Save Your Own Life With CPR
Submitted by Stephanie Schafer

You're driving somewhere (alone of course). All of a sudden you start experiencing a severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home; unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to perform it on yourself!

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack. What can they do? Without help, a person whose heart stops beating properly begins to feel faint and has about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.

A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without letting up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between breaths, call for help.

You'll be giving yourself CPR with this technique.

Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save a life!

[The above was taken from Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240's newsletter AND THE BEAT GOES ON... (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)

Smoking Christians?

This is a controversial subject and if my article may at first blush seem slanted, it is because less emphasis has here been placed on those arguments which pervade today's ecclesiastical, political and social discussions of tobacco use because you are already quite familiar with them all. So, let me say at the onset that I concede smoking to be addictive, expensive, unpopular and a health hazard. I do not recommend it to anyone nor do I condemn those who indulge.

I've received several letters about smoking of late. Here are excerpts from a few:

"Recently I was sick and stopped smoking for 7 days and then went around telling others that God had delivered me from cigarettes and only to find myself back smoking and feeling like I lied and yet the Holy Spirit helped me by stating that for 7 days God did deliver me from smoking and God is still delivering me from cigarettes and this is a truth, so I thank God for not zapping me dead and forgiving me my sin against Him and I have told God that I am Trusting Him to take away all desire to smoke and I pray He will do this with 0 pain and 0 suffering in Jesus Name and I thank God each day for helping me smoke less and less."

"Last month my husband finally received Christ. Praise God! He's been a smoker for over 20 years and is having a really HARD time quitting. Actually, he told the elders at church and all his friends he had quit but now he has confessed to me that he is sneaking cigarettes whenever he can. He feels guilty... not about the smoking, but about the lies. We are both wondering, Is smoking a sin?"

"Iona, I've been in the service of the Lord for 27 years and a cigar smoker for many more years. Several of my classmates and some of the professors at seminary smoked pipes, cigarettes or cigars and no one thought much about it then. But now, the political climate relating to tobacco has changed and so has the attitude of many Christians. I still enjoy a nightly cigar but although I never lie about it, I find I prefer to wait until I am alone or with my own family. I believe this is a topic you should consider presenting to your readers."

""I have a sister in Christ who has told me I cannot be a "true" Christian because I smoke. What are your thoughts on this?"

"My husband has stopped going to church because of all the condemnation he endured over his smoking. He still loves the Lord and spends time in daily prayer and Bible study but says some of God's "kids" are too judgmental to be around."

"My pastor told me my conversion to Christianity was not real since I've not had enough faith to quit smoking. In my heart, I know I'm saved and belong to Jesus forever, but I like to smoke and see no sin in it. Am I wrong?"

"Iona, there is a woman in our church who openly smokes yet she is allowed to be very active in various ministries and is in the choir. She even leads a women's Bible Study! She also brings her smoking friends to church and three of them have joined. I am quite concerned over what this will do to our congregation. What can I do to put a stop to this and convince her that smoking is wrong?"

Is Smoking Sin?
Because smoking was probably unknown during the ages when the Bible was being written, it is never directly addressed in scripture, so we must look at generalities rather than specifics. Is smoking sinful? To answer this question, we first need a working definition of sin. Sin is a "transgression of the Law" according to 1 John 3:4, and the Law was defined by Christ in Matthew 7:12: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (KJV). From this, we can conclude smoking to be sinful if we disregard the health or comfort of others by smoking.

In condemning smoking as sin, many quote I Corinthians 6:19-20, where Paul wrote, "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God's." They claim smokers are defiling their bodies, therefore the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Those who claim smoking is not a sin often cite Matthew 15:10-11 where Jesus says, "Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." In this, Jesus was saying was that what the man consumes does not defile him, period!

Both "sides" use various other scriptures to prove their respective points of view, but rarely does the issue become resolved. Instead, division, judgementalism and hard feelings often result... and that, dear ones, we know is sin! Taking scripture as a whole, studying it prayerfully and leaving the issue between the individual and the Lord is by far the wiser path for it is a path of love, mutual support and wisdom.

My personal view is that smoking in itself is no more sinful than eating chocolate pie. Sadly, however, smokers are often tempted to be untruthful or sneaky about their tobacco use, so smoking can lead to sinful activities. When an overweight person "sneaks" an extra helping of chocolate pie or lies about how many cookies she ate, that too, is sin. So, the sin is not couched in the calories or the tobacco, but in our own attitudes about them.

