Dogmatic Assertions

Enough with the pointless posts; I need a little substance now.

This post is in reference to a recent discussion that Bryan Gotcher had with a couple of gentlemen on his blog. The topic was alcohol and Christians. I know that this is a touchy issue, especially in this time and among this generation. I don’t want to discuss alcohol’s place in the Christian community, but I would like to talk about something that I believe needs to be acknowledged by people on both sides of the fence…as well as those who have saddled up the fence. It might be helpful to stop and read the rather lenghty discussion on Gotch’s blog before continuing.

This is my humble opinion (as you might have gotten a taste of if you finished reading the conversation). I respect both sides. I understand that Scripture does not undisputedly speak out about drinking alcohol socially(although drunkenness is addressed), and I also concede that there are some issues that can be successfully argued about the taiting of our spirtuality in the eyes of others. I see that Jesus drank wine, yet Paul wouldn’t eat meat. I grasp the daring approach to legalism, and I also understand the risky attitude we can develop regarding our freedom in Christ. What I don’t grasp…is the solution to the problem. I don’t have a firm stance on the issue at hand, because I don’t believe there is firm ground to stand on. We can argue until the cows come home…and probably the swine as well. It’s very similar to the Pro/Anit-Calvinism debates; their are people arguing both sides, yet it doesn’t determine their level of spirituality…and it shouldn’t. So understanding that the fight will never be won, we must choice to extract something else from the situation that can draw us closer to the Lord.

This is what I personally drew from their convo. I think it is risky to be dogmatic over an issue like that. Don’t get me wrong, there are many doctrines and convictions that Scripture is rock-solid about. But I feel that this is not one of them, nor should it be treated as one. It might be a tad-bit arrogant to claim that you are absolutely correct on that issue. Reason being: You really aren’t 100% sure of what your arguing. As reasonably conservative evangelicals, we see that both arguments are supported via Scripture, and if the answer was in there…somebody wouldn’t have found it. So, I believe that it might be dangerous to propose a dogmatic stance on the issue of alcohol and dye on that hill in battle. Scripture says that we know “in part.” I think we need to start acting like we know “in part”(especially me) . The problem is that our attitudes can get in way of our relationships with fellow believers. I am not implying that that is what happen with Gotch, because they all were respectful to each other in their dealings. I just know that I have sorely offended friends in the past because of my bull-headed assertions on particular issues. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t treat opinionated convictions as doctrine, because we can do exactly what Paul warned us about…being a stumbling block.

I once heard it put like this and I absolutely love it: There is a line that every opinion falls on. Your stance on Calvinism, baptism, alcohol, abortion, inspiration of scripture, etc. falls on this line. You may be on the far right…you may be smack dab in the middle, but rest assured, we’re on that line. It was said that Jesus didn’t call us to pick a point on that line. He calls us to transcend the line and rest our understanding of life above where the world spends their time and hashes out their opinions. Like Jesus, when confronted by the religious leaders regarding taxes, told them to render to Caeser what is Caeser’s and to God what is God’s. By saying this, Jesus was transceding the line. Or when the women at the well asked Jesus where she should worship; He did not give her a clear answer, rather he said, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Jesus transcends the line that the women was stuck on. So maybe all those references to alcohol in Scripture were not mean’t for us to read them and then devolp or opinions of “when and where.” To be honest, I don’t really know how to transcend the alcohol line…or the smoking line…or the Reformed line…or whatever else you can think of. What I do know is this, I have ticked off people, even close friends, because of fruitless, ignorant, dogmatic assertions. I don’t like to admit that I “know in part,” but it’s true.