More Baptist Beer-Bashing

Wow, I am absolutely floored by what I read this morning over at Jay Brooks' Brookston Beer Bulletin (one of the finest beer blogs in cyberspace, by the way). For some time now, Jay has been following the controversial topic of Christians and the consumption of alcohol. Some time last year, Jay cited a survey conducted by the website christianet.com. This survey asked its readers the question, "Should Christians drink beer?" You can read Jay's initial post about this survey right here.

You can read a commentary and response of mine here, in case you want the context.

More recently, Jay wrote a terrific follow up to his previous post and added some additional facts and observations as well. Read that one right here.

This morning, Jay posted a bit of news he came across originating from the Baptist Press website - a site affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The article title is "Six Flags Beer Application Sparks Protest." In a nutshell, the Six Flags over Texas in Arlington announced on December 17th their intention to apply for a liquor licence due to customer requests for beer on premises while dining or visiting the theme park. After this announcement, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission began receiving calls and letters in protest of the application. The protesters, according to the information in the afore-mentioned article are affiliated with or at the very least sympathetic to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. In fact, an Attorney for the Convention has even issued guidelines for citizens to file official protests in regard to this issue.

I won't elaborate on the Baptist Press article any further here, because I'd prefer the beerphilosopher.com readers read what Jay wrote in response instead. His argument, not to mention his frustration, is well-founded. I see no need to add to his assessment. I will just say that this news is a sad reminder just how far so many modern Evangelicals have moved from the rich traditions and liberties of the historic Church. Historically, the moderate use of alcohol was seldom an issue among believers. In Europe, the Church has always had a close connection to alcohol use, particularly beer. This is still the case in some corners of the world, to a lesser or greater degree. Our own pioneering ministers right here in America were often paid for their labors in drink as well. These are the very same early American Church fathers to which many of our present day Baptists claim an ecclesiastical heritage - A heritage, it appears, that suffers from a very selective memory.

The last thing I'll say is this and it may take me a bit for me to say it - I understand the theology that drives many Evangelicals, and many Baptists specifically, to reject the use of alcohol even in moderation. Their roots pre-date Prohibition, but the spirit that sparked Prohibition is the same one that plagues much of the Church today. Dispensationalists, as many, many modern Evangelicals are, believe that we are at an epoch in history where the Church writ-large is under attack and poised for increased persecution and, dare I say, isolation as a result. This theology, popularized by the "end-times" prognosticators like Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHay, to name just a couple, paint a picture of the world moving imminently toward a violent end. According to their theology, the Church (i.e., true believers) will be "raptured" out of this tribulation at some point along the way (we won't go into the fine points of tribulationism ...this is still a beer blog). The bottom line, though, is that many of these folks believe that beer (and alcohol in general) is just one of many tools that the Devil will use to entice Christians away from a life of faith. As the world continues to degrade, in their view, Christians need to be all the more diligent in guarding themselves against any obvious affiliation with "the world."

Beer is worldly, Worldly is bad. Ergo, beer is bad.

A pretty pessimistic view of the future, huh? Sadly, this is what a startling portion of the Evangelical Church believes today. Sensationalism sells. So, by rising up against things like moderate alcohol use, they are being true to their own convictions and true to what they're encouraged to believe is Biblical. This, I contend, is a sincere motivation. The trouble is ... I also believe it is sincerely wrong. I don't mean to sound overly harsh toward Evangelicals, or their questionable interpretation of portions of Scripture, but I am genuinely troubled by this sort of news. So many Church leaders are robbing their parishioners of their (literally) God-given liberties, often unknowingly.

Those of us who are Christians of a more historic (and, I'd argue, Biblical) bent are wont to cry out "wait, we don't all believe this stuff!" in an effort to do some sort of damage control for the "rest of us." At the end of the day, though, I don't know that this will do a lot of good. The only thing that will bring to truth of the matter to light is time, really. Something many don't believe we have.

Maybe when the latest end-times novel is forgotten, or revised because they got the predictions wrong again, some Christians will start to question the veracity of this kind of thought. Until then, however, I will continue to educate by example. Like Jay Brooks, I honestly don't think I pose a threat to anyone because I enjoy one of God's gifts - beer. On the contrary, I'm proud of the fact that I stand on the side of history with the giants of the Faith, like Calvin, Luther, Whitfield and Edwards and raise my glass in confidence, giving thanks to God for His good gifts. This definitely includes beer.

The reader can decide which of these attitudes is more "Christian."