Featured Did I sin or walk in holiness regarding alcohol

With all genuine matters of conscience, it can be taken as far as Paul took it. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

You may be worried about the implications considering your pet activities, but I will only discuss those things in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures address alcoholic beverages specifically.

 

I thought one oz. of liquor, 6 oz. of wine and 12 oz. of beer were all considered one drink, and not 4 oz. of wine, Sister Ann....

 

You are an alcoholic aren't you?

 

You told them that Catholics are "bad news" ....and yet you preach the gospel!?!?

 

Maybe you drink "stiffer" wine than the others.....:laugh:

 

Nope. You wanna talk about the Scriptures?

 

It's based on comparing the percentage of alcohol.

It's been a long time since I was an expert, but it used to be that some beer was 5% and some beer was 3.2% (such as in Kansas)

I've seen wine as low as 13% and as high as 20%

With hard liquor, the proof is double the alcohol content. I think some schnapps are only 40 proof (20%), whiskey can range from 60-120 proof, and you can fuel a car with grain alcohol, which is 190 proof or so.

So really, those comparisons are just round about

 

Evan6589, I think you should give up drinking. You obviously don't know much about it.

 

I need to do what first? Quit drinking, or learn about it?

 

Not trying to beat a dead horse, or beat you up (we all know about your critics and how they multiply like rabbits- I'm trying to be a friend), but you put this out there and I'm giving my honest opinion. I would be less concerned about what and how much you do or don't drink and its effect on your testimony, and be more concerned about your marriage and the importance of your relationship with your wife as it relates to your testimony. You can be right on so many other things, but just from my perspective (based on everything you have posted here) this is one area you really need to focus on.

 

Thats their choice......if they cant handle it then they should stop drinking......not you.

Do you eat in front of a fat person.....do you eat meat in front of a vegan and do you buy things in front of a poor person? This is just a Baloney conversation honestly.

 

Pretty much the way I see it as well.

 

The key verse from 1 Cor. 8:
1 Cor 8:13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

OK, if someone who is a teetotaler sees another Christian having a beer, and they figure, hey, it's OK if they have a beer as well, is that a sin? No. Now if this person turns into alcoholic, you would have a point.

How far does this extend? If a Christian woman believes it's wrong to wear pants, should all her Christian women friends who think otherwise, then abstain from wearing pants?

If a Christian thinks it's wrong to work on Sundays should his Christian friends with jobs that require them to work on Sundays quit their jobs?

 

1Cor 8 has a particular context - idols. The weaker brother is not one who is shackled by a frivolous restriction, not at all.

Paul is saying that idols are nothing, so the meat eaten is simply food. But this is a knowledge of liberty. Now, if a weaker brother sees you eat of this food because you know it's just food, he may be enticed to pay homage to the idol through eating the meat.

It has nothing to do with enticing a teetotaler to have a drink, or enticing an Amish man to use a power saw.

I think modern day equivalents would be:

You get a tribal tattoo because you have the liberty to do so. But a weaker brother might see it and be enticed to get one in honor of a godless religion

Or you might use yoga for physical therapy, and a weaker brother might be enticed to engage in transcendental meditation.

Or you might practice karate for self defense, and a weaker brother might be enticed to engage in Zen Buddhism.

Nothing in 1Cor 8 is not about an activity, but what the activity represents - an idol. If your liberty causes a brother to stumble into the arms of a false god, you should abstain.

If it's just engagement in an activity, like dancing or playing cards, that brother needs to accept that his limitation does not bind you. But even then, your liberty should not be the cause of a weaker brother to stumble into judgmentalism. Paul addressed this issue in Romans 14

 

You know...... if you were to pull a guy in who you knew was a alchie into a bar and bought him a beer knowing full well he has a problem then you would be consciously sinning ....that's a creep! But if you were to have a beer after work with a meal simply cause you enjoy it, then hows that a sin? You know this casual commentary about drinking alcohol is truly somebodies misguided and obsessed way of just imposing abstinence and it doesn't fly with me. I have and still go into the bars and pubs in order to help these drunks and I have pulled them outa jails and outa bars and places where they are full of puke and piss, gone to AA meetings with them, talked to them about God, talked to them about their family's ....tried to be there for them so I don't want to hear this crap. The true Christian is there for the weak. Actively helping them ....not wineing about drinking a Tom's (wossie drink in the 1st place) Hard Lemonade in front of people.