Alcohol & Welfare Programs: Topics on today's show
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:16 pm
With regard to the topic of alcohol today on the show, there is another perspective in terms of the non Believers who are listening to the show. They are listening to see if Christians are going to enforce rules, judge and control them. If they hear Steve condemn alcohol, this would be yet another reason for them to avoid following Jesus.
Our culture is filled with "shoulds and shouldn'ts" which is exactly the reason so many churches today are vacant. Grace is not about rules, but about relationship.
I used to know an alcoholic believer who actually lied to his children about the wine in the Bible being non alcoholic because he was terrifed of alcohol and his lack of ability to refrain from getting drunk.
One of the callers today talked about alcohol being a drug, what about caffiene? Does that mean Steve should advise people to refrain from lattes because they could become addicted? That wouldn't go over very well in Seattle where there is a Starbucks on every corner.
If Steve begins to advise against every substance that humans could abuse, the only people who would tune in, would be legalistic, self righteous church folks.
What about the health benefits to alcohol? I knew a Christian diabetic who had stomach issues and the only thing that helped him was one glass of wine a night. When other believers judged him for this, his health was actually hindered, due to this "need to control" his choices.
Doesn't the Bible tell us that " it is not what goes into the mouth that makes us unclean, but rather what comes out of the heart?" If we attempt to control other Believers by advising them what they should be putting in their mouth, what is coming from OUR heart?
To the caller who said that people should be allowed to discriminately give to the poor that we judge to be worthy, where is that in the Bible? Who are we to judge why a woman continues to get pregant and needing government assistance? Why do we assume that she is doing this on purpose to collect welfare? Why aren't we holding the men who got her pregnant accountable? What about the men who should have been supporting her children, but instead spent the money on themselves? We need to be extremely careful NOT to judge the poor and assume it is their choice. What about the woman who is raped continually and impregnated repeatedly by men who used her and left? Would we then judge her as not being worthy of assistance? What about her children, don't they deserve provision? Is it somehow their fault this happened to them? It is sad the Lord has to use the government to provide for the poor, because believers feel they need to control, judge and decide if a poor person is worthy of provision. If believers would step up and voluntarily give to everyone who is in need, the government wouldn't need to carry this load. Doesn't the Bible say, "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone?" Do those of us judging the poor have any sin in our own lives? Perhaps our sin has not caused us to be poor or have multiple children, but our pride, judgementalism and arrogance doesn't make us any better or worthy of provision, moreso than a poor sinner.
Remember, in the Bible when the Believers actually sold their land, houses, etc. and gave to EVERYONE who was in need? It doesn't say that they sold their property and then sat on their judgment seat deciding who was worthy of provision. Simply their "need" was what qualified them. Perhaps there were single moms with lots of kids, or even people drinking alcohol, but they were in need and therefore they were worthy to be helped. Immature Believers and non-Believers are all created by God and therefore deserve provision, even if they are behaving in ways we judge them for doing.
Fortunately, our government programs only check to be sure that people are truly in need, rather than scrutinizing, criticizing and refusing help based upon legalistic judgements.
To the caller who said that tax dollars are going to daycares, why don't Believers offer to babysit children for free, so daycares aren't necessary? Why are we so judgmental towards mothers who have children and have been abandoned by the other parent? Rather than throwing stones, shouldn't we be reaching out to help her? Believers are against abortion but when women choose life, they are accused of doing it on purpose for money? Wow, it seems that we are placing women in no win positions. If they are raped and impregnated, Believers say they should choose life, but shouldn't need any help with provision because the pregnancy is somehow their fault? If it weren't for the government agencies helping the women who choose life to keep their children alive, there are many children who would have died, even though their mothers chose NOT to abort them. Our country is filled with children who have been abandoned because mothers chose life and then after their five years of government assistance was up, they couldn't provide for them any longer. How many Believers are refusing to help these mothers, because they have judged them? Guess who pays for foster parents to provide for all these abandoned children? The government has to step up and pay people to raise the children that the church refuses to help stay with their biological parent.
Our culture is filled with "shoulds and shouldn'ts" which is exactly the reason so many churches today are vacant. Grace is not about rules, but about relationship.
I used to know an alcoholic believer who actually lied to his children about the wine in the Bible being non alcoholic because he was terrifed of alcohol and his lack of ability to refrain from getting drunk.
One of the callers today talked about alcohol being a drug, what about caffiene? Does that mean Steve should advise people to refrain from lattes because they could become addicted? That wouldn't go over very well in Seattle where there is a Starbucks on every corner.
If Steve begins to advise against every substance that humans could abuse, the only people who would tune in, would be legalistic, self righteous church folks.
What about the health benefits to alcohol? I knew a Christian diabetic who had stomach issues and the only thing that helped him was one glass of wine a night. When other believers judged him for this, his health was actually hindered, due to this "need to control" his choices.
Doesn't the Bible tell us that " it is not what goes into the mouth that makes us unclean, but rather what comes out of the heart?" If we attempt to control other Believers by advising them what they should be putting in their mouth, what is coming from OUR heart?
To the caller who said that people should be allowed to discriminately give to the poor that we judge to be worthy, where is that in the Bible? Who are we to judge why a woman continues to get pregant and needing government assistance? Why do we assume that she is doing this on purpose to collect welfare? Why aren't we holding the men who got her pregnant accountable? What about the men who should have been supporting her children, but instead spent the money on themselves? We need to be extremely careful NOT to judge the poor and assume it is their choice. What about the woman who is raped continually and impregnated repeatedly by men who used her and left? Would we then judge her as not being worthy of assistance? What about her children, don't they deserve provision? Is it somehow their fault this happened to them? It is sad the Lord has to use the government to provide for the poor, because believers feel they need to control, judge and decide if a poor person is worthy of provision. If believers would step up and voluntarily give to everyone who is in need, the government wouldn't need to carry this load. Doesn't the Bible say, "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone?" Do those of us judging the poor have any sin in our own lives? Perhaps our sin has not caused us to be poor or have multiple children, but our pride, judgementalism and arrogance doesn't make us any better or worthy of provision, moreso than a poor sinner.
Remember, in the Bible when the Believers actually sold their land, houses, etc. and gave to EVERYONE who was in need? It doesn't say that they sold their property and then sat on their judgment seat deciding who was worthy of provision. Simply their "need" was what qualified them. Perhaps there were single moms with lots of kids, or even people drinking alcohol, but they were in need and therefore they were worthy to be helped. Immature Believers and non-Believers are all created by God and therefore deserve provision, even if they are behaving in ways we judge them for doing.
Fortunately, our government programs only check to be sure that people are truly in need, rather than scrutinizing, criticizing and refusing help based upon legalistic judgements.
To the caller who said that tax dollars are going to daycares, why don't Believers offer to babysit children for free, so daycares aren't necessary? Why are we so judgmental towards mothers who have children and have been abandoned by the other parent? Rather than throwing stones, shouldn't we be reaching out to help her? Believers are against abortion but when women choose life, they are accused of doing it on purpose for money? Wow, it seems that we are placing women in no win positions. If they are raped and impregnated, Believers say they should choose life, but shouldn't need any help with provision because the pregnancy is somehow their fault? If it weren't for the government agencies helping the women who choose life to keep their children alive, there are many children who would have died, even though their mothers chose NOT to abort them. Our country is filled with children who have been abandoned because mothers chose life and then after their five years of government assistance was up, they couldn't provide for them any longer. How many Believers are refusing to help these mothers, because they have judged them? Guess who pays for foster parents to provide for all these abandoned children? The government has to step up and pay people to raise the children that the church refuses to help stay with their biological parent.