Guess I forgot it the secon time too.
Let's have a little fun with that wackiest of prot sects, the Baptists:
Is Mandatory Abstinence from Wine Biblical?
Question: Most Baptist churches require that members abstain from alcohol. Is this Biblical?
Not really. Most Baptist churches do in fact require their members to abstain from wine and other alcoholic beverages. In doing so, they stand in direct contradiction of the Biblical instruction, "let no man judge you in food or in drink" (Col. 2:16), and expose their requirement of abstinence as a "doctrine of men" (Col. 2:22) from which Christians ought rightly to be set at liberty.
Baptists will point to Paul's comment that "it is good to neither eat meat nor drink wine" (Ro. 14:21), but do they require their members to abstain from meat as well? To do otherwise is hypocrisy! More discerning Baptists will point out that Paul goes on to say that "it is good to neither eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles," and thence claim that they insist on abstinence in order to prevent their brothers from stumbling. But they forget that Paul also counsels, "Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him" (Ro. 14:3). What's more, in practice, some Baptists use the consumption of alcohol as a test by which to discriminate sinner from saint, and saved from unsaved. And this is not causing one's brother to stumble! Have they forgotten Paul's admonition "why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?" (Ro. 14:10).
Do Baptists wish to make a sinner of our Lord Jesus Christ, who both made wine (Jo. 2:3-10) and drank wine (Mat. 11:19, Lk. 7:34)? Did Jesus come to cause the Christian to stumble? Out of the question! Do the Baptists forget that the Apostle Paul counseled his protégé Timothy to drink wine (1 Tim. 5:23)?
Some Baptists will point out that they, as a church, seek to follow the example of John the Baptist, who did not drink wine. Do they forget that the baptism of John the Baptist was superseded by the baptism of Jesus Christ (John 3:22-4:2, Acts 19:3-5), who made and drank wine, and whose disciples drank wine?
Finally, Baptists make themselves, and by implication Christ, a target of mockery by imposing such a requirement on their members. For example:
Question - "What are the principal differences between the religions?" Answer - "Jews don't recognize Jesus, Protestants don't recognize the Pope, and Baptists don't recognize each other in the liquor store."
Are Relics Biblical?
Question: I've heard that some Catholics treat relics of the saints with respect. Is this Biblical?
Absolutely. In fact, the Bible records that a number of miraculous healings occurred when people came into contact with the relics of the holy men and women of God. For example, the Bible tells us that a dead man was restored to life when his body accidentally came into contact with the bones of Elisha:
"So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders, and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet" (2 Kings 13:21).
Such miraculous cures in association with the relics of the saints continued even into the age of the New Testament Church. We are familiar with the instances in which a woman was cured when she touched the garment of Jesus (Mat. 9:20-22), and of the multitude of sick people who waited in the streets, hopeful that at least the shadow of Peter might fall on them as he passed (Acts 5:15). But the Catholic respect for the relics of the saints is prefigured in the fact that God chose to work great deeds through even the relics of St. Paul:
"Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them" (Acts 19:11-12).
Catholics take great comfort, as should all Christians, that God has not ceased to work great deeds and unusual miracles through the relics of His saints. Lourdes and countless other shrines stand witness to the continued working of miracles among the people of God.