For medicinal purposes, you understand...........
Posted on 03/24/2022 9:07:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I do not write this article to throw stones. I write it to save lives.
That’s why I make this heartfelt (and anguished) plea: If you are a pastor or ministry leader and you believe that, according to the Bible, you have the liberty to drink alcohol (without drunkenness), please don’t turn that liberty into a public boast, as in, “Look at how free I am!”
You can enjoy that freedom before God, with moderation and discipline. But please don’t bash those who practice total abstinence. And please don’t use your liberty as a club against legalism. Or as a proof of your spiritual maturity. Or as a demonstration of the Gospel of Grace.
You will destroy many lives in the process, not to mention possibly endanger your own soul.
To be clear, although I have practiced total abstinence since I came to faith in 1971, I do not believe that God requires all believers to do this. The Bible, including the New Testament, warns against drunkenness and lack of moderation, not against drinking alcoholic beverages in general.
And even if it can be argued that wine and other drinks were not as fermented in Bible days as they are today, that argument is largely irrelevant, since drunkenness was still an issue then (see, for example, Proverbs 20:1) and leaders were called to be temperate in their use of alcohol (see, for example, 1 Timothy 3:3).
I have also worked closely with Christian leaders in countries like Italy and England, even staying in their homes. For many of them, having a glass of wine with dinner is as natural as an American having a cup of coffee with breakfast.
Never once did I see any of these leaders drinking to excess (not even close), nor was it ever an issue we needed to discuss.
At the same time, I have worked closely with Christian leaders in countries like India, where it would be unthinkable for a Christian to drink alcohol, let alone a Christian leader.
So, I recognize that, in different cultures, biblical principles of personal liberty can be worked out differently.
My issue here has to do with an attitude found more in America than elsewhere, one in which Christian leaders talk openly about their drinking habits or their favorite alcoholic beverage, to the delight of their followers. “We here are free! We are not into legalism! We will not be tied up by religion!”
That is where things get dangerous.
A few years back, I watched what happened to an online group of Christians formed for this very purpose. They were no longer bound by legalism when it came to drinking, and they formed a group to share their newfound freedom.
Not surprisingly, within months, they went from talking about their favorite wines and beers to talking about their favorite hard liquors. And you can be sure more than a few of them were starting to find themselves drawn to more and more drinking, either habitually or to drunkenness.
But of course. This kind of thinking heads in one direction only.
Here in America, all this can become especially dangerous. That’s because drinking wine with a meal is far more of a lifestyle in Italy than it is in America, where much of our drinking leads to excess, including drunkenness. And in almost every one of our churches, there are former alcoholics walking a fine line to stay sober.
That’s why having “Beer and Bible Studies” is such a bad idea. You might well attract some people who otherwise wouldn’t attend a Bible study. But you will also be destroying the lives of others, for whom this is the path back to addictive drinking.
That’s why, in another, related context, Paul warned, “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself [speaking of foods]. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:13-17).
Over and again (including this week), I have heard stories of Christians who were set free from alcoholism, realizing that it was crucial for them to abstain for life. Yet they fell back into addiction after seeing another Christian have a glass of beer or wine when they had dinner together.
I have known of others who fell back after seeing liquor in the home of another believer.
“Hey,” they thought to themselves, “if it’s OK for them to have a drink, why not me? Maybe I’m being too strict with myself.”
And that one drink plunged them back into destructive addiction.
And this brings us back to the words of Paul: “Do not by your eating [or, drinking!] destroy someone for whom Christ died.”
This really is very serious business.
One pastor told me about how he used to be so bound by legalism until he met other believers who knew how to drink and have a good time. He was liberated!
Today, he is no longer in ministry, and some of his colleagues have dropped out of ministry as well.
This is very sad, but it is not surprising.
Again, the issue is not whether the Bible calls all believers to abstain totally from alcohol.
Dr. Michael Brown(www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program.
