19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therfore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
Yesterday I had an "interesting" discussion with a Mennonite lady at noon meal. We were talking about the Amish (I don't remember exactly what about them) and she said, well the New Order would be more Christian-like, right? I told her I didn't know about being "more Christian-like" but definiately more evangelical, like they would go and evangelize more as compared to the more conservative groups. She said, well more Christian-like because they do not smoke and it is such a shame how the Old Order allow smoking amongst their members. I did not know that smoking was a sin as she put it, but she informed me that it is because of the scripture above, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Because our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we should treat them like temples.
I asked her where we should stop then. Looking all confused, I explained myself further. Should we not allow our members to eat sugar, oils, fats, and caffine? All things that medical experts have advised us to keep to a minimum in our diets because they are not good for our bodies. I had found some literature on someone's blog -- not sure exactly where -- about the conservative Seventh Day Adventist's guidelines for what ingredients should be left out of food when being brought into the church and I told her this. She replied that it was over the top and if we were to say those were sins, then all the Amish and Mennonites would have to adjust their style of cooking. I left it at that.
I don't know that I made a point with her, but it got me to thinking, how do I interpret that scripture?
Is there a difference between what I wouldn't do and what I would consider a sin based on those two verses?
I sure wouldn't smoke, but that is my personal preference. I would not call smoking a sin (I am talking tabacco smoking, anything illegal is a sin because it goes against the command we have to obey the government authority).
Is there anything we could put in our bodies that would be okay and keep our bodies as a temple? Of course. But we have to remember one word. Moderation. Nothing is good for our bodies if we have it in excess. Water, which God created, is not good for us in excess because it throws the vitamin and electrolyte balance off in our bodies. Meat is not good for us in excess, nor are vegetables or fruit because of their natural sugars and startches they have. Does this mean eating any of that or drinking water is a sin? No. If we didn't eat or drink anything we would not live very long. The only thing which we can emerse ourselves in and it not be bad for us is God's Word.
What do you think?
There are quite a few other snipets of conversation from meal yesterday that I think I will share, but not all today :) Too much for one post!
Blessings in Christ,
I would never say that smoking is good but I don't see it as a sin either, not in itself. If smoking would become too dominant in a person's life however I would see it as at least a risk of trying to serve two masters and thereby sinful. The same goes for alcohol. A moderate amount of alcohol like a glass or wine or two with dinner for someone who has not previously developed an alcohol addiction is fine but if you are an alcoholic you must fully abstain and even if you are not it is still a good choice to not drink but drinking that doesn't cause a person problem is OK.
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