Well-thought and well-written. I largely agree and appreciate the emphasis on personal agency, and splitting the morality from pure health/medical considerations. As a future medical professional, I want my patients to be healthy, period. But I don’t want them to feel ashamed or judged by me. I will strive to strike that balance properly as you did in the piece.
Regarding ethics for Christians specifically, how would you evaluate an argument that smoking is sinful based on it being a violation of the sixth commandment, in that it inordinately endangers one’s own health and could be considered “willful exposure to danger”? I am not saying that I agree with this viewpoint necessarily, but rather came across it and I am wondering your thoughts. Thank you.
I’m not a theologian but I think that’s a stretch. Smoking increases your risk of dying more than just about anything else that doesn’t involve high doses of poison or radiation (although not exercising combined with poor diet and lack of sleep can be close). But even then there’s a chance you’ll win the generic lottery or otherwise get lucky and live to 100 (which, incidentally, is why we can’t extrapolate from centenarians to the rest of us because their longevity usually came from genes not lifestyle).
The average American has a 1 in 101 chance of dying in a car accident in their lifetime. Does driving constitute a willful exposure to danger? The sixth commandment tells Christians not to kill (including suicide), but it doesn’t say, “don’t take risks.” By that logic alcohol and soda would also be violations of the sixth commandment.
Well-thought and well-written. I largely agree and appreciate the emphasis on personal agency, and splitting the morality from pure health/medical considerations. As a future medical professional, I want my patients to be healthy, period. But I don’t want them to feel ashamed or judged by me. I will strive to strike that balance properly as you did in the piece.
Regarding ethics for Christians specifically, how would you evaluate an argument that smoking is sinful based on it being a violation of the sixth commandment, in that it inordinately endangers one’s own health and could be considered “willful exposure to danger”? I am not saying that I agree with this viewpoint necessarily, but rather came across it and I am wondering your thoughts. Thank you.
I’m not a theologian but I think that’s a stretch. Smoking increases your risk of dying more than just about anything else that doesn’t involve high doses of poison or radiation (although not exercising combined with poor diet and lack of sleep can be close). But even then there’s a chance you’ll win the generic lottery or otherwise get lucky and live to 100 (which, incidentally, is why we can’t extrapolate from centenarians to the rest of us because their longevity usually came from genes not lifestyle).
The average American has a 1 in 101 chance of dying in a car accident in their lifetime. Does driving constitute a willful exposure to danger? The sixth commandment tells Christians not to kill (including suicide), but it doesn’t say, “don’t take risks.” By that logic alcohol and soda would also be violations of the sixth commandment.