Why dont baptists drink

Lumpkins says the question isn't whether drinking is wise but if it is moral. At least theoretically, the moral case is made for drug legalization. I realize this sounds radical. Yet, from the way I see the issue argued from the moderationist perspective especially young Baptists , I can come to no other conclusion.

What about missionaries serving in countries that have no moral scruples against drinking faced with the prospect of offending a host offering them a glass of wine? Lumpkins called that a case of "conflicting absolutes" in a fallen world that qualified missionaries must figure out for themselves.

On the other hand, he said the last person one would want to appoint to such a mission field is someone who, before being assigned to the region, would answer "yes" to the question "do you believe in or practice social drinking? Baptists debate social drinking. Share Tweet. For Kings to be sanctified in their rule and judgment.

Drinking is for the unbelievers that perish and are appointed to destruction. Proverbs It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. For Church Elders to be sanctified in their office as overseers of our souls and spiritual well-being.

The Bible does not contradict itself, in I Timothy , Paul advises Timothy to use a little wine for his infirmities or for medicinal purposes only. Proverbs Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. God says that drinking causes negative emotional and physical conditions and leads to sin. He says not to even look upon it. Proverbs Who hath woe? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. Isaiah Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

Isaiah All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Romans Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Although it passed by a wide margin, several messengers spoke strongly against it — providing the rare specter of conservative Baptists publicly disagreeing with each other over the propriety of alcohol consumption.

But Baptist history — including the fact that a well-known Baptist minister was the inventor of bourbon whiskey — casts some doubt on that statement's veracity. Early on, many Baptists used spirits; some even brewed beer. The minister, entrepreneur and founder of the Baptist-related Georgetown College in Kentucky is widely credited with creating the official spirit of the Bluegrass State around Leonard also said many Baptist churches served real wine when observing the Lord's Supper late into the 19th century.

Leonard said that Baptists, Methodists and other revivalist Protestant sects were most common on the American frontier — away from the established Episcopal and Congregational churches of the East Coast urban areas.

This tendency persisted beyond the Civil War and well into the Victorian era. The harsh conditions, poor water quality and frequency of disease common to pioneer life led to frequent alcohol use for both recreational and medicinal purposes. For well over a century, Southern Baptists have opposed drinking alcoholic beverages, in part over concern for the destruction alcohol has brought to people like Morrison. He removed her from the house temporarily, then found a treatment center in California that could help her through both the addiction and her struggle with mental illness.

The therapist who recommended a drink at bedtime never knew what happened. According to a LifeWay Research survey, just 3 percent of Southern Baptist pastors and 29 percent of Southern Baptist laity said they drank alcohol.

That compared with 25 percent of non-Southern Baptist, Protestant pastors and 42 percent of non-Southern Baptist, Protestant laity. When the American Journal of Public Health published in a county-by-county breakdown of alcohol use in America, it caught the eye of Baptist historian Albert Wardin. In majority-Baptist counties, the drinking rate was almost always lower than in surrounding non-Baptist regions — from an isolated county on the Nevada-California state line to a strip of counties in eastern New Mexico to a cluster of counties in north-central Florida.

Greear, Johnny Hunt and Jeff Iorg. There is not a real debate on this prohibition in Christian circles.