Baptists, booze, and baseball

I sometimes wonder how our Southern Baptist friends find the time to do all their evangelistic work (which they generally do very well) when they spend so much time arguing over such trifling little issues.

Two decades after declaring victory in the war over biblical inerrancy, Southern Baptists are battling about booze.

Seeking to remain relevant in today's culture, many Baptists have abandoned former taboos against social activities like dancing and going to movies. Now some are questioning the denomination's historic position of abstaining from alcohol, prompting others to draw a line.

The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina recently passed a motion to "study a policy of the social use of alcohol" related to funding of church plants, employment of personnel and nomination of persons to committees and boards of trustees.

"We as Southern Baptists in the North Carolina Baptist State Convention want the world to know that we promote the King of Kings, not the King of Beers," Tim Rogers, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Indian Trail, N.C., told fellow messengers at the Nov. 8-10 annual meeting in Greensboro.

That is the same city where the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution in 2006 expressing "total opposition" to alcoholic beverages and urging that no one who uses them be elected to a position of leadership in the denomination.

It was hardly groundbreaking -- the convention has spoken against drinking more than 50 times dating back to 1886. What made it news, however, was a number of well-known conservatives who rose to speak against a statement calling for total abstinence.

The ruckus -- and the post-convention blogs that kept the argument alive -- prompted Peter Lumpkins, a Southern Baptist pastor for more than 20 years before turning to a writing ministry, to pen his first book: Alcohol Today: Abstinence in an Age of Indulgence, in 2009.

"One would be hard-pressed to locate a belief -- outside believers' baptism by immersion itself -- which reflects more unity among Southern Baptists than abstinence from intoxicating beverages for pleasurable purposes," Lumpkins said in an e-mail interview.

It should be easy to understand the opposition of "a number of well-known conservatives" who, undoubtedly, are committed to the denomination's commitment to "biblical inerrancy." Under present "total opposition" standards, one assumes, neither Paul nor Timothy would be eligible for a leadership position in the SBC. "No longer drink only water," Paul instructed his young protege, "but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments" (1 Timothy 5.23).

Of course, Jesus himself once turned water into wine at a wedding party after the guests had exhausted the initial supply (John 2.1-11), and then there is the matter of the Last Supper in which Jesus and his disciples all consumed a beverage considerably stronger than Welch's.

All of this reminds me of a story I have, up until now, neglected to write down. A few years ago, I was at a baseball game, dressed incognito in a t-shirt, sunglasses, and a ball cap. Next to me were two grumpy men who were carrying on a conversation about their disdain for a local law prohibiting the serving of alcohol on Sundays. After listening to their rant for several minutes, I decided I should interject my opinion.

"I serve alcohol every Sunday," I said rather matter-of-factly.

The more vocal of the two men looked at me with his eyes lit up with eagerness.

"Where?" he asked in a voice laced with zealous curiosity.

"I'm a priest," I calmly replied.

At this point, the man's face turned about forty shades of pale and his conversation with his less vociferous companion switched to another subject.