the great Alcohol talk

the great alcohol debate, new and full of stuff to read! check it out yo

Okay so.......my friend Jay Anderson posted on his myspace about Christians and drinking and how the North American Church has made the drinking of alcohol some huge bad scary thing...i mean being addicted to the stuff is a terrible, terrible, thing, drunkenness has cost many thier fathers and mothers, etc. etc.... but it does not justify the 'easy righteousness' actions of those who wish to look good, as if it all had to do with not drinking a beer ever....
we've been way off the mark for a long time... so this is my (somewhat impassioned, somewhat playful and inquiring) response to Jay's post... (i actually posted it there too)

AMEN AND AMEN, i've always that it was soooo funny, all this about alcohol being some big deal... how when we join ministries they almost always require us to sign something saying that we wont drink alcohol (i even did this myself, with my band once). i mean, COME ON! Christ couldn;'t pastor most churches in america, or be a missionary in almost every mission organization i can think of, because THEY ARE TOO BIG OF PRUDES (yeah, and me calling them 'big prudes' doesn't mean they aren't otherwise amazing people or that i haven't been exactly like them, this is no pointing the finger-fest, just thoughts on how is it is to make 'holiness' into a workable thing we can accomplish on our own). Today's religious population deemed 'protestant' for the most part couldn't accept is "dangerous" styles and behavior (is 'prudes' a word? if it isn't then, its substitute is this phrase "big puritan pricks", hehehehe, okay so the puritans weren't all pricks, but the whole legalist door was opened and definitely walked down... and i am not a subject on that time period and i wont go thinking that God didn't want them to go 'legalistic' back then.it's HIS church. i mean i love ole Jonny Edwards as much as the next amazing theologian, the best america ever had next to Donald Bloesch, and i don't think he was anything like a prick, but he's part of that movement, i mean i'm not condemning anyone here, these are the roots to much of what i love about america, but it has turned into an misunderstanding of holiness, and perhaps Edwards took the sinners in the hands of an angry God thing too far, maybe God is not so predictable as systematic theology would have us believe -not that he was like that, i love him. A LOT) Christ is too much of a God follower for us to handle, he will choose HIM over 'man' any day of the week, and i for one, US, we will join him, to the false accusations of the pharisees and loser -christ-wannabees out there all trying to look good at the cost of following the one who is good, and who says we are good, even if we get addicted to having a few too many beers, even if we ever...GOd FOR BID...SIN!! (hey you gotta look at these heart wrenching issues lightheartedly, cuz, hey man they are over our heads and out of our control, God mysterious love of us, is all we have going for us, not being 'right' about any of these issues, no matter how much i blog or argue or ramble)
i wish the fruits of the Spirit were a prerequisite for a ministry job and not stuff like " i will not touch a drop", i hope jesus doesn't show up at most christian weddings in North America, he might drop a bunch of cases of the best wine heaven could handle in the party and HE'll get kicked right out and have his "ministry credentials" pulled if he does not repent, and that'd suck to be at those partys, and see just how much the Real, dangerous, unafraid, unwanted GOd, is not allowed to interfere with church business, the life of a christian, and certainly not thier 'holiness'. ok, now im rambling!!! I AM RAMBLING !! look at me im so mad im molting...i'm molting...cough.... yeah.
hey this is not a blog against those of you who think drinking is a dirty, sicko thing to do, its just a rant about how hard it is to understand Christ and God, who lives outside of EVEN our boxes of what we want to make right and wrong, much less the boxes of the Pharisees of his day... i mean consider him, if we had him around, and he was some guy we knew, we'd sling all kinds of "don't you think there is a better way to deal with these Pharisees then to keep egging them on and telling them that God will destroy them and all this WOE and HELL stuff, its kind of harsh, where is the love?" at Him. Hey, i'm not saying i wouldn't have the same problems with him, i would, and thats why it bothers me...jesus is too unholy for myself...and i guess his Holiness is real and from the core and a wild, Spirit led thing, and mine is made mostly in the eyes of MAN, so its a do-able thing without the miraculous Spirit, and i am a prick and make others feel guilty cuz they are not me like the GREAT me!!! ehheeheh ha. we are funny people, us 'ones who have met the One Christ, the one who is 'good' and yet still has a hard time fitting in with what we know as good. i just don't think we pretend that Jesus had all these 'reasons' for doing what he did and why we don't have to be so stunned by his actions, 'oh jesus lived in a different world, it wasn't as bad back then to drink cuz the wine was different'', or ''he HAD to.. cuz while he could change water into wine he couldn't change it into purified water so it was safe it drink"...

yeah its funny stuff to think about.... i love all you people who take the time to think with me, i feel soo dumb most days, i cant get a grip on most theology, or 'God stuff' so i appreciate your words.
tony