Last week a news program dealt with a problem many families struggle with at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The problem was big family fights and how to avoid them at family celebrations. One recommended option was to reduce the amount of alcohol served at family gatherings.
I have a better solution. Have an alcohol-free, drug-free holiday. I’m well aware that you can have family fights without alcohol being involved. The first thing alcohol does, however, is affect your judgment and reduce your inhibitions. With a little alcohol you do things you would never do in your right mind. Drug free, many can hold their tongues and keep their attitudes in check.
For those who think you must have alcohol at every family gathering, I would ask, Why? Even dedicated drinkers should be able to survive two or three hours without a mind altering recreational drug. If it is your home then you don’t have to supply it or allow it. You can also be gracious, but firm in prohibiting alcohol in your home.
Several years ago the Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas had a problem. Families were no longer going to the Seawall. They studied the issue and found that with all the drunken partying, families were staying away. Galveston made the wise decision to ban alcohol on the Seawall. An amazing thing happened. Peace and tranquility reigned and the families returned. Absence of alcohol will never solve all problems, but it will certainly solve many of them.
Alcohol coarsens everything it touches. The great Southern Baptist preacher, R. G. Lee, eloquently preached, “Intoxicating beverage never touched an individual that it did not leave an indelible stain, never touched a family that it did not plant the seeds of misery and dissolution, never touched a community that it did not lower the moral tone, chill religion and undermine law. Liquor never touched a state that it did not multiply crime, destroy wealth and increase the burden of taxation. It never touched a nation that it did not clog the machinery of government, blight prosperity, weaken patriotism and encourage treason.”
Want a peaceful family Thanksgiving? Want a joy-filled, Christ-honoring Christmas? One way to achieve that goal is to pour beverage alcohol down the drain.
Reference: Highways to Havoc by R. G. Lee, Christ for the World Publishers, Orlando, Florida; 1974. Lee (AD 1886-1978) was pastor of First Baptist Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee. He served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention and authored numerous books.
-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, November 30, AD 2009.
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Wine for Your Stomach's Sake; 1 Timothy 5:23
More articles in lower right margin.
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You know pastor that the early godly pilgrims brought their wine and beer on the Mayflower. They had no problem with their Christianity and moderation with alcohol. They had strict penalties for drunkenness. But if you personally hold to the abstaining view, that is a godly choice as well.
ReplyDeletebest regards,
Kenny Wayne
Kenny,
ReplyDeleteYes, I am well aware that many of the Christians of the 16 and 1700s drank, and it became a growing problem.
I can admire certain believers while at the same time strongly disagreeing with them on certain points of doctrine or practice. Some of these believers held to slavery, infant baptism, rejected religious liberty, as well as believed in drinking - all things with which I would disagree.
Many Christians believed in moderation in drinking. Many of those same people eventually came to understand that, in the words of Adrian Rogers, moderate drinking is not the cure for drunkenness, it is the cause of drunkenness. Most every problem drinker began as a moderate drinker.
Baptists long ago came to the conclusion that we should abstain from beverage alcohol for biblical, medical, and moral reasons. They have passed numerous resolutions affirming this position beginning in the mid to late 1800s and as recently as 2006 in the SBC and 2009 in the SBTC.
David R. Brumbelow