QFR re nontobacco cigarettes:
*** w84 6/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
· Would it be wrong to smoke nontobacco cigarettes as an aid in overcoming tobacco addiction?
There are a number of reasons why this should be avoided by persons who want to apply Scriptural counsel and be members of the Christian congregation.
Many individuals who were addicted to smoking, and particularly to the drug nicotine in tobacco, have tried to break the habit. One way has been by substitution, smoking cigarettes made from other vegetable matter lacking nicotine. This might seem quite desirable for this reason: The smoker avoids nicotine, yet the strains of breaking a long-standing habit may seem less severe because he can still hold and smoke something, a nontobacco cigarette.
To appreciate why this is not for Christians, reflect on some reasons why Jehovah’s Witnesses do not smoke.
For one thing, the widespread habit of smoking tobacco—in cigarettes, pipes or cigars—conflicts with what the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian congregation: "Dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that pollutes either body or spirit." (2 Corinthians 7:1, TheTwentiethCenturyNewTestament) Just before those words, Paul had spoken about religious activities that amounted to "touching the unclean thing." (2 Corinthians 6:17) Then he expanded matters with his comment in 2 Corinthians 7:1, which would apply to any activity that would pollute the Christian morally, spiritually or physically. The principle certainly is applicable to the relatively modern practice of using tobacco.
Observing tobacco users close up, you probably have seen their stained fingers and teeth, and likely you know of the blackened, polluted state of smokers’ lungs. Their habit is unclean and seriously endangers their health and life. But is the harm solely because they smoke tobacco? Hardly. Even if someone regularly smoked cigarettes made from another plant—be it marijuana, lettuce, corn or something else—inhaling smoke day after day is unnatural. Do you not agree that inhaling any smoke regularly would pollute the lungs and likely could imperil one’s health? So whether the smoke be from tobacco, marijuana, or some sort of nicotineless cigarettes, smoking simply is inappropriate for people who want to live in accord with the counsel at 2 Corinthians 7:1.—Compare Romans 12:1.
Nor can a person be said to be showing neighbor love to his family and associates when he forces them to inhale his smoke, even if that be from something other than tobacco.—Mark 12:31.
Furthermore, smoking tobacco is so prevalent that if observers see an individual smoking some sort of cigarette, cigar or pipe, they would hardly think themselves presumptuous in assuming that it was tobacco. So even if someone restricted himself to nicotineless cigarettes, observers might well be stumbled or conclude that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not consistent in avoiding the polluting, health-damaging tobacco habit.—Luke 17:1, 2.
Many who are now clean, healthy Christian servants of Jehovah have successfully overcome the tobacco habit without switching to some other type of smoking. Helpful comments about this are to be found in the article "Those Weaknesses Can Be Overcome" in TheWatchtower of October 15, 1982.
