IRRATIONALIZATION!

Rom. 14:21, “It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.”

What if I said that Christians are part of the reason why there are so many car accidents in America today. What would you say? What if I said that Christians are part of the reason why there is so much sickness today. What would you say? What if I said that Christians are part of the reason why there is so much death today. What would you say?

Picture this, you are standing in Heaven and it is your time for judgment. As you are a believer you are forgiven of your sins, so your judgment is how you represented Christ to the world while here on earth. Everything is going along alright and there are tears for times you missed the opportunity to represent Christ, but then Jesus asked you about the time you had that glass of wine/beer with dinner at your favorite restaurant. You start to wonder how could one glass of wine hurt the witness for Christ, and we need to remember it is the person of Christ not our reputation we are suppose to be worried about here on earth.

You ask what one glass of wine could hurt; it is not like I am an alcoholic. Jesus points to the wall and hanging on the wall is a flat screen HD TV. On the screen flashes you sitting in the restaurant right at the moment you ordered the glass of wine/beer. Your waiter brings back your beverage and food and watches you give thanks to Jesus for it. Then Christ allows you to hear the thoughts of the waiter who was wondering whether or not to go out and drink for his up coming twenty first birthday. You hear him rationalize that if you, who are obviously very religious because you prayed publically, drink then it must not be that bad. You listen to him argue with his parents in his brain who kept telling him not to drink as it would be a bad witness as a believer for your friends to see you immediately go out and drink. He says to himself that his parents do not drink, but here are some other obviously Christian people and they are having a drink, so it cannot be that bad.

As you watch, you notice that you are now at some bar that you do not recognize and wonder why this is even on the screen. You do not recognize the place and it looks like way too young an atmosphere for you, but then you recognize the young man who waited on you sitting at the bar. You hear him talking to the waiter and telling him it his birthday and he wanted to enjoy a drink to celebrate his coming of age. The bar tender says he has the perfect drink for him and says it is on the house for his twenty first birthday. You watch as the young man takes a drink and winces at the taste of the alcohol; obviously a strong drink.

After he finished you notice that there is another drink in front of him. His friend has now bought him one for his birthday. The young man says he only wanted one, but since it was his friend who bought it for him he decides to drink it. What was supposed to be just one drink to celebrate coming of age ends up turning into three or four drinks. Who wants to offend their friends and say no?

The TV flashes to later in the night when the young man decides to go home. You watch as he stumbles toward the door and gets into his car and clumsily puts the keys into the ignition. You let out a deep breath as it seems he is driving alright for someone who should not be driving, until you see the young couple crossing the walkway just ahead of the waiter, who obviously does not see them yet. All at once you hear the screeching of breaks and the young couple screaming in terror as they run and jump out of the way. The screen goes blank. You sit there wondering how having one drink could lead to this. Then you realize you have no idea what happened to the young man. You ask Jesus what happened to the waiter, and you realize you do not even know his name. Is he alright? Was he hurt? How is the young couple? All these questions come flooding. Would it have really made a difference? Why did I need a drink anyway?

Jesus then turns and opens a door that appears out of nowhere and invites a young man in to the room. You watch with trepid nervousness, saying to yourself, ‘please no.’ As you know what is about to happen. In walks Gerrad, a young strapping man of 21 years old, with bright blue eyes that feel like they are piercing your soul. Guilt starts in your gut and works its way up your throat and you try to hold back the choking reflux. You do not know what to say. It was only one glass of wine. Who would it hurt?

The young man walks closer and smiles and says “I forgive you.” Tears erupt out of your eyes like an unstoppable freight train. How could I fail at being such a witness? It was just one drink? I am so sorry Jesus. I am so sorry for not being Christ to you Gerrad.

Jesus looks at Gerrad and smiles and then looks back at you and smiles and kneels down and wipes your tears away and says welcome. Your feeling of guilt is gone, and love overwhelms you like never before; it is a completely foreign feeling, nothing like what you thought. After hugging Christ for what seems like eternity you walk over and hug Gerrad and step into eternity together.

We can rationalize all we want today to drink as Christians, but we cannot deny that it has killed millions through drunk driving (innocent and guilty victims), killed through cirrhosis of the liver, heart attacks, addiction, loss of money, broken families, rape and murder, and many other atrocities people commit under its’ influence. How do we rationalize drinking a substance that is connected to so much death and destruction?

People lately use the war as a defense for everything. Everyone says the war is bad because innocent people are being killed, but there are more innocent people killed each year due to alcohol then there have been in our war. Why do the same people who say war is bad rationalize drinking?

People say that what goes into us is not bad, but what comes out. These people tend to take this out of context. How is it then that alcohol destroys brain cells, the liver and many other organs, yet people say that it does not hurt? How about those that are killed from drunk drivers because the alcohol is in them? That rational was about food killed for idols sake, and not alcohol. Why else are we always told to guard what we learn, what goes into our minds? Because if bad goes in then bad comes out. Junk in then Junk out.

Why is it the same people that rationalize drinking say we are to demonstrate Christ by our actions, yet when not when it comes to drinking? They drank in the Bible is the excuse, but they do not take the time to see that the wine was 1 part wine to 3 or 8 parts water. Will these people now water down their alcohol to make sure it is the same consistency?

We will rationalize anything that we feel we need to be able to do. It is just a self focused Christianity, and not outward focused. If alcohol is such a danger to society (study the death and financial costs of any country), why do we do it? There are too many other things to drink. Why not give it up for the sake of Christ? Sacrificing what you might even be able to do for the sake of saving someone else from stumbling. Is it really that hard, or do we just want to be irrational when it comes to drinking, because no one is worth that sacrifice?

I just would not want to stand one day before Christ and have to be the one watching the screen as my witness gave an excuse for a weaker brother to stumble, which may or may not end up causing others to stumble and innocent people to be hurt.

Personally, I would rather miss out on alcohol, or meat for that matter, then to be responsible for the fall of anybody. I would rather be the excuse for the young person not to drink and then be the excuse to drink and take the chance for addiction or something worse. Can I drink? Maybe, but the person who watches me may not be able to handle it and I do not want that responsibility, as I am portraying Christ to them. Remember you may be the only Christian they see, and when you give them permission you are ultimately saying Christ gives you permission.

1 Corinthians 8:13, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”