Watchtower June 2014
Smoking is a relentless killer.
·
It killed 100,000,000
people during the last century.
·
It takes about 6,000,000
lives a year.
·
On average, it kills one
person every six seconds.
And there is no sign of a turnaround.
Authorities
estimate that if current trends persist, by 2030, the annual death toll from
smoking will climb to more than 8,000,000. And they predict that smoking will
have taken 1,000,000,000 lives by the end of the 21st century.
Tobacco’s
victims are not just the smokers. Included are the surviving family members,
who suffer emotional and financial loss, as well as the 600,000 nonsmokers who
die each year from breathing secondhand smoke. The burden spreads to everyone
in the form of rising health-care costs.
Unlike
epidemics that send doctors racing to discover a cure, this scourge is
eminently curable; the solution is well-known. Dr. Margaret Chan,
director-general of the World Health Organization, stated: “The tobacco
epidemic is entirely man-made, and it can be turned around through the
concerted efforts of governments and civil society.”
International response to combat
this health crisis has been unprecedented. As of August 2012, some 175
countries have agreed to take measures to curb tobacco use. * However, powerful forces keep the pandemic raging. Each
year, the tobacco industry spends billions of dollars on advertising to attract
new customers, especially among women and young adults living in developing
countries. The addictive nature of tobacco almost ensures that casualties will
remain high among the one billion smokers already hooked. Unless current users
quit, the death toll will climb sharply over the next four decades.
Advertising
and addiction keep many trapped in a habit they wish they could break. That was
the experience of Naoko. She began smoking as a teen. Copying the way the habit
was portrayed in the media made her feel sophisticated. Despite seeing both of
her parents die from lung cancer, she continued smoking, even while raising her
two daughters. “I was concerned about getting lung cancer and worried about my
children’s health,” she admits, “but I still couldn’t quit. I thought I would
never stop smoking.”
Yet, Naoko did stop. She found the motivation to overcome
her smoking habit in the same source that has helped millions remain free of
tobacco. What is that source?
What Is God’s View of Smoking?
Naoko said of her victory over smoking, “I was
able to change my life because of learning the truth about God’s qualities and
purpose.” What she learned is found in the Bible. Even though the Bible never
mentions tobacco, it helps us to understand how God views smoking. * For many, that knowledge provided the incentive they needed
to resist or quit the habit. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Let us
consider three well-known harmful effects of smoking and see what the Bible
says about them.
SMOKING IS ADDICTIVE
Tobacco
contains one of the most addictive drugs known—nicotine. It acts as a stimulant
as well as a depressant. Smoking delivers nicotine to the brain quickly and
repeatedly. Since each puff supplies a single dose of nicotine, the average
one-pack-a-day smoker inhales the equivalent of about 200 doses a day, a higher
dosage than in any other drug use. Such frequent dosing makes nicotine uniquely
addictive. Once hooked, a smoker experiences withdrawal symptoms if his craving
for nicotine is not satisfied.
Can
you really obey God if you are enslaved by tobacco addiction?
The
Bible helps us to have the correct view of the matter when it says: “Do you not
know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are
slaves of the one you obey?” (Romans 6:16) When an individual’s thinking
and actions are dominated by a craving for tobacco, he soon becomes a slave to
a degrading practice. However, God, whose name is Jehovah, wants us to be free,
not only from practices that harm our body but also from those that corrupt our
spirit, that is, our dominant mental inclination. (Psalm 83:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1) Thus, as a person
grows in appreciation and respect for Jehovah, he recognizes that Jehovah
deserves his best and that he cannot give God his best while remaining enslaved
to a lethal habit. That realization helps to give a person the will to resist
hurtful desires.
Olaf, who lives in Germany, overcame
a 16-year addiction to cigarettes that began when he was 12. “The first
cigarette seemed like a harmless snowball,” he said. “But over the years it
amounted to a huge avalanche. One time when I ran out of cigarettes, I was so
frustrated that I collected all the stubs from an ashtray, scraped the tobacco
together, and rolled a cigarette with a scrap of newspaper. In hindsight, I can
see that it was really shameful.” How did he break the degrading habit of smoking?
