the not so magical dragon
Okay, here is the deal
I am not one to hide myself. I pretty much let everyone know what I am thinking an doing all the time. I hate keeping things all locked up and what not. Plus, I HATE being fake. It is not much of a mystery to people that I STRONGLY dislike religion, and religious behavior. It is like a crazy chain that keeps you from fully understanding God. I don't know. Anyway, here is the issue.
Someone recently found out that I had a ciggarette and they were so angry. I was so hurt, because that particular person totally lost whatever respect that they had for me, and pretty much rejected me as someone who was/is close to God.
I hate that so much. Whenever (GENERALIZATION WARNING) any christian finds any 'issue' with another christain it becomes their holy business to correct them. This person had NO authority over me whatsoever, and it is not like they were perfect either.
Bitterness. Probably.
Okay, so here is the real deal. Not that that was not real, for it was.
I am totally one hundred percent open to correction, and I want nothing more than to live a righteous life for God. I have been thinking for a long time about the issue of smoking though. Not that I have any desire to be a chain smoker for the rest of my life...not to any degree actually. But just to know, so I can be 100 percent on where I stand. I don't want to do anything because a system tells me to. I want to know why its bad so I can tell other people...I dont do it cuz of blah blah blah...instead of saying...i don't do it cuz i am not supposed to. That just feels stupid to me.
So, I have done some research to help myself out. Here is what I found out.
Item 1.
One cup of coffee a day
or
One pop a week
or
One McDonalds Hamburger a month
will do more damage to you thank smoking a pack of smokes a day for ten years straight. I was told this from a doctor. A good one. One that I trust.
So that kind of blew the temple of the holy spirit thing out of the water. I mean, we should all purify our bodies as well as our spirits, but don't even think about using that as an excuse to tear someone down for smoking unless you are willing to give those other things up.
Item 2.
Smoking can change your attitude and it is addictive
Anything can change your attitude if you let it. Attitude is a concious decision. And the addictive part, biting your nails is addictive. Coffee is addictive. Pain killers, and anti depressents are addictive. This does not make smoking any better or worse than those things...sin is sin. But are you prepared to give those things up? If you don't drink coffee or take pills...then what are you addicted too. I think most people are addicted to something.
Item 3.
Your motives could be bad.
Well. True enough. But your motives could be nothing more than the fact that you like to do it. You crave chocolate...you crave smoking. I do agree that if you start smoking to make a point that you are rebelling and want people to see it, that could be ultimatly damaging to your spirit. But that is not the smokes, people make their points by doing lots of stuff...drinking, cutting, isolation...to name a few. The smokes are an outlet...the rebellion is the issue.
Okay, let me know what you think. I am not trying to justify anything that I have done. I am simply trying to make sure I know where I stand, especially cuz I think I will work with youth one day. I never want to make rules just to have them. I love rules, when there is a clear reason why they are there. Isn't it so annoying when your parents tell you you cant do something, and then you ask why and they just say 'i am the parent, i dont have to have a reason'. In other words 'i am having a power trip, there is no real reason except to keep you on your toes.'
Oki doke. I shall await your responses. And I will blog further on this issue as new light falls upon it via conversations with authority and friends.
Thank you come again
I am not one to hide myself. I pretty much let everyone know what I am thinking an doing all the time. I hate keeping things all locked up and what not. Plus, I HATE being fake. It is not much of a mystery to people that I STRONGLY dislike religion, and religious behavior. It is like a crazy chain that keeps you from fully understanding God. I don't know. Anyway, here is the issue.
Someone recently found out that I had a ciggarette and they were so angry. I was so hurt, because that particular person totally lost whatever respect that they had for me, and pretty much rejected me as someone who was/is close to God.
I hate that so much. Whenever (GENERALIZATION WARNING) any christian finds any 'issue' with another christain it becomes their holy business to correct them. This person had NO authority over me whatsoever, and it is not like they were perfect either.
Bitterness. Probably.
Okay, so here is the real deal. Not that that was not real, for it was.
