From Monday Morning Insight…
Recently, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention changed their bylaws to say that all employees and elected officials abstain from the “use of alcohol as a beverage.” This was reason enough for popular SBC blogger Wade Burleson to come up with his reasons why everyone should also abstain from tea. Sarcastic, yes. But points well taken:
(1). Drinking tea leads a person to addiction to caffeine.
(2). Tea and coffee are destructive to the Christian’s body, which is the temple of God.
(3). Though the Bible does not expressly forbid the drinking of tea, there is an overwhelming preponderence of Biblical evidence that tea drinking is a sin.
(4). Though some have the gall to say Jesus drank tea on the cross, it was clearly not the same kind of tea or substance that tea drinkers consume today.
(5). The argument that drinking tea is not illegal in the United States, and therefore, lawful for the Christian, is an argument straight from hell.
(6). Some cultures drink tea as a normal part of daily life, but that is no excuse for Christians to drink it, since we are to be ‘a cut above’ the world.
(7). When a Christian purchases tea he is supporting an entire industry that has made a fortune by leading people to the mind altering, destructive, and nearly impossible to break addiction to caffeine.
(8). It has been scandalously reported that some young, Southern Baptist pastors are actually having Bible studies in the local Starbucks in an effort to lead people to Christ.
(9). A great concern for the loosening of the standard of total abstinence from tea drinking is the belief that those Southern Baptist moderates and liberals who drink tea will eventually cause the Southern Baptist Convention to turn back from a firm belief in the inerrancy of the Bible.
(10). Drinking caffeinated tea for recreational purposes physiologically acts as a ‘mind altering drug, “
A good ploy, Pastor Steve, luring us in with
“Abstinence,” knowing full well that in this day and age it suggests sexual behavior that Christians should not engage in outside of marriage. So okay, you got our attention. Fair enough.
HOWEVER, regarding COFFEE abstinence – I am quite sure that the writer, regardless of how biblically knowledgeable, has never, not EVER, been exposed to the flavor of Caribou – else he’d be not nearly so opinionated. 8–)