The church of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ and the twelve-step program known as Alcoholics Anonymous are not the same. They do share principles from time to time (Much of AA teaching comes from the book of James and the Sermon on the Mount). But there is one area where the Bible is more lenient than AA and that is God’s teaching on alcohol use among Christians.
While drunkenness is a clear sin, the word of God does not supply a complete prohibition against alcohol use for believers. Trust me, it would make things easier for teachers and preachers if it did. But the truth is, some alcohol use is allowed in the New Testament, and to attempt a total ban would be naïve at best and disingenuous at worst. On the other side of the coin, our beaming alcohol enthusiast will be pained to know the wine common among the Greeks of the first century, would generally contain around 1-to-3 percent alcohol after being mixed with water.
Thankfully most Christians on both sides of this issue will never have to deal with the maddening behavior of an alcoholic. To us, it is not a question of drunkenness or moderation. It is life or death. Alcoholics/addicts find themselves unable to resist drink number one. Once the first shot is fired, an addict will not stop until they run out of money, drugs, friends, or consciousness.
“The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink (or drugs-JS). Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent…We are without defense against the first drink1.”-Alcoholics Anonymous.
For the recovering alcoholic and Christian, this makes for an unusual set of conversations. One group of believers doesn’t understand why you need to keep going, “to those meetings.” While social drinking proponents, who may legitimately have no trouble having no more than one monthly cocktail, may offer you a drink that will set “one of us” on a path to ruin.
So, how are Christians, who do not struggle with addiction, supposed to be of service to the ones who do? Treat us like everybody else. Would you counsel a person who just lost a hundred pounds to stop going to Weight Watchers? How about your friend trying to stop sports gambling? Do you give him a thousand dollars and tell him to “head on up to Oak Grove and spend it on the ponies” just because it has never been a problem for you?
The situation I find most difficult for the church to handle is the Christian who can not get sober. As a Christian brother, do I offer for them to live in my home or maybe borrow a car? What about paying for a lawyer? Surely Christ wouldn’t want me to let someone rot in jail. She always seems to have an emergency that has money as the solution. The list of urgent difficulties from which they need extricated just seems to grow.
Trust me, it is not easy. You must use judgement on these things and, almost certainly, you will make a mistake or several. Don’t let that get you down. It is not you who is responsible for their debt, family destruction, poverty, or legal troubles. It is not you who needs to confess alcoholism, change your playmates and playthings, and learn to avoid the first drink.
I went to jail and then drug treatment in 1984. I did not get sober until three years later. Praise God and thank you to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have not had the first drink or drug since June 14, 1987. AA introduced me to the power of faith in a God who could restore my sanity. I didn’t need dos and don’ts. My willpower was not enough. I needed a Savior who would help keep me sober and clean. I needed God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”-Matthew 6:34
Amen.
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