“Therefore, since we have these promises, beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear."
The Bible also says that NOTHING you take into your mouth can defile you!
Matthew 15:17 Are YOU not aware that everything entering into the mouth passes along into the intestines and is discharged into the sewer? 18 However, the things proceeding out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those things defile a man. 19 For example, out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thieveries, false testimonies, blasphemies. 20 These are the things defiling a man; but to take a meal with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
ROMANS 14:14 "I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is defiled in itself; only where a man considers something to be defiled, to him it is defiled."
In other words, to those who don't like to smoke and don't like to chew tobacco, they think it is nasty and a defilement. But for those who like to smoke and enjoy chewing tobacco, they like it and it is not a defilement. Tobacco in and of itself, therefore, is not a defilement! And when the Bible speaks of defiling the flesh, it is not talking about what you eat.
Note 1 Timothy 4:4: "4 However, the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, 2 by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron; 3 forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who have faith and accurately know the truth. 4 The reason for this is that every creation of God is fine, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving..."
This is a prophecy about the apostasy of the WTS. The WTS forbids polygamy, which is not condemned in the Bible and they have introduced some dietary restrictions, in this case, against tobacco and blood. The Bible clearly says that if you are at the house of an unbeliever to eat whatever is prepared without questioning! That means if you're at the house of an unbeliever you can eat all the blood sausage you want! That's because Christians have no dietary restrictions! The command to "abstain from blood" was in the context of those in the congregation, primarily Jewish, who had a weak conscience regarding eating blood, so a general rule was made to abstain from blood so as not to stumble the weak. But that was conditional within the congregation. When you were on your own at a meat market or at the house of an unbeliever (likely a relative) then you didn't have to worry about abstaining from blood or anything else!
Now all creation of God is fine! That means tobacco and cocaine and alcohol and everything else. But that doesn't mean we are to abuse it. Gluttony is an abuse of food! Drunkeness is an abuse of alcohol. Cocaine is used as an anesthetic in medicine. Native chew on coca leaves to give them extra energy.
So the WTS is way off and wrong and apostate for forbidding blood intake and esspecially tobacco intake. This is part of the apostasy mentioned by 1 Timothy. The forbidding of "marriage" has to do with forbidding polygamy. Now they use the concept that ministerial servants and elders should be the husbands of one wife, but that in itself confirms that there were some in good standing in the congregation who had more than one wife. It makes sense to restrict men with multiple wives from positions in the congregation since their time is already divided between two wives and families. Responsibilities in the congregation would conflict with their family responsibilities. So this was left to single men or men with one wife whose households were in order. Polygamous households, even under the best of circumsances were known to have increased levels of strife and conflict. Even the best of friends have different style preferences. So this was just a practical restriction, just as the WTS has decided that missionaries should be married without children! Does that mean anyone aspiring to be a missionary should put their children up for adoption? No. Does restricting men with multiple wives from positions of oversight in the congregation mean they are sinning? No. Does that mean they should divorce their secondary wives so they can serve as an elder? No. In a way, they already have a small congregation to take care of within their own family!
But you can see why the WTS is called the "man of lawlessness" (2 Thess 2:4). They fulfill those who would travel around the world to make one proselyte and then after converting him, make him twice as subject to Ghehenna than he was before. Since polygamy is not condemed and secondary wives are considered holy and legal, the LAW against divorce applies, which restricts divorce except on the grounds of fornication. So when the WTS goes to places like Africa and require those joining the organization to divorce all but their first wives, they are causing them to break God's law against divorce! So the WTS actually makes them twice as subject to Gehenna than they were before, because they were legally married in God's eyes.
But look what they've done in the case of tobacco. They have made a law against tobacco that is a disfellowshipping offense, adding a burden upon believers that Christ does not require! And this is with no Biblical basis whatsoever, and, in fact, goes against what the Bible says actually defiles you, which are actions, not what you put in your mouth. God doesn't care if you chew tobacco. He doesn't care if you chew gum! You can chew on a microphone if you wanted to! That has nothing to do with being a Christian.
Now those who don't like tobacco don't like what it does when you smoke inside. They don't like it when smokers leave their cigarette buts everywhere. But some, like myself, enjoy smoking outside. I don't like second-hand smoke. Plus I don't inhale. Now I cringe when some of my friends chew tobacco and have to spit in an old coffee can. Yuk! My granddad chewed tobacco. But they seem to enjoy it, so to them it isn't all that nasty. I'm sure if you were eating some string beans and you decided to spit them out it would look nasty.
But the important thing is God's view and not the view of a few men who have violated God's law by adding additional burdens on Christ's followers that are not necessary nor required to be a Christian.
Now that doesn't mean you should smoke inside the Kingdom Hall and have everybody inhale your secondary smoke! Non-smokers should be respected! Inhaling smoke can be harmful, but not if you only smoke one cigarette a day. Tobacco can be abused just like anything else. In my case, as I noted, I don't inhale. Smoke hurts my throat. But I like to puff on a cigarette every now and then because it relaxes me. In addition, when you smoke, you slow down and exercise controlled breathing, which really is part of what relaxes you. Looking at the smoke is sort of hypnotic as well. But I'm not harming myself if I don't inhale and don't overdo it. You can oversmoke like you can over eat and over drink. But is smoking in moderation and where there is no second-hand smoke issues really something God would reject you for? Is it really a disfellowshipping offense?
NO! The WTS is clearly wrong here and just fulfilling being their "man of lawlessness" apostate selves!
