Joe Thorn has a biblical response to Danny Akin's Baptist Press article: The Case for Alcohol Abstinence. A blurb...
There has been a lot of talk about “wisdom” in the middle of this discussion. I agree we must pursue, and pray for wisdom. But “wisdom” is not law, and it is often subjective. What is wise for one man, may not be wise for another. I will agree in saying that abstaining from alcohol may be “the wise thing” for some people, but to suggest that it should be the behavior of all people is not only unwise, it is unbiblical.
Go to Joe's post and discuss it.
For some reason, my posts from Joe's earlier blog post were removed, and I am unable to post under his corrent blog post. Here's the response that I would have made:
Joe, another aspect of this that you may want to deal with is stewardship (a biblical principle). One glass of wine is enough to produce a blood alcohol content of .02 in a 220 pound man and cause impairment. See the following web site:
http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm
In biblical times, the beneficial aspects of wine (medicinal uses and potable qualities) outweighed the deleterious aspects. In the modern American context, however, the deleterious aspects (impairment while driving and making other decisions) outweighs the beneficial aspects because we normally have potable water and modern medicines. Thus, abstinence is the proper stewardship choice in the modern American context.
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 07:27 PM
Joe sent me an email and said he is trying to solve the problem with my posts on his site. Here is the post I tried to submit a few minutes ago:
Joe, thanks for solving the problem so that I could post on your site again. In response to Danny Akin’s statement that since 1886 a total of 62 resolutions have been passed by the SBC stressing abstinence, you said the following:
“We have many precedents. As Baptists we actually have a longer, more historic heritage of enjoying alcohol in moderation than that of teetotalism.”
I’m not sure why Baptists produced the first resolution in 1886. I wasn’t there and haven’t read anything about their reasoning. Could it be that before the 1880s Baptists in America did not understand the concept of bacterial disease in water? Good stewardship involved drinking liquids that would not kill them with bacterial disease. When they understood that water could be purified of bacterial contamination, then they could be even better stewards of their bodies by drinking potable water that would not impair their decision making. Notice the following quote:
“Slow sand filters were introduced in Massachusetts in the mid-1870s. Sand filters and other treatments were primarily designed to improve the aesthetic quality of water. It took major developments in bacteriology during the 1870s and 1880s to demonstrate that microorganisms that exist in water supplies can cause human and animal diseases. This led to the realization that water treatment could help prevent disease. Robert Koch, the German physician and microbiologist who postulated the germ theory of disease and the Scottish surgeon Joseph Lister were major players in this work. . . . By the 1890s filtration was gaining recognition for not only straining out undesirable particles, but also removing deadly germs. Towns and cities along the Hudson River in New York State that used filtration for water purification had fewer outbreaks and incidences of typhoid than communities that did not filter the Hudson River water. In the mid 1890s, the Louisville (Ky.) Water Co. combined coagulation with rapid sand filtration, reducing both turbidity and bacteria in the water.”
http://www.wrb.state.ri.us/programs/eo/historydrinkingwater.htm
Interestingly, the first gasoline-powered car was invented one year before the first Baptist resolution advocating alcohol abstinence appeared:
“The automobile powered by the Otto gasoline engine was invented in Germany by Karl Benz in 1885. Benz was granted a patent dated 29 January 1886 in Mannheim for that automobile. Even though Benz is credited with the invention of the modern automobile, several other German engineers worked on building automobiles at the same time. In 1886, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart patented the first motor bike, built and tested in 1885, and in 1886 they built a converted horse-drawn stagecoach.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile
Stewardship of one’s body has to be discussed in regard to alcoholic beverages. One glass of wine is enough to produce a blood alcohol content of .02 in a 220 pound man and cause impairment. See the following web site:
http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm
In biblical times, the beneficial aspects of wine (medicinal uses and potable qualities) outweighed the deleterious aspects. In the modern American context, however, the deleterious aspects (impairment while driving and making other decisions) outweighs the beneficial aspects because we normally have potable water and modern medicines. Thus, abstinence is the proper stewardship choice in the modern American context.
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 10:16 PM
Steve,
Is there any chance we can do a TOPIC on this whole notion of the sufficiency of Scripture and how the SBC (like many other denominations) often finds themselves at odds with what the Word says?
For example, the issue of plural-elder rule. The issue of alcohol (with the broader focus on any aspect of legalism). The issue of church discpline. The issue of seeing the church as primarily for unbelievers. Just to name a few.
Thanks man!
Posted by: Jeremy Weart | 07/01/2006 at 11:02 PM
Jeremy, notice Leviticus 25:44:
"As for your male and female slaves whom you may have--you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you."
Does this mean slavery is okay in the modern American context? Like alcoholic beverages, it was tolerated in a context very different from that of modern America. Does the modern American context affect how we weigh certain biblical principles?
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 11:10 PM
Some of my most exhilirating and expansive theological discussions have come over a few pints of some dark ale!
Posted by: Jeremy Weart | 07/01/2006 at 11:18 PM
I know this guy who just bought a bar in Seattle. I gurantee that he will have far more success in reaching out to the lost than any campaign the SBC leadership has tried to establish over the last 50 years or so.
Posted by: Jeremy Weart | 07/01/2006 at 11:21 PM
Jeremy, remember that alcohol is a depressant, not a stimulant. You could have been even more exhilerating and expansive if you had not been drinking alcoholic beverages.
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 11:23 PM
Bap Theologue,
Tell that to Luther! He is one of our greatest and courageous minds of Protestantism and he regulard imbibed with his buddies - Table Talk.
Luther said that he had some of his greatest theological discussions around the table with his fellow Christians.
Posted by: Jeremy Weart | 07/01/2006 at 11:28 PM
In regard to Seattle, why not buy a coffee shop rather than a bar? Lost folks also patronize coffee shops. I've had the opportunity to present the gospel a few times this year at Starbucks.
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 11:29 PM
Luther died in 1546. If you read my post above, you know that folks did not have a good grasp on water purity at that time. Luther certainly came a long way in the right direction from Roman Catholicism. It's a shame he didn't move a bit further in our direction. Maybe if he had imbibed a bit less. . . .
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 11:46 PM
Bap Theologue,
Are you one of the SBC leaders in disguise?
Posted by: Jeremy Weart | 07/01/2006 at 11:52 PM
Nope. And by the way, I really do admire Luther. I was trying to inject a bit of humor, something at which I'm not very good.
Posted by: Baptist Theologue | 07/01/2006 at 11:54 PM
Heading out of town and closing the comments on this post. Thanks.
Posted by: Steve McCoy | 07/02/2006 at 12:43 AM