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Articles
The Pub Church
I saw an article recently about how there are some churches that are offering beer. From one in Boston we read, "A Church? In A Pub? What? The Pub Church: A church in Boston that meets in a pub. Casual, creative, diverse, come visit anytime!" From the NPR website I read this article with the title: "To Stave Off Decline, Churches Attract New Members With Beer." Is there no end to what the denominational world will do to attract and appeal to human beings to gain more members? Here is some of their reasoning: "Beer & Hymns is one attempt to attract new people, in this hip, beer loving city, while keeping a safe distance away from stained glass windows." The article concluded with these words: "To doubters, the Beer & God crowd has this pop quiz. What was the first miracle Jesus performed? Turning water into wine." Let us examine the "justification" for the use of beer to attract new people, in their use of John 2:1-11. Did Jesus turn water into wine? Yes, there is no doubt for the bible says so. But here is the grand assumption about this text, that wine always means the alcoholic form. True, many times wine carries that connotation in the bible, and almost always in our modern day thinking, wine means the fermented, alcoholic form. However, in the bible it does not always mean that. In Gen.49:11, "Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes." Again in Is.65:8; "Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all." So grape juice is also called wine the bible. In Prov.3:10 we read "So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." Now consider in John 2 that Jesus turned six waterpots into wine. The estimate given would be about 9 gallons times 6, which would be approximately 54 gallons of wine. When we consider Hab.2:15, "Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!" There is a woe pronounced upon those who would make his neighbor get drunk. Would one think that Jesus gave 54 gallons of booze to the attendants at this wedding feast? I think not, he made grape juice or "wine" for the guests. The scriptures talk so much about drunkenness and condemns it. Sometimes people vainly reason that drunkenness is sinful, but just drinking a few is not. Such is not the case. Peter points out that the drunk, the half drunk, and those that are just drinking a few are doing the will of the Gentiles. "For sufficient to us is the past time of life the will of the nations to have wrought, having walked in lasciviousnesses, desires, excesses of wines, revellings, drinkingbouts, and unlawful idolatries." 1 Pet.4:3. Let us spend our time in doing the will of the God, not the will of the Gentiles. The drawing power of the true gospel has not changed. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die." John 12:32-33. I think I will pass on the "Pub Church" and just stay with the church that Jesus built, Matt.16:18, Rom.16:16.
