If you're studying the Bible and are a smoker but haven't been baptized yet, should being a smoker stop you from being baptized?... Most smokers haven't been immersed, therefore they don't have the Holy Spirit in them to help them fight this battle. Shouldn't these smokers be baptized and therefore allow the Holy Spirit in them to help them fight this battle with smoking? Why should we prevent them from being baptized and learning to trust God and the Holy Spirit to guide them?... God will take care of making His new disciples see where they are going wrong -- I believe all smokers, if they were baptized, would learn the word of God, have the Holy Spirit and be able to fight the battle and win it not for themselves but to prove that God has the power to work in our daily lives. -- Daisy Martin (Atlanta)
Certainly we are not to become perfect before baptism, and you are right that the indwelling Spirit enables us to overcome many things that we are less able to repent from on our own. At the same time, as we learn from John the Baptist (Luke 3), certain things must be changed before immersion. Certain things--the big things--but not necessarily everything. And you are right, we are to go in His power, not ours.
My view: I think the biblical doctrine you need to examine is repentance. In my experience, people who are serious about making Jesus Lord make many "sub-decisions" as a result of their growing faith. Giving up smoking, for most smokers, is easier than the decision to resist the crowd, to reconcile with enemies, change life priorities, give up sexual immorality, etc.
Please hear me: While I agree with you that not everything must be addressed and dealt with before baptism, I do not necessarily agree that smokers are likely to quit smoking just because they've been baptized. The denominations are full of smokers who may have been immersed, but whose lives closely resemble those of unbelievers. At the same time, I would not want to make a law where God has not spoken definitively.
For more on this, see my article on Smoking at this website, as well as several studies of Repentance in Till the Nets Are Full (formerly Shining Like Stars.)
This article is copyrighted and is for private use and study only. © 2004. Reprints or public distribution is prohibited without the express consent of Douglas Jacoby.
