Smart Christian teens will avoid or give up smoking.

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What’s wrong with teen smoking?

Smoking is not strictly a teen issue or a religious issue. It is a health issue.

It used to be cool to smoke. Watch some old movies and you might think that everyone smoked when your parents and grandparents were young.

But today it is becoming uncool to smoke. Cigarette packages in many countries now carry warnings that smoking is dangerous to your health. In some places the packages carry labels that say “smoking kills.”

That smoking is dangerous to your health is now so well known that you can hardly find anyone (except perhaps some cigarette companies) who will say it is not harmful.

Teen opposition

In some areas, teenagers are the biggest opponents of smoking. They avoid places where smoking takes place in confined spaces. They are more caring about the environment, and will speak out against the pollution that smoking creates. They come up with clever slogans like “Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.”

It is true that some smokers live into old age without getting lung cancer, heart disease, and other smoking-related illnesses. This does not mean that smoking is harmless. You can spray insect poison over an ants' nest and a few ants will survive — but that doesn't prove the spray was harmless, because most of the ants will have died or become sick. Likewise with smoking.

Depression linked with smoking

In 1986, researchers tested a new drug called bupropion to see if it stopped depression. An interesting result from the trial was that smokers who were taking the drug said they lost their urge to smoke, and cigarettes didn't taste good to them any more.

Since that time, researchers have found a link between depression and smoking. Bupropion made the smokers less depressed while getting many off cigarettes. Companies now market the drug as Zyban, and some people say it is the most successful antismoking cure so far produced.

Even so, there has been rowdy debate over Zyban because some former smokers claim that after taking it they have developed rashes and other illnesses. Some people have died after taking it, although supporters of Zyban say the number of deaths is small compared to the number whose smoking-related illnesses would have killed them from anyway.

You're paying to make your breath bad!

Apart from the serious health problems you can develop from smoking, there are other reasons to avoid it: Smoking is a costly, smelly habit. You are paying big bucks to make your breath bad, your skin look older and drier, and your clothes and hair always smell horrible.

And think of this: If you smoke, you are sending a message to younger kids that you approve of something that harms people. Your younger brothers, sisters, or friends may take up smoking because of your bad example. They may eventually die of smoking-related diseases. If you hadn't smoked you would not have contributed to their health problems.

What does the Bible say?

The Bible doesn't specifically mention smoking, but it does say in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, therefore glorify God in your body. That means look after it; don't fill it with substances that will harm you.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:23 that even though something may be lawful (like smoking), that does not mean it is good for you. If you smoke, try to give it up now. It gets harder as you get older. And so do the pipes (arteries) that circulate your blood to your heart!

Research on female smoking

University of Minnesota scientists wrote in the journal Addiction in 2008 that female smokers had more success giving up smoking if they tried to give up in the two weeks leading up to ovulation. See BBC report for more details.

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