Dear Brian,

i just read your article regarding drinking, and i thought it was fair minded and appreciated what you had to say. i was wondering if you could send me some follow up thoughts regarding the idea that; if people want to have relationship with me than they are responsible to let me know if i have offended them or not. Is it always my responsibility to support the weaker brother (re: more than just alcohol issues of course), b/c brother that will get taxing. Maybe your answer is, as a leader i aught to at least try, if so that makes sense to me, but i would like to hear further thoughts on this. I guess i see the opportunities for me to offend somebody is a great opportunity to also have relationship with them and begin to work out the offense, not to say that i should sin so grace may abound, but simple be open to how my freedom affects others.

Also if there is something that has already addressed this in your article i won’t be offended if you suggest that i simply refer back to the article.

thanks for your time.

Comment by eddie eccker | March 18, 2007 | Edit

You bring up a good question because it’s very easy to say “don’t do something that may cause your brother to stumble” but in real life you often don’t exactly know if you are or if you aren’t.

Usually this will lead Christians conclude they should never drink or do any other offensive thing because they just never know. If that’s what you conclude, that’s fine. The problem to watch for though, is the tendency to condemn Christians who don’t do things the same as we do. Imagine that right? Typically a Christian sees another Christian take one drink, they conclude immediately that Christian is causing people to stumble, and they judge him/her for it.

In fact, a Christian the other day said, “Any time a non-Christian sees a Christian with a drink in their hand, they conclude immediately he’s a hypocrite! That’s the way all non-Christians look at it.” Therefore any Christian with a beer in his/her hand is doing wrong in their opinion. So says the Missouri Baptist Convention in fact…

Well, that IS what Christian’s tend to believe, but I actually took a poll of non-Christians, and while it wasn’t scientific, not a single person said they thought the Christian would be a hypocrite if he had a beer. About half said they’d respect him more! Worth considering.

Anyway, here’s the stuff I think is important to keep in mind: First, the word “stumble” in the Bible where it talks about causing your brother to stumble, literally means “entice to sin.” It does not mean, they get huffy and self-righteous about it. Think Jesus and Pharisees when Jesus was in Matthew’s house. Jesus didn’t much care about the offense He gave the Pharisees.

In Romans the Bible says if it causes your brother distress and you drink or eat around him anyway, you’re not doing it in love. Interestingly, even the non-Christians I talked to about this said they didn’t think someone should drink around an recovering alcoholic because it really bothers them. That’s the principle in Romans, if it really bothers your brother, don’t be flaunting it.

Second, I would keep I Corinthians 10 in mind. (the whole conversation Paul is having starts somewhere around chapter eight) In chapter 10, Paul first lays a huge guilt trip on these guys for not just eating meat sacrificed to idols but doing it in the idol’s temple! It seems logical to apply that to drinking by understanding there’s a huge difference between having a glass of wine or beer at Applebees with your meal, and having a beer in your hand at a drunken party, or a bar, or at the lake when everyone is getting plastered. Just the sight of it makes people conclude drunkenness and we don’t want people to think we are getting drunk! That is flat out sin. So as a rule at our church, we ask our leaders (whatever they believe about drinking) to absolutely not drink alcoholic beverages in situations that WILL be seen as partying or drunkenness. If you’re in a bar, drink a Pepsi!

(Why go to a bar? Maybe because the football team you love is on the big screen, and maybe because you like to play pool, and maybe because you’ve got some non-Christian friends you wanted to spend some time with and share your faith. And maybe because that’s just the sort of thing Jesus would do… go places the “religious” folk wouldn’t.)

Well, right after Paul lays a guilt trip on these guys for eating meat sacrificed to idols in the idol’s temple, the Bible then says:

1Co 10:27-29 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no question for conscience’ sake. But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you,”

Based on the above, I think the Bible here is telling us to not make a big deal out of things, BUT if the person or people we are with has a problem with something, and points it out, don’t do it. In other words, we just need to listen and pay attention to their attitudes and opinions. Like the verse says, if the guy makes of point of telling you it’s food sacrificed to idols, then don’t eat for his sake. So I think the Bible is telling us to pay attention to the other person and I would personally err on the side of caution in regards to drinking. If someone put a drink down in front of me, I’d probably say “You know I’m preacher right?” He might say, “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.” To which I’d reply, “I’m not offended, in fact taking a drink isn’t a sin, but I didn’t want you to think I was a hypocrite!”

And if I’m offered a drink by a waitress, and I don’t know what the guys around me would think, I just order Pepsi. Because living in America, a lot of people freak out about it, and if I don’t know what they believe, I’d be a bit reckless to drink in front of them.

As for people who don’t know you. I don’t see how we can cause them to stumble or even grieve them since we aren’t any different than any other person they don’t know at a ballgame -BUT… considering our culture here and people’s attitudes, I find it easier most of the time to refrain just in case someone who does know me would be there. It’s that err on the side of caution thing again. (and I REALLY like Pepsi anyway)

Besides, usually, I can show non-Christians I’m not a judgmental preacher by going to the ballgames, and playing that game of pool with them at the bar while drinking a pepsi, and by not being “too good” to hang with them or visit their house, or play cards with them. They find out I don’t condemn taking a drink, and even though I don’t drink, they appreciate the fact I don’t condemn them for it.

You don’t have to clean up before taking a bath, and you don’t clean up a person BEFORE he/she comes to Jesus Christ.

Would I ever take a drink? If it wouldn’t cause someone to stumble, wouldn’t grieve a brother, and I was thirsty…

and it wasn’t Lite Beer… then maybe.