It is no secret that I am fascinated by the emerging diversity among Christ followers on the issue of drinking. The issue is complex, and people have very strong opinions. VERY STRONG. Every time I begin a conversation with someone about this, we inevitably drift to a story about that person's alcoholic father and why they don't drink or a recollection of their suffocating, oppresive, uber-religious childhood and why they do drink. You can't argue with a story oozing out of someone's heart.

It is hard to deny that our generation is much more open to drinking than our parent's generation. (Part of it may be due to the higher percentage of college attendees among our generation.) In fact, one of the most interesting trends among our generation is what has been called the "Theology on Tap" movement. This is the new ministry trend that fuses alcohol with the church. A seemingly strange pairing, I know. Many churches are hosting bible studies in bars and BYOB small groups. I recently journeyed into the belly of this movement to study the mindset driving it and what those on the other side of the debate think about it.

Check out my story, "Rethinking Drinking?" at RelevantMagazine.com

Help Wanted!!!

Hey guys, we have had some great dialogue on the issue of alcohol on this forum. What a diverse pool of opinions. I am looking at possibly doing a book on the subject (or at least a follow-up article with RELEVANT), and I need YOUR help. If you are interested in being interviewed for this, let me know by commenting and I will get in contact with you. PLEASE HELP ME.

If I say I will post on Monday and end up posting on Tuesday because I forgot, am I considered a liar? Lesser still, did I lie? Actually, don't answer that. I have something more important for you guys to comment about. Those of you who are close to me may have read my article in the summer issue of RELEVANT Leader entitled, "Tastes Great or Less Filling? Today's young leaders are rethinking drinking." If you have not read it, you will probably see it on PastorsEdge.com come September 1st.

I guess I should play the short order cook and get this out there as fast as I can: I do not have a problem with drinking. Certainly, I have a problem with drunkeness because God has a problem with it, but drinking doesn't bother me. Now contrary to popular...dare I say, preaching... that is really not an issue that is plaguing the church. If this is an average month, only about 1 in 20 churched people will consume enough alcohol to become legally drunk (See Barna).

The issue that really impacts most of us is moderate drinking. Actually, most of you probably agree with me! Now, I know some of you think that is such an outrageous claim and you are probably screaming "You don't know me" right now. For your sake consider this: According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 57% of Protestants consume alcohol rather than abstain. "But, I am not just any old Protestant," you proudly say. "I am a Southern Baptist." I think that is wonderful, but it doesn't change anything. 55% of Southern Baptists consume alcohol rather than abstain (see study). The funny thing is that Southern Baptists have many more problem drinkers than imbibing groups like Jews and Catholics. (I have a theory on this that I will save for later.)

So, if you are a Christian and you have come to the conclusion that drinking is ok from a Biblical standpoint, I want you to consider Dr. Danny Akin's quote from my article: "Do I call it a sin? No. Do I think it is unwise? Yes."

I respect Dr. Akin very much and would like to explore his comment a little bit.

Do you drink? / Leaving the sin aspect out of it, do you believe drinking alcohol is more wise or more unwise for a Christian and why?