Can you enjoy an evening glass of wine and be a Christian?

Can you enjoy an evening glass of wine and be a Christian?
Yes, yes you can.

Some might be wondering, “Do people really ask this?” While it might not always be this specific of a question, I think yes—many people do wonder about the “rules” of mixing everyday societal activities with their faith.

I went to a Christian college, and while some students drank underage, many either had no interest or genuinely believed it would be sinful to drink alcohol, so they abstained. On the other hand, in seminary—where people often come from a wider range of backgrounds and understandings within Christianity—there was a fair amount of drinking.

Even before digging into theological or biblical justifications for enjoying alcohol (or really anything we’ve been taught is immoral—think cursing), I realized there are many faithful Christians who hold different convictions and interpretations of God’s Word.

I don’t think this question is so much about seeking permission to drink alcohol as it is about how we understand the Bible and its teachings.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t follow the law. But it is interesting how strictly many people cling to it—especially when:

1. The laws we have today look nothing like the laws in Jesus’ day, and

2. Jesus wasn’t particularly strict about following even the laws of His time.

I think this obsession with “obeying” and being rule-followers often stems from a distortion of the Christian faith. Modern laws are man-made. Many of the “laws” in the Bible are impossible to keep. It’s easier to check off a list and feel like we’re making God proud than to wrestle with the hard decisions that come with trying to be a loving person in a messy world.

I won’t go into it here, but if you’ve ever taken an ethics class, you’ll know that following God’s instructions and following the laws of the U.S. can look very different. Being an upstanding citizen is not necessarily the same as being a faithful Christian. Don’t you just love the complexity?