Beer, Banter, and Fellowship?
There is a rumor floating around that are a group of Christians, both men and women, that get together for fellowship, reading a book of nonreligious thoughts on christian spirituality, and drinking... BEER.
Yes they are consuming alcohol while discussing theology. Is this safe? Aren't they going to become consumed by this barley beverage? Will theology fall to the wayside of belching and hangovers? Does God allow these things to mingle?
I would dare say that this is an okay thing. For one thing if rumors are true, the group only drinks one beer per person, and actually do it for the learning of different tastes of beer. For learning to enjoy beer, rather than for the desire of getting drunk or even a buzz. The beer tends to start the group off which tends to go for at least an hour discussing the various aspects of original sin, grace, and church leadership.
So far nothing wrong, except some wonder, why can't they drink tea, or perhaps a healthy juice blend? I mean the bible condemns Christians from drinking alcohol right? Not that I have found, like many things the bible calls for moderation, asking to avoid drunkenness, which is not a bad thing to avoid.
One can wonder also if alcohol is present in this place, and a recovering alcoholic should come to this place at some point, and the beer is chilling for the next meeting, and the recoveree peeks into the fridge and sees these beverages, will the Christian who hosts this be causing his brother to stumble if he see a Christian with alcohol and decides it is okay for him to drink. To this I say something perhaps a bit edgy, should not this recoveree take a bit of responsibility for him or herself and remember that they are avoiding these things for an entirely different reason, that they are prone to drinking far too much and should know better than to drink?
It is one thing to offer a known recovering alcoholic a beer, yes that would be causing them to stumble. So, yes that would be wrong, if not cruel. But to simply own it and for them to be around it is no cause of fault to the host. They have no responsibility over the other person's problem and should not worry about these things. If they know the person is a recoveree they can as courtesy perhaps hide the alcohol from sight, but this is their choice and neither option is right or wrong.
So I guess my end thought in all this is, know your weaknesses, the bible doesn't forbid drinking, just drunkenness. And if you have gotten drunk before, there is grace sufficient for that too, just know that a life of doing that will hinder your spiritual walk with God, because if drinking is more important than God or anything else, that means it has become an idol, and idols only separate us from God. But if you can drink in moderation, you can still discuss theology soundly, you can still live the Christian life.
Okay hopping off my soapbox now.
Zach