Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jrossi@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Joe "Bart" Rossi) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: and he came eating and drinking.... Message-ID: Date: 1 Oct 90 01:15:23 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 43 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu On the subject of the subject of social drinking and drug use, in respect to Jesus, I am not aware of any instance where Jesus condemned or preached against such sin. If I am wrong, feel free to correct me, but Jesus did come eating and drinking with sinners. Sometimes I get the impression that some folks seem to think that the folks that flocked around Jesus, whom the Pharisee's and Saducces called "unclean," somehow dropped all of their sinful behaviour in Jesus's prescence and then only engaged in the occassional social glass of wine that people presume that Jesus had. I happen to think this rather unrealistic, and what I find more plausible is that while those that were drawn to Jesus were drawn by his unconditional love for them, even though they be "unclean" sinners, they, like any of us, were unable to instantly change their behaviour at the drop of a hat. So I happen to believe that Jesus practiced tolerance with those tax collectors, prostitutes, and drinkers that he ministered to. I don't think that these sins ranked anywhere as high as the "sin" of the self-righteous religious hypocrite. To me the dinstinction that I feel he saw, was the difference between humble, yet sinful, struggling humans, drowning their sorrow in drink, or struggling to feed themselves through prostitution and arrogant, and also sinful, religious hypocrites, who somehow thought they were above the unclean lot. Ironic also is his comment that a physician comes to heal the sick and thus implying that those Pharisee's and Saducces were not in need of his ministry. But how untrue! I believe he was reacting to their assumption that they did not need his help. The sinners knew they were sinners, and yet were more real. The lived real lives and had real pain, that they medicated with drink. He lived among the sinners because they were better company. He identified more with their suffering than with the obedient to the Law mindset of the Pharisee's. Just some thoughts I've been thinking...