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=> Off Topic Discussions => Topic started by: Gina on May 18, 2012, 08:55:32 PM
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http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/surprising-ways-quit-smoking (http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/surprising-ways-quit-smoking)
Sounds promising. I'm telling you, I would LOVE to be a nonsmoker. I'm thankful I have the money to try these methods, unlike some people. I hope they work. Please keep me in your prayers. Thank you.
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I will keep you in my prayers.
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You can do this! I quit smoking about 3-4 years ago and switched to chewing tobacco....I thought I could just quit that easily. Well that was dumb because I still was a slave to nicotine. Now I have been 60 days quit of nicotine/tobacco. I use an online support group (killthecan.org) that has taught me that I'm an addict and I have to promise myself to be quit every single day. I believe you can do this its just about getting past the first week. After a week your nicotine cravings are false, not physical only mental cravings that don't last long. Also I used nicotine-less chew the first week to kind of trick my physical habit. I remember seeing nicotine-less smokes somewhere online, I'll look and report back.
Dan
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Here you go - http://www.nicotinefreecigarettes.com/usa/
And If your brave you can start a thread here and post every day your promise to remain quit for the day and what day your on. ;D
Good luck, its hard and you got to do it for yourself and at a time that is right for you.
Dan
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Gina
I've been praying for you. I think I shared with you that I have another close believer friend who is trying to stop.
Fortunately for me she moved away from NY 6 years ago and there went my supply of marijuana. Since that time I have not smoked anything. Had she been around, who knows?
My Mon who is now 88 stopped smoking around 5 years ago with God's help, the patch and the prayers of the family. It helped that the doctors gave her a serious warning and made her see the danger to her life.
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Dan, cocoa beans? I could smoke cocoa beans. ;D
Once I tried lettuce cigarettes -- cost me a small fortune. Nobody would ever be a smoker if that was all there was to smoke. Trust me on that one.
I've tried the electronic cigs, but they're only now coming out with ones that give you that "throat hit." I know, it sounds crazy. But I don't want to be walking around with any cigarette - period.
Babies are born with a natural suckling instinct. I started smoking around the age of nine, not long after having given up the baby bottle--which I was hooked on way too long. All it took to give it up was a swig of sour milk. Done.
As for MJ, based on what I've seen and read, no one will ever convince me it's anywhere near as harmful as cigarettes. But to each his own. I've known people who used it to give up cigarettes. My 16-year-old nephew researched it and started smoking weed to clear his lungs of mucus (he had Cystic Fibrosis) and his lung function increased by 22 percent. His doctors had no idea why, and my sister wasn't about to tell them for fear she'd be jailed. He was able to function (IQ of 125) quite well, attend school regularly finally, and eat, which meant he put on weight (I could show you pictures). He was prescribed cannabinol (pill) by his doctors, but because it's impossible to titrate (sp?) the dose properly he usually wound up stoned out of his gourde and hated it. What killed him eventually were all the antibiotics. But that's a different thread. ;)
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YOU are brave! I saw your new quit blog. Congrats! Now you have to check into it every single day and we shall hold you accountable! You can do this if you want it! ;D
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Oh what have I done................... ::);D ;D :P :-\ :'(
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What have you done>>??? You have made a commitment to turn your life around!! Congratulations its the best thing you can do for yourself!
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Under pressure, under pressure... Know that song, Dave?
No, actually, I think the blog is a great idea. See ya there. :)
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I quit smoking four years ago yesterday! May 21st 2008
Thank the Lord for it being as easy as it was.
Joel
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Maybe I'm missing something. I've gotten lots of advice over the years. I'm on a never ending quest it seems. How was it easy for you? I'm jealous.
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I quit smoking four years ago yesterday! May 21st 2008
Thank the Lord for it being as easy as it was.