I am totally one hundred percent open to correction, and I want nothing more than to live a righteous life for God. I have been thinking for a long time about the issue of smoking though. Not that I have any desire to be a chain smoker for the rest of my life...not to any degree actually. But just to know, so I can be 100 percent on where I stand. I don't want to do anything because a system tells me to. I want to know why its bad so I can tell other people...I dont do it cuz of blah blah blah...instead of saying...i don't do it cuz i am not supposed to. That just feels stupid to me.
So, I have done some research to help myself out. Here is what I found out.
Item 1.
One cup of coffee a day
or
One pop a week
or
One McDonalds Hamburger a month
will do more damage to you thank smoking a pack of smokes a day for ten years straight. I was told this from a doctor. A good one. One that I trust.
So that kind of blew the temple of the holy spirit thing out of the water. I mean, we should all purify our bodies as well as our spirits, but don't even think about using that as an excuse to tear someone down for smoking unless you are willing to give those other things up.
Item 2.
Smoking can change your attitude and it is addictive
Anything can change your attitude if you let it. Attitude is a concious decision. And the addictive part, biting your nails is addictive. Coffee is addictive. Pain killers, and anti depressents are addictive. This does not make smoking any better or worse than those things...sin is sin. But are you prepared to give those things up? If you don't drink coffee or take pills...then what are you addicted too. I think most people are addicted to something.
Item 3.
Your motives could be bad.
Well. True enough. But your motives could be nothing more than the fact that you like to do it. You crave chocolate...you crave smoking. I do agree that if you start smoking to make a point that you are rebelling and want people to see it, that could be ultimatly damaging to your spirit. But that is not the smokes, people make their points by doing lots of stuff...drinking, cutting, isolation...to name a few. The smokes are an outlet...the rebellion is the issue.
Okay, let me know what you think. I am not trying to justify anything that I have done. I am simply trying to make sure I know where I stand, especially cuz I think I will work with youth one day. I never want to make rules just to have them. I love rules, when there is a clear reason why they are there. Isn't it so annoying when your parents tell you you cant do something, and then you ask why and they just say 'i am the parent, i dont have to have a reason'. In other words 'i am having a power trip, there is no real reason except to keep you on your toes.'
Oki doke. I shall await your responses. And I will blog further on this issue as new light falls upon it via conversations with authority and friends.
Thank you come again
posted by dearbethany @ 2:50 a.m.
3 Comments:
At 6:14 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
Hi there. I'm a friend of Kat. I came across your blog from hers.
There a couple of things I want to encourage you about that has helped me in the area of healthy eating:
1) Sin, any sin stems from a deeper desire to fulfill "self". Unless one truly chooses to allows God to cleanse themselves on the inside, we can never die to self.
God leaves no room for "what about's".
2) Once we come to that point of truly dying to self, we can rely on God to help us with our behaviors (our habits). in Ephesians 4: 22-24, Paul exhorts us to put off the old man (out old sinful habits), to be renewed in spirit in out thoughts and attitudes and new put on the new man (the habits that are holy, righteous, and pure).
So with that in mind... smoking is an issue of addiction yes; but it the process of truly dying to self when we can really change. Then and only then can we replace the smoking with a habit that is God-honoring. That can mean replacing it with a quick prayer or something tangible in its place.
I hope this helps :)
At 3:04 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
U forgive the person?
Just a thought - but yah - u sure bout the whole coffee, pop, burger thing?
Hmmm...interesting - keep pressing in sista! People can see things as sin different to you - you have to weigh it up to the Bible etc.
and...
yeah what the other person said too!
PEACE!
Geoff
At 6:06 p.m.,
dearbethany said…
Hey Guys,
I just wanted to clearify...I dont think it was really clear. I am more upset about the attitude of christians towards smokers. Cinderella had it I think. I am not talking about getting help for my personal non existant dependancy on ciggarettes...no...the issue is people. Why do they judge when they are doing potentially worse things to themselves? Hmmm...thats it from me. Thanks for your posts...reverse psycology...it works!
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