America’s most dangerous drug.
We have quite a few boozer and pot head friends who seem to be very sincere Christians, but it all seems a bit out of tune to me.
I don’t disagree.
The not very popular cardinal virtue of Temperance needs to be employed in every aspect of Christian life.
Well, Baptists don’t.......................😉
“To be clear, although I have practiced total abstinence since I came to faith in 1971”
I hear versions of this same statement from vegans, vegetarians, Scientologists, etc. It’s like a standard disclaimer before they launch into their message about how you should do what they do.
If you don’t drink then don’t do so.
But don’t forget that the first acknowledged miracle of Jesus was to turn water into wine to keep a party going. Our Lord and Savior had no problem with a decent drink.
Neither do I.
Just drink responsibly and don’t hurt anyone else is all I ask. But if you want to tie one on once in a while then that’s fine by me.
For medicinal purposes, you understand...........
Alcohol is a slippery slope....you know the old saying:
“1 is too many and 10 is not enough”
A lot of truth to that.
Am I allowed to flaunt eating meat offered to idols? Don’t mess with my pork! LOL
Alcoholism is no respecter of persons. I personally know a Christian author who has struggled with alcohol addiction for decades and still does. Poor guy will stay up all night drinking bourbon and listen to audiobooks on Proverbs. He doesnt even need a bible to study Proverbs because he has the whole book memorized word for word. He tries all kinds of mental tricks to stop himself but just cant. Alcoholism is not in everyone but it is everywhere and always has been. I bet theres a huge number of recovering alcoholics that have picked up again because they were triggered by the pandemic/lock downs and now the insane Liberal Left Democrats.
Always take two Baptists fishing. If you take one, he will drink up all your beer.
Baptists don’t recognize Baptists in a liquor store.
My pastor teaches that alcohol is not necessarily a sin unless it interferes with your relationship with Jesus......like any other selfish indulgence if that happens then it is indeed sin.
John Smith was the only Protestant to move into the large Catholic neighborhood.
On the first Friday of Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his grill. Meanwhile all of his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper. This went on each Friday during Lent.
On the last Friday of Lent the neighborhood men got together and decided that something just HAD to be done about John, he was just tempting them to eat meat each Friday of Lent and they couldn’t take it anymore. They decided to try and convert him to be Catholic. They went over and talked with him and were so happy that he decided to join all of his neighbors and become a Catholic.
They took him to church and the priest sprinkled some water over him and told him “You were born a Baptist, you were raised a Baptist and now you are a Catholic”. The men of the neighborhood were SO relieved, now their biggest Lent temptation was resolved.
The next year’s Lent rolled around. The first Friday of Lent came and just at supper time when the neighborhood was setting down to their fish dinners came the wafting smell of steak cooking on a grill. The neighborhood men could not believe their noses! What was going on??? They called each other up and decided to meet over in John’s yard to see if he had forgotten it was a Friday in Lent.
The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water. He was pouring small droplets over his steak on the grill and saying, “You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish.”
***the first acknowledged miracle of Jesus was to turn water into wine***
As a local Baptist minister said during a sermon years ago...”And That was when Jesus turned the water into pure unfermented grape juice!”
We had to bite our tongue to keep from laughing.
That wasn’t the point of the article.
The Bible doesn’t say “Do not get drunk with pure, unfermented grape juice.”
Nothing wrong with eating such meat as the idol is nothing.
The problem is that when you buy and eat such meat those who worship the idol might think you are NOW one of them.
And other Christians who see you eat such meats might think you have fallen back, causing those who look up to you as a true Christian, to have their faith destroyed.
At home and alone, chow down as it is only meat.
LOL! A good one!
I was trying to be funny. In our modern western culture we don’t have people “offering” meat to a false god, then selling it on the market. Only Bible readers even know anything about it. (I never got how some ancient religions called it a “sacrifice” when the something that was sacrificed wasn’t given away. LOL)
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