Well, drunkenness is does tend to lead to bad things (Eph 5:18), and is generally prohibited.
The current reason I keep hearing is the Romans 14 reason - which is basically, “You may be just fine with alcohol, but Bob isn’t. And you know it. Drinking around Bob could cause him to stumble, and it’s wrong for you to knowingly do that.”
Once I was at our priest’s house for a Christmas party. He asked me what I would have to drink, and I asked what he had. His reply: “This is a Catholic rectory! We’ve got everything!”
His bar was indeed remarkably well-stocked.
In Tom Clancy’s Bear and the Dragon the Robby Jackson character described once attempting to justify his drinking to his preacher father by pointing out that Jesus drank wine. His father’s response was “That may be fine for Jesus, boy, but you aren’t Him!”
Q: Know the difference between a Baptist and a Methodist*?
A: The Methodist will say “hello” to you in the liquor store.
My church is what you might call moderate Baptist. We aren’t anti-alcohol, for good reasons that have already been mentioned in this thread. But Southern Baptists have historically been very much against alcohol, and so for most of us drinking just isn’t part of our culture. Alcohol at a church wedding, or any kind of church-related function, is just Not Done, period. Other than that, the prevailing attitude (at least among my young-adult crowd) seems to be that light social drinking is OK as long as you joke about what a scandalous, unBaptist thing you’re doing.
(*fill in your favorite denomination here)
When taking the Sacrament in an LDS meeting, you eat regular bread someone went to the store and picked up probably the day before and it’s considered representing the body of Christ.
When it comes to representing the blood of Christ, there is no grape juice, fermented or not. It’s regular ol’ tap water.
I was raised LDS, but my mother was not an active member of the church and my Dad wasn’t a member at all. My Dad came from a strict Methodist family and his parents frowned big time on drinking. My grandfather died when I was 2; my grandmother when I was 4. I remember when we went over to clean out the house. I don’t remember it all, but I remember the big commotion when the trapdoor to the attic was opened. Seems my father started drinking when he still lived at home. The access to the attic was in his bedroom. He stuffed his empty bottles up there.
Anyway, my mother started drinking with my Dad when she married him, or at least that’s her story, but I remember her mother’s (my grandmother’s beer game — that’s where I was told to get my mother or grandmother another can and the “game” part was I was supposed to chug as much of that Miller High Life out of that 16 oz can that I could without barfing…and it started when I couldn’t have been more then 3 or 4) but that’s her story and she’s sticking to it. It was grape juice. Although she still insists it was just grape juice. When I was 6 or so I started sneaking the “grape juice”.
Confession time:
I am an alcoholic. I’ve been dry for 7 ½ years, but if I’m around it, I want it. I like the taste, I like the escape, I like it and I want it. So the part about it might not be good for someone around you is very true for me. If I’m not around alcohol I’m ok. If I’m around it, it’s incredibly difficult to avoid it.
The official position of the Church is alcohol is to be avoided at all times. It’s part of what’s called
The Word of Wisdom
As a Christian, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wine per se and in fact it’s a thing to be enjoyed.
Some schools of thought, when in doubt, tend to steer clear of anything that seems vaguely impious and dangerous. Hence finding reasons to avoid wine entirely. For eg. the wine=drunkenness=bad argument, or the argument that it will stumble people.
But the Bible doesn’t always take that stand. Yes, there are exhortations against drunkenness, obviously, and overloading your system with too much of anything is always bad. Well, gluttony is bad too, but food itself is a good thing isn’t it?
Similarly, wine is a good thing, and against wine itself there is no law. Cultural taboos and some branches of Christianity are often stricter than the Bible. In the Bible, wine is often spoken of as something to be enjoyed. Wine has a variety of meanings in the Bible, but it’s often used as a metaphor for things which are fragrant, intoxicating, joyful and lovely.
For eg. Jesus turned the water into not just a little wine but 12 huge vats of “the best wine”-- seemingly more concerned about letting people have a good time than preventing debauchery and all that!
And when in the Song of Solomon it is said “How much more pleasing is your love than wine!” and that the beloved’s mouth is like pleasing wine, flowing gently over lips and teeth. Or in the psalms when it says “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine.” – wine becomes a metaphor for the beauty of romantic love.
Jesus used “old wine” and “new wine” to be symbols of the old and new covenants. He wouldn’t have done that if wine was a forbidden substance.
Again, God promises to bring Israel into a land of new wine and vineyards. What’s the point of that if he is against drinking?
And I think a lot of Christians are going to be scandalised when we get to heaven and find that there’s nothing at the table but the best meat and the finest wine.
My favorite Baptist joke: (might be butchered a bit)
Why can’t you go fishing with just one Baptist?
He’ll drink all your beer.
But anyway, the Catholic church I used to go to had a big beer garden at their bazaar every year, which the preists and nuns never failed to patronize. They also had a German party every year (the church was founded by Germans) with German beer.
[Hi Jack!]
amarinth, and others, you may be interested in this article discussing about the ‘Weaker Brother’ - http://www.geocities.com/christian_gamers_guild/chaplain/faga006.html
[/Hi Jack!]
Lost Cause, you can hijack me like that any time – it’s a good and thought provoking article! Of course, anything that adds a few more arrows to my quiver is fine with me.
CJ