APPLYING BIBLE PRINCIPLES TO THE PROBLEM

20. Since none of these practices are mentioned in the Bible, does this remove them from becoming questions of Christian conscience?

²⁰ Again, the Bible does not mention the chewing of betel nuts, coca leaves or the chewing, snuffing or smoking of tobacco. Some persons have said: “Until you show me something in the Bible about the use of tobacco [or similar products], I will keep using it.” But might not one just as well say that, since the Bible does not specifically forbid throwing garbage into your neighbor’s backyard, there is nothing wrong in doing so?

21, 22. What Bible principles are clearly involved, and what questions must the Christian conscientiously ask himself as to engaging in such practices?

²¹ The Bible certainly does provide us with principles to guide us in this matter. The inspired apostle wrote at 2 Corinthians 7:1: “Since we have these promises [of being accepted by God as his approved children and servants], beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear.”

²² “Holiness” means the quality of being clean, bright, untarnished and devoted to sacred uses. Can the use of betel nut and its befouling effect on the user’s mouth and teeth, or the defiling effect that coca leaves and tobacco are recognized as inflicting on the user’s body, be harmonized with this Scriptural injunction? The greatest commandment is to ‘love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.’ Can one say one is serving God with one’s ‘whole strength’ while using products denounced even by national governments as seriously damaging to one’s health? Or, if one becomes addicted to coca leaves, can one say one is serving Jehovah with one’s ‘whole mind’? Really, is not the using of such things an acting ‘contrary to nature,’ subjecting the body to abuse it was never designed to take?​—Mark 12:29, 30; Rom. 1:26.

THE USE AND PRODUCTION OF HARMFUL ADDICTIVES

15-17. (a) What practice involving the use of betel nut exists in certain areas of the earth? (b) What effect does this have on the user, and how have authorities in some countries viewed the practice?

¹⁵ Another matter causing concern in many parts of the earth is the use and production of materials that result in harmful addiction. In India, the Philippines and the Malaysian areas, for example, an ancient and popular practice is the chewing of betel nut, also known as areca nut, the seed of a palm tree. Pieces of betel nut are rolled in a leaf smeared with quicklime and chewed. The betel nut colors the person’s saliva a blood-red color and blackens the teeth, generally causing their deterioration. Many habitual betel-nut chewers become toothless at as early an age as twenty-five. According to the Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. 20, p. 573), betel-nut chewing produces “an effect similar to the chewing of tobacco.” In India, in fact, tobacco is sometimes included in the betel-nut “chew,” the admixture being known as pan.

¹⁶ The Bombay Evening News of April 4, 1972, tells us that Extra Pharmacopia, a publication of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, classifies betel nut as a “drug.” An Indian court therefore ruled that betel nut could not be classified as “food.”

¹⁷ Notably, many persons who have used both tobacco and betel nut say that, of the two, they found the betel-nut habit the more difficult to break. During the Japanese rule of Taiwan, an unsuccessful effort was made to stamp out the habit. Many Taiwanese doctors believe there is a link between the practice and the high incidence of mouth and face cancer in Taiwan.