Should Seventh-Day Adventists Sell Tobacco?
By William A. Colcord
In the apostles’ day tobacco using was not spoken against for the reason that tobacco was not then known. Paul wrote against the use of spirituous liquors, and said that no drunkard could enter heaven, because the manufacture and indulgence in alcoholic drinks were prevalent sins in his day; but he said nothing against the tobacco habit, because neither the habit nor the plant were known at that time. From the first, both tobacco using and liquor drinking have been excluded from our ranks. We have not knowingly received any one into the church who indulged in either. But the selling of these harmful indulgences has not, as a rule, been made a test of admission into the church or of church fellowship; for the simple reason that it seemed a foregone conclusion that if we were not to use them ourselves, we surely would not be instrumental in helping others to use them, and because in the past we have had but few if any applications for membership from either saloonists or tobacconists, or cases where those already members desired to enter the business of selling either liquor or tobacco. No believer was supposed to handle, or desire to handle, or sell, what he would not himself use, and what he knew he would not be allowed to use and remain in the church. But of late this question has come up. Some, even among Seventh-day Adventists, have, for the sake of trade, put in a stock of tobacco into their stores, and sold this poisonous, soul-and-body-destroying narcotic. A brother opening up a store just across the road from one of our largest churches in Australia, and at the very headquarters of our educational work there, did this. The same we learn is being done also in some places in America. We therefore face a condition and not a theory in this thing. What position shall we take in this matter? From numerous examples in the Bible, such as that recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, we learn that we are to meet emergencies when they arise, and in all to be governed by Bible principles. The Bible teaches that we are not to be partakers in other men’s sins; that if in any way we sanction or encourage another in a wrong course, we are partakers in his evil deeds. It pronounces a curse upon the man who puts the bottle to his neighbor’s lips, and warns us against placing a stumbling-block in another’s way. 1 Tim. 5:22; 2 John 9-11; Hab. 2:15; Rom. 14:13; Heb. 12:13. Christian temperance is a part of the third angel’s message. Inasmuch as the indulgence in either liquor or tobacco is contrary to the principles of Christian temperance, to sell either of these, and thus encourage others in the use of them, must, therefore, be inconsistent with the profession of the third angel’s message. In some respects the one who sells these things is worse than the one who uses them; for while the user injures only himself, the seller injures many. We can not afford to lower the standard of truth at this late day. If Seventh-day Adventists can consistently be tobacconists, they can also be saloonists; for tobacco using and liquor drinking are twin evils. Unless we are ready to approve of the liquor traffic being carried on in our ranks, we must disapprove of the handling and sale of tobacco on the part of any of our people; for the one is only a step to the other. Any one violating this plain principle of Christian conduct should carefully consider what is involved in his acts, and if he persists in the trade, he should be kindly and faithfully labored with.