I know and am perfectly sure on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong.
--Romans 14:4
This last Sunday, the young assistant pastor at our church, in the course of delivering an otherwise excellent sermon, yet got stuck, as so often happens, on cigarettes. I am always amazed at this recurring confusion about tobacco and the linkage of the same to anything having to do with the Lord or with the Christian life.
Where does this come from? We are talking, after all, about love, peace, and joy in the holy spirit--that and nothing else, as so explicitly and patiently put down by Paul in the Book of Romans, chapter 14 in particular.
How has tobacco smoking sneaked into the mix? Isn't Paul saying to keep such things out of the mix? The people to whom he is speaking are worried about various foods, whether they should be consumed or not. They are worried about the preparation of foods, whether meat has been sacrificed to an idol, whether this day or that day ought or ought not be observed.
And Paul, to paraphrase, is saying Wake up, for Christ's sake! None of these things make a damn bit of difference! Is this what you make of the glorious freedom to which you've been called? More rules?
And so here we are, still stuck on the same non-pertinent nonsense. Frankly it irritates me, which I guess you can see. One longs to fellowship in the love and tolerance of the Lord, and yet suddenly finds himself shunned and judged on the grounds not of his relationship with Christ, but because he put a freakin' cigarette in his mouth.
Good grief.
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