The Bible and Alcohol
Scot McKnight on Beliefnet:
If I take a stand more “biblical than the Bible,” then I can’t be wrong. That is, if I choose not to drink at all, I will keep myself from sin and all appearance of evil and will be safe. This is what I call the sin of “zealotry” — the belief that if we are more extreme than the Bible, then we can’t be wrong. Wrong.
This is closely related to piety. Often it is the same logic used in relation to ἀδιάφορα (adiaphora), which is the Greek word meaning “indifferent things” usually used in a theological context to denote matters to which the Bible does not speak directly.
We Christians like to elevate human traditions to the level of the law (which itself is not the good news). There are all sorts of unspoken rules regarding dress code, language, style of worship — you name it. We have to make sure we don’t conflate our opinions with God’s word. We have to make sure we are not attempting to be more “biblical than the Bible” and certainly not expecting to others to do the same.
For a church that meets at a bar, it’s probably not a big temptation to do this with regard to alcohol, but there are many other facets of our lives in which we can get ensnared. Be aware and instead of working on being more holy, work on getting to know Jesus more.
(via Josh Cook)
