22 years ago, when I was completing a Master’s degree, a friend set-up an extended stay at a conference centre in the Austrian Alps for myself and Jen and our two boys who were 3 years old and 1 year old at the time.
The conference centre / seminary was housed in a centuries old castle that had been converted into a hotel. It was my first time in Europe. Some of the vending machines in the Christian conference centre were stocked with beer - Steigl beer, a favourite in Austria.
In the five weeks that we stayed at that amazing place, other visitors came and went. I remember one Baptist minister from the United States who stayed for a week or so in a room near ours. I don’t know if he was upset by the noise of our children. He never said that he was. What did upset him, though, was the beer in the vending machines. He did tell us that. He actually questioned whether this place could really be Christian. I assured him that I was convinced that it was, but then again, I liked the beer.
I am thinking of this today because of a study that was just released from Bonn, Germany. You may have seen it. The headline in the Times of London summed up the study with these words, “Heavy Drinkers Healthier and Happier in Later Years.”
Well, that kind of turns things on their head. We have all heard about studies that say moderate drinking has positive health impact. We have also seen reports on how drinking too much (which can turn out to not be a lot) has terrible effect on health and other things. Mention should also be made that for some people, deciding to not drink at all, has been a life-saver in many ways.
I bring all of this up in order to reflect upon the tendency in religion, some expressions of Christianity included, to deem some personal behaviours as entirely, completely, and eternally unacceptable.
In some expressions of evangelicalism, drinking alcohol was considered questionable, sinful or even evil. Through the generations this restriction was, in some circles, loosened or abandoned. At the memorial service for a woman who grew up in a very conservative evangelical church, I recall a slide show which included multiple photos of her with a glass of wine in her hand, and multiple members of the family spoke with joy about how their Mom had come to enjoy a good drink. This was said with a kind of subversive smile as if some lines were being crossed.
As I read the article today about heavy drinkers maybe being healthier and happier, I found myself grateful that medicine can’t apply one grid for all people. I am grateful because this might help us to see that religious tendencies to impose such totalizing moral codes are not helpful, either.
In some of the letters that appear as books of the Bible in the New Testament, there are repeated reminders against totalizing moralism. There are repeated refrains to not let people impose strict grids of ritual or behaviour on other people. There are also reminders to not confuse such religious tendencies with actual Christian faith.
I’ve mentioned in Evangelically Departed before that when these letters speak about strong faith and weak faith, it is faith that is demanding around moral grids, imposition of rules and the like that is identified as weak. Freedom from such rules is also not held up as a virtue in itself. In other words, we are not supposed to use our freedom to condemn others who seem to really need strict rules.
Remember 1 Corinthians chapter 6?
“Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial.”
Some things are just not good for the body, the body of the church, or your physical body.
According to the article above, sometimes drinking too much can be beneficial. What are we to think of such things?
(To be clear, I am not promoting irresponsible drinking. This is a real problem that has caused much damage. My reflection is about totalizing moralism.)
For some reason, all of this has got a song in my head,
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, “S.O.B.”
Be forewarned, in the actual song (video below) it’s the full term, not just the acronym. If you are religious about language, you may find this offensive.
One of my favorite topics.....people imposing their morality on others and then saying their church, or God, or Jesus, or Buddha or someone said this is how we have to live our lives if we want to go to their heaven.......loved the song as well!