Joel
Hi Joel & Gina,
I quit smoking on September 2nd 1965
2012 - 1965 = 47 years ago
I was a police officer driving on patrol, alone all night listening to the am band radio and Franklyn MacCormack etc. so the temptation was always there. That autumn I became very sick with sore throat and had to take several days off from work. I couldn't breathe let alone smoke, so the nicotine left my system. The police Doctor advised that I would need to quit so I did. No credit to me, it just finally seemed the best thing to do. My wife continued to smoke for a couple of years and I of course led the children to pick on her about her breath smelling like an ash tray. You don't realize how disgusting it is until you quit and I liked to kiss my wife on the lips when we were getting passionate so you can imagine that there was lots of motivation of a positive type as well.
I think God was intervening even then although I wasn't consciously aware of it.
Three years later I joined Worldwide Church and smoking was frowned upon >:(
I hope that anyone who is fighting this will be able to let God help them as well.
I know that it ain't easy, but neither is stoning or shipwreck or 39 lashes with a wet whip.
We all should expect to suffer somewhat for our liberty in Christ and giving up stuff that isn't good for us anyway like smoking or sugar or a bad temper is little enough to suffer for the unimaginable gifts that shall be ours.
Kindly offered, Indianabob :)
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Thanks, Bob. :) I actually quit once when I was 11 and then again in the summer between the 9th and 10th grades, and then started again when I saw a couple friends smoking. My parents always smoked and so did family members.
About seven years ago I got sick as a dog and went three weeks without a cigarette and dreamt some of the wildest dreams--mostly relating to smoking. I was so depressed. I wanted a cigarette so bad, but I didn't want to want one. But I picked it back up again when I went to work for a female attorney who was being run out of the firm we worked in. She was being papered to death and guess who had to handle all that paper? So anyway.... I don't know.
I know I'll quit one day............. pray it's sooner, not later.
Thank you for your encouragement, though!
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Thanks, Bob. :) I actually quit once when I was 11 and then again in the summer between the 9th and 10th grades, and then started again when I saw a couple friends smoking. My parents always smoked and so did family members.
About seven years ago I got sick as a dog and went three weeks without a cigarette and dreamt some of the wildest dreams--mostly relating to smoking. I was so depressed. I wanted a cigarette so bad, but I didn't want to want one. But I picked it back up again when I went to work for a female attorney who was being run out of the firm we worked in. She was being papered to death and guess who had to handle all that paper? So anyway.... I don't know.
I know I'll quit one day............. pray it's sooner, not later.
Thank you for your encouragement, though!
Gina,
If it's your desire to quit smoking, I hope God answers your Prayers. You have to hate smoking and not desire to do so, only God can cause you to not desire this practice and to hate it. I quit twice for seven years, but I'm also a smoker, but I don't hate smoking, don't want to be a phoney and state that I hate it when I don't. People with type A personalities, aggressive go getters and ones that get bored easy tend to either smoke, overindulge in Alcohol, are sex addicts, workaholics, exercise aholics or some type of " oholic."
Of course, there are worse things you could be doing, I'm sure you already know what they are, Personally, I don't want to quit smoking cigarettes and replace it with a worse habit like mistreating My Wife, etc. Ray admits in an Email that the bible doesn't specifically mention it, although He says it's definitely a Carnal act, basically what isn't.
Ray's Email Response Below.
Dear Friend out there:
I believe that your friends attitude is actually more important than the lusts of the fresh that he enjoys. Often people (both sexes) are on their "best behavior" when they are courting. They are trying to "close a sale" if you will, and they know that it is important to "APPEAR" better than they really are. Am I saying this is the case with your friend? No. I don't really know your friend. I am merely forewarning you what you need to be aware of.
I know people who smoke and drink who are fine people. Do most such people have a deep love for the Truths of God and strong desire to live out the Truths of God in their personal lives? No. Not generally. But then again, there are those who are real religious zealots who don't fare much better even without some of these carnal desires of the flesh.
If your friend is suggesting that smoking pot is okay, how do you know he is not already doing it, but testing you to see how receptive your are to the idea?
There is no mention of "smoking" in the Scriptures, as it appears to have been a more recent invention of modern times, so I can't give you specific examples of it in Scripture. It is a "lust of the flesh." It produces physical pleasure, but apparently GREAT PHYSICAL DAMAGE to the body. My father smoked for over a half century and died a horrible painful death from emphysema.
And if one of the parents smoke, you can almost bet that the children will smoke.