“The crucial factor was the desire to please Jehovah,” he said. “Jehovah’s love for mankind
and the hope he provides gave me the strength to break this addiction once and
for all.”
SMOKING DAMAGES THE BODY
“Smoking
cigarettes . . . has been scientifically proven to harm nearly every
organ in the body and to increase morbidity and mortality,” says The Tobacco
Atlas. It is well-known that smoking causes noncommunicable diseases such
as cancer, heart disease, and lung ailments. But according to the World Health
Organization (WHO), smoking is also a major cause of death from communicable
diseases, such as tuberculosis.
“You
must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and
with your whole mind.”—Matthew 22:37
Are
you showing love and respect for God if you abuse your God-given body by
indulging in a defiling habit?
Through
his Word, the Bible, Jehovah God teaches us to have a proper view of our life,
our body, and our faculties. His Son, Jesus, pointed to this when he said: “You
must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and
with your whole mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Clearly, God wants us to
make good use of our life and body and to treat them with respect. As we learn
about Jehovah and his promises, we come to love and value all that he has done
for us. This motivates us to keep free from anything that defiles our body.
Jayavanth,
a physician in India, smoked for 38 years. He said: “I learned about the
dangers of smoking through medical journals. I knew it was wrong, and I advised
my patients to give up the habit. But I could not quit it myself, despite
trying five or six times.” What helped him finally to stop? He relates: “I quit
smoking as a result of having a Bible study. The desire to please Jehovah
motivated me to quit the habit straight away.”
SMOKING HARMS OTHERS
Exhaled
smoke and smoke that comes from smoldering tobacco are toxic. Inhaling such
secondhand smoke can cause cancer and other diseases, and each year it kills
600,000 nonsmokers, mostly women and children. A report by WHO warns: “There is
no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.”
Do you
really love your neighbor and family if you expose them to the dangers of
secondhand smoke?
According to Jesus, love of neighbor—our family, friends,
and others around us—is second only to love of God. “You must love your
neighbor as yourself,” he said. (Matthew 22:39) If we pursue a habit that
hurts those close to us, we are not showing neighborly love. Genuine love moves
us to follow the Bible’s admonition: “Let each one keep seeking, not his own
advantage, but that of the other person.”—1 Corinthians 10:24.
Armen,
who lives in Armenia, recalls: “Because they were affected by it, my family
begged me to quit smoking. But I didn’t want to admit that it could have a bad
effect on them.” He explains what changed his view: “My knowledge of the Bible
and love for Jehovah helped me to quit smoking and admit that it was harmful
not only to me but also to those around me.”
SMOKING EXTINGUISHED FOR
GOOD!
Bible
knowledge helped Olaf, Jayavanth, and Armen to break free from a degrading
habit that was hurting them and others. They succeeded not simply because they
knew that smoking is harmful but because they came to love Jehovah and desired
to please him. The vital role of love is emphasized at 1 John 5:3, which states: “This is
what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his
commandments are not burdensome.” Of course, following Bible principles will
not always be easy, but when a person is moved by strong love for God,
obedience will not be a burden.
Through
a global educational campaign, Jehovah God is now helping millions of people to
break free or keep free from enslavement to tobacco. (1 Timothy 2:3, 4) Very soon, by
means of his Kingdom—a heavenly government under his Son, Jesus Christ—Jehovah
will eliminate the greedy commercial system that is responsible for enslaving
millions to tobacco. He will extinguish the smoking epidemic for good and raise
obedient humankind to perfection in body and mind.—Isaiah 33:24; Revelation 19:11, 15.
If you are struggling to quit smoking, take heart. By
learning to love Jehovah and to appreciate his view of smoking, you too can
find the motivation you need to succeed. Jehovah’s Witnesses will be happy to
provide you with practical, one-on-one assistance to learn and apply Bible principles. Be assured that if you want
Jehovah’s help to break free from tobacco addiction, he will supply the power
and strength you need.—Philippians 4:13.
Learn More at www.jw.org
