[Question:]{.underline} Is it a sin to drink soft drinks?
[Answer:]{.underline} Every man is bound to love himself, and this both with respect to his body and to his soul and both with a natural love, and with a supernatural love, that we call charity.
The natural love is written into the natural law, that makes a man long for the preservation of bodily life and happiness. As St. Thomas Aquinas points out (IIa IIae Q.25, a.4) this is the basis and root of all natural friendship, according to which we love our friends as ourselves.
Supernatural charity is the love that we bear towards ourselves on account of God, as God’s possessions, ordered to His greater honor and glory. This supernatural love concerns primarily the soul, for it alone is capable of God and of eternal beatitude. However, it does concern secondarily the body, not in itself, but inasmuch as it is an instrument of the soul, temple of the Holy Ghost, destined to one day participate in the glory of the soul.
Consequently, it would be perverse, and opposed to the natural order, for a man to hate his own body, and attempt to harm it. It would also be opposed to supernatural charity to do so (provided that it is a hatred of the body itself, and not just a hatred of disordered of self-love, out of a motive of penance or mortification), for it is our duty to love ourselves for the love of God, and to love our body inasmuch as it is instrument of our soul, nor to harm it in any way.
Consequently, it is a sin to knowingly consume products that are certainly or probably harmful to the body, especially if this is done for no reason at all, but simply to satisfy sense pleasure.
Some people claim that soft drinks are harmful to the body, on account of the high concentrations of caffeine, aspartame and sugar. However, they are not harmful to everybody, and there is no likelihood that soft drinks are going to harm a person on a particular occasion. This is not likely to happen except where there is gross over-consumption. Consequently, there is no sin in drinking soft drinks. This is especially the case since there is in general a very good reason why they are drunk — to quench thirst, to refresh the body, to lift up one’s energy level. They are consequently not drunk out of pure pleasure, but for a reason. This being said, soft drinks are not necessary to the body, and frequently consumed excessively out of disordered desire. Consequently, it is very appropriate to practice the spirit of mortification in their consumption, so as to drink smaller quantities, and not too frequently.
The same principles can be applied to the smoking of cigarettes, although they are much more harmful for physical health. Although there is a clear link with a wide range of illnesses, producing a much higher incidence of such diseases as lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease, these consequences do not happen every time. Frequently, smoking has no adverse effects. It depends entirely on the individual. There is no strong probability that in a particular case smoking is going to harm one’s health. Furthermore, there can be sufficient reasons to smoke, such as relaxation or the relieving of stress. Consequently, it is not in itself a sin to smoke, unless one already has a condition such as emphysema, and it is clear that in such circumstances smoking will certainly harm one’s health. This being said, there is great danger to one’s health and the prudent and supernatural man will refrain from smoking inasmuch as he can, in order to practice the spirit of mortification, and that his body might be a more efficacious instrument of his soul, for the greater glory of God.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.