Southern Baptists reaffirm prohibition against alcohol

I guess you can tell by my member name, I am a SBC preacher.

I agree that we cannot say that the Bible teaches that one is never to drink alcohol - it only addresses getting drunk. But let me share this: A couple of years ago when my daughters were young, I was going into our local grocery store with one of them and we noticed one of the ladies who lead the Children's choir leaving with a case of beer. That devistated my young daughter. She just couldn't believe that Miss. ??? drank!

Listen church, the children all around us a watching everything we do, and they want to be just like us! We must ALWAYS be careful, realizing that what we do will impact others. That lady's Christian witness suffered simply because she had a case of beer in her arms.

I can Biblically justify social drinking, but I can't Biblicly justify beeing a poor witness to the children around me.

 

1) Yes, such things can impact the people around you.

2) Why would the children have that kind of reaction? They had been taught. The root problem isn't in the buying of the beer and being a poor witness thereby...it's in a failure to teach the balanced truth to our children that alcohol isn't sinful but being drunk is.

As a side comment...

Why is it that most of the stories I hear about being a "poor witness" or "ruining your testimony" tend to revolve around the reactions/opinions of other Christians, not of the lost?

 

Children naturally look up to those in leadership positions. As a pastor I don't want to intentionally do anything to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Ture, there are those watching who will be offended no matter what I do, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to do all I can to be a positive witness for Christ to everyone I come in contact with.

Do I teach my children right from wrong? Sure. But when they're very young, we focus in on the big picture: don't drink, don't smoke (don't chew?). When they're older, we look at things in more detail. When they're very young, we teach right and wrong. When they're old enough to understand, we teach why something is right or wrong.

Should we not be concerned about our Christian witness of both the saved and lost? Do you think that the lost are unaffected when they see a Christian drink? I believe they are.

 

I'm having a problem understanding, automobiles are unavoidable. I don't think my neighbor would think anything if I drove a car. Guns are also needed in our society. We have police, we have people that use them for protection. Neither are comparisons. We aren't going to make a weaker brother fall because of either of those. While were at it how about some of the shoes women wear, couldn't they fall, hit their head and die??

 

What about SUVs? I'm sure that there are plenty of environmentalists out there who would object to those. Also, fancy cars. How many poor people could you have fed with that money? Hypocrites!

--That's what some people could say.

 

I hope net year's SBC passes a resolution for abstinence from sex in all cases. When abused, it disrupts families, causes divorce, heartache and when non-Christians hear of Christians having adulterous relationships it reflects badly on Christianity. Couldn't a weaker brother stumble beause he is single and he hears about a maried person havin relations with his wife and he thinks "sex is always ok, in every setting?"

The problem isn't and has never been alcohol. It has always been and always will be abuse of alcohol. I'm saddened to see that so many Biblical characters (including Jesus) could not be in an executive position of the SBC.

Further, this line of thinking is what the pharisees did. The law says "Don't eat pork" so some scribe says "I won't even look at pigs" and the next one says "I won't go where pigs could even be." We're setting up a hedge around the scriptures that makes us think we're righteous because we don't even come close enough to the law to break it.

I don't drink. But if you enjoy alcohol and can have a sip here or there without getting drunk, enjoy.

I think Tom Ascol (a teatotaler) has the best resposne: There are enough real sins that we need to deal with that the SBC doesn't need to manufacture sins.

 

I understand there is age-appropriate instruction. The problem is that if we start out with "all alcohol use is bad" and never really adjust that...the cycle continues.

As far as the lost go, I highly doubt that they would make any fuss about it if Christians wouldn't go ballistic over minutiae. The lost person generally points out hypocrisy. Alcohol use is only hypocrisy when you preach against it. If Christians would preach the biblical concept of moderation rather than teetotalism, no lost person could accuse anyone of hypocrisy, unless the Christian were drunk.

Of course, this whole debate is merely cultural. This is such a non-issue in most places, but some areas of the US blow it way out of proportion.

I can pretty much guarantee you that the average Frenchman is not going to have a problem with you sipping some fine wine with your dinner.

