What the Bible says about Alcohol, Tatoos, and Harry Potter.

“Let’s make one thing clear, we all live by different rules.”

Have you ever been in one of those conversations with people where you talk deep into the night about theological issues that may or may not be important? I loved those growing up. I used to go over to a mentor’s house with a few other guys and we would talk forever it seemed. One night we got into a particular rant about alcohol that was quite memorable to me.

I, for a number of reasons, didn’t believe that it was correct for me to drink alcohol at the time. My mentor/discipler on the other hand believed it was more than ok for him to drink and that God wouldn’t tell me not too when even Jesus drank and made alcohol. So, to clarify (which it most certainly did not clarify anything), I said, “Let’s make one thing clear, we all live by different rules.” He exploded. To this day he has me in his Facebook quotes page saying that we all live by different rules.

Strong & Weak. Which Is Better?

Romans 14 addresses the issue in unique terms.

“Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.” -- Rom 14:1-2

There are opinionable matters in Scripture: judgment calls, disputable matters, principles of conscience, non-essentials. The first example in the passage is a person who’s conscience, for whatever reason, doesn’t all them to eat meat. The Bible most certainly permits us to eat meat. “That’s why God made cows out of steak, so we’d eat em.” -- Driscoll. The person who chooses not to eat would be called weak. The person who chooses to eat would be called strong. One guy said,

“The weak in faith are not necessarily lesser Christians than the strong. They are simply those who do not think their faith allows them to do certain things that the strong feel free to do.” -- Moo

It’s interesting to note that nowhere does the Bible say that the weak have to change their view. Nowhere does it say that they have to go against their conscience. It is neither better to be strong nor to be weak.

The Disputable Matters.

Christians most certainly do have liberty in these issues, but some Christians become “weak” on certain issues. Here’s an incomplete list to give you an idea. Maybe you can see areas you are “weak” or “strong” in. 1, 2, & 3 are the only explicitly Biblical ones I know of. The others are all ones I’ve run into over the last 9 years of being a Christian.

1. The Sabbath and other Jewish observances. (Rom 14:5-6, Col 2:16)

2. Meat sacrificed to idols (1 Corinthians 8)

3. Drinking alcohol (Romans 14:21, Col 2:16)

4. Unhealthy foods.

5. Playing poker or other forms of gambling.

6. Playing card games like Magic or Pokemon.

7. Playing Video Games.

8. Watching movies with blood, sex, nudity, disturbing images, drugs, or foul language.

9. Which version of the Bible to read.

10. Listening to certain kinds of music.

11. Reading books that don’t align with the Bible (including Narnia or Lord of the Rings).

12. Types of clothes we wear. Especially on Sunday mornings.

13. Tattoos.

14. Environmentalism.

15. Modes of baptism or communion.

16. Playing darts or pool in a tavern.

17. Weapons or Firearms.

18. Smoking.

19. Celebrating Halloween and other pagan holidays.

20. Home-schooling.

These are all non-essentials that become essential in a subjective way through each individual’s conscience. Usually the “weak” person will say something like, “I’m uncomfortable with…”.

No one is all strong. No one is all weak. Everybody has areas where they are strong. Everybody has areas where they are weak.

Two things I’m weak in are alcohol (as I mentioned above) and sex scenes in movies. I’m not sure why, but I can’t make it through a James Bond film or a similar show without having the nudity or sex embedded into my brain. Is it a sin to go watch James Bond films? No. Is it a sin for me to go watch James Bond films? Yeah. Is it a sin to drink Alcohol? No. Is it a sin for me to drink alcohol? Yep.

One thing I’m strong in is food. I was in Germany visiting with some people I knew there, and we went out to a pizza place. This older woman ordered a pizza and watched with x-ray vision as the woman started to make her pizza. It just so happened that the woman didn’t wash her hands before putting on her gloves. The older woman I was visiting asked her daughter to go to another food place and buy her some food because she wasn’t going to eat the pizza because of germs.

“Do you know where her hands have been? I haven’t been sick for 14 years and don’t intend on starting today.” Wow! I thought. She had a very “weak” theology that equated getting sick with sin (semi-Charismatic-faith-healing-name-it-claim-it stuff). Is it a sin to eat food with germs? No. Would it have been for her? As crazy as it sounds, Yeah (1 Cor 8:7-11). Going against our conscience is a sin.

