What God Says About Beer

 

What God Says About Beer

     Not a lot. 

     I mean, Budweiser is not in my Bible.  What did He say about Bacardi mixers?  Was God ignorant of present man’s inventions of alcohol?  Maybe all could be summed up with this command.  “Keep your brain.”

     Crack and meth are seen as bad boys.  Their ability to alter the mind are immediate and severe.  Hence, the government steps in to regulate by forbidding.  Alcohol, on the other hand, is permitted as a balancing act.

     Prohibition was not a success.  It just showed people are willing to fight, and pay for, the right to cruise about society in gatherings.  Face it, people have a lot of fun and lay down many burdens at the doors of pubs and bars.  So, does God have a beef with the barley?

     He has given us our minds as command centers.  Choices we make involve action.  Action results in consequences either good or bad.  Like traffic control towers, monitoring screens strobe in circular updates.  “Be sober,” He says.  “I have permitted many things, but do they benefit?”

     Do we ever have safe times?  Jesus made wine.  It was in a wedding situation.  Alcohol played a part.  “Wine gladdens a heart,” He says.  He also says not to be blinded by it.  Elders are not to be given to wine or not mastered by it.  That may be the key.

     We govern our bodies with many things beating them into submission.  Whether Sudafed or Excedrin, we tweak them to what feels better.  OTC’s are legally provided to relieve us from pain.

     Do we drink to get away from pain?  That’d be a psychological addiction.

     Do we drink to have fun?  That might be a social addiction.

     But can’t we responsibly sit and dine with a good glass of vino?  Maturity, focus, and self-control enter into all this.  Alcohol alters mood, true.  It also is a celebratory drink tying couples together.  But how central is it to the bonding?  If no booze were involved, would we still have a date?

     Alcohol is a legal drug.  That doesn’t make it right.  We Christians are not to let the government be our moral guide.  Still, in this case, our governing body just happens to agree with our alcohol permitting stance.  In other countries, this may not be so.

     What’s God say about booze?  I know He says for it not to be divisive.  Principles of the weaker brother may require the bottle to be hidden when guests appear.  Our liberty shall not cause our brother to stumble.  If we have a good conscience before God to sip a pleasant bit of Jack, then our faith we keep to ourselves privately.  In other words, He has declared all foods good.  We are not to be condemned by what we put in our mouths.  The things that come out of our mouths defile us.

     So, the question being.  Whatever we put in our mouths, does it incline us to slight our words?  Caffeine, meth, sugar, alcohol.  They share an equal plane.  God calls to maturity and self-control.  He also is an individual God guiding each child uniquely.  Alcohol is the blessed gray area where God can meet us and explain His will for us.

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