As for drinking. No, the wine mentioned in Scripture was not weak like water. There are a dozen or more Scriptures that make reference to "drunkenness" and it is always condemned.
Here are a few:
"And take heed to yourselves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged [weighed down] with surfeiting [carousing], and DRUNKENNESS, and care of this life, and so that day come upon you unaware" (Luke 21:34).
"Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and DRUNKENNESS, not in chambering [licentiousness] and wantonness [lewdness], not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and MAKE NO PROVISION FOR THE FLESH, TO FULFILL THE LUSTS THEREOF" (Rom. 13:13).
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulsions, wrath, strife, sedition's, herisies, envyings, murder, DRUNKENNESS, revelings, and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD" (Rom. 5:19-21).
All these warnings being said, is there a proper use of alcohol? Yes there is. Jesus drank wine, as did all the Apostles. Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana. And surely as the host suggested, they did not save the best "grape juice" till last--it was WINE.
Wine and STRONGER drinks were permissible under the law of Moses:
"And you shall bestow that money for whatsoever your soul lusts after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for STRONG DRINK..." (Deut. 14:26).
Notice that even Paul (who sternly warned against "drunkenness"), that wine can be beneficial:
"Drink no longer water, but use A LITTLE wine [don't get DRUNK] for thy stomach's sake and your often [frequent] infirmities [sicknesses]" (I Tim. 5:23).
So there, briefly, is what the Scriptures say regarding wine and strong drink, but your situation will have to be evaluated by you. Ask God to guide you in ALL YOUR DECISIONS IN LIFE.
I realize that your problem is no smaller now than before you wrote to me, but maybe there is some wisdom here for you to consider. Let me just say this: Character flaws that have the potential to escalate over time, will drive away any strong romantic attractions that you are feeling NOW.
We will all pray for your best future.
God be with you,
Ray
Gina, I'm not justifying smoking in what I present above, but admittedly, I'm afraid to quit at this time for fear I'll become a much bigger Jerk than I already am. I recall the last time I quit, not only did I gain weight, I became an abusive Jack Jerk(can't use the word I want here). So, I figured that it I get overly aggressive and abusive to my Wife, it would be worse than smoking outside and not bothering anyone else. So, when God puts the desire in Me to quit and hate the practice, then I will, but don't want to discourage you.
Just Being Honest, Samson.
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If you had to have nicotine I'd rather you were on "Snus" as its less harmful to your health.
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/features/snus-tobacco-health-risks
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Hi Gina,
I pray that you with the help of the Lord, will be able to stop smoking soon.
When I started smoking back in the early sixties there were more people smoking than not it seemed.
I smoked every brand of cigarettes on the market and preferred the stronger smokes, including the filterless ones.
Like I. Bob, I was sick for three days straight and was able to quit for awhile. But often desired to smoke on many occasions. Eventually taking up the habit once again, but this time the milder brands helped me to not feel some of the bad side effects.
Four years ago I was able to buy a pack with the thought in mind that it would be my last pack, and was able to smoke that last cigarette and not buy, or bum another. Since that day I've not really had and overpowering need to smoke again.
I thank the Lord for his help and blessings!
Joel
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Hey, Samson! I know there are worse things than being a smoker. I'm not judging other smokers, just myself. I know how incredibly difficult it is to stop smoking, so my heart goes out to you. I believe this is God's will for my life and have for ever since I started smoking.
Hello, DTM: Not sure who your comment was to, me or Samson. ;)
Hi, Joel: Thank you so much for that. :)
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Gina - that comment was for anyone really. I would not want to suggest anyone stay on nicotine but if you must, try to at least get hooked on a safer alternative if possible. Sounds easy..... and I know it isn't...... ;D By the way I'm expecting another blog entry soon! ;)
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You Can DO THIS!! I'm 78 days nicotine free don't make me do this alone! ;D
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I QUIT smoking the easy way! I had a stroke that paralyzed the whole left side of my body! After months in rehab in the hospital with no cigarettes--the desire was GONE!
B-U-T, if I took just ONE PUFF of a cigarette --I would be back in the habit STRONGER THAN BEFORE!
