Founder of my Lutheran religious upbringing, Martin Luther had some interesting comments on this topic:
We must not...reject [or] condemn anything because it is abused. This would result in utter confusion. God has commanded us in Deut. 4 not to lift up our eyes to the sun (and the moon and the stars), etc., that we may not worship them, for they are created to serve all nations. But there are many people who worship the sun and the stars. Therefore we propose to rush in and pull the sun and stars from the skies. No, we had better let it be. Again, wine and women bring many a man to misery and make a fool of him (Ecclus. 19:2; 31:30); so we kill all the women and pour out all the wine. Again, gold and silver cause much evil, so we condemn them. Indeed, if we want to drive away our worst enemy, the one who does us the most harm, we shall have to kill ourselves, for we have no greater enemy than our own heart, as the prophet, Jer. 17, says, "The heart of man is crooked," or, as I take the meaning, "always twisting to one side." And so on - what would we not do?
-From his fourth Invocavit sermon from 1522, found in Works, American Edition, vol. 51, p. 85
Pour me a Killians Red!!
Seriously though...
As a general rule if I am in a public place where drunkenness is the norm or the goal I would abstain completely from alcohol. I would also abstain if I was in the presence of one who believed that it was wrong. If I am at home or in a public place like a nice restaurant where drunkenness is not synonymous with the establishment like say a bar downtown in a college town, then I would have a glass of wine or a beer or two. Careful reflection concerning context is the key I think.
As a side to this though, is there ever a place to attempt to teach the person with a "weaker conscience" and try to lead them to a place of a "stronger conscience"? I know that Paul does not address this directly but I think implicitly we may be able to draw this out. If there are people in our churches with a "weaker conscience" do we just leave them there? This issue is not just left to alcohol. When I worked in the church I dealt with one of our elders in a similar way concerning the wearing of jeans as a worship leader. I submitted to his desires but I think there is more to this issue than offending people with a "weaker conscience".
I would suggest that we don't usually apply this principle when it comes to the senior pastor. For example, if a new senior pastor moves into his role he often decides to make some changes and establish practices that are debatable in terms of preference. He may really want to wear jeans when he preaches. Usually the elders are not going to take him up on this and they just evolve stylistically as a church with the preferences of the new senior pastor. But if the worship leader expresses different stylistic preferences then it is brought up at an issue of offence, etc. I am ok with this, but I would just suggest that we not spiritualize things that are not spiritual and just admit that we are usually defined stylistically as a congregation by the desires of those in leadership (ie, senior pastor and elders). I would contend that it is dangerous to try and make it into a Biblical issue.
I would love your thoughts on any of this…
1 comment:
i love your points here. i work for a college ministry in a college town and so naturally we have pretty strict rules for the staff on drinking. i used to be able to go to baseball games out of town and have a beer, but as we continue to grow i've found that i can hardly go anywhere in the southeast and feel comfortable drinking. our students are seemingly everywhere, and they're watching. but in the comfort of my home my roommates will sometimes lock the front door and enjoy a beer while we cook out of some wine with a nice dinner that we cook together.
On your other note about the church leadership stuff, i totally agree. i used to be a youth intern at a conservative/traditional church. i was the only person in the place that wore jeans and a tshirt to church and i got all kinds of weird looks. after i left i heard through a friend on staff at the church that my name was brought up in a board meeting and i was said to "have a bad attitude toward the church." i'm not sure what that means, but i know that i poured my life into those students and labored daily to see them follow Christ. i also so fruit from my labor, so do i have a bad attitude about the church or have they forgotten to keep the main thing the main thing. You know what i mean?
Anyway, sorry this is so long, but before i go i want to inroduce myself. My name is Biscuet. I found your blog through my friend Lele Fain. Maybe you know her. I enjoy reading your posts, keep them coming.
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