Time to set some things straight.

Okay - so I'm a little upset...I just talked with a certain member of our church who wanted to talk about why I was leaving. Of course she has heard some things and inevitably our conversation went to the alcohol issue. Let's first get some things straight here - JESUS DRANK ALCOHOL. Say what you would like - he did - period....Luke 7:33-34 "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."' Remember, THIS IS JESUS TALKING and "Son of Man" was another way of referring to Jesus. Sooo...from Jesus' own words - he drank. Also, to those who have speculated about the alcohol content in the drink being different then now...okay, so what if it was. Clearly they could still get drunk off it or the Pharisees would not have called Jesus a drunkard. Additionally, the Bible refers to people being drunk quite often; from Genesis 9:21 to Titus 2:3...and lots of places in between - not to mention the fact that Paul had to come down on the Christians at Corinth for getting drunk when they celebrated the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11). In addition to the verse in Luke 7 we also have Luke 22:17-18 "After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." Did he say that he would not drink AGAIN of the fruit of the vine? That would imply that he had drunk of the fruit of the vine...and lets be clear - "the fruit of the vine" was grapes...and no, he wasn't drinking grape juice, it was wine. And finally, we must take note of the fact that Jesus' very first miracle was to turn water into wine in John 2:1-10:
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
There are a couple of things worth noting here. First of all, Jesus created wine for the people to drink...so apparently, he did not have an issue with others drinking wine (just gotta say here...if Jesus didn't have a problem with the people drinking wine, then why do Jesus followers have an issue with it! Maybe Jesus' follower should FOLLOW Jesus' example?). Second, the master of the banquet states that normally "everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; BUT you have saved the best till now." Does this imply that Jesus provided the wine for the part after the "guests have had too much to drink"? Doesn't the master of the banquet's statement seem to imply that he's shocked that the best wine has been held till now?...I mean, all of the wine that they had was gone already...the people had been partying for awhile...and now Jesus provides more? I know I'll go down as a heretic for even bringing this up but...it's worth the discussion. And third, (and one thing I'd never noted before) Jesus didn't just make a little bit more wine...he made somewhere between 120 and 180 gallons more! That's between 1000lbs and 1500lbs of wine! Whohoo! Drink anyone?
As I said, say what you'd like, but Jesus not only drank alcohol but approved of others drinking it....it's in the Bible. Period. However, it is worth stating that if you do not believe the Bible to be the authoritative Word of God then you can simply dismiss all of the above and believe what you do about alcohol because of life experience, intuition, or what someone else has told you to believe. :)
Besides, the above, when someone basis their beliefs on what Jesus did not do, there is a serious problem. Jesus didn't wear blue jeans, drive a Ford, or sip a Starbucks either...but those aren't sins are they? (OK - maybe the driving a Ford part).
Additional reasons I've heard for Christians to abstain from drinking include family members experiences with alcohol, that it isn't a "good witness," and that if being drunk is a sin then we should just not drink.
I understand people's issues with alcohol. When your choice to drink has nearly destroyed your life or a loved ones choice to drink has destroyed theirs - you are going to want to stay as far away from that thing as possible (whether it be choosing to drink, drive too fast, own a gun, or eating too many Twinkies). I understand that...and that is your choice to make. The problem comes when the church starts saying that, as Christians, we should not be drinking...um...Christians should follow the example of Christ and the Word of God - neither of which say not to drink.
As far as it not being a "good witness" - that's a matter of opinion and as such we must allow for differences and not be so dogmatic. And frankly, I disagree. Being drunk is not a good witness as it is contrary to God's word (Ephesians 5:18, 1 Timothy 3:8, etc) but drinking is not contrary to God's word. Also, one could argue that for a Christian to say to the world that people should not drink may very well be much more of a bad witness as it might seem really hypocritical for Christians to tell people not to drink when even those with an elementary knowledge of the Bible know that Jesus drank wine and created it.
And as far as staying so far away from being drunk that we don't even drink at all...my holiness friends...that's called over-correcting. In fact, when you catch yourself going off the right side of the road and you over-correct, you quickly find yourself on the wrong side...that's were some of us seem to be on this issue...the wrong side. We've over-corrected and now need to go back to scripture to get back in line. We are Christians and this is the Church...not a soccer club or the Bingo parlor (yes, we probably go to hell for playing Bingo too)...as such, we follow Christ's example and God's Word. Why do we feel the need to create our own rules to follow? Some have said that alcohol is not good for you...well neither are whoppers, Pepsi, or anything else these days...do we outlaw those too? Do we really have the right to start dictating to people what they should and should not do based on what we think?
Look - I'm not trying to be a rebel and it's not that I'm not submissive to those in authority....I simply like to think that it's okay to be a Christian and use your brain too. Shouldn't everything we believe in be up for discussion and scrutiny? Is there anything that should be "out of bounds?"
I simply think that God has set his standards for us...they're in the Bible. As Christians, those are the standards we need to live by and as Christians those are the standards we should be holding other Christians to. On things that Bible specifically addresses (like drinking) we need to let God do the speaking...on issues that that Bible isn't so clear on or when we extract principles from different situations, we need to be gracious and allow for differences.

Sex before and outside marriage is wrong (Acts 15:20, Acts 21:25, Romans 13:13, 1 Corinthians 6:13, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Corinthians 10:8, etc), being drunk is wrong (1 Tim 3:8, Romans 13:13, Ephesians 5:18, Titus 2:3), drinking is not (Luke 7:33-34, Luke 22:17-18, John 2:1-10, 1 Timothy 5:23).

Comments welcome! :)