A few weeks ago I went to a bar/restaurant during the Assyrian convention. It was a festive atmosphere with a DJ and people socializing. These gatherings are all about renewing old friendships and meeting new people. Yet, mingling at a bar is a unique experience for me.
The reason: I’m a Pastor.
There are typically a few ways people perceive me:
- I’m a fake/hypocrite Christian because I’m at the bar and even more so because I’m consuming alcohol. Or I’m trying to pretend not to be drinking because I know it is wrong but I can’t stop. Or I’m no longer a Christian.
That’s how many people see it, but is there another option?
This is the catch 22. If I don’t go to the bar/parties then it means I’m lame and narrow. If I do go to the bar then I’m obviously a hypocrite.
I often get the “what are you doing here?” look. When people raise a concern we usually have a long conversation about how God made the world and how alcohol can be a good thing. God made beer, food, friends, and it can all be really great if done responsibly. We don’t feel an ounce of guilt when having a Blue-Moon that Johnson bought.
I think the issue is that many Christians are stuck in a Catch 22.
Jesus responded to this catch 22:
33 “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’
34 “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
What we see in these two verses is that Jesus understood the dilemma. Some would write him off as a zealot if he didn’t drink, while others would dismiss him as a hypocrite if he did. His cousin, John, did not drink and he got flack for being too stiff.
If we are going to follow Jesus then it means we must follow him in how we drink beer. If we are going to drink beer, then we must do it in an honorable way. If we don’t like to drink beer, then that’s our choice but we must not look down upon those that do. Being like Jesus means enjoying Beer responsibly.
I am disturbed when I run into Christians who are nervous about other Christians judging them because they are out having a good time. How lame is that?
At the same time, perhaps there is cause for concern? Maybe there are some Christians or people who shouldn’t be at the bar? Maybe it is wrong for certain people to be at a bar? But who sets the rules on who is healthy enough to be able to enjoy themselves at the bar and who isn’t? That will be the topic of my next post.
Read this in the meantime: Reginald Hatchett
Jesus probably drank wine. In fact he probably drank merlot.
I don’t there’s anything wrong with drinking alcohol, but then again I don’t have the same religious guilt.
I actually wrote a post about Jesus and wine but from a different, historical, wine loving angle – http://www.regularwino.com/history/what-wine-did-jesus-drink/
Comments and ideas welcome.
James
Some of us don’t drink because of the way we were brought up–strict but loving Christian homes with a dose of legalism on the side. It took me quite of few years of adulthood to conclude that drinking alcohol was not a sin in and of itself. I do not condemn or criticize a fellow believer for drinking small amounts of alcohol.
On the other hand, I watched my younger brother slowly kill himself with alcohol addiction and somehow I wished he had never taken that first drink.
I myself manage to sip champagne to toast the happy couple at their wedding, but I’ve decided wine smells like cat pee, and who wants to drink that?!?