Once earlier I successsfully quit in two weeks and completely quit until i thought I could "just have one cigarette with my wife"! (see above!!) I did it by taking a full ashtray of ashes and adding water until it became a "paste" and set it in the middle of the dining room table. As I ate I looked at that disgusting sludge and pictured it being in my LUNGS!
Then, I VOWED to myself that before I had my next cigarette I would during the sludge! I QUIT!!!!
Then my wife returned from 3 weeks in California and I was relaxed and (see above, above!) Heavier than before --then the STROKE ended it PERMANENTLY and I know Better now!! (tho I can't say I NEVER get the "urge/temptation!)
Hope this helps--sludge-eater! :-)
In Christ,
Duane
P.S. MAN is God's ONLY creature --that spends half of his life-- developing HABITS that SHORTEN the other half!! Selah!
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Yesterday I hit 100 days of no tobacco or nicotine! It can be done!
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(http://i1240.photobucket.com/albums/gg493/watchman2011/smokerslung-1.jpg)
Why would any body want to have their lungs look like this?? And all the other damage it causes to your body?
I tried it once.... when I was 12 years old.... I had an early morning paper route (4:00 am) and smoked a cigar. Don't know how or where I got it but I didn't know that one wasn't supposed to inhale the smoke. I remember I got so sick that I could hardly ride my bike home and when I got there I crashed into my front lawn and threw up for about a half hour. Don't think I ever went to school that day either!
That event cured me for life. Along with seeing what my fellow boot camp marines had to endure when they were caught smoking.... had to put a water pail over their heads and smoke a whole pack at once without using their hands.... just seeing that made me want to die....
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That picture doesn't scare me one bit. ::) That does nothing to set this captive free.
But thanks anyway, Doug. Can't say you didn't try!
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" Tobacco is the passion of the honest and upright man. The man who doesn`t enjoy tobacco hasn`t deserved to live" -- Moliere.
Of course when I do quit myself, I will distance myself to the above quote.
Thats how my carnal mind works, but until then, Moliere is my kind of guy.
:)
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Well i always said if God wanted you to smoke you world have been born with a chimney on your head but i guess like any bad habit it would be hard to stop but let me tell you this my Dad smoked most of his life doesn't now though and his at a ripe old age 94 and some non smokers in his family got cancer so i guess we have to just keep praying for all God Bless you all oh! i never smoked thanks to the Good Lord Amen
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Well i always said if God wanted you to smoke you world have been born with a chimney on your head but i guess like any bad habit it would be hard to stop but let me tell you this my Dad smoked most of his life doesn't now though and his at a ripe old age 94 and some non smokers in his family got cancer so i guess we have to just keep praying for all God Bless you all oh! i never smoked thanks to the Good Lord Amen
Thank you! :)
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I'll add my two cents.
I worked in a cigar shop lounge for over 3 years as a Tobacconist. We sold cigars, pipes and pipe tobacco. I got the job not knowing anything about cigars. However it seemed interesting to me so I did my best to learn everything I could. It was a pretty nice job for the most part. We had big comfy chairs where people could smoke and talk and watch sports. There was a large walk in humidor with the thousands of cigars we sold, I had to know all of them. I had to know who made them, where they were from, what leaves were used, and the strength and taste of them.
So first off it needs to be noted that cigars and cigarettes are not the same, cigars are 100% pure tobacco and no, you do not inhale them into your lungs. Cigars are an olfactory and oral pleasure and a poor substitute for those who smoke cigarettes. Cigarettes are sometimes are not 100% tobacco, there are bits of paper soaked in juices of the tobacco leaves sometimes as well as the actual bits of leaves. The filter reduces the strength which is why it is possible to inhale and not choke.
I have had a lot of time to contemplate the whole smoking thing. Honestly, the severity its hazards are grossly overstated. A person who occasionally smokes will not get cancer or lung disease. There is not one single death certificate in the world which states "cause of death smoking" or "cause of death second hand smoke". Why? Because its impossible and the doctors can't say it. But if you have ever smoked for a period of time and you get some kind of cancer when you're 70 years old they will say it was because of the smoking you did 5, 10, or 20 years ago. To the medical community any amount of smoking is bad for you and will make you sick...wrong.