Christians are to be open, transparent, "what you see is what you get" kinds of people. People sneak and lie when they feel guilty or when others' opinions mean more to them than God's. If we feel it's wrong to smoke, then smoking is sin for us and we need to get it out of our lives. If we have consulted honestly and earnestly with the Lord and feel no condemnation over our tobacco use, then we need to be open about it. Notice, I said "open," not flaunting, nor inconsiderate.

Another Opinion
Here is an excerpt from an article by Reese Currie of Compass Distributors:

Common Arguments That Smoking Itself Is A Sin

I would venture that many Christians may find our position difficult to understand, but we cannot see how it can be logically supported from the Bible that smoking itself is a sin. I have read other people's articles about smoking, and while I respect that they are trying to do a good work, there are holes in their argumentation.

The main argument held by many Christians about this is that smoking is a sin against your own body. This is "proven" using 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, and 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; the implication is that smoking defiles the body, and by defiling the body you are defiling the Lord's temple, and that God will destroy those who defile His temple.

There are five things that negate this argument. First, the Bible explicitly states that only one sin is a sin against your own body, and that is the sin of sexual immorality. "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body" (1 Corinthians 6:18).

Secondly, the acceptance of this argument requires the acceptance of the doctrinal error commonly known as "fall away doctrine", the belief that sins (and not disbelief) cause one to lose salvation. This is a hideous (and yet very common) misapplication of Scripture. When you repent and truly believe in Jesus Christ, you are permanently saved at the moment of belief. Sin may grieve the Spirit within you after that, and you will suffer for continued sin in the reward judgment, but you will not lose salvation over sins. This position is explained in our article, Is Salvation Eternally Secure?.

The third problem is that the context of the Scripture is ignored. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 is speaking of the literal church, and does not use individual language, while 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 is speaking figuratively of the body as a temple, and is taken in the context of fornication, which, as we have stated, is the only sin against the body. Even drunkenness, which has unquestionable health effects and is listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as a sure sign that a person is not saved, was not considered a sin against the body, and smoking is much more akin to drunkenness than to sexual immorality.

The fourth problem is that these Scripture references have to be presented in reverse order to make any sort of coherent point with regard to smoking. This is not a sign of healthy doctrine; rather, it is a sign of twisting Scripture to tailor-make your own doctrine. Peter wrote about this error with specific reference to Paul's epistles. "...our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures" (2 Peter 3:15b-16).

The fifth problem is that there is no real connection between smoking and defilement of the body in any case. Matthew 15:10-11 says, "When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, 'Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.'" In this, Jesus was saying was that what the man consumes does not defile him, so the consumption of cigarettes cannot defile a man.

In his article Smoking: Is it a Sin? Pastor Jeff VanGoethem says:

So is smoking a sin? I have two comments to make about this. First, if it is a sin, it is not one of the serious ones. Jesus himself said, "not what goes into the mouth defiles a man but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the man" (Matt.15:11). The real serious sins are those manufactured in the heart such as malice, hatred, vicious speech, gossip, lust, pride, deceit, etc. Some people jump all over smoking because it is so externally noticeable. But surely we can see that at the core of the practice is little more than breathing in some foul smoke. Smoking does not involve a fundamental moral issue. At root it is not a sin of the heart.

Also have a look at The Jeremiah Project - Smoking Aloud

What About Stewardship?
We are called to be good stewards, and tobacco products are expensive. How true! So is cable TV, a video game player, beef steak, a vacation, a new dress, going to Pizza Hut, etc. We could live without any of these, but are we called to? Stewardship is a whole other "lesson," and hardly a viable issue when discussing whether smoking is sinful.

Health Issues
Much modern evidence shows smoking to be a health hazard so that each package of cigarettes must, by law, bear this message, "Warning: the Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health." Just how dangerous is not well established in spite of those who love to bandy statistics in support of their favored stance.

Having had some experience in research labs, I can honestly say that testing normally exposes test animals to huge amounts of the substance being tested. Examination of actual research data shows that it would be physically impossible for a smoker to take in the comparative amounts of nicotine, tar and other tobacco components as are pumped into lab animals.

One seldom hears of any positive health impacts of continued tobacco use, but there indeed may be some. I am personally aware of three cases where long time smokers finally "kicked the habit," only to suffer ill effects (due to stress) within four months. One bleeding ulcer (almost fatal) and two heart attacks. We are certainly familiar with George Burns who smoked cigars for eons yet was still going strong past 90. While there is NEVER a positive health reason to begin using tobacco, there may be a case for continued moderate use in certain situations. A doctor should ALWAYS be involved in this and all health related choices.

