Following on

I've been away for the weekend at our Bourd/staff retreat, so only just checked my blog for comments. I always get excited when I get comments, I like to hear what other people are thinking.

So, people made some good comments and this is a delicate issue. I appreciate being challenged by others, and I agree with everything that was said.

I guess what I want to get across is the fact that alcohol itself isn't sinful, which is something that I have heard it described a lot as here in Canada within christian communities. How we abuse it is the sin. And we do need to be more aware of who is around us and if we are helping or hindering them, but we need to think about this on a broader spectrum, not just about alcohol ie: is my language helping/hindering, is what I am offering to eat helping/hindering, is what I am wearing helping/hindering.

My frustration is that we are so picky about alcohol, but not picky enough about other things as well. My frustration is that instead of teaching how to live our lives in moderation we just ban things, in that case I should just ban food right? Because I know I have an issue when it comes to eating, I don't know when to stop. Now I know that that statment is an exaggeration, I need to eat to survive, and you do not need alcohol to survive, but are you getting my point? This isn't about alcohol per se, it is about our attitude towards it.

But the other thing that drew me to the C.S. Lewis quote was the fact that he talks about how we seem to ignore other sinful behaviour because it doesn't really seem to be destructive therefore it's OK. The fact that I don't look after my body, and sometimes over eat is bad, and I need to recognise it as being bad.

When I read the bottom paragraph, I felt like I had been slapped in the face with his stinging words; Of course, it does not show on the outside so easily: bridge-mania or golf-mania do not make you fall down in the middle of the road. But God is not deceived by externals.