The Fruit of the Vine

I am working on a Masters at Liberty University Online. One of the classes I'm taking is Survey of the New Testament. We are required weekly to post a 500 word essay on particular questions having to do with our reading. Last week my post was on I Timothy and the requirements for pastors and deacons. A second assignment each week is to respond to other posts made by the class and enter into discussions on the subjects. Kind of a class participation.

One of the class members answered my post with favorable comments, but especially appreciated that I was not "legalistic" concerning drinking as he liked to drink wine. Now, I try not to be legalistic about anything because we do have liberty in Christ, however, that liberty is not to be a stumbling block to others, and I do have strong convictions on this subject, as much from real life experience as from scriptural principle. So here is my response to my fellow class member. It is lengthy, but I hope you'll wade through it and please let me know what you think. Please also accept this in the spirit of love and concern in which it is intended. This is not a condemnation of anyone who disagrees, but I hope it will make you pause and think, and to change your mind.

My position on drinking for a Discussion Board post for Survey of the New Testament at Liberty Online University, 3 December 2012.

Hello,

Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm glad if my post was helpful to you. However, I think you misunderstand my position on drinking alcohol. I try not to be legalistic about it because I have Christian friends who do drink now and then and it doesn't seem to be a problem for them. I have also known chaplains and pastors (no Baptists that I know of) who also take a drink now and then, but I am dead set against it and I'll tell you why in a moment. Although I am passionate about it, I try to teach my position through gentle persuasion with verses like Proverbs 20:1, because the issue at hand seems to be getting drunk, not just the drinking itself. But here are a number of things to consider.

You mention Jesus turning water into wine. True, and yet the wine the Bible talks about is only fermented. The alcoholic content was much less then than what modern distilling processes create today. Plus, the King James Version of the Bible is very indiscriminate when it speaks of the fruit of the vine. Wine, juice, even in one instance the vine itself, are all translated wine so it seems you have to read into it a little bit to determine whether or not the passage is speaking of a fermented or non-fermented drink. I would think that it would take an awful lot of wine to have gotten someone drunk in those days which would be indicative of someone who had no control over his imbibing.

That being said, I was told once by a flight surgeon when I was in the military (and I've heard Christians who follow this advice say the same thing), that a little shot of wine every day is actually healthy for the body as long as you don't have stomach problems. It is not good for a bad stomach, and I also had a flight surgeon tell me that once when I was having some stomach problems. (The argument that Paul told Timothy to "take a little wine for his stomach's sake," makes it okay is a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. Timothy most likely held such strict convictions against drinking that he got sick from bad water, and Paul was telling him to drink "wine" to kill the amoebas.) There was a very well known preacher among independent Baptists, whose name I will not mention, who had a very large church in Virginia Beach. He was told by a doctor to take some wine for his health when he was already in his 60's, and started taking a drink of wine every night. But then it became two and three until one night he was arrested for driving under the influence and it ruined his ministry. There was nothing intentional on his part, but once he got started he apparently couldn't stop it.

That brings up the point of alcoholism. Some people are able to hold a whole lot more than others. Some people are alcoholics and can't hold anything. I had a step-sister who was an alcoholic. I tried to help her over and over, but you can't imagine the damage she did to her family and friends when she started drinking. All it took was one drink and she went out of control. The thing is, nobody knows how much they can take until they try it. Unfortunately, if you are an alcoholic, all it takes is one drink to get you hooked, and the only way most people will find out is if they try. I have a pretty strong constitution, but I choose not to even try. I don't want to take the chance of finding out that I can't handle it.

This is where the idea of pastors and deacons being "blameless" comes into play. I think being blameless has to do with not doing anything that anyone could possibly construe as being improper or unChristian. You may not have a conviction against taking a drink, but depending on where you are, another Christian who knows you and who does have a conviction against it may see you and be offended, or someone who is not saved may see you and point the finger at you in accusation because many unsaved people don't expect to see Christians drinking. In that case you've hurt your testimony.

I guess the bottom line is, I have seen too many people like my step-sister who have ruined their lives with alcohol. I was a pilot in the Marine Corps and Navy, and spent five years in the Philippines at Subic Bay where the entire industry of the Navy town, Olongapo, revolved around bars and prostitution. I had to deal with more sailors who got drunk, got arrested, and ruined their careers than I care to think about. One sailor in a drunken stupor had beaten up his wife. The shore patrol was called and when they came to arrest him, he poured gasoline on his gate and his shirt, and held a lighter out to keep the sp's away. When he finally lighted the fence on fire, it spread to his shirt and burned him so severely that he died a couple days later. Another time a pilot friend of mine, after a night of binge drinking, took a flight the next day when his head still wasn't clear. He wound up having an engine fire approaching NAS Coronado in bad weather, flew a terrible approach, missed the runway and ejected too late and died. I had another very dear pilot friend, who was Catholic and not a drinker, who was killed on the highway by a drunk driver who came sliding across a median head on into his car. The crash also killed his three children and left his poor wife crippled without a family in a moment of time. She was still in intensive care the day of the funeral. And now I have tears in my eyes remembering it.

I try not to be legalistic, but I am dead set against drinking alcohol of any kind, whether it's beer, liquor or wine. I hope you can understand why and I hope that I can persuade you to see my position.