Makes me laugh when I see pastors and Christians so boxed up in themselves and busy boxing God in, thinking they are righteous in what they do. They must really have some mental block or something. Even something like Marijuana, God created it and no man should make a law prohibiting something He made to make you feel good. I can see laws against things that are chemically treated and altered to something unnatural and a killer, but that is it.

People make decisions like this based on fear, experience with something bad that they see happened, misinformation, etc. If these people do not believe in Alcohol and feeling good then take away all their Tylenol, aspirin, high blood pressure medicine, Percocet’s, anti-depressants, etc. that make them feel good! They are all prejudice and do not know the truth and that is a bigger stumbling block then anything else!

Come visit my Church when I open, I’ll have a wine cellar with anointed wines, and beer. And I will also go ahead and put my own Cracker Barrel out front to catch the money on the way out to!

Love, Amedeo

7 For a bishop (or leader in the church) must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, 8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,

1.) Freedom – “Everything is permissible”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”–but not everything is constructive. 1 Cor 10:23

2.) Purpose & Love – Creation’s purpose is to glorify God. Everything we do should be part of this and done in love. Specific actions and situations may open one up to different responses but remember your purpose. Does each action serve it? Is it done in love to God and others?

3.) Reality – 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year
***At least once a year, the guidelines for low risk drinking are exceeded by an estimated 74% of male drinkers and 72% of female drinkers aged 21 and older.
***Nearly 14 million Americans meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders.
***Youth who drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than those who never drink alcohol.

Are Pastors part of the problem or the solution?

BTW there is no Pastor category in the Bible, so maybe you should include church leaders and teachers in this question.

First, I believe that whatever a pastor does or does not do in his own home should be the same as what he does in public. I’m very opposed to the idea of living two lives (i.e. the church/home life, and the hanging with friends life. The two should be the same for no other reason than integrity).

Second, I see little difference between a pastor or other church leader and any given spirit filled Christian. We are all ambassadors of Christ no matter who signs our paychecks. We should all be held to the same standards.

However, in an attempt to answer the original question, I’d simply look to the example given in Jesus. Prepare to be shocked, but he did drink alcohol. Not just in private but also in public settings. He even supplied the wine for others to drink.

Some of the attitudes here are quite contrary to Jesus’s example. Jesus would never avoid situations with real people just so he could avoid someone misinterpreting his actions for evil or sin. If you read the NT, this actually happens ALL THE TIME. Pharisees constantly attack him for holding an appearance of evil when, in fact, he was totally w/o sin. If you are attempting to appear holy by avoiding all association with anything that could ever possibly be interpreted as evil, then you are aligning yourself more with the legalistic Pharisees than with Christ.