{"id":4653,"date":"2018-08-19T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4653"},"modified":"2018-08-08T19:49:37","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T00:49:37","slug":"choose-to-drink-or-not-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4653","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Drink or Not? (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Yet Another Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-4657\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wine-free-from-Max-Pixel.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"188\" height=\"268\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Recently I heard a radio preacher tell people it was a sin to drink alcoholic beverages. He cited death statistics for drunk drivers, scriptures focusing on wine being a mocker (Proverbs 20:1), alcohol being the root of our problematic society (Proverbs 23:31-32), and drinking leading to drunkenness (Isaiah 5:11). These are all true. Being drunk is bad. It\u2019s condemned in the Bible. It\u2019s a sin.<\/p>\n<p>However, not all who choose to drink should be lumped in with drunkards. This preacher failed to mention that the majority of scriptures mentioning fermented drink take a positive view, not a negative one.<\/p>\n<p>For example, fermented drinks were used:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In offerings (Exodus 29: 38-41; Numbers 28:7)<\/li>\n<li>For tithe paying (Deuteronomy 18:4)<\/li>\n<li>In worship (Matthew 26:27; 1 Corinthians 11:25-26)<\/li>\n<li>In celebrations (Genesis 14:17-20, John 2:1-10)<\/li>\n<li>To gladden a person\u2019s heart (Psalms 104:14-15)<\/li>\n<li>In the Lord\u2019s supper (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18)<\/li>\n<li>For thanksgiving and honor to God (Proverbs 3:9-10)<\/li>\n<li>As blessings (Genesis 27:28; Joel 2:19, 24; 3:18; Amos 9:13-14)<\/li>\n<li>For medicinal purposes (Proverbs 31:6; 1 Timothy 5:23)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fortunately, the speaker had the good sense not to say the wine mentioned in the Bible was not really fermented but just grape juice. Plus, he didn\u2019t say, as many do, that when Jesus turned the water into wine it was a \u201cwatered\u201d down wine and not potent.<\/p>\n<p>However, he did try to slam dunk his thesis with my two personal favorite reasons not to do anything \u2013 abstaining from all appearances of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22) and not causing someone to stumble (Romans 14:20). These are great scriptures people emphasize out of context when they want biblical backing for their point of view.<\/p>\n<p>Does he not know that from the inception of Christ\u2019s birth, Christianity has been steeped in \u201cappearances\u201d of evil by the world\u2019s standards? A virgin gets pregnant giving the impression of immorality. Christ drinks wine leading some to call him a drunkard. Christ associates with sinners, offending many. Christ wastes costly ointment to wash His feet that could have been sold to help the poor. The list could go on and on.<\/p>\n<p>And as far as causing someone to stumble, read all of Romans 20. It is the deliberate action of flaunting one\u2019s belief in someone\u2019s face that causes the offense. It\u2019s that \u201cin your face\u201d action that God warns against. A drinker could easily trip into this pitfall, but so could a non-drinker with an \u201cI\u2019m more righteous and holier than thou\u201d attitude because he chooses not to drink. The kingdom of God is not about meat or drink. (Romans 14:17)<\/p>\n<p>Christianity misses the mark when it doesn\u2019t give the freedom in Christ for people to make these decisions. We can\u2019t rewrite scripture to say, \u201cYou have heard it said in the Bible that wine is okay to drink within moderation and drunkenness is wrong, but verily I say unto you, that all drinking is wrong and a sin.\u201d That is not what the Bible says.<\/p>\n<p>Is all this rhetoric leading up to a license for us to go \u201ctie one on\u201d for the Lord? I think not. The point is: if you are a Christian who chooses not to drink alcoholic beverages, do not condemn another Christian who chooses to drink them. If you are a Christian who chooses to drink alcoholic beverages, don\u2019t condemn or flaunt it in front of Christians who choose not to drink.<\/p>\n<p>Consider this\u2026 Is it a sin to drink wine and such? Not according to the Bible! But drunkenness and gluttony are. And here are some other sins to watch out for: judging others, condemning others, being quick to call someone a sinner, and setting up your standard as God\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019ll drink to that! (But I won\u2019t tell you if I\u2019m having wine or grape juice!)<\/p>\n<p><strong>One final thought\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are a couple of quotes. They might have been said in jest, but there may be an element of truth in them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWine is constant proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy.\u201d ~Benjamin Franklin<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven. Therefore, let us drink beer.\u201d ~Martin Luther<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4658 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wine-Toast-free-from-Wikimedia-Commons-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wine-Toast-free-from-Wikimedia-Commons-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wine-Toast-free-from-Wikimedia-Commons-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wine-Toast-free-from-Wikimedia-Commons-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wine-Toast-free-from-Wikimedia-Commons-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yet Another Year of Choices By Barbara Dahlgren Recently I heard a radio preacher tell people it was a sin to drink alcoholic beverages. He cited death statistics for drunk drivers, scriptures focusing on wine being a mocker (Proverbs 20:1), &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4653\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}