E-cigarettes exploded onto the smoking scene a few years ago. Many vendors have advertised their products to be better for you than cigarettes, some even claimed that e-cigarettes could help a person quit smoking. However, it couldn’t be further from the truth. According to CNBC, the FDA has called for a federal reckoning of these vaping pens after five deaths occurred along with 450 cases of hospitalization because of the unregulated product.
What Is Vaping?
Vaping is another term for e-cigarettes, JUUL or similar devices are battery-powered devices that can look like flash drives and pens. They mimic smoking by heating liquids with substances such as nicotine and marijuana. It’s not the same as smoking because what is exhaled is a mist of vaporized particles instead of tobacco smoke. This mist is often misunderstood as clean water vapor; however, it’s filled with toxic chemicals and carries the same danger as secondhand smoke.
Vaping introduces foreign matter into the lungs which puts a strain on the respiratory system making it difficult for the lungs to filter out everything on top of your lungs already processing the air you’re breathing. It makes it even more difficult for your lungs to filter out everything. Often, particles are lodged in the lungs which lead to disease, illness, and cancer.
While many manufacturers claim to have liquids free of nicotine with a zero percent ratio, their claims are actually false because it has less than one percent nicotine which allow them to make this claim.
Is Vaping Bad for You?
Here is just one example of what could happen to you as a result of vaping.
The Washington Post's Lena Sun followed one Utah man’s battle for life after doctor’s concluded that vaping was the likely cause of a lung disease he had contracted:
“Within days, Alexander Mitchell had gone from being a 20-year-old hiking enthusiast to being kept alive by two machines forcing air into and out of his lungs and oxygenating his blood outside of his body. ‘He went from being sick to being on death’s door in literally two days,’ recalled his father, Daniel Mitchell, as he struggled to grasp the unthinkable. ‘The doctor said he was dying. In all honesty, I was preparing to plan a funeral for my child. I wept and wept for this boy.’ ... Six weeks after he left the hospital, Mitchell has resumed hiking. But with his lung capacity diminished by 25 percent, he doesn’t go for long or as often as he used to. He also struggles with his short-term memory. Doctors say they’re not sure whether he will fully recover.”
What Does the Bible Say about Vaping?
With so much controversy over the health risks of vaping, is it crazy to ask whether or not vaping is a sin? The Bible doesn’t mention vaping or smoking; however, we can take into account other Biblical principles. Corinthians 6:12 reminds us that nothing should master us. The apostle Paul talks about how we have freedom in Christ to do anything, but that doesn’t mean we should give in to any given thing. This passage refers to addiction. We need to use discernment when making decisions like this. Knowing how addictive nicotine is, it can clearly master your willpower.
As followers of Christ, we should steer clear of addictive activities and substances. Otherwise, we will find ourselves unable to exercise self-control. Rather than being the one in control, the addiction begins to drive our words and actions. Galatians 5:1 says, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."
Another clear point in the Bible is God asking us to care for our bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” With what was previously mentioned about the health dangers of vaping as well as discussing the addictive properties of nicotine, it clearly points to the damaging effects of partaking in this product and therefore contradicts God’s Word of our bodies as temples for the Holy Spirit.
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