Why I Gave Up Alcohol

This is largely autobiographical but there's also somewhat of an argument here and there.  I found a photocopy of it today in my workroom box on the way out of the office.  I wonder why the person didn't just email me with the link?  At any rate, I will assume that this person knows I have this blog and wants me to write a post about it. There are certainly a good deal of sensible things in that Christianity Today article (and I applaud D.L. Mayfield in pursuing her calling), but there's also nothing said that's new; other than the autobiographical parts, it's mostly old news.  Nonetheless I shall make a few comments below on some of the problematic or noteworthy items:

I am not calling on everyone to become teetotalers.  But I am asking us to consider temperance as a valid and thoughtful option—as it has been for many Christians throughout the centuries.

 Not calling on everyone to become teetotalers: that's good, since Jesus himself wasn't a teetotaler.  Islam and Mormonism--and not Christianity--are the religions of teetotalitarianism.  However, the equivalence of being temperate with being a teetotaler is a false one and indicates a lack of education regarding the cardinal virtue.  The "Temperance Movement" was ill-named.  The "Semi-Muslim" movement would have been more accurate, since "temperance" denotes moderation and not total abstinence.    

Since then, I have weaved in and out of various Christian circles, from conservative Pentecostal churches (no drinking) to Baptist seminaries (wine and craft beer okay) to ecumenical mission organizations (endlessly varied). 

Wine and craft beer are okay at Baptist seminaries??  Wow.  Who knew!  (And there are liberal Pentecostal churches?  I never knew that.)

If you wear an "I heart bacon" T-shirt, I will have to assume you don't have many Muslim or Jewish friends. Likewise, if you are posting about how "Mommy needs her wine," I will assume you don't know anyone struggling with alcoholism.... Churches are hosting small groups like "Think and Drinks," talking theology over craft beer. And with every picture, tweet, and event that centers on alcohol, I wonder: Isn't anyone friends with alcoholics?

Now hold on. I've EATEN bacon in front of a Muslim friend.  And she didn't take offense and wasn't "tempted" to eat it, because Muslims typically think that bacon is gross (but OHHHH are they SO wrong about that).  Plus, she's a conservative who is not easily offended by anyone who disagrees with her.  But I suppose as an inductive generalization about who you know that's not a bad one (if for no other reason than the fact that there aren't a terribly large number of Muslims and Jews in the U.S. period).  And as far as MY autobiography goes, I know tons of people who drink and don't know any alcoholics.  I do know people who know alcoholics, however.

As it turns out, I was walking a path well worn by Christians of previous centuries (particularly the past two) who also wanted to stand against alcohol's deleterious and systemic effects. Temperance movements, often founded and organized by women, were a direct reaction to the perceived social evils of alcohol in the 1800s and 1900s. 

Yes, I know all about that movement.  It was largely a PROGRESSIVE movement.  In my own discipline, who are the people trying to get alcohol banned at philosophy department social gatherings?  FEMINISTS.  Sorry, no thanks.  I'm willing to be persuaded by ARGUMENTS but "that progressives do it" holds no sway with me.  Teetotalism is not a conservative position (though some--a few conservatives--have held that position within the history of Christianity, but not qua conservative). 

When we take Communion with our friends and neighbors, we use grape-flavored Kool-Aid as a symbol of Christ's blood, shed for us. 

Am I the only person in the Evangelical tradition that finds this shockingly stunning?  Judaism has always been plagued by problems with alcohol, nonetheless Jesus still turned water into wine.  If you've ever been to (e.g.) a Catholic wedding with God-fearing Catholics you'd know one reason why.  I assume the same can be said for Jewish weddings. 

As early as 1820, denominations such as the Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists began to require abstention for membership, causing a shift in mainstream teetotalism.

This brings to mind the following quotation.  C.S. Lewis made it a habit to correspond with everyone that wrote him.  Here is what he would say to certain people (typically American women if I recall correctly) who asked him how he could square his Christianity with drinking alcohol:

I strongly object to the tyrannic and unscriptural insolence of anything that calls itself a Church and makes teetotalism a condition of membership.  Apart from the more serious objection (that Our Lord Himself turned water into wine and made wine the medium of the only rite He imposed on all his followers), it is so provincial (what I believe you people call “small town”).  

I should probably write more on the subject matter.  A Mini Treatise on Alcohol to be forthcoming.  But first I have to help irritate perhaps the most (undeservedly) well known philosophy professor in the English speaking world (perhaps more on that in a bit).