Alcohol and the Christian

Alcohol and the Christian (My Views and others)- Part 1

I’ve been thinking a lot more about whether or not a Christian should drink at all. I guess to put the horse before the cart, my conclusion would be that the answer is almost entirely contextual; but, the contextuality of this is something we will discuss in part 2 of this series.  I mean, at YF:T we’ve looked into all the biblical stuff surrounding it, and we will re-cap on this here for those who read this but haven’t been part of our studies. However, it’s not the biblical stuff that I keep coming back to, rather it’s the moral and ethical responsibilities of a Christian which I feel are important,  so check back for the link to part 2 very soon.

A Biblical Staple?

As a re-cap on the biblical side of this argument, we’ve recently looked at the pearls or alcohol in our youth fellowship group. We discussed ideas relating to the New Testament events where Jesus was involved with wine.  These are as follows:

 

• 1. Matthew 11:18 - This passage talks about John the Baptist firstly, who did not drink wine, but of Jesus following on, who did drink. While this verse does not say directly that Jesus drank wine the proximity of the statement to the statement above about John drinking wine suggests that He did. However, as will be reiterated whenever I talk about this subject, we must assume that since Jesus didn’t sin (or else the whole salvation plan would be down the proverbial toilet) that He didn’t get drunk. It is clear throughout the bible (Old and New Testament) that drunkenness is a sin.
• 2. John 19:29-30 - One of the last things that Jesus actually did was to receive a drink of wine in these verses. Just after that, Jesus said “It is finished,” and then died. Again, Jesus didn’t drink to get drunk as is very clear here, and if He had this would have been sinful. However, it’s also clear that alcohol wasn’t a problem for Him.
• 3. We all know the story: Jesus turned water into wine. Would He have done this and lead other people into temptation if He knew drinking wine was sinful. I think not. Verdict: wine isn’t sinful.

 

As for the Old Testament views on alcohol, we see that the word yah’-yin is used around 144 times in the OT. The meaning of this is as follows:

From an unused root meaning to effervesce; wine (as fermented); by implication intoxication: - banqueting, wine, wine

Some people say that this word does not always necessarily refer to grape juice in its intoxicating form; however, Strong’s concordance clearly differentiates between this type, which is intoxicating and others which are not.  There doesn’t seem to be a view against this wine, and in actual fact the frequency with which it is mentioned perhaps suggests that it is completely normal. On the other hand, there is another word, shay-kawr’, which is mostly translated as strong wine, and for the most part is condemned, except for case where it seems to be used an offering to God.

Despite the frequency of the subject of wine, we still see this balanced with many many warnings on drunkenness. There is absolutely no doubt that being drunk is sinful in biblical terms.  We see that the OT describes to us how alcohol makes people become unwise, noisy and encourages them to mock others (Proverbs 20:1). From Isaiah 28:7 we also see a collection of priest and prophets who are too drunk to stand properly and who are confused and make more judgements because of this. A few examples also show us that people do stupid things that would have caused them embarrassment had they not been under the influence.  For example, take a look at Habakkuk 2:15, or at the story of Noah’s shame after He got drunk and his son saw him (Although this story doesn’t not brand Noah as an alcoholic, nor does it mark his stereotypical image). The story of Noah also reminds us that drinking to get drunk clearly has repercussions on the people around us as well as ourselves. Far too many of us, especially in Scotland, have had the unnecessary experience of a family member, friend or acquaintance who becomes addicted to drunkenness for whatever reason.

It is clear to me, through the bible or through personal experience, that a social, relaxed drink is not a problem. However, drunkenness is unnecessary and frequently harmful to ourselves and others around us.

All of this does not clear up the issues surrounding the morality and appropriate context of drinking. For example, I believe that there are in fact circumstances where Christians in particular should not even have one drink. This, as pointed out above, will be discussed in the next part of this series, delivered to you tomorrow.

 As always, readers’ thoughts are very much appreciated on all of my posts.

 

Joyfully, patiently, faithfully - Romans 12v12

Romans 12:12  rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in   prayer;

JOYFULLY in hope

This verse is typical of the a new testament paradox which tells us so often to be glad in all that we have but also to be glad in all that we don’t have - i.e. in our trials and tribulations; the times on the mountain tops and the times in the valleys. We obviously know that circumstances in this life often do not give us reason to be joyful, but we do know that “Hope” is the anticipation of what is going to come.  The main point to this is often take as the believer eventually rising from the dead, becoming like Christ, and going to heaven for eternity. The concept of Joy is mentioned 165 times in 155 different verses through the entire bible (KJV) and therefore there’s no doubt that it’s something that Christians do not live in fully. The Joy of the Lord, count it all as Joy, having the Joy of the God in the Lord and even Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross..,”   What a powerful concept, Matthew Henry writes that: “He had something in view under all his sufferings, which was pleasant to him; he rejoiced to see that by his sufferings he should make satisfaction to the injured justice of God and give security to his honour and government, that he should make peace between God and man, that he should seal the covenant of grace and be the Mediator of it, that he should open a way of salvation to the chief of sinners, and that he should effectually save all those whom the Father had given him, and himself be the first-born among many brethren. This was the joy that was set before him.”  There’s a lot in that, and we don’t have time to go into it all in this post, but if anyone’s interested then be sure to ask.

