Smoking--The Unforgivable Sin?

I spent the weekend in Laughlin, NV and enjoyed the SCORE race just outside of town. While wandering around town, I was struck by the advertisements for the "Largest non-smoking poker room in Laughlin" and "Non-smoking slots!" While I certainly would flee any room that was smoking and back away from a smoking slot machine, I took their meaning.

To my sensitive California nostrils, Laughlin was a smoker's paradise. But in the midst of this carcinogenic sea were islands of (relatively) clear air. None of this was the result of government coercion. Libertarianism, combined with the free market, had produced a result that was acceptable to most. What should Christians make of this?

I've long described myself as a libertarian of sorts. I believe that if someone wants to smoke or ride a motorcycle without a helmet, he or she should be allowed to with the understanding that we are not going to pay for his or her chemotherapy or brain-scooping-up-from-the-pavement. Such irresponsible behaviors can be sins (but not always), but are they crimes? I think not.

But this leaves us with a problem. Why is murder or theft a crime? The libertarian dodge is that only things that hurt others are crimes. But who defines "hurt?" Certainly those families who lose a breadwinner to cancer or avoidable death-by-stupidity are hurt. Society is hurt, and not only when it is forced to pay for medical care. The loss of productivity and harder to measure loss of social stability is certainly a real injury. What then should we do?

I can only see the most general of principles in Scripture. One overarching theme seems to be Christ's challenge to transcend the law. While the law may keep us from committing adultery, it does nothing to regulate the immorality of our hearts. We must recognize that God's standard of holiness is far higher (and much different) than any of our legal codes. This leaves a path for a Christian libertarianism that recognizes that the civil authorities are ordained to keep order in society, but true moral behavior begins from a changed heart. If this is our view, it should not bother us if there isn't a law banning every peccadillo, sinful or otherwise. We also need to recognize that we must demonstrate grace and real assistance to those who have ruined their lives with self-destructive behavior.

Category: Theoblogi