Posted on 06/15/2006 12:56:52 PM PDT by Kahonek
GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP)--Messengers to the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention adopted resolutions on such currently controversial topics as immigration and the environment June 14, but the debate time was dominated by an issue addressed repeatedly in the convention’s 161-year history -- alcohol.
A lengthy debate on a recommendation concerning the use of alcoholic beverages consumed the Resolution Committee’s report in the morning session. In a departure from recent years, the committee needed the evening session to complete its report.
When the back-and-forth on alcohol finally ended, the messengers passed with about a four-fifths majority a resolution not only opposing the manufacture and consumption of alcohol but urging the exclusion of Southern Baptists who drink from election to the convention’s boards, committees and entities. Like other resolutions, it is not binding on SBC churches and entities.
The resolution’s supporters contended the action was needed because some Christians believe they may drink based on a wrong interpretation of the believer’s “freedom in Christ.” They said abstaining from alcohol preserves a Christian’s purity and testimony, while drinking can be a “stumbling block” for others and has destructive results.
Opponents argued that the resolution promoted a position based on Southern Baptist tradition instead of Scripture, which describes the use of wine in the Old and New Testaments. Concern also was expressed that a resolution excluding those who drink alcohol could be the start of a list of sins that would disqualify people from serving in the convention.
The passage of the resolution marked the first time the SBC had approved an alcohol-related recommendation since 1991, according to the records of the convention’s Executive Committee. The 15-year gap is the longest between approved resolutions on alcohol since the convention adopted its first such recorded measure on the topic in 1886. In all, the SBC has approved 57 resolutions related to alcohol since that year.
T.C. French, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, acknowledged afterward that the panel was a “little surprised” the alcohol measure dominated debate, considering some of the other issues addressed in the 15 resolutions.
“We felt like since we had not presented [a resolution] on alcohol in a number of years, we felt like we needed to get that done,” French told reporters.
The committee offered the resolution without recommending any restriction in SBC life for those who consume alcohol. Jim Richards, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and a messenger from First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas, introduced on the floor an amendment calling for abstinence among those serving in the SBC, and the Resolutions Committee endorsed his recommendation.
The amendment, which also passed with about four-fifths of messengers in favor, said: “Resolved, that we urge that no one be elected to serve as a trustee or a member of any entity or committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that is a user of alcoholic beverages.”
“While there may be liberty, we cannot violate [the admonition in 1 Corinthians 8 that] says our liberty can become a stumbling block. … [T]he use of alcohol as a beverage can and does impede our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ,” Richards said in support of his amendment. “[O]ur leaders should take the high road in our walk with the Lord Jesus.”
Voicing opposition to the amendment, Tom Ascol, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., and executive director of Founders Ministries, a Southern Baptist organization that advocates reformed theology, referred to an New Testament account of Jesus at a wedding as his rationale.
“Christ turned water into wine,” Ascol said.
Speaking against the resolution, Benjamin Cole, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, said he does not advocate the drinking of alcohol but he feared the convention was in danger of “misstepping” if it adopted “a position that is contrary to what the Bible teaches in the flexibility of the scriptural admonitions as they relate to the consumption of alcoholic beverages.”
Cole’s father died at the age of 39 from a liver disease brought on by alcoholism.
“My father did not die because he drank alcohol; my father died because he drank alcohol in excess,” said Cole, who said as a 13-year-old he cared for his father during the last six months of his life.
In defense of the resolution, committee member Dwayne Mercer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Oviedo, Fla., said while he appreciates “the fact that people become alcoholics because they drink too much alcohol, my parents always taught me, ‘If you don’t take the first drink, you don’t have to worry about taking the last.’”
In opposing the resolution, Jeff Young, pastor of Corinth Baptist Church in Ravenna, Texas, said the older members of the SBC had won the battle to proclaim the Bible is “authoritative and sufficient, but when we pass extra-biblical resolutions such as this, we pull the rug out from underneath that teaching.”
To hardcore Baptists it was grape juice.
First miracle: wine at Cana. Party goers drank so much, they ran out.
Last Supper: wine.
Yep, Christ hated alcohol.
This is the primary reason that people have a problem with the Baptists, in my opinion.
In order to argue that abstinence is Scripturally obligatory, the SBC apparently has to abandon its views on church polity.
"This is the primary reason that people have a problem with the Baptists, in my opinion."
Kind of a shame too, given that the entire denomination has been built on principles that would seem to preclude such a move.
" [T]he use of alcohol as a beverage can and does impede our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ,”"
Sure. And the refusal to use alcohol as a beverage can and does impede our testimony, as one appears to non-believers as a holier-than-thou with a stick up one's rear.
Having a drink is not a sin. Being drunk, such that one loses one's facilities, is. There is a huge distinction.
You know how to tell the difference between a Baptist and Presbyterian? The Presbyterian will speak to you in the package store.
I am Christian and I drink. The temperence movement Christians stretch their Biblical reasoning on consumption of alcohol way too far. They conveniently forget that:
(1) Jesus apparently consumed enough wine to be accused of being a drunkard.
(2) On the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out and the disciples were accused of being drunk, Peter did not say, "we are not drunk because we believe drinking is wrong". He essentially said, "we are not drunk, it is only nine in the morning".
(3) John the Baptist was one of three in the Bible identified as taking the Nazarite vow, the other two being Samson and Samuel (I think). The vow prohited them from cutting their hair and consuming alcohol. What good is a Nazarite vow if it is wrong to drink alcohol in the first place?
Chrisians have created a stumbling block out of alcohol consumption because they have imposed a standard of behavior on man that God has not. In the process, they have, in my opinion, created barriers that make it harder for Christians to win souls to Christ. There is a whole lot more wrong with that than consuming moderate amounts of alcohol . . . IMHO
***“Christ turned water into wine,” Ascol said. ***
About ten years ago I heard a SBC pastor claim from the pulpit that "Christ changed the water into pure unfermented grape juice!"
We looked at each other and just gave that quiet grin.
I wouldn't know about that. If I remember right, they also don't gamble, they don't dance, many of them listen to only those religious radio stations, watch only those special channels, etc. Granted, alot of that is stereotype, but that's how it was when I was growing up, and I think it's still like that today.
Correct me if I am wrong, Jesus drank wine. All things in moderation if I remember correctly. Drinking alcohol is fine if it is done in moderation, IMO.
And I have witnessed to a friend in a bar having a beer with him
Many Southern Baptists have huge guts, what about overeating?
Everything in moderation.
Correct, the admonition was against being a drunkard, not having a drink:
Romans 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
1 Corinthians 5:11
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
1 Corinthians 6:10
. . .nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:21
. . . and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
The key being excess drink.
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