I think a close reading of Paul in 1 Cor 8 and Romans 14 will answer these questions very well. Paul did not say to “grow these brothers” so that our Christian liberty could be exercised more freely. Instead he said, 1 Cor 8:11 “So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”
and
Romans 14 “All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.”

The idea that you think your goal is to grow a weaker brother to partake of alcohol is not what Paul has in mind here. Instead he seems to say that you have a duty to your brother not to push him into what for him is a sin.

I’ve ministered to lots of guys who’ve had a chronic struggle with alcohol and if one of them says he doesn’t ever want to drink again, I say AMEN to that. I believe these guys’ bodies will never handle or process alcohol effeciently again in this life, so we need to be very, very careful about encouraging them to drink again. Their bodies are different from the average person. If you meet a few of them, they can fill you in on all the details.

Take care, Lou G. in VA

Thanks for the feedback. Thats a insightful point. Sometimes, when Im on the blogs, I forget that everyone is at different points in their walk with Christ.

Brett - This is a common refrain, so it’s a great comment. Let me cite a couple goals, one if a brother is weaker, this isn’t the place we should allow them to remain. We should grow these brothers so that they mature in wisdom.

Second, we will need to be wise to create an atmosphere that is demonstrating responsibility and maturity in Christ.

Thirdly, this can be a slippery slope argument. Meaning, where do we end? We have a ministry to reach strippers, if/as they begin to enter into the community and it causes men to lust in their hears do we talk to them right away and request they dress in baggy clothes that cover every square inch? Is the problem ‘out there’ or in our hearts? I don’t know if these lines are always so black and white. But if we are to model a redemptive community we have to wrestle through these issues rather than opt toward abuse or prohibition.

That said, I think the point that Drew is making is that we can can trade legalistic “prohibition” for a “legalistic moderation” without skipping a beat.
a. Towards other Christians that exceed what they consider moderation (ie - Isn’t that your 3rd beer in 2 hours? Did you have sufficient water and food to ensure you’re not exceeding moderation? etc.)
b. Towards other Christians who remain prohibitionist (ie - Well the TRUE biblical view is moderation so STRONG Christians should ALWAYS be moderationist.)

Redeeming celebration works whether you choose to drink or not, whether you are a moderationist or a abstentionist. I purposely leave out prohibitionist because I don’t think it’s possible to be holier than Jesus.

Is that your disagreement? I hope what I stated is not saying I don’t agree with what you said.

Approaching alcohol redemptively will require people to drink in moderation but the goals are diff’t. Moderationists (negative) goals are drinking in careful manner, redemptively (positive) goals requires more than this ie. drinking in a way that glorifies God.

How is moderation ever a bad thing?

In fact I would argue that your statement of redeeming Alcohol( a beer or two as from God’s bounty) is simply a declaration promotion moderation.
Moderation and redemption are not mutually exclusive. Additionally, moderation does not begin with defeat but with respect. It would be like saying when you go to drive a car, if you make rule #1 that you put your seat belt on, you are just settling for the fact that you will crash.

By that way, just so its made totally clear: I love that God made fermentation. I made beer for Christmas and handed out to non Christians I know telling them to celebrate with this beer the Birth of the Jesus the Savior. Yet, I cannot help but think that moderation is almost always the wisest choice for a Christian.