said. "Both our moms smoked." Our friend looked really surprised. "Wow!" she said. "Your moms are REALLY cool!!" Imagine our surprise when she proceeded to roll a joint and smoke it in fron of us! We didn't realize she was talking about THAT kind of smoking. :) But we never let on how startled we were. We sure had a good laugh later that night when we left!
ya, we have made a lot of things "immoral" here in the west when scripture simply does not address them. Smoking, drinking alcohol, and probably a bunch of other things. The ultimate virtue is to help people live forever (unless they are unborn babies or simply too much trouble to care for).
Good post
Oh Julie, you made me choke on my coffee! I made the mistake of reading your comment while chugging my java and its a mistake I don't plan to repeat any time soon! Seriously, girl, you had me laughing outloud . . . you should write your own smoking blog . . . that is a hysterical story!
Ha! Julie, great story! Whee!
To be fair, PJ - Scripture DOES address drinking alchohol in several places. That's not to say that I believe Scripture condemns it, just that it addresses it.
Oops! Sorry about making you spit out your java, Dr. D. but at least you had a good laugh! (actually, the best laughs I ever had were the ones that made me spit something out!)
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