Smoking, Tobacco: Does the Bible say anything about smoking tobacco?
As it relates to the dietary laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, many Christian pastors declare from the pulpit that God has made all animals acceptable for eating, while at the same time strongly condemning the consumption of alcoholic beverages and smoking tobacco. We believe that this is a double standard used to judge others because there is more spoken of in the Scriptures about food and eating then about drinking or smoking. Alfred J. Kolatch astutely observes in his Jewish Book of Why, The smoking of tobacco is not mentioned in the Bible (p 295). We do not encourage people to regularly smoke tobacco, as there are health risks associated with it. However, there is no specific reference to smoking tobacco at all in the Scriptures, so technically the Word of God does not directly condemn it as sin. Smoking is not a healthy habit.
