There’s an article floating around on Facebook that has me rolling my eyes and saying, Enough is enough. Enough with the fear tactics. Enough with the guilt trips.
The article, A Caution For Every Christian That Drinks Alcohol, is nicely worded on the surface…you know, like the whole truth in love thing. But the underlying attitude seems to me to be passive-aggressive with a dose of manipulation.
Yes, I unashamedly admit to enjoying a glass of wine or a margarita occasionally. But let me share with you some of my history before I ever got to this point.
I grew up believing drinking alcohol was one of the worst sins a Christian could commit. Not murder. Not rape. Not even adultery. Drinking alcohol! Seriously?!
Anyway, not only did I believe drinking alcohol was wrong, but buying it or even being seen on the alcohol aisle at the grocery store was wrong. I remember eating lunch at a mall while on my Christian school field trip in junior high school and being told not to eat lunch in a certain restaurant since they served alcohol.
By the time I was in high school and college, I experimented with drinking on occasion, but still firmly believed it was wrong, thus deepening my sense of guilt and shame.
As a married, early-twenty-something, I indulged my self-righteousness and was quick to speak out against any form of drinking. I sat in Sunday School one morning with my smug, prideful attitude and most likely offended half of the class with my little speech about being a godly witness.
I remember shaking my head in judgment one time when a friend told me her relative had bought beer to make a FOOD RECIPE that called for it. I couldn’t believe a Christian would allow herself to be seen buying alcohol. Did she want to ruin her witness?
I even went so far one time as telling a deacon about seeing alcohol in a Sunday School teacher’s refrigerator.
{I’m trying to give myself some grace at this very moment, but I am disgusted by the attitude I had!}
What I never said, never even allowed myself to think for more than a few seconds was this: I was jealous of other Christians who felt the freedom to have an occasional drink.
I was bound by rules and guilt and the fear that I might cause some non-Christian to spend eternity in hell if they saw me with alcohol. I couldn’t be a stumbling block…to anybody in the world. I was also bound by the fear that some other Christian might think me less than righteous if they even spotted me on the alcohol aisle at the grocery store.
Let me tell you…my stance on alcohol had absolutely nothing to do with loving other people. It was all about me, my judgmental attitude, and my inane, religious belief.
Eight or nine years ago, I decided maybe having an occasional drink wasn’t Satan’s ploy to use me to damn the world. It’s taken years, but I can finally order a drink in a restaurant without fear or guilt. I can finally stand in the alcohol aisle and select a wine without feeling like I should be wearing a hat and sunglasses. I can finally enjoy a glass of something warm and relaxing in my home without feeling like I’m going to turn my children into raging alcoholics when they grow up.
Will I respect another who doesn’t drink and asks me not to do so in their presence? Absolutely! I’ve had that happen, and was more than willing to respect my friend’s feelings.
But I no longer feel the need to swear off alcohol because my “witness [might] be tarnished.”
The thing is…we can make a sin out of anything, and throw our self-righteous stones. There are a million sins I commit that people could nitpick about if they wanted. And some have, throwing their chosen stones at me. But the question is…Why are we nitpicking?
Rouse’s warning to Christians about drinking alcohol is based on this line: The often overlooked sin that is rearing its ugly head are Christians displaying their love and consumption of alcohol to those around them in public and on social media, when there are many around them that struggle with this temptation and addiction. If that’s true, we should all stop posting photos of our new boots or new car or even the gifts we received for Christmas on social media because there are people who struggle with shopping addictions or covetousness or jealousy.
I’m sorry, but I can’t take the pressure of being responsible for the whole world!
If we as Christians are so worried about offending others or ruining our witness, I think we need to begin with our attitudes…the judgmental, manipulative, shaming ones that leave others feeling like they have to hide. The attitudes that leave people saying, If that’s what being a Christian is about, I want no part of it. {And I have to tell you, I say that a lot lately!} Let’s worry less about manipulating others into sharing our personal convictions. Let’s worry less about how others around us are behaving. Let’s stop basing our Christianity on fear tactics. Let’s worry more about sharing the unconditional love and grace we’ve been given.
