HILARIOUS!

I don't know if you have had the pleasure of reading (and laughing at) one the greatest blogs ever, STUFF CHRISTIANS LIKE, but I read it often and LOVE it! Due to time constraints, I'm not able to read it every day, so the post I'm about to link you to is a few days old. I got caught up tonight. Anyway, this post is HILARIOUS. Check it out:

Remix #34 Subtly Finding Out if You Drink Beer Too

I laughed through the whole post.

On a slightly serious note, this is one of those hot button issues. There are those who vehemently believe that drinking is wrong, and that those who do are committing a sin by doing so. I, however, don't personally feel that way. I have, at times, been on each side. I had my years where I argued that there was nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. I mean, after all, Jesus' first miracle was to turn water into wine (John 2). Then I had Tristan, quit drinking, and got kind of hoity toity and thought that I was above those who drank alcohol. I mean, don't those people realize what kind of example they're setting? Now, I'm in a place where I believe that being drunk is wrong, as multiple verses from the Bible tell us; however, I don't believe that it is wrong to drink. I believe that if a person struggles with it, they should not drink. I, personally, stopped drinking because I had often kept going when I should have stopped. I crossed the line, even if it was only slightly.

A couple of months ago, I read Romans 14 with fresh eyes. I was reading about how we need to accept those who have weak faith without passing judgment on them. Romans 12:2-3 says, "One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him." Then I went on to read in v.14-17, "As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit..."

You see, for years, I have read and heard this passage taught as something totally different than what I read that day. I had always heard (and had even used) that this verse meant that if you drink, even if it's very little, you are a stumbling block to others who may already drink too much. They see you drink, and they think it's ok. They drink more. Thus, the stumbling block. I'm not saying that may not happen, not at all. I believe sometimes it does. But what God showed me that day, as I read these verses with fresh eyes, was that if someone I know thinks that drinking is wrong and sinful, and if I drink in their presence, I am a stumbling block to them. They will regard what I am doing as evil and will be distracted from what God wants our focus to be on, "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit". BINGO! And this doesn't just apply to alcohol. It applies to everything, anything that may cause your Christian brother to stumble and take his attention away from Christ and onto whatever it is that you are doing. For some it's eating pork, for others it's getting tattooed. Anyway...

Have you done this? Have you tried to scope out if new people you meet drink or not (read the post from SCL first)? You may even be afraid to admit it. Whether or not you drink, I'm sure you've been through this, on one side of the fence or the other. As a person who used to drink regularly (not get drunk regularly, but drink regularly {although, before I got saved, I did get drunk regularly~college~oy!}), I remember constantly wondering if certain friends did or didn't drink. I guess we all probably wonder from time to time. Anyway, I thought the SCL post was really really funny. I hope you enjoy(ed) it!