 

A drunkard quits;

I witnessed to one of my fellow workers for a 10-year period. And every time I would leave him(I worked on the Mississippi River) I would say, now Randy if you decide to be saved you understand what to do. Yes? Randy was very much of a whoremonger and a drunkard. Then one day I got a call on the boat from Randy who was still at home on his time off and he said, I just got up off of my knees from asking the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul and of course I was beside myself with joy. This all took place many years ago, today Randy is a church goer and a dedicated Christian. From that moment on he has never touched alcohol, when I asked him why he said, well I understand I could drink a beer or two, but because I've had trouble with alcohol in the past I prefer to totally shun it now. And many people have mentioned seeing ofthis to me when referring to my having become a Christian.
All soulwinners of course want this to happen all the time just like this 180° turnabout, but of course it doesn't always happen that way, but in Randy's Casey it did. And I do love to tell the story.

 

Now that would be quite a picture to have a Christian outing and a keg of beer in the public park. Probably no one would even notice, you think?

 

Mima -- The difference between Randy and what the SBC said was that Randy understood he could have a beer, but because of his past, he wanted to abstain. The SBC is saying because of people like Randy, we all have to abstain. I can't think of any thing that fallen man has not found a way to abuse (even Holy things like the OT law, or Lord's Supper) so should we ban all things that, when abused, cause personal and family issues?

As to the keg at the park, that might cause problems, but because I've never heard of a keg associated with anything but total drunkeness. Maybe others have, but if you ask someone about a party with a keg, or a party with a few beers, they're going to tell you that the keg party would definitely involve drunkeness.

 

Amazing how I saw more alcohol in the homes of Southern Baptists in the south than anywhere I have lived in the US.

Saw much less where wine grapes are grown and little taboo against it.

 

As a young man (and son of an SBCpreacher), I had much the same experience seeing a deacon walk out with case of beer. The reason: I had been instructed since birth of the evils of alcohol and had seen the damage that it had done to member of the families of both my parents. However, far more folks in my family have suffered from the effects of poor diet and no exercize. The numbers of deaths (and the financial cost) due to these things far exceed that for the use / abuse of alcoholic beverages.

So why the reluctance of the messengers to speak out on poor diet and sedentary lifestyles?

 

Ahh, because then you would be stepping on the toes of the pharisees.

This whole problem is completely manufactured.

I would point out that abstinence has turned away many people because they see Christianity as a legalistic ritual.
Straying from Biblical teaching NEVER enhances our "testimony"
It merely enhances our pride!

 

Jonathan,

Yes, you're probably right. The effects of a poor diet and no exercise are probably more costly than the effects of alcohol. It would be good for all of us to eat right and exercise more (me included). But the original OP had to do with the SBC resolution stand on the use of alcohol, which was what I was addressing.
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I'm not one of those preachers who preach against drinking. I preach for living for Christ. And, again, I believe (and maybe me only) that we should do all we can to set the right example - for both the lost and the saved; for both the young and the old. I don't think it's a good idea to try to explain away our responsibility to set a good example.

Are we perfect? No. Shoud we give up on trying because we aren't perfect? No. As much as it is up to us, we should live Godly lives. It is only my personal conviction that I can't set a Godly example if I drink socially. If someone can, then go ahead.

 

Hallelujah, SBC. As a former drinker of strong alcohol, I heartily endorse abstinence, just as I endorse abstinence from any form of tobacco, and action to overcome indifferent obesity (although an indifferent obese person can still serve as a deacon, teacher, etc., but not without encouragement that he or she do something about it, as a matter of witness.) The key word is indifferent, one who is a glutton and will do nothing about it, so please don't yell at me about folks who are genetically / medically obese, in wheelchairs, hospitalized, etc. I enjoy listening to that TV preacher down in San Antonio AND he and his family have the ability to do something about their obesity. I've even heard him preach about obesity, then laugh at himself. Go figure. :type:

 

If it is who I am thinking about, he married his secretary after leaving his wife.