What if someone someone comes in with an alcoholic beverage?
Well, that will almost certainly happen! During First Fridays downtown the street drinking laws are suspended. So people come and go from shop to shop and store to store drinking alcoholic beverages. Our official stand as a church is that the Bible does not prohibit drinking, but drunkenness is a sin. (see below)
OK, then. What if someone who comes to the 567 is drunk?
discussion, discussion, discussion (just keeping it short)
We didn't recall that Jesus ever ran a drunk off - not even late into the wedding celebration where he had turned water into wine - GOOD wine.
So, we concluded that as long as a person was not a danger to himself or anyone else, and as long as he was not disruptive, what we would do is - nothing. If they are disruptive or unsafe, we will simply ask them to leave or escort them out. This, by the way is the same policy that we have for Sunday mornings at the theater. (you never know who might show up for a service)
If you haven't read our official position on alcohol - here it is, adopted from the Acts 29 Network.
First, we believe that all drunkenness is a sin (Deuteronomy 21:20; Ecclesiastes 10:17; Matthew 24:29; Luke 12:45; 21:34; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:10; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Peter 4:3).
Secondly, we believe that many horrendous sins are affiliated with drunkenness. Therefore, getting drunk is a sin that can lead to other sins, such as incest (Genesis 19:32–35), violence (Proverbs 4:17), adultery (Revelation 17:2), mockery and brawling (Proverbs 20:1), poverty (Proverbs 21:17), late night and early morning drinking (Isaiah 5:11–12), hallucinations (Isaiah 28:7), foolish behavior (Isaiah 5:22;
Jeremiah 51:39), murder (2 Samuel 11:13), vomiting (Jeremiah 25:27; 48:26; Isaiah 19:14), staggering (Jeremiah 25:27; Psalm 107:27; Job 12:25), madness (Jeremiah 51:7), shameful nakedness (Habakkuk 2:15; Lamentations 4:21), sloth (Joel 1:5), escapism (Hosea 4:11), and depression (Luke 21:34). In summary, sin leads to death and the sin of drunkenness produces only death and misery.Thirdly, we believe that Christian leaders are to live their lives in such a way as to set a positive example of holiness for others to emulate (Hebrews 13:7). This includes elders, the male senior leaders in the church, who are not to be drunkards (1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 1:7).
Fourthly, we do believe that all Christians must at varying times and in varying ways give up some of their Christian liberties in order to love people of weaker conscience. Christians must make every effort to not lead them into sin by exercising freedoms in their presence (Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 10:31–32).
