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John_C said:
Andy,

It took me a while before realizing the post was from you. Why the change in your Highway moniker? I will send you an email soon.

Instead of seeing the differences between moving from a SBC to a PCA church, I'm finding the difference between moving from one PCA church to another. The former held a dim view of alcohol consumption with the view that it is permissable but very seldom wise. Let's just say my current church is different in that regards. Is it somewhat tied to sinful pride in the former? Yes! Yet, I see the same sinful pride in the discussion of alcohol in my current church. So, it is a wash in that regards.

The former is counter-culture in its Christian application in this area; whereas the latter is counter-culture to the popular Christian application, especially in the South. They are both in the counter-culture business.

The only reason why I would drink would be due to peer pressure, either good or bad. It would not be one from conviction; and I'm not referring to sinning or not. The passage in Romans teaching about going against your conscience appears to apply in my case. The motives for me to drink would be definitely wrong.

I was wondering if there were a viewpoint that abstaining being a sin. If that is a viewpoint held by some, it must be in the extreme minority.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Hi John,

I've experienced the opposite situation as you recently. I moved from a PCA church that was very accepting of alcohol (when used in an appropriate manner of course) to a Presbyterian church that takes a very dim view of alcohol use. Even though they don't go so far as saying that using alcohol is necessarily a sin, the passion with which they argue for Christians to not use alcohol makes me wonder sometimes. It has caused me a lot of soul-searching the last few months and even today at church I had another conversation that ended up in talking about alcohol. However, when I attended my previous church, I do believe that I used the church's rather permissive views about alcohol to justify my sometimes abuse of it. This was definitely a sin on my part and was not in line with the church's teaching. Thankfully, God called me to repentance for that behavior. In my current church, I've steadfastly refused to make a promise to abstain from all alcohol use because I think it just smacks of legalism, but I've had to really learn to take into consideration a lot more the feelings of my fellow Christians (even when they are not around).

I think in your case I would caution against using alcohol due to peer pressure, whether good or bad. If it goes against your conscience to drink, then it would be a sin to drink I think even if you were trying not to offend someone's hospitality. I would hope that fellow Christians would be considerate of your conscience when asking you to drink. It could be that one day in the future, you will come to a point when you can drink in good conscience, but even then, continuing to abstain would not be a sin (as long as your motives are good as other's have pointed out).

Of course, if that time comes, and you decide to have a drink, always remember to drink with thankfulness as you are enjoying one of God's great blessing <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

John