What is the age that most people die? Anywhere from 65-85 right? And how old do most people die of cancer if they chronically smoked? About that same time frame, between 65-85. So in other words the people who have spent 20 or 40 years smoking died about the time something was going to kill them anyway! Something is bound to get you when you reach that age! The medical community doesn't have a leg to stand on. If people were dying at age 35 then I would say smoking is a bad idea but since most people who smoke die when they are older anyway and you could die from anything at that point does it really matter? My grandfather did tobacco his whole life and lived to 92.
Now am I saying its a good idea to smoke 1 to 3 packs of cigarettes a day? No of course not. Then again if you were someone who ate ice cream everyday, or ate cheeseburgers everyday, or a bag of potato chips everyday, or drank a lot of alcohol everyday I would say that you shouldn't do that either. The world is so fixated on telling us how horribly and things are for us they don't even stop to consider some simple common sense approaches to things.
I think obesity is more of an epidemic than smoking but you dint here lobbyists rushing to ban McDonalds do you? But would anyone argue that McDonalds is somehow good for you? No of course not! Everyone knows its crappy food and not good for you but Americans eat there everyday, some people multiple times a week. They have high blood pressure, are obese and have a myriad of health problems but no one will say that McDonalds should be banned. Why? Because it is up to YOU to eat there in MODERATION.
The same goes for smoking, if you smoke a pack or two or three a day is it really going to be a surprise if EVENTUALLY after several decades something negative will happen to your health? Especially considering that many cigarettes do have chemicals in them and are not all natural tobacco (not all but many). . My point to this rant is that smoking, like all things we ingest, can only be bad for your health if you do it too much. Is there an amount of risk to smoking? Of course! There is risk in everything in life! If you take shower you could slip and kill yourself for crying out loud! But should we boycott showers because of the off chance you may die showering? Or out law running cause you may trip and fall. You have a higher chance of dying in a car accident than you will have smoking cigarettes.
Moderation is key, if it becomes an addiction then its an issue. But people are addicted to all manner of things:fast food, coffee, soda, pain killers, alcohol, sex, video games, working, sleeping. But would anyone say that any of the things I listed are in and of themselves bad? No, because if you only do them sometimes then they are unlikely to badly affect your health right? Which is my point.
If we all just use common sense and moderation we can indulge in some things that aren't considered healthy and not affect our overall health. Having a pack of cigarettes over the course of a couple of weeks or month will not kill you. I would bet my own life on that ;)
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Bravissimo, Foxx!
Ciao bello. :)
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When we talk about 'moderation' or 'balance' it will always depend with whom are we comparing our selves with and with what level of wisdom or ignorance.
My view about smoking is very similar than my view about food.
Here is my view about food:
• Food is not for showing up that we are better than others, it is not to waste it, and it is not for pleasure only. Foods are for the belly and the belly for foods. Truth is that our life is more than food! and we don’t have to be forbidding others about what they should or shouldn’t eat:
1Tim 4:1 & 3 But the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith… saying to abstain from foods, which God created for partaking with thanksgiving by the believers and those knowing the truth.
And of course there are also certain damaging foods (like poisoning foods) that God didn’t create for us to be partaking from. However,
All things [including all foods], unto me, are allowable,
But, not all things [like certain damaging foods], are profitable [including some of today’s common foods]: all things, unto me, are allowable, but, I, will not be brought under authority by any. (1Co 6:12)
It might be not our lot in life to jump into the road preaching the world about better eating habits,
But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. (1 Corinthians 8:8)
These issues regarding food in Paul times was not so different from now days,
Let not him who is eating be scorning him who is not eating. Yet let not him who is not eating be judging him who is eating, for God took him to Himself. (Rom. 14:3)
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I found this site at the end of last year,
link:http://www.stopsmokingquitforever.com/ (http://www.stopsmokingquitforever.com/)
I know it sounds promising. I don't know.. (even if it doesn't work; it's not that expensive...) and it says that
''You Also Get A 12-Month No-Risk
100% Money Back Guarantee''
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Hi Foxx,
You offered some valuable thoughts to consider. Thank you.
