Originally posted by delly:
Since we are talking about Baptist Pastors, I would be concerned that the Pastor and Deacons made this important decision without asking for a vote by the church body. This is not something a few people should decide on. It should be made by the majority in a proper business meeting with decussion.
What do you give children? What age limit switches from grape juice to wine? Is it legal to serve even small amounts of wine to teenagers? How do you tell the ages of some of these young people? They could look 15 and be 22.
Also what message does it send to our young people? (drinking alcohol is okay because we do it in church) Too many young people see their parents drink alcohol in moderation, then go out and get falling down drunk, then get in a vehicle and kill themselves or someone else. We have to set good examples for our children. They often don't understand the different between moderation and getting drunk to fit in with their friends. Parents really don't have as much influence as friends do these days.
What about the adults who do not partake of alcoholic beverages. Are you going to separate them from the ones who do? What a mess that could turn out to be.
I can see why a Pastor would change his mind and switch back to grape juice. This opens up a can of worms in a Baptist church.
Since we do not believe (as the Catholics do) that the bread and juice literally become the body and blood of Jesus, I can see no good reason to switch to wine, but I can see many reasons why it would cause lots of problems.
I wondered about the legality of giving wine to minors but I asked a Lutheran pastor who is a good friend of mine and he said t hat there was no problem with that. Of course they are Biblical and use real wine unlike most Baptist, (me included)
It amazes me how little people really read the Bible on the topic. There are so many topics that take a lot of study and there seems to be some room for error, but all you ever get with this one is personal sentiment and experience.
Wine is a blessing from God, when Israel was blessed by God, they had plenty of it....when they weren't....well, you get the point.
Wine is not only acceptable for the Lord's Supper and in moderate use, it is a GOOD thing, a gift from God when used in the proper manner, when it "Cheereth God and Man" however when man is decieved by the abuse of it he is very "unwise" as the Proverbs state.
So, to answer the original post...I wish our Church could make that decision.
