Subject: making wine.Did Jesus make a mistake. |
Bible Note: John Reformed: I'm all ears. Tell me and the forum more about how defending the use of alcohol has anything to do with your "interest in protection of Christian liberty." Tell it to me, a father who lost his son at the hands of a drunk driver. Tell it to me, a Christian who has worked with the rehabilition of Christian alcoholics, those who according to your theology are protected from this scourge by divine intervention. Tell me how it is that a fine and devout man of the cloth, the man who in fact married my wife and me, on the advice of a member of his flock, began to drink a glass of wine of an evening to soothe his nerves and aid his sleep, and who as time went by needed two glasses, then three, then a whole bottle of wine, and ended up in hospital with delirium tremens, lost his pastorate and underwent treatment in a de-tox facility. Tell me how the professor of the university I attended, a family man, a decent man, an elder in the church I attended, after beginning as a "responsible, social drinker" ended up an alcoholic, stole a credit card to finance his habit, and landed in the county jail for a year and a day. Explain how it is that alcohol for these people provided, to quote you, "a useful purpose, which is the enjoyment of one of God's gifts." ..... You're going to tell me, I would suppose, that these people abused alcohol and I'm going to agree with you. But I will tell you emphatically this: that they didn't set out upon their drinking career with any intent whatever of abusing alcohol and ending up in the gutter. They were not spiritual or moral degenerates. But they became addicted to a substance that carries a high risk of addiction. Now, John, if you choose to drink, that's your business. You say you would warn anyone who considers alcoholic drinks as unclean not to partake of them? Why? Does considering them unclean make one any more likely to become addicted than considering them clean? .... You chided EdB for appealing to the findings of the American Medical Association regarding the damage alcohol does to the human body. A lawyer friend of mine drank himself into a case of cirrhosis of the liver, and he was all too happy to appeal to the A.M.A. for treatment in an effort to save his life. He recovered, by the way, and led a sober life for about three months. Then he got back on the sauce and drank himself to death. So is alcohol addictive or not? John, as I said, the choice to drink is yours, but on a Bible forum to say that a moderate (whatever that means) use of alcohol provides a useful purpose which is the enjoyment of one of God's gifts is extremely hard for me to accept as being appropriate. What message do you suppose it sends to the person who at this moment may be struggling with a serious drinking problem? Is this the way a Christian witnesses for Christ? Think about it, John. --Hank |