Moises also offered some very valuable thoughts and facts to back them up.
I think it would help all smokers or eaters or any one with a habit that bothers them or others in their family to give some serious thought to the example they are setting when they exercise their right to choose to retain a habit.
The purpose of BT is to share in love and learn from one another and to work to please God because we love Him and want to keep ourselves healthy and clear headed in our service to our Lord.
So, if there are habits that others have mentioned that concern them, then even though we have the authority to persist in those habits without being criticized, shouldn't we as people of faith take the time to examine ourselves to see if there be anything in our daily conduct that could benefit from improvement?
As Moises said in quoting scripture; All things [including all foods], unto me, are allowable,
But, not all things [like certain damaging foods], are profitable
Kindly offered, Indianabob
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Both of my parents were smokers, Bob, and we all ate very unhealthily because they weren't rollin in the dough-that's no. 1. And no. 2, people didn't know all we know now about healthy living. Fast forward 40-50 years and their smoking and eating habits are still the least of our problems concerning them.
But thank you anyway for your contribution ::) to my smoker's thread.
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Hi Gina and fellow ex-smokers,
Both my parents were smokers and didn't think it was a problem other than when someone dropped ashes on the furniture or dumped their car ash trays on the street in front of our house. There were polite smokers and not so polite smokers. I worked for a few years in the insurance business and in people's homes and we had a mandate from Prudential "no smoking in the client's home until after the application is signed and the first premium check written".
I learned to smoke in the Air Force in 1955-58 and quit for health reasons 9-6-1965. My wife smoked for another couple of years until she was having our third child and the doctor cautioned her about it. Plus our eldest daughter Karen had allergy & breathing problems and we had to air condition/filter her bedroom so she could sleep at night.
It was amazing how different we and our clothes smelled after we quit and learned to taste food all over again. Hard as it was to quit there were real benefits that made it worth the challenge.
My most recent addiction is munchies in front of the TV. I can sit and converse for three or four hours with friends with just a coffee or tea to sip, but when I watch a detective show I get the munchies and have to snack on something chewy like popped corn or crackers and cheese. A man my age just cannot afford to eat when he is not really hungry, it goes right to my waste (waist). Ha ha
Thanks for all the encouraging stories from those who are having difficulty with their "bad" habits.
Please do remember that with God ALL things are possible.
Indianabob
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Well, sitting for 3-4 hours in front of the tele will do that to a person too. ;)
I quit smoking in my car and apartment years ago. It really does smell up a place. And my heart goes out to all those non-smokers in the restaurants and offices I ate at and worked in before they outlawed smoking in public establishments here in California. (Even as a smoker, there's nothing worse than trying to concentrate on work or enjoy a decent meal while stale cigarette smoke lingers in the airrrrr. I understand this now. Even I want to clobber me for that.)
My daughter hates the smell of it. And I would have gladly quit years ago, but alas the dern things are super addictive.
Please continue to keep us in your fervent prayers, Bob.
Thanks.
(I'm almost positive that if I don't die from a smoking-related disease, there'll be someone who will gladly kill me first. The headlines will read:
"DEATH BY LECTURING"
;)
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Before I quit I had stopped caffeine just to see if I could do it. Caffeine (to me anyways) is like nicotine light. I went back to caffeine at 30 days but still drinking maybe half as much (diet coke addict).
While its still fresh in my mind....quitting "nicotine" made me extremely short tempered to my family. But once the nicotine is out of your veins it gets easier each day. Watching my grandfather die with emphysema, hooked up to an oxygen tank should have made me quit sooner than I did. He was 76 and yes that is average.....but dying because you cant breathe for your last year is not an easy way to go. I pray that all my BT friends can work on their various addictions (including my own).
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DantheMan:
Will you pray instead, not my will but Thy will? I pray that. I pray, God, if you will, please give me the ability to break my addiction to cigarettes. However, not my will but Thy will.
And I say, if Thy will is to not give me the ability to break this addiction, please will You be kind to me and grant me to not die from [INSERT INSANELY PAINFUL CAUSE OF DEATH HERE]?
