Monday, May 21, 2007

A Biblical Study on Wine - Conclusions

Before I post my thoughts and conclusions off the study I wanted to list the links to the study below.
Intro
Torah
Joshua-Proverbs
Ecclesiastes-Malachi
Gospels
Acts-Revelation
Question

After reading through all of these texts, I feel like I have a couple basic conclusions. God created wine as a blessing to His people including Jesus when He was the Incarnate Christ. Wine seems to be something that Christians can and maybe even should use as a remembrance and celebration of the blessings of God much like the Jewish people do in their feasts. Wine is something to be enjoyed responsibly. Drunkenness is clearly and obviously a sin. There are also times where people, especially Christian leaders, should abstain from drinking wine for the purpose of prayer and seeking direction from God.

Drinking wine should not be something that people are judged for doing, but those who have the freedom to drink wine should be thoughtful of who they are around when participating in their freedom. I also don't agree that if someone is an alcoholic and sees someone having a glass of wine that they will then be sent into an addictive tailspin to stumbling ruin.

The biggest standout for me is not Jesus turning water into wine (although that is interesting) and its not the O.T. passages about God giving wine to be a blessing to His people and its not the assumptions that Scripture makes that people will drink wine. The standout for me is that Jesus drank wine. He came eating and drinking and people judged Him and called Him a drunkard and He served wine to His disciples and told us to remember Him when we drink it.

So if you have had major addictive issues with alcohol in your past then don't drink wine. I'm also not talking about slamming back jager-bombs or drinking 4 Long Island Ice Teas. I'm talking about a couple glasses of wine. Be responsible people! But if you don't have an addictive issue and you are over 21 years old then practice your dominion over God's creation and enjoy the fruit of the harvest that God has given to you. And please, stop judging people for something that is nowhere even close to a sin. In fact, it's a sin to judge people for enjoying wine responsibly.

2 comments:

Jason said...

YES! YES! YES!

I'm thinking of doing a wine tasting in the Tustin area to celebrate our re-confirmed freedom by Rev. Wakeling. Anyone interested?

Melissa Brosch said...

Well done my friend. I agree wholeheartedly.