Just wanted to share a thought from a Bible study a few weeks ago. We were reading in John chapter 2. The chapter begins with Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Later he clears the money changers out of the temple.
We noted that Jesus seemed more at home among the partygoers than he did the templegoers.
I’m afraid we today might have gone into the wedding and cleared out the revelers while leaving those in the temple at peace.
What do you think?
OK, let me dig up the old alcohol controversy that once dominated this blog. Because the main verses against the use of alcohol come from Proverbs, some of my critics have especially attacked my views on wisdom literature. Specifically, I was accused of dismissing the verses from Proverbs by saying “that’s just wisdom literature.” Hopefully that’s not what I’ve communicated, because that’s not how I see things.
But let’s step back a minute. Let’s accept the premise that we’re going to give equal weight to every verse in the Bible. If that’s true, why do the verses in Proverbs “trump” all that Ecclesiastes has to say? (I shudder at the concept of pitting one verse against another, but we’ll speak that way in this hypothetical exercise) Here are some verses to consider:
Ecclesiastes 2:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
Ecclesiastes 3:13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:18 Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 9:7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.
Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.
Now admittedly, only the last two verses specifically mention wine. (And yes, before this comes up, the word “wine” here is the same word used in Proverbs 20:1 and Proverbs 23:31) If you want to be argumentative and claim that the first four passages refer to water, I’ll let you do so. But why would we not give equal weight to the command “drink your wine with a joyful heart” as we do to the observation “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler”?
There are cultural and social reasons for opposing the use of alcohol, especially here in the United States. Let’s not bend the Bible to support those views. People quickly see through such mishandling of the text, and our arguments lose all credibility. Let the Bible say what it has to say, not just what we want it to say.
This B&B Friday will be dedicated to blogs, somewhat, though not in a review. To cap off the series on alcohol and the Christian, I wanted to offer some links for those interested in reading more.
Here’s where I venture into opinion in this series. Take it as such.
I think our culture’s views of drinking are messed up. Warped and distorted. That’s why you can’t just say, “Go ahead and drink.” In the comment section yesterday, I mentioned the article “Protestants and Catholics: Drunken Barbarians and Mellow Romans?” That article seems to explain part of it. Our culture has had influence from Germanic and Celtic cultures, more than the Latin or Mediterranean culture.
You see, I’ve lived in a Mediterranean culture, for that’s what Argentina is, to a large degree. I’ve seen people drink beer as a beverage and not as a stomach lubricant. I’ve seen diluted wine used as a regular part of meals. I’ve seen Christians drink freely with no shame and no drunkenness. I’ve known people who drank wine every day yet I never saw them anywhere close to intoxicated.
Unfortunately, their culture is changing, with the young people wanting to emulate what they see in American movies and TV. Society is becoming more mobile, and the social controls are breaking down, as they broke down here long ago.
It doesn’t have to be that way. But it is that way now. We deal with how things should be, and we deal with things as they are.
Drinking parties, keggers, night clubs and beer joints… none of those fit into what the Bible describes when it talks about enjoying God’s gifts with thanksgiving. If that’s all people know when it comes to alcohol, then it’s best to tell them to avoid it. Not because of the alcohol, but because of the abuse and because of the context. To me it’s analogous to Paul telling the Corinthians to eat meat in certain contexts and not in others. We can’t just give our young people a green light on drinking. It’s not that simple.
I also think that the church has made a mistake in abandoning that area to the devil. When the world twists and distorts what God has made, the church’s answer must be to show them what is right. For too long we allowed the world to be the only voice as to what sexuality was all about, and we’ve reaped the consequences. We’ve let the world dictate how discourse should be carried out, and Christians find it hard to deal courteously with those that disagree with them. We let the world have movies and television and are finding it terribly hard now to gain a footing in those areas. By letting the world define what the proper use of alcohol is, we’ve given the devil a formidable weapon.
