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Help on a Question Regarding Hookah

November 26th, 2014

Dawn James
November 25, 2014

I need a little help on my latest question. The question is asking if hookah is bad for a Christian to do. Honestly, I’d never heard the word hookah before I read this question, but that isn’t my problem. A few internet searches told me that it is another method for smoking tobacco (at least that’s my understanding of what I read). Does anyone know if there is anything truly un-Christian associated with hookah? Otherwise, my instinct is to treat it like anything else the Bible doesn’t address specifically, starting with 1 Cor. 6:12, “All things are lawful, but all things are not helpful..” I want to give the best answer I can and since I only learned the word yesterday, I thought I should ask the group!

  • Seen by 27
  • John Edward Rasmussen I would say it all depends on the view of tobacco you’re dealing with. If tobacco is sinful, then hookah is. It’s just as harmful to te body as cigarettes, cigars, and pipes, so it fits nicely into the same category. If tobacco is a matter of Christian liberty, then it falls into that category.
    19 hrs · Like
  • Sarah Van Baale Many of my former at-risk youth students enjoyed this as well as a variety of other drugs – like marijuana. Hookah can be flavored and is often “marketed” to youth because of the unique sweet flavors. You smoke it very similarly to the way you’d use a bong to smoke pot. (I know, I am way to informed about all of this, but I assure you, I’ve never even smoked a cigarette. ) Because of the method of ingestion, I’ve been told by my very open and informative drug using former students, that the “high” is much stronger. But because it is (for the most part) only tobacco, you don’t get in trouble with the law like you would for possessing an “illegal” drug. I assure you though, hookah isn’t always just tobacco. Personally, I’d consider it more of a “gateway” drug. The kids prefer it because they can achieve a similar high to low grade pot without getting into the trouble of an illegal drug.
    18 hrs · Like
  • Tim White I have a general rule. If you have to look it up, it’s not OK.
    17 hrs · Like
  • MeLissa LeFleur Houdmann You can probably use a lot of this article as a base for one on hookah: http://www.gotquestions.org/smoking-Christian-sin.html
    17 hrs · Like
  • Tim White Seriously, if one is totally honest about smoking, they would have to ultimately admit that they are pursuing a “rest?” that should be found in our relationship with Christ, or they are avoiding some confrontation with Christ in the “death of self ” battle. That would apply to hookah, and many other distractions as well. My Puritan side is showing.
    16 hrs · Like
  • Sarah Van Baale I agree – People normally turn to drugs (any form of drug legal or illegal) to escape reality in varying degrees.
    16 hrs · Like
  • John Edward Rasmussen I’ll just throw the weakness of my hand at the beginning and state that I used to be a smoker so I’m somewhat biased. But couldn’t the same be said of TV, music, food, video games, marital sex, and the Internet? They can all be used for a “rest” that isn’t necessarily “in Christ”. But that’s what leads to Amish Monasticism (if there were such a thing!) I think the soundest ground to argue against tobacco use on is the controlling of the body by it as an addiction and its harm to the body. On the one hand it is wrong to use for those purposes, but if those did not exist, it would hold the same status as chocolate cake or coffee. We don’t consider these sinful because they are enjoyable after a bad day at work (though I know it’s sinful when I come home and down a whole cup of Casey’s general store cookies – yikes!). My point is, that may not be the best line of reasoning in arguing it.
    16 hrs · Like
  • Dawn James Thanks for the info, insights and perspectives! I truly loved Tim White‘s rule! I hadn’t checked the QG articles, so, thanks Sarah for reminding me to do that and the info from the at-risk kids is the type of stuff I did not know. Now, I can write my answer with better understanding..
    16 hrs · Like
  • Dale Agner In Turkey, where this is largely from…the Hookah also has stimulants,
    such as hashish. It is generally implied to have a stimulant added to the tobacco. In many ways…it is the original precursor to a “bong”… as it
    is a type of bong.

    -dale agner
    8 hrs · Like
  • Steve Ray Webb This is not an answer to your question but I was in a social situation with some Arabs one time where it was politically pretty important for me to join them smoking from a hookah. I was surprised at how mild and relatively pleasant it was (I have never been a smoker). Next day my throat was raw and I coughed my brains out! Avoid it if you can.
    8 hrs · Like
  • Tim White John Edward Rasmussen, yet, such puritanism can open a whole garden of worms. However, I find some of those worms helpful, purifying. If we ignore them right out, we may stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ up a creek without a lunchbox.
    6 hrs · Like
  • John Edward Rasmussen I don’t suggest ignoring the premise, I’m merely suggesting reworking the argument to be more biblical. Being on the addiction side of it also helped me in arguing for it. I know what arguments I could get around biblically in my head and I know which ones I couldn’t dispute. That’s where I’m coming from
    5 hrs · Like · 1
  • Tim White John, I understand. Perhaps I needed to do much reflection myself today.

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