I remember the sermon that was preached to me in Bible College that was delivered from the president himself. As part of a series of sermons on personal behavior in twice-weekly Chapel meetings, the president was called on to deliver a message on alcohol consumption. Not unexpectedly - considering that all of us students had signed pledges not to drink any alcohol, on-campus or not, under pain of expulsion - our president delivered an impassioned sermon arguing that teetotaling abstinence from alcohol was the only acceptable Christian approach to alcohol.
This flies in the face of 2,000 years of Christian history, to say nothing of the millions of Christians around the world who partake in alcohol as part of their worship. Mr. President's sermon, however, was based on a variety of arguments, such as: the example set for others; the appearance of wrongdoing; the potential damage done by alcohol to families and, by extension, to society at large (one of the very arguments that led to Prohibition, but I digress); and potential harm done to one's body by alcohol. Nowhere in his sermon was any mention of Biblical prohibitions against alcohol use.
That's because there aren't any. While the Bible does warn against drunkenness, the reality is that wine was a part of daily life in Bible times, and indeed it's a fair assumption that most if not all of the early Christians drank wine, and most likely Jesus himself did too (see John 2; the idea that Jesus would create wine for consumption at a wedding but then insult the host by not drinking any is patently ludicrous).
Through either a tortured reading of Scripture; or through tired and illogical arguments about the differences between ancient wine vs. modern libations; or both, millions of Christians (mostly in the US) hold to Prohibition-era notions of alcohol consumption. And while a compelling case can be made that alcohol consumption is (or at least, can be) a bad idea, there is just no evidence that's it's a sin.
When exercising Christian liberty, we need to be mindful of the differences between things that are bad ideas versus things that are sin. For example, in the main, gambling is a bad idea. The house gets a (sometimes huge) cut - and always wins - and when the house is done with their cut the state gets a cut. Gambling is essentially throwing money away, on the hopes that you'll gain some that you didn't earn. Far too many families have been impoverished by breadwinners choosing to gamble, and no one will deny that gambling addiction is a real disease. Naturally, many Christians choose not to gamble. It's a bad idea. But is it a sin? No - gambling is mentioned rarely in the Bible, and when it's mentioned, it's merely mentioned matter-of-factly (see John 19:24). It's a sin to impoverish your family by blowing your paycheck, but that can be accomplished through any number of means besides gambling. If no one depends on the money you're throwing away but you, then gambling is merely a bad idea.
This argument can be applied to any number of things that, at least in Christian culture, are considered to be sins but are actually just bad ideas. Smoking? Bad idea, not a sin. Overeating? Bad idea, not a sin. Use of hard drugs such as opiates? [Very] bad idea, but still not a sin.
And of course, all of this says nothing about the best tool available to us in matters of sin vs. bad ideas: moderation. Letting your kids go hungry this week because you blew your paycheck at the craps table is a sin. Blowing a few bucks that you've saved for a weekend at the riverboat casino is not. Drinking until you're falling-over drunk and then driving is a sin. Having an adult beverage with a meal is not.
Having Christian liberty means allowing others (Christians and non-Christians alike) to exercise their own liberty. Sometimes that means making choices that we may or may not agree with. We need to let go of our notions that, just because we regard something as harmful (even rightfully so), that we have any say in whether or not another Christian (or, more importantly, non-Christians) can participate in it. And for those matters where the harm only comes from abuse, our job is to allow others to practice their liberty, and to advocate for moderation, not only in the lives of those we care about, but in our own lives as well.
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