{"id":2688,"date":"2023-05-18T12:37:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T16:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=2688"},"modified":"2023-05-25T17:58:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T21:58:31","slug":"megachurch-pastor-preaches-sermon-on-christians-engaging-with-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2023\/05\/megachurch-pastor-preaches-sermon-on-christians-engaging-with-alcohol.html","title":{"rendered":"Megachurch Pastor Preaches Sermon on Christians Engaging With Alcohol"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2781\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2781\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2781\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2023\/05\/Pastor-Robby-Gallaty_credit-Long-Hollow-YouTube-v02-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long Hollow Baptist Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Drinking alcohol has become so common in society that typically, the person who chooses not to drink faces questions from confused peers and gets sideways glances instead of the one who overindulges. Undoubtedly, alcoholism has become an epidemic, with new research showing that alcohol-induced liver disease increased during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>So how should Christians engage with alcohol? Robby Gallaty, the senior pastor of Long Hollow Church in Tennessee, recently discussed whether it\u2019s wise for believers to drink alcohol. Gallaty, an alcoholic celebrating 20 years of sobriety, used expert analysis, statistics, and Bible verses to make his case, putting the rest the idea that there\u2019s a difference between being \u201cbuzzed\u201d and drunk.<\/p>\n<p>The pastor stated, \u201cYou can\u2019t be full of the Spirit and buzzed at the same time,\u201d later directing to two police officers in the audience whom he said would assure his assertion that being buzzed and drunk are the same because neither person is sober.<\/p>\n<p>Some may point out that one of Jesus\u2019 first miracles was turning water into wine in John 2:1-11. However, Gallaty gave the verse some context. He explained that drinking wine over water in Jesus\u2019 earthly ministry was safer because the water was typically contaminated with bacteria. Gallaty also asserted that the alcohol we drink today is more potent than biblical time wine.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EwFY7o0TyVQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To make his point, Gallaty referenced the work of Charles Quarles, a research professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cfc.sebts.edu\/faith-and-culture\/was-new-testament-wine-alcoholic\/\">has studied<\/a>\u00a0the makeup of alcohol in the first century.<\/p>\n<p>Quarles wrote, \u201cA careful study of the Mishnah and Talmuds [Jewish texts] shows that the normal dilution rate among the Jews was three parts water to one part wine. This was very likely the commonly accepted dilution rate among Jews of the New Testament era as well. This dilution rate reduces the alcohol content of New Testament wine to 2.75 to 3.0 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pastor was careful to note consuming alcohol is, in and of itself, not a sin and cautioned churchgoers to follow their convictions. But he warned that the line between wise and unwise when it comes to drinking is particularly blurry.<\/p>\n<p>Gallaty turned to the apostle Paul\u2019s words in Ephesians 5:15-18, where he wrote: \u201cPay careful attention, then, to how you walk \u2014 not as unwise people but as wise \u2014\u00a0making the most of the time, because the days are evil.\u00a0So don\u2019t be foolish, but understand\u00a0what the Lord\u2019s will\u00a0is.\u00a0And don\u2019t get drunk\u00a0with wine,\u00a0which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit\u201d (CSB).<\/p>\n<p>The preacher said, in essence, that Paul is telling us to watch how we live and pay attention to things that cause us to go off track. He continued, \u201cDo you ever walk barefoot at night, in the dark? Never! Why? Because you may step on something you will regret. So if you won\u2019t walk in the dark in the backyard in a grassy area because of dogs, then what he\u2019s saying is don\u2019t you dare walk in this world as unwise people, not taking account of how you\u2019re living.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also explained that, in his opinion, there are few circumstances where someone drinks without saying they want to get buzzed or drunk, which he argued are both sinful. He also pointed out that some people use drinking as a coping mechanism to numb their pain. Ultimately, Gallaty explained he had to go through rehab twice because he tried at first to find sobriety and wholeness \u201cwithout Christ, which is why I tell people sobriety without Jesus is always a dead-end street.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drinking alcohol has become so common in society that typically, the person who chooses not to drink faces questions from confused peers and gets sideways glances instead of the one who overindulges. Undoubtedly, alcoholism has become an epidemic, with new research showing that alcohol-induced liver disease increased during the pandemic. So how should Christians engage&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":2781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-health","tag-alcohol"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Megachurch Pastor Preaches Sermon on Christians Engaging With Alcohol<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pastor Robby Gallaty recently preached a sermon discussing Christians and alcohol use, saying that you can&#039;t be buzzed and full of the Spirit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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