There can be no doubt, however as to the link between tobacco use and lung, oral, or throat cancer, heart disease, etc., it is merely the degree that remains in question. As for second-hand smoke, I find the research faulty on its face, but I do suggest smokers make every effort to consider the health and comfort of others.

In Romans 14:21 and Romans 15:1-2, we are taught not to offend our fellow-Christians and to take care to please our neighbors that they might be saved. In Philippians 2:3-4, we read ". . - Let each esteem the other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others". In other words, be considerate. Be thoughtful. Smokers cannot be thoughtful when smoking in non-smoking areas or around anyone who finds the smell offensive or disturbing.

What About Addiction?
Ask the experts, the smokers themselves, and they will readily admit tobacco, especially smoking, is one of the most addictive things around. So what is the spiritual impact of this addiction or any other? (I am excluding drug and alcohol addictions because they are mind altering and as such have been labeled sinful in scripture).

Addiction is a problem when the addictive substance or activity takes precedence in the believer's heart and life. If anything in your life is causing you to make intrusive life changes, effecting your relationships with Christ and others, causing problems at work, leading you to sneak, lie or otherwise be dishonest, preventing fellowship with other believers or service to your Lord, there is a major problem and changes must be made whether that addiction is to smoking or to watching old Westerns on TV.

Let me put it as strongly as I possibly can: ANYTHING that comes between you and the Lord is sin! ANYTHING AT ALL!!!

Should You Quit Smoking?
This is not for me to say. It's a very personal question for you, God and your doctor to discuss and act on realistically. But I can say this, if you feel guilty about tobacco use and the guilt is internal, not imposed on you by someone else, then by all means, pray and ask for God's help in quitting... but never allow tobacco to stand between you and the Lord. NEVER!!! If you've decided to quit, take a stroll over here: The Armor of God Stop Smoking Page.

If you decide to quit, I applaud you and make this suggestion, be sure the decision is your own, not one you feel pushed into by someone else. Don't make promises; take it one step at a time. Get prayer support. Quitting is hard, but almost impossible if you are not personally committed to it. If you fail, I lovingly understand and accept you... and so does your Heavenly Father!

Can A Smoker Serve the Lord?
Absolutely! I know many devout Christians who love and serve Christ with every fiber of their being yet are tobacco users. Some are in the ministry, some are evangelists, some teach Sunday School, some witness to their neighbors... While only God can judge the heart, all the external evidence says they are believers. I, myself, have been a smoker for 47 years. I feel neither guilt nor shame in telling you this, nor do I believe I am unable to serve my Lord because of it.

Southern Medical Terms
Submitted by Bobby Lewis

Benign---------------------- What you be, after you be eight.!
Artery---------------------- The study of paintings.
Bacteria-------------------- Back door to the cafeteria.
Barium--------------------- What doctors do when patients die.
Cesarean Section..---------- A neighborhood in Rome.
Catscan..----------------------- Searching for kitty.
Cauterize.---------------------- Made eye contact with her
Colic.----------------------------- Sheep dog.
Coma------------------------ A punctuation mark.
D&C------------------------- Where Washington is.
Dilate----------------------- To live long.
Enema.--------------------------- Not a friend.
Fester----------------------- Quicker than someone else.
Fibula----------------------- A small lie.
Genital.--------------------------Non-Jewish person.
G.I. Series------------------ World Series of military baseball.
Hangnail..----------------------- What you hang your coat on.
Impotent.----------------------- Distinguished, well known.
Labor Pain.-------------------- Getting hurt at work.
Medical Staff.---------------- A Doctor's cane.
Morbid.-------------------------- A higher offer.
Nitrates-------------------- Cheaper than day rates.
Node.----------------------------- I knew it.
Outpatient.--------------------- A person who has fainted.
Pap Smear.-------------------- A fatherhood test.
Pelvis.---------------------------. Second cousin to Elvis.
Post Operative------------ A letter carrier.
Recovery Room.------------- Place to do upholstery.
Rectum.------------------------- Darn near killed him.
Secretion.---------------------- Hiding something.
Seizure.-------------------------. Roman emperor
Tablet.--------------------------- A small table.
Terminal Illness.------------ Getting sick at the airport.
Tumor.-------------------------- One plus one more.
Urine------------------------ Opposite of you're out.
Varicose.----------------------- Near by/close by

e-mail

Graphics, Design & Hosting by Web4Christ Ministries

Home | Webzine | Archives | Resources
Free Graphics | Our Mission | Membership
  Submission Guidelines | E-Mail Fellowship

Author: Iona Hoeppner
Copyright © 2000 ionanet. All rights reserved.
Revised: April 20, 2006.