Rethinking social drinking

In 101 Dalmations haute couture matron Cruella DeVil asks her lackey, "How much would it cost to redo the whole line in spots?" He stutters in reply, "B-But I thought we liked stripes this year."

I was squirming in my chair, trying to recall quickly what we in my denomination "like" on the issue of social drinking. It was in the office of Bill Welte, President of America's Keswick, an oasis in the New Jersey pine barrens where relationship with Christ has been changing the lives of men broken by addiction since 1897. I had had him pegged as "one of us" in his theology --- solid on all the doctrines my church affiliation is solid on.

Then he came out with a statement against social drinking. Suddenly I was disoriented, having trouble fitting him into my paradigms. (See, I thought we were against drunkenness but we "liked" Christian liberty --- and our wine.)

It just so happens that a few weeks ago I heard from a couple I know who are in crisis, shaking themselves --- in the nick of time ---of the "green dust" of worldliness that began with an increasingly frequent imbibing of "Christian liberty" introduced to them by their best friends --- who happened to be deacons in the church.

Bill Welte's been around the block a few times and seen things I haven't seen, so I shut my mouth in his presence and determined to rethink the matter. The Bible says: "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful" (1 Corinthians 6:12). I guess being helpful to a potential addict at the party is good enough for Bill.