Someone here thinks that's funny. That's alright. Let me finish, please.
Dan, This is the reality: You see your relatives'/friends' pasts and then project their pasts onto your future.
But you won't stop there, no --you go on to project their pasts on to e-v-e-r-y other smokers' future. Gee. Thanks!
:)
Did you know God gave me the ability to read minds? I do read minds and I know what's on the tip of your tongue: "But, Gina, it could happen and I'm just here to warn you!" How thoughtful! But guess what else? I could also get run over by a Mack Truck tomorrow, effectively exposing you as a false prophet. When was the last time you warned anyone about that? Besides, Jesus never sinned. Remember how He died?
Whoever you non-smokers are, I'll be the first to tell you I am really glad that God didn't cause you to become smokers.
And if you quit smoking, I'll be the first to tell you I'm glad God gave you the power and ability to quit smoking. I'll also be quick to confess that I'm just a wee bit jealous that God granted you that ability and not me at this time. Paul provoked his brothers to jealousy in order that he might save some, so it's not a sin to provoke someone to jealousy -- if the ends justify the means.
It's one thing to provoke someone to jealousy in the hopes it will cause them to a take a step in the right direction.
It's quite a n o t h e r to stand in God's place and tell someone the manner in which they will die. (Consider yourself duly warned.)
Do you think that smokers are deserving of the worst possible most painful death because we're wanting to break God's laws? Or will you have mercy? Instead of ultimately imagining humongous medical costs and unbelievable amounts of angst and grief onto my daughters and other family members and all those who love me-thinking that will (could?) be the end of me, do me a favor and pray that God will take what holds me captive, captive, if it is His will.
Thanks.
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DantheMan:
Will you pray instead, not my will but Thy will? I pray that. I pray, God, if you will, please give me the ability to break my addiction to cigarettes. However, not my will but Thy will.
And I say, if Thy will is to not give me the ability to break this addiction, please will You be kind to me and grant me to not die from [INSERT INSANELY PAINFUL CAUSE OF DEATH HERE]?
Someone here thinks that's funny. That's alright. Let me finish, please.
Dan, This is the reality: You see your relatives'/friends' pasts and then project their pasts onto your future.
But you won't stop there, no --you go on to project their pasts on to e-v-e-r-y other smokers' future. Gee. Thanks!
:)
Did you know God gave me the ability to read minds? I do read minds and I know what's on the tip of your tongue: "But, Gina, it could happen and I'm just here to warn you!" How thoughtful! But guess what else? I could also get run over by a Mack Truck tomorrow, effectively exposing you as a false prophet. When was the last time you warned anyone about that? Besides, Jesus never sinned. Remember how He died?
Whoever you non-smokers are, I'll be the first to tell you I am really glad that God didn't cause you to become smokers.
And if you quit smoking, I'll be the first to tell you I'm glad God gave you the power and ability to quit smoking. I'll also be quick to confess that I'm just a wee bit jealous that God granted you that ability and not me at this time. Paul provoked his brothers to jealousy in order that he might save some, so it's not a sin to provoke someone to jealousy -- if the ends justify the means.
It's one thing to provoke someone to jealousy in the hopes it will cause them to a take a step in the right direction.
It's quite a n o t h e r to stand in God's place and tell someone the manner in which they will die. (Consider yourself duly warned.)
Do you think that smokers are deserving of the worst possible most painful death because we're wanting to break God's laws? Or will you have mercy? Instead of ultimately imagining humongous medical costs and unbelievable amounts of angst and grief onto my daughters and other family members and all those who love me-thinking that will (could?) be the end of me, do me a favor and pray that God will take what holds me captive, captive, if it is His will.
Thanks.
I'm not sure if your being funny or being serious here...
If you are being serious I have to tell you I do not appreciate being painted as someone who is prophet, standing in God's place, and wishing harm or type of death to anyone. This is not me, maybe I have a hard time communicating on here? (I gave up facebook for that very reason just yesterday.)
If I just took what you said completely out of context or you were joking around I apologize.