When we present our young people with the traditional proof texts, it takes little for them to see them for the house of cards that they are. When we go against Paul’s advice and make “Don’t touch, don’t taste, don’t handle” our mantra, we fail to correct the excesses just as he told us we would.
My suggestions:
Thanks to all who have joined in in this discussion. Thanks to the many more who have read without commenting here. Tomorrow I’ll share some links for additional reading, just in case I haven’t totally exhausted your patience with this subject.
Previous posts in this series:
The Christian and Alcohol (Alcohol abuse)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 2 (Alcohol in the history of the U.S.)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 3 (Seeing what the Bible says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 4 (What the Pentateuch says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 5 (What the rest of the Old Testament says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 6 (What Proverbs and Ecclesiastes say about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 7 (What the gospels say about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 8 (What the rest of the New Testament says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 9 (Additional passages to consider)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 10 (Additional passages to consider)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 11 (Modern concepts forced onto an ancient text)
One thing that comes out of our survey of the Bible on which all agree: the Bible condemns drunkenness. It’s condemned in the Old Testament. It’s condemned in the New Testament. Because of this, even though I think it is up to the individual Christian to decide whether or not to partake, all Christians must avoid drinking to excess and definitively must avoid addiction. Personally, I find nothing in the Bible that would lead me to consider the mere drinking of alcohol to be sinful, but I have no doubts that drunkenness is wrong.
One blogger, when writing about Christians and alcohol, said, “When I began this series, my biggest fear was that I would be the recipient of drunken high-fives from the frat-boy types who seem to revel in their “authentic” journey to follow Christ their own way.” I shudder at that same thought. One comment on this series accused me of giving license to “the occasional binge.” I trust that statement was written in the heat of the moment by someone who hasn’t read carefully what I’ve written. The Christian who drinks irresponsibly is sinning. Can I say it any more plainly?
Drinking to get drunk is wrong. Drinking irresponsibly is wrong. I’m hoping that on that we can all agree. [I’m less sure about a case like that of Noah, who doesn’t seem to have realized that he was going to get drunk. That story shows us the consequences of overindulgence, but all blame in the story is laid squarely on Ham, not Noah. (Talking about Genesis 9:20-25)]
I do believe, however, that we need to avoid imposing modern ideas on an ancient text, that text being the Bible. Several months ago, one blogger warned Christians about getting drunk without realizing it, basing his arguments on blood alcohol levels used by police in determining whether or not one is driving under the influence of alcohol. I see nothing in the Bible to make me think that one could be drunk without realizing it (either at that time or later).
The Bible talks about wine “gladdening the heart” or “making one merry.” I believe this is talking about the effect of alcohol on the person. I know the emotional reaction that some people have to a statement like that, but I can’t find another reasonable explanation. There is a middle ground in the Bible between unaffected by wine and drunk. The Bible calls it having a glad heart or a merry heart. Today it would be considered “intoxication,” but I honestly don’t believe it’s what the Bible calls drunkenness.
We also apply modern ideas to the story of Jesus turning water to wine in John 2. I hear things like “Jesus wouldn’t have made that much wine” or “Jesus wouldn’t have made wine for people who had already been drinking.” Seems to me these comments reflect our modern wedding parties, not an ancient one. Did you know that Jewish weddings at that time typically lasted a week? Or that these celebrations could include hundreds of people? It’s easy to see how they could run short on wine and how the large amount of wine that Jesus made was not inappropriate. We have to read these stories with first century eyes, not twenty-first century interpretation.
I still have a few things I’d like to share on this topic, but this might be a good time to pause for discussion.
Previous posts in this series:
The Christian and Alcohol (Alcohol abuse)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 2 (Alcohol in the history of the U.S.)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 3 (Seeing what the Bible says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 4 (What the Pentateuch says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 5 (What the rest of the Old Testament says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 6 (What Proverbs and Ecclesiastes say about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 7 (What the gospels say about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 8 (What the rest of the New Testament says about alcohol)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 9 (Additional passages to consider)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 10 (Additional passages to consider)