PATIENTLY in trials

What does it mean to be “Patient in Tribulation”?  I highly doubt that it means that we must lay down to our trials and troubles and let them overcome us.  But, we do know that patience is a desirable character for a Christian.  Hebrews says that we should be making the choice “to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time.”  Does this mean that we should endeavour to be patient in all that we must go through in order to endure until the end of the race? Why, yes, I think it does!  It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy, and it doesn’t mean that we should try our hardest to find an opt-out, but it does mean that we should trust in God, trust in Jesus and rest in patience throughout the hard times.  We also know that this patience and waiting is something which is often linked in with the serving of the Lord, a theme which I have occasionally touched upon in this blog. Serving the Lord can often mean “waiting on the Lord”. Just as those who serve you in a restaurant are called “waiters”, so also Christians are “waiters” too.

FAITHFULLY in Prayer

Finally, we come to the aspect of faithfulness in prayer, which is closely linked with the idea above.  The Greek word, προσκαρτερέω (proskartereō), used for faithfully or continue or whatever else you have in your own translation means “to persevere, or to be constantly diligent” from Strong’s concordance.  So it basically means that we have to be steadfastly attentive to prayer, i.e. praying without ceasing - oh wait, we’ve heard that somewhere before haven’t we?  So in giving complete care an attention to prayer, we are following the will of God also, but we often find that we can get easily discouraged when we feel that our prayers aren’t being answered - particularly when there are no visible results. However, 2 Corinthians tells us that we should “walk by faith and not by sight” we should continue to devote ourselves to praying regardless of how we see things are turning out. Instead we must have faith in all things and faith that everything will turn out for the good. (Romans :8:28)

Although I’ve dealt with these in three different sections, it is important also to consider their relation to one another.  We see in Jamieson, Fausset and Brown: “since it is “prayer” which strengthens the faith that begets hope and lifts it up into an assured and joyful expectancy, and since our patience in tribulation is fed by this, it will be seen that all depends on our “perseverance in prayer.”"

Check out part 1, and also part 2 of this study here, and check back for completion of the series.

 

Child Genius

This was a program on channel 4 last year called Child Genius. It showed kids who are, “geniuses”. It’s pretty amazing what some of them can do, especially Mikail Ali who, at the age of three, is the youngest Mensa member ever. Watching the show just a bit makes me a little embarrassed as this kid at 3 can add and subtract four digit numbers far more easily than I have ever been able to. I am worried that it is also far more easily than I will ever be able to! Some of them are even saying into the camera: “well, yes, I am far more intelligent than my parents or teachers.”

Tariq Nelson writes a little more about it here: http://tariqnelson.com/2007/02/09/gifted-and-trying-to-be-normal/

So, how do these parents who aren’t particularly intelligent end up with a super-intelligent child? Though I am not sure about genes and DNA issues around the matter, I am not sure it is possible to attribute the intelligence to genes etc. If anyone has any information to offer on this matter, I’d love to hear about it.

If it is not a matter of inheritance then maybe this is a nurture issue? Is there a certain way to bring up a child so as to encourage their intellectual talent? Can anyone, regardless of their age and social background, have a child who will grow into a “Child Genius.”

I was thinking today about the human need to catagorize things and how many of the greatest thinkers have been those people who have succesfully compartmentalised life. Maybe sometime someone will come up with “10 steps to growing a Child Genius.” If anyone works that out before I do can you please send me the manuscript so that I can read it. Thanks!

 

Romans 12v11 - our call to be zealous servers.

Romans twelve (specifically 12:11 today) is one of the few chapters in the bible which deals extensively with the attitudes and characteristics of our Christian life. The idea behind this, and one which I personally strongly adhere to, is that these should be carefully outworked by us in our lives rather than just ‘believed’. Today we will deal with the only one verse in chapter 12 and if you missed the first part on “Worship, Loving and Devotion” then you can check it out here. There will be more to come. Please feel free to share with me what you think on these verses.

Rom 12:11 Don’t be lazy in showing your devotion. Use your energy to serve the Lord.

The Apostle Paul writes so many times about “Zeal” throughout his many letters, and as the Christian Church (I refer to this without denomination, of course!!) it is important that we begin to take heed of these words. He has spoken about the dangers of Zeal previously, in that we must be careful that our zealousness is for good (Gal 4:18) and that also we must avoid zealous Hypocrites, i.e people who looks only for others to enlarge their own ranks and nor the ranks of Christ. It is in this that this very in the book of Romans tells us its true purpose. Therefore zeal should only be used with the sole perspective of serving Christ the Lord.

 

Blogging Interface and Joomla

You know, I have just started blogging with wordpress again, and I’m not sure that I’m entirely happy with the blogging interface for writing new posts or editing posts. I would prefer something much less html-y and more user friendly, with more choice on how to edit and format my text. I’d like to be able to tab across in order to emphasise a particular paragraph more, and I would really like to know what ul ol and li are.

I’m used to using the backend interface of Joomla and other content management systems which make editing much easier. Anyhow, one of my ‘resolutions’ for the coming year, if you could call it that, is to get to grips with Joomla again, and to develop our church website further. I’d like to see more people involved and running things than just me. I’d also like a dedicated area of the website where the youth can keep their pictures and the likes on there. It could also serve as an area where there would be a weekly youth-blog, initially updated by just myself and the other youth worker, but perhaps down the line it could be updated by a choosen young person each week.

In addition I’d like to explore and encourage folks to use the website to store church documents like rotas and more. I think it could really be a very useful tool and that it isn’t being utilised to its full capacity at the moment. Here’s to a more successful year of church-website-developping.