I ate a meal off of a dirt floor in an Egyptian village once.. I figured it wasn’t a good time to bring that up though.

If You’re Strong.

 1. Don’t “regard with contempt” the weak in faith. “The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat…” -- Rom 14:3a

“But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” -- 1 Corinthians 8:9

Don’t look down on people because they are weak. You are weak in some areas also. I have to admit, I’m not very good at this. It becomes even more difficult when someone who is weak in faith binds everyone under their conscience. If the older girl I was visiting in Germany said to me, “you can’t eat that pizza either. That could get you sick…” I would have a hard time not looking down on her. Or if the KJV only guy says to me, “God inspired this version above all other English translations and it should be the only Bible read,” I would have a hard time not looking down on him. Liberty is wonderful, but love is even greater.

Another example. A pastor’s kid was offered the opportunity of a lifetime in Chicago. In 1998 at the height of Michael Jordan’s success, a man who recently won his first Master’s tournament named Tiger Woods came to play golf with him. The pastor’s kid happened to work as a caddy at the golf course they were coming too. Days before the event the owner hand picked the kid to caddy for Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. If it were me, I would have exploded with happiness. Two of the world’s biggest superstar athletes chatting it up after dominating their sports. Only, there was one problem, they were going to be golfing on a Sunday. The kid, as it turns out, was weak on the issue of the Sabbath. For him, it was a sin in his eyes to work on Sundays. He humbly turned down the opportunity of a lifetime. When I first heard the story I thought the kid was an idiot. How crazy do you have to be to turn down the chance to caddy for Michael Jordan? I was way off the mark with my response. God will honor his choice for following his conscience.

2. Don’t place a “stumbling block” in front of the weak in faith. This can happen a couple of ways. #1 is internal struggles. I was in a Christian school that didn’t allow alcohol on campus. A bunch of guys went out to a restaurant the day after school was over and invited my friend Chris. Chris grew up in a family traumatized by alcohol abuse. He was incredibly weak on the issue. Just by my friends drinking in front of him, he was visibly agitated and offended. He left early. 

“Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.” -- 1 Cor 8:13. #2 is peer pressure. 1 Cor 8:10-12 describes how a person whose conscience is weak can be strengthened through peer pressure to eat meat sacrificed to idols and become ruined. The section concludes by saying, “And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” Don’t impel your will upon a weak person.

If You’re Weak.

1. For everyone’s sanity, DO NOT BIND OTHER PEOPLE BY YOUR CONSCIENCE. That bugs the heck out of me. If you, like me, can’t watch James Bond, that’s fine. But don’t say it is a sin to watch James Bond.

Tons of Christians do this. They overstretch principles they feel convicted by, tie a Bible verse to it, and call it a doctrine. I hate that. Philippians 4:8 does not say Christians cannot watch Pulp Fiction. It doesn’t say it. Don’t make it say that.

A lot of Christians get it in their mind that they can only watch movies with talking produce or a stamp of approval from the Kendrick brothers. These movies aren’t bad, but they are a lot like the “Mirror of Erised” from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Whenever anyone looks into the mirror they see their deepest longings fulfilled. When Harry looks into it he sees his family (since he grew up without his immediate family). When his friend Ron looks into it he sees himself winning a sporting trophy for his school team. This is good and does have a purpose. Dumbledore, The headmaster of Harry and Ron’s school makes an interesting observation about the mirror though, “…this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth.” It doesn’t portray reality. When we submit to God it doesn’t mean that we’ll get a new truck, our barren wife will get pregnant, and our struggling football team will start winning. That’s not how life works. “Neither knowledge nor truth.”

2. Don’t judge people on disputable issues. “…the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Rom 14:3b & 4

On disputable issues, the strong and the weak person are both right so long as no one begins judging or holding the other in contempt.

Fellowship.

Augustine has a famous saying, “In the essentials Unity, In the non-essentials Liberty.” And certainly he’s right. We do have liberty, but the better response is love. The whole point Paul is trying to make is that the Romans “…should not allow differences over ‘disputable matters’ to interfere with full fellowship in the body of Christ.” I think we should certainly hold our essential doctrines tight to our chest, but on the disputable issues we should take Paul’s approach. “The faith you have, have as your own conviction before God.” Rom 14:22.

God Bless,

Travis.