Featured For those that drink alcohol

Thanks for posting that. This person constantly takes posts out of context and runs a different direction with the thread which eventually ends up in a selected poster of the day being called an unsaved person. This has been going on six months.

 

I agree 100%. As long as a child is being brought up in the nurture and adminition of the Lord, it is none of the concern of the old bats at church that like to extend their nose into everyones life. Christian parents have the Holy Spirit leading them, and there is no better person on earth to look after and protect the welfare of a child. Government and local church gossips can butt out.

 

I started drinking when I was 5 years old. My parents would give me sips of their beer. Of course when they had friends over and they drank quite heavily that would turn into 20 or 30 sips which is quite a lot.

I was a full blown alcoholic by the time I was 17 years old. It is best that we not go down that road with our children. The stakes are just to real and very high. There is nothing harmless about it.

 

I cannot disagree except to say, that is something your parents, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit should have not done. It is the parents who bring up the child, not the local church gossip.

 

IMHO, all one needs do is to just look at the havoc alcohol has reeked on our society (broken homes, cheating spouses, alcohol addiction, car crashes claiming lives, etc.), and ask yourself WHY any Christian would want anything to do with it. Parents giving alcohol to their children, especially Christian parents, shocks me, frankly. Is that REALLY a Godly example we want to be showing them? Maybe I'm "old fashioned", maybe some would call me something else, but I had an alcoholic father, and an alcoholic cousin, and I've seen what alcohol can do to a family. All from a "harmless little sip" when young. People, and especially Christian people, would be wise to leave alcohol alone.

That's all I'll say. Should be enough. The old phrase "playing with fire" comes to mind.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Butler
I can tell by the tone of the discussion that we have reached a new freedom.
Catholics can now eat meat on Friday.
Jews can eat pork.

Baptists can drink in front of each other.

I want to make it clear that my comments about Baptists' drinking in front of each other was a JOKE. Although, there is some basis in reality.

 

We need to discuss this over our usual watering hole. If I get there before you do, I will get your usual, Jack and Coke.

 

Breakfast before church tomorrow?:laugh:

 

I have never understood the logic that says introduce things to children what you do not want them to do later. As far as children doing things their parents do not know about, apparently the parents did not do well to teach their children about honesty and integrity.

 

It is a given that it is too high a risk.

 

Other nations have less of a taboo attached to alcohol than we do here in the US and they have fewer alcohol related issues.

There is something in the fallen nature of man that drives us to desire what we are told to not mess with. We see it in the touch of objects with a wet paint sign on them. We saw it with Prohibition and we see it in the current failure known as the war on drugs.


I agree we have a problem with hypocrisy, and its cousin called inconsistency. I would suggest we do not need a blanket policy to abstain. We need to teach everything God says on the issue in His Word. We also need to remove the mystery and taboo of alcohol. We'll have fewer issues with alcohol abuse, misuse, and hypocrisy.

 

We never allowed alcohol in our house. While the kids were growing up, they knew the negative effects as taught by us, and knew not to drink. However, we did not harp on the subject or cram it down their throat. So many times, I believe, parents make it an 18 year sermon, then when the kids can drink, they go hog wild. Our kids today are married, with good jobs, families, and to my knowledge do not drink. The bottom line is that the guidance a child receives is the responsibility of the parents, not the government, and not others.

 

Your making a great point Ann....that its really a personal choice.

If you make anything a taboo, than human nature steps in & wants to eventually taste that forbidden fruit. I was also raised around drinkers but I can leave it alone when I wish or pick it up (drink to excess) then put it down when I want. Thats my choice. Like a firearm, I can choose to use it, correctly, non-correctly or just leave it alone. Even a professed alcoholic can have the discipline of choice. In the end, its your character thats the demon if you choose unwisely, not the alcohol, not the gun, not the extra marital affair, etc. (And God helps to strengthen your resolve against bad behavior).

 

Just the opposite for me. Dad was a fall down drunk and believe it or not, still a decent provider...go figure. Strangely enough, I was allowed sips. Not so strangely, I grew into a fall down drunk.

I respect and appreciate your decisions posted above, saturnneptune. This next is generally addressed.

Allowing kids to drink booze? It's a roll of the dice, a game of Russian roulette...choose your analogy. One thing is certain though, if you teach and enforce abstinence in your home, at the very least your child/children will gain an understanding of the parental, authoritative view (the same could be argued in reverse fashion). That's not to say they won't go astray but if they do, it wasn't an enforced behavior begun in the home.

 

I would never offer alcohol to my children for this purpose. A couple of things you will never hear me say are, "Son, have a beer" and "Why don't you pursue an acting career."

Sometimes at family dinners wine will be served (I don't have any, I don't like wine) but if my kids were 21 years old and in attendance when wine was offered I would bite my tongue and observe what they do.

 

Funny that we keep talking about alcohol and parenting. One of the most intimate times I've had with my father was having a beer after golfing together. We've never opened up like that before. Great moment.