Beer in the Bible?

Warning, if you know that you have a strong conservative view on Alcohol and believe that Jesus would never condone the use of “strong drink,” you might find it would make your day better if you did not read this article. If however you feel you have an open mind read on.  (you have to read it all to get to the survey)

First of all, thank you to a certain member of my SPPRC (Staff Pastor Parish Relations Committee) for passing the link of information on to me.  (I’m not sure if they want their name acknowledged or not – this way I can take all the credit/blame)

The reality is that in the United Methodist Church we have a long standing history of being Teetotalers.  So much to the point that we serve grape juice in stead of wine for Holy Communion / Eucharist.  In fact, Thomas Bramwell Welch – the father of Welch’s grape juice was a member of the Weslyan Methodist connexion,  which required the serving of the Lord’s Supper to be with “unfermented wine.”  So in many ways, the United Methodist Church can lay claim to inspiring the birth of Welch’s Grape Juice.  There is even a reference in our Iowa Methodist history book “Between the Rivers” to a Methodist preacher who was shot in the street for his stand against alcohol.

Before we go any further I want to make sure that you understand that excessive drink is contrary to scripture and harmful to individuals.  It is referenced in Prov. 23:20.  So this article is not written to justify drunkenness.  Rather it is written in effort to correct the pietistic (super-righteous) attitude of many Christians that cause them to judge or even condemn a person who chooses to take a casual drink.