{"id":8353,"date":"2012-11-08T08:42:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-08T14:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=8353"},"modified":"2012-11-08T08:42:36","modified_gmt":"2012-11-08T14:42:36","slug":"a-theology-of-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/11\/a-theology-of-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"A Theology Of Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In many American Protestant traditions Jesus stands as a condemned sinner.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because he drank alcohol.<\/p>\n

For these traditions, holy people would never drink alcohol in any form.<\/p>\n

Never mind the fact that Jesus and Paul would disagree with that assessment.<\/p>\n

(Side note: please don\u2019t bother commenting with ridiculous revisionist histories of why Jesus \u201creally\u201d drank wine. This includes what is admittedly my favorite claim, that he turned water in to grape jelly, not wine. Seriously, I have heard that argument before.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, meet the Reclamation Brewing Company from Butler County, PA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Led by a pastor (John Smith), a worship minister (Ben Duncan), and a Christian college admissions counselor (Ben Smith), they\u2019re doing their best to make people like Jesus and Paul, good respectable Christians again in the eyes of the evangelical elite.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

They\u2019re so dedicated to this pursuit, that they\u2019ve even developed a \u201ctheology of beer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seriously.<\/p>\n

It reads as follows,<\/p>\n

Yep!\u00a0 A theology of beer! The fact that you might be shocked we included this category is proof we should include it. The founders of Reclamation Brewing Company all happen to be followers of Jesus Christ and also happen to be brewers of quality beers. This may seem to be a contradiction in some people\u2019s minds. But in reality, it\u2019s not. We believe that beer is among the many good gifts with which God has blessed mankind. You don\u2019t have to believe that to enjoy a good beer, but we would love to tell you why we do if you so desire. Basically, we\u2019re persuaded that although the Bible condemns the abuse of alcohol, it doesn\u2019t condemn its proper use. In fact, we think it often commends it and appeals to an abundance of alcohol as evidence of God\u2019s favor! Jesus\u2019 first public miracle was turning water into fine wine. We believe this is just one of many Scriptural evidences that there is no incompatibility between being a Christian and enjoying a good beer. We believe that the Bible and history (from David in the Psalms to Jesus at the wedding in Cana to Martin Luther to the Baptist Pastor and distiller, Elijah Craig) confirm that there isn\u2019t any contradiction between enjoying a tasty brew and being a follower of Christ. Once again, we don\u2019t think you need to believe this to appreciate good beer, but we\u2019d be happy to continue the conversation over a pint!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While I\u2019m personally not a big beer drinker, I salute these guys for doing what they love and in the process reminding the evangelical church that 19th century American cultural values are not always Christian values.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t want to have a drink at dinner because you don\u2019t want your alcoholic friend to stumble, that\u2019s admirable and I respect that. But, that line of thinking can\u2019t be carried very far beyond that point before it eventually reaches a level of ridiculous hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

While alcoholism and drinking and driving are serious problems, heart disease (often times brought on by obesity) is a far greater killer in our country. So when you (as a Christian) take the (implicitly superior) stance that you don\u2019t drink because you don\u2019t want some stranger (your \u201cbrother) to see you drinking and inexplicably \u201cstumble\u201d into alcoholism, yet you have no problem frequenting fast food restaurants or the junk food aisle at the grocery store, your seemingly holy concern for your neighbor rings a bit hollow.<\/p>\n

Again, I don\u2019t want to downplay the seriousness of alcoholism or alcohol related problems, but should we also not eat because food, like alcohol, has the ability to do great harm, i.e. obesity, heart disease, death?<\/p>\n

Just because something can be taken to extremes and become problematic, doesn\u2019t me we should therefore take a stance of total abstinence from it. Otherwise, there would be virtually nothing in life, at least nothing enjoyable, that we could participate in.<\/p>\n

To put it simply, if we choose not to drink, we have to remember that we can\u2019t play the \u201cI\u2019m a Christian, so I don\u2019t drink\u201d card.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, Jesus becomes a sinner.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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