According to the Wall Street Journal the drinking age of 21 doesn't save lives but does promote binge drinking and contempt for the law. What is your impression of this. My point is not whether drinking is right or wrong, sinful or holy but instead what is good for the betterment of society.
I feel an obligation to my teachers, friends and parents to do my best and uphold standards for myself above what society thinks. I've had underage friends from classes ask me to buy them beer and had to say no over and over again. I've been out drinking with friends who's sole purpose is to get drunk. As mentioned in a previous blog, it is important to have standards of integrity while not becoming judgmental towards others. In fact, the opportunity to attend a party should be viewed as an opportunity to witness and is key to spreading the good news! Though some may say I'm a heretic, I feel a life living on the edge(mixing with the culture) is going to be more overt then staying inside the safety of my christian bubble.
As a side note on Drinking and the stress involved:
There are various reasons to drink including social comfort and party aspects. But by far the most driving force behind drinking is a desire to STOP THINKING. Stress from school, work and relationships builds up until our brains get a rest from going, going going... Unless we get daily or weekly breaks from the busy schedule of life we will be forced to resort to more dangerous and risky types of relaxants.
Our society needs well balanced individuals who take time to reboot. Gardening, yoga, or meditation are all great ways to stop and get some respite. Check out some tools available online that help deal with stress.
Good topic Jordan!
ReplyDeleteWe're glad you've been able to lead by example.
Most of us outside of college would be shocked to really know how pervasive binge- and underage drinking is on campus. Isn't it ironic that although the outward reason to attend college is in increase thinking skills, so many feel compelled to relieve that thinking stress in harmful ways?
Thanks for providing the link to stress-relieving activities. Many people don't really know themselves and/or are afraid of being alone, silent, and reflective. If we don't know our purpose and continually develop our virtues, our meaning-seeking nature gives way to a desire to fit in and find some collective unity.
I honestly don't know if the drinking age encourages binge drinking and contempt for the law. I do know that France, which has a much more lenient attitude toward alcohol, doesn't have near the extent of alcohol abuse among the young as we do in the US.
The reason many faiths prohibit alcohol consumption is that alcohol leads the mind astray and causes the weakening of the body. Buddhists refrain from intaking anything that lead to a loss of mindfulness and self-awareness. If alcohol were beneficial, it would have been brought into the world by the divine creation and not by the effort of man. Whatever is beneficial for man exists in creation...
The "betterment of society" occurs when we become inebriated with the wine of the love of God, find eternal bliss and receive inexhaustible joy and happiness. All wine hath depression as an after-effect, except the wine of the Love of God.
May we all be more well balanced individuals, but as ML King encourages, be "extremists for love" and service to our neighbor.
Romans 14 has quite some good stuff to say about this issue. It is less of matter of "do's and donts" and more relational.
ReplyDeleteIt always comes back to relational with Christ.
What is the best way I can love my brother and sister. I should do nothing that will cause them to stumble even if I am completely free in Christ to partake in those things.
-Levi
Alan raises a good point saying, "alcohol leads the mind astray and causes the weakening of the body"...
ReplyDeleteI must confess I didn't think to include the religious aspects of why we shouldn't drink but it does actually help to make sense of the laws that are in place.
This idea of motivation behind laws reminded me of growing up thinking certain rules my parents made were really lame and for that reason I felt justified in breaking them. Without relationships or reasons to follow rules we are never going to take hold of the belief for our selves. I'll talk more about this in another post.
Levi also has powerful insight into the christian mentality of what a Christian's life should reflect to the out side world. So many people are turn away by the hypocritical lives of Christians... Although I agree we should strive to live our lives according to a biblical model(loving one another) I do not agree this sitting inside our houses so that we don't commit a sin.
Best Example: I went hiking with my friends in Montana De Oro State Park(see pictures on FB). While hiking I picked a flower and put it in my hair thinking how innocent I was... Little did I realize I had just committed a 500$ crime!!! So how do you live a life that is free from mistakes that might make your friend's stumble???
Sin is part of being human. Ideally, we do not intentionally mean to hurt others, the earth, or God...but we often do. By being mindful of the predictable consequences of our actions, we may be able to make less mistakes, but no one has ever managed to live a life free from mistakes. Maybe that is why humility, truthfulness, forgiveness, and compassion are so essential, as we need those virtues when we or others do offensive things.
ReplyDeleteAnd we should live our lives in ways that not only prevents our friends from stumbling, but strangers and even enemies as well. For example, despite the immense harm and fear the Al-Qaeda leader caused, I find a violent response is immature and likely to generate unwanted consequences. Does killing evil doers get to the cause of fear and violence or simply give a temporary satisfaction that we have done something? I wonder what advice Jesus would have given(or did give!) regarding enemies?
The murder of Osoma Bin Laden has been a hot topic on our campus recently in both the moral and cultural ramifications.
ReplyDeleteCulturally there are two main perspectives. On the one hand many people are apathetic about it. I don't know if there is a reason why people think this way. On the other side,many people are overjoyed, saying(and I quote), "America is Awesome!" The outcomes of this event, both political and social, are yet to be seen but as you said, they are "likely to generate unwanted consequences"
In the moral aspect you have lots of different views. In our group prayer today we talked about what Jesus means when he says "all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52)
I cannot tell if this event will affect history but I do know from the past that in the 66-70 century a Jewish rebellion took place. The motive being that God would bring deliverance and establish the kingdom of heaven. This was not the case any many of the Christian jews chose not to fight because they knew the true kingdom was in heaven. That is not to say God doesn't care about what happens here on earth, rather, I believe God wants to restore the people and earth to its former Glory. How and when, I really can't tell...
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/jews.html#ixzz1LLtmaRwi