I see in the Dec. 6 issue of the Religious Herald that the subject of drinking alcohol is still a problem for weak brethren. At the age of 12 I signed the pledge that the Women's Christian Temperance Union promoted. It basically said that I would not ever indulge in the sale or use of alcohol. That was fine with me because in my parent's home there was never any alcohol. And besides, the Apostle Paul's arguments about eating meat offered to idols being O.K. to eat, but because of some weak brothers he would not eat meat, or do anything that would offend a weak brother. (Even though alcohol was not a part of his example.) It all sounded reasonable and the right thing to do.
As I got older, I found out that things are not that simple. For instance, one weak brother might stumble because we preach total abstinence from alcohol, and another might stumble because we preach abstinence where the Bible preaches moderation, and the Bible certainly preaches against drunkenness. In my teenage years I ran up against other kids that were turned off at the idea of being a Christian just because they would never be allowed to take a drink. It started me to thinking about whether we were sending people to Hell by putting obstacles in their way that only Christians could accomplish through the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore we need to be careful in what we project both inside and outside of the brotherhood.
Lastly, it was the apostle Paul that took Peter to task because Peter was behaving one way with one group of people and another way to another group of people. He basically said stop it! We need to think more deeply about our pronouncements!
David Coburn, Ashland