Dan
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DantheMan:
Will you pray instead, not my will but Thy will? I pray that. I pray, God, if you will, please give me the ability to break my addiction to cigarettes. However, not my will but Thy will.
And I say, if Thy will is to not give me the ability to break this addiction, please will You be kind to me and grant me to not die from [INSERT INSANELY PAINFUL CAUSE OF DEATH HERE]?
Someone here thinks that's funny. That's alright. Let me finish, please.
Dan, This is the reality: You see your relatives'/friends' pasts and then project their pasts onto your future.
But you won't stop there, no --you go on to project their pasts on to e-v-e-r-y other smokers' future. Gee. Thanks!
:)
Did you know God gave me the ability to read minds? I do read minds and I know what's on the tip of your tongue: "But, Gina, it could happen and I'm just here to warn you!" How thoughtful! But guess what else? I could also get run over by a Mack Truck tomorrow, effectively exposing you as a false prophet. When was the last time you warned anyone about that? Besides, Jesus never sinned. Remember how He died?
Whoever you non-smokers are, I'll be the first to tell you I am really glad that God didn't cause you to become smokers.
And if you quit smoking, I'll be the first to tell you I'm glad God gave you the power and ability to quit smoking. I'll also be quick to confess that I'm just a wee bit jealous that God granted you that ability and not me at this time. Paul provoked his brothers to jealousy in order that he might save some, so it's not a sin to provoke someone to jealousy -- if the ends justify the means.
It's one thing to provoke someone to jealousy in the hopes it will cause them to a take a step in the right direction.
It's quite a n o t h e r to stand in God's place and tell someone the manner in which they will die. (Consider yourself duly warned.)
Do you think that smokers are deserving of the worst possible most painful death because we're wanting to break God's laws? Or will you have mercy? Instead of ultimately imagining humongous medical costs and unbelievable amounts of angst and grief onto my daughters and other family members and all those who love me-thinking that will (could?) be the end of me, do me a favor and pray that God will take what holds me captive, captive, if it is His will.
Thanks.
I'm not sure if your being funny or being serious here...
If you are being serious I have to tell you I do not appreciate being painted as someone who is prophet, standing in God's place, and wishing harm or type of death to anyone. This is not me, maybe I have a hard time communicating on here? (I gave up facebook for that very reason just yesterday.)
If I just took what you said completely out of context or you were joking around I apologize.
Dan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Dan
Even when it was not your intention to make a warn. This is what you said to a smoker. (Even on a face to face conversation, saying this to a person who stills smokes; honestly, it does sounds as a warn.):
Watching my grandfather die with emphysema, hooked up to an oxygen tank should have made me quit sooner than I did. He was 76 and yes that is average.....but dying because you cant breathe for your last year is not an easy way to go.
Also even if it was not your intention to say that it's all up to the smokers will power to be able to stop smoking, what you said sounds as if it's up to the smokers to stop smoking:
I pray that all my BT friends can work on their various addictions (including my own).
When saying:
''I do not appreciate being painted as someone who is prophet, standing in God's place, and wishing harm or type of death to anyone.''
1. Since a peace of your post sounded a lot as a warn. I understand that the supposition regarding a possible death caused by other thing (like get run over by a mack truck) and not by the harmfull consecuence of the addiction would be a false ''prophecy'' (warn).
2.Since a peace of your post does sounds as if you said that it's up to the smokers will power to stop smoking. I understand that is the why of the reminding of ''not my will but Thy will'' be done.
3. Nobody have said anything about you ''wishing'' harm or type of death to anyone. What you said just sounded as 'warn' of a harmfull death. That's all.
The english language is not my first language and I know that I am nobody to try to clarify the way you express your thoughts and intentions behind them. You know, sometimes it's easily get misunderstood on this way of online communication where we are not able to show facial expressions, voice tone, etc. But we must keep trying on expresing our selves as clear as posible.
I also think that fb is a place with a high degree to get misunderstood. You did well to gave up on it. I did the same a few years ago and gained a lot of time to do more things, while still keeping in contact trough old fashion emails with the ones I cared to keep in contact the most.
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Gina. I thing you have the right attitude regarding your dealing with that random habit.
(not my will but Thy will)