Posted on 03/24/2022 9:07:54 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
please don’t bash those who practice total abstinence.
Agreed.
And please don’t use your liberty as a club against legalism.
The Gospel of the Grace of Christ IS the club against legalism, Satan's weapons of guilt and condemnation. Sure, Paul admonished not to be drunk with wine. But before that, he laid out the precepts of the Gospel of the Grace of Christ in Romans and Galatians, the revelation of grace given him by God.
possibly endanger your own soul.
Scripture curses the messengers of legalism (Gal. 1:6-9). Your salvation is NEVER based on what you do, but on what Jesus DID on the cross. You ARE free, but don't let your liberty cause a weaker brother to stumble (1 Cor. 8:9).
I heard Jack Van Impe claim that the Greek word we have translated as “wine” means unfermented grape juice, grape jelly, grape jam, etc. — anything grape but actual wine.
No — I didn’t buy it either.
Never have, never will. Other than the occasional Irish jokes about never trusting a teetotaler, that is.
The churches in town were all suffering from a squirrel problem.
The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they certainly should not interfere with God’s will.
At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels really liked the slide and, unfortunately, all knew how to swim, so there were twice as many squirrels the following week.
The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free behind the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the waterslide.
The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out bowls of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much vandalism a band of drunk squirrels can do.
The Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy—they baptized all the squirrels and made them members of the church, so that now they only ever see them at Christmas and Easter.
The squirrel problem at the Jewish synagogue lasted about a half hour. They grabbed the first squirrel they saw and circumcised it. They haven’t seen another squirrel since.
LOL:
Roman Catholics don’t recognize the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church as a leader of the Christian faith.
Protestants don’t recognize the Pope as a leader of the Christian faith.
Baptists don’t recognize each other in the liquor store...
That is how it is for alcoholics, and is part of the AA program’s teaching.
Some (probably the VAST majority) of us are quite capable of having one or two drinks and stopping.
Perhaps they should keep their children and wife under wraps?
After all there are people who are irresponsible with sex and cause a great deal of heartache. More lives are wrecked by sex then are wrecked by drink or drugs or just about anything.
“That wasn’t the point of the article.”
The point of the article was to shame leaders into self-censorship on their views of alcohol consumption.
No thank you.
Seems like a waste of an article in that everything in it is extremely obvious. If Brown really wanted to make a point he should talk about gluttony and how many pastors are obese or talk about trips to McDonald’s excetera. A lot more people with illnesses related to poor eating habits rather than alcohol use induced by a pastor.
Most people, both professing Christians and unbelievers are totally ignorant regarding the wine and alcohol consumed in Biblical Times.
So, you believe Jesus created 180 gallons of an intoxicating, of which undoubtedly, someone would have gotten drunk and made a fool of themselves, demonstrating their shame. I know from personal experience; every party and wedding has at least one who shames themselves.
“Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—
you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
in order to gaze at their nakedness!”
Nope!! God doesn’t violate His own word. Believers and unbelievers alike demonstrate a great amount of ignorance regarding wine and alcohol in Biblical Times. Those who have done their due diligence in study, know better.
Proverbs 31:6-7
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Unless drinking alcohol falls under these circumstances, the Bible speaks against drinking.
I know the argument used by many, especially the unsaved, that Jesus Christ made alcoholic wine for His first miracle. Why would the Author of the entirety of Scripture make something that He clearly opposes in the rest of His Word.
Alcohol, like cannabis and other intoxicating compounds, have a medicinal purpose that we may use them for. Otherwise a follower of Christ should avoid any intoxicationg substance.
The idea is to have a clear mind and a pure heart for God, which is becomes much harder to do when we introduce any intoxicating substance in to our bodies. If we cloud up our minds even a little, or cause our heart to be open to impurity...even a little bit, the likelihood of sin is greatly increased...and temptation to sin is always present. There are surely those who get drink or use other intoxicanrs for genuine medicinal purposes only. The vast majority of users do it for other reasons.
I say this as an alcoholic who has not had one drop of alcohol since 2013. God rescued me from alcohol, I know how insidious and dangerous it is. We don’t need booze. We all need Jesus Christ, through Him you will have a peace and a joy that no amount of alcohol or other drug could ever provide.
Your piety is not as pure as mine!
But, that isn’t pietism.
Shortly after the Flood, Noah got drunk and passed out naked on the front lawn.
His sons had to cover him with a blanket after having some childish fun regarding his “dangly bits”.
Now what?
Again, the issue is not whether the Bible calls all believers to abstain totally from alcohol.
Ethanol is a poison, a toxin, and that t is termed "an intoxicant."
In the presence of this recreationally ingested, offending, flesh- and brain-cell-killing poison, the Indwelling Holy Spirit no longer is filling the regenerated Christ-owned bondslave, where the god of this world is starting to again influence his/her behavior (Eph. 5:15-18).
As a once-chronic pre-salvation "heavy drinker," I can tell you that the truly reborn child of God has no business playing the fool with intoxicants, except perhaps as prescribed by a physician for a medical condition not addressed by any other non-poisonous means (ex. 1 Tim. 5:23; asthaenia or gastritis, medical advice from Luke through Paul? not much, only a little, contaminated water supply? non-recreational for sure).
Ethanol, from even the smallest amount ingested, are like Proxac, overriding Spirit-placed inhibitions to sinful acts.
Christian, neither engage in ethanol relaxant ( a central nervous system depressant), nor encourage any other human in it. Do NOT become a codependent of another person addicted to it. They had to start someplaced, so never begin yourself.
Our Heavenly Father WILL chasten for it (Heb. 12:5-11). If He is not chastening for its use, yo are none of His. Be warned.
Please.
No one, >>especially you<<, can assess the Faith of any one.
God, and only God, has righteously called Himself to do so on The Last Day.
You are not called to determine the Christianity of anyone but yourself.
Give it rest.
Amen!
I never had that problem, nor most of the adults I know.
In fact, nowadays, I might have one beer a week, a glass of wine with a restaurant dinner, and haven't had a mixed drink in several years. It's been at least 25 years since I've been three-sheets, and several since even being tipsy. I've long since learned I really don't enjoy the day after headache and malaise.
No reason one way or the other. Just don't want. It's like looking in the fridge and deciding I want a water and not a coke, or vice versa.
I know stopping after one or two are a problem for many people, but not the vast majority.
Yes, we are free to drink. But as a pastor with 39 years of experience, I can take you to the various homes where it has destroyed families.
All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
A co-worker once mentioned she had joined an abstinence teaching church. I playfully brought up that first miracle, and she surprised me by saying, “Yes I know. But I’m an alcoholic, and when I hang with them, they don’t tempt me that way”.
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