The couple reportedly walked around the bar, bibles in hand, telling people off for swearing.  They even got to the point that they banned people from the pub for cursing.  They were eventually fired by the owner, but instead of leaving graciously…they have barricaded themselves in the flat that is above the pub and have taken the owner to court.

After reading this story, I decided that to many of us are decent Christians that would never be as bad as this couple was at sharing their faith.  So I thought I would come up with some simple steps that you can take if you would like to live up to their level of stupidity.

1. Tell people they are sinning when they are not.
   I love the fact that they took over a pub and then took away gambling and darts.  Gambling I can kind of understand, but it’s not really a sin.  Greed is the sin.  But darts just confounds me.  How could throwing a sharp object at a wall be a sin.  That just sounds like good fun to me.
2. Focus on the sin and not the sinner.
   Here is a news flash.  Sinners sin.  That’s what we do best.  It’s that whole sin nature thing.  Telling someone without a regenerated (I don’t like using big words…but it fits) heart to not sin is just dumb.  It’s like telling a dog to not lick its butt…they might stop…but they won’t like it.  The only way to truly reach someone is to show them their complete depravity…not showing them they have a few little dirty spots in their life.
3. Preach morality and not Jesus.
   This kind of goes with number two, but has a little different slant to it.  If you really want to piss someone off, tell them that cleaning up their act will get them into heaven.  There are a couple of reasons this will work.  First, you’re lying to them.  The only way to heaven is Jesus.  Anything else is a lie.  Second, if they try your method, they are going to get frustrated really quickly.  Remember the whole unregenerated heart thing.  They can’t help but to sin.  So you are asking them to stop doing something they can’t stop themselves from doing.  You are asking them to live biblically without the power of Jesus to do so.
4. Sue them.
   If all else fails, just take them to court.  Nothing says Jesus loves you like a subpoena.

Well I hope this helps.  If you find yourself with a great opportunity to share the love of Jesus to some broken people and you want to screw it up, just remember to follow these four simple steps.

photo by: Zeetz Jones

As I’ve told you in the past, I’ve been searching the internet daily to find another like-minded blog or web site out there. But to no avail, I have yet to find any other Christian bloggers that openly talk about their love of God and good beer. But as you can imagine, I have found plenty of blogs and articles that are anti-alcohol.

As I’ve read through these blogs/articles, I have to say that my blood pressure has risen a little. Now I’m not upset because they don’t like beer. I’m not even upset because they feel their conscience won’t let them drink. I’m getting upset for two reasons.

First, time and time again I read phrases that say something like, “Now there isn’t anything in scripture that says you can’t drink, but…” But…But…I’m sorry, but this is just annoying to me. This is like saying, “Now I know Jesus says to ______, but…” It just doesn’t jive. I even read a blog post by one guy that said that Jesus drank alcohol (which he did), but we shouldn’t. There’s a word that is used when you say that you can’t do something that Bible says you can. I’ll give you a hint…begins with a “legal” and ends with “you’re an idiot”.

We know scripture says that you can drink as long as you are of age, don’t have a conscience against it, and don’t get drunk (unless you do some freaky hermeneutical gymnastics to say something different). To say anything beyond that is to add to scripture.

This leads me to the second thing that just annoys the crap out of me…flawed logic. Since these people can’t use scripture to back up their prohibition, they have to come up with some other way to say you can’t drink alcohol. I wish they would just come out and say, “You shouldn’t drink alcohol because I personally think it is bad for you and society.”

I would be cool with that. If you are personally against drinking, I completely support your views. It’s when you start to impose those personal views on the world that I have a problem. I personally don’t like tomatoes, but I don’t judge those that do like tomatoes (I just vomit a little in my mouth when I see them eating them…but that’s my problem).

But unfortunately these blogs don’t stop there. They start to use some weird messed up logic to prove their personal preferences. It usually goes something like this, “If you drink, even if it is within the bounds of scripture, you are encouraging others to drink. If others drink they are going to get drunk and become alcoholics and then they will go to hell!” I even read one blog (I’m not telling you where these blogs are at, because I don’t want to give them any link love) that said he doesn’t drink, because if he did his kids would then become drug addicts.

Here is where that logic fails. Lets use something else in place of alcohol and see how this would pan out if we used the same logic. Lets use sex (sex and beer in one post…this is definitely getting found on google). So here is how that would work out. “If you have sex even if it is within the bounds of scriptural loving marriage, you are encouraging others to have sex. If others have sex they are going to do it without their spouses and become sex addicts and then they will go to hell!” I don’t know about you, but I’m not giving up relations with my wife anytime soon. It’s just flawed logic.

Here’s how I see it. God has called us to share His light with this world. Just in the same way we shame the world by living in loving sexually healthy relationships with our spouses, we shame the world by going to the local pub and enjoying a good brew without getting wasted. We confuse those around us. We make them wonder what is different about us. We show them how they fall short of the glory of God. I see God being more glorified by our proper handling of alcohol than by not using it at all.

As my pastor used to say growing up, I know I’m preaching to the choir on this one, but I just had to rant for a little while. I really don’t want this blog to be about bashing those who are against drinking, but I just had to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening.

Photo by: rick

With my recent post on how Christians that love beer are called to be missionaries to the world of beer, I thought I would give you some quick tips on how to be a missionary at your local bar.

1. Leave a big tip.
   In the words of one of my friends, “Your Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but you’re leaving a 5% tip.”  What is it with most Christians being so tight with their money?  I workded as a waiter through college, and I have to say that I was embarressed to be a Christian sometimes.  I didn’t work on Sunday’s, but the people that did hated it.  And it was all because of the Christians that came in after church.  They were rude, annoying, and terrible tippers.  In the world of waiting, this is like having Satan as your customer.  Show so some love and leave a nice tip.
2. Don’t be afraid to be a Christian.
   Now I’m not saying walk into the joint carrying your John McArther Study Bible, wearing all white, having a huge comb-over and singing Amazing Grace (you’ll get your ass kicked).  What I’m saying is to not be afraid to share the hope that you have inside of you.  Whether that means spending some time reading your Bible while enjoying a nice cold one or helping someone get through a tuff situation by sharing about Jesus, don’t worry about openly being a Christian (whooo! that was a run-on sentence).  The reality is that most people are actually really cool with it (and sometimes really curious).
3. Get to know your bartender/support staff by name.
   Bartenders and support staff are normally nameless faces.  You’ll be amazed with how much further a relationship will go if you know someones name.  Enough said. 
4. Care for the people that work there and the regulars.
   I’m not talking about superficial-I’m-pretending-like-I-care caring.  Actually care for the well being of these peoples lives.  This is both spiritually and here on earth.  Care about their lives, their families, their finances, their jobs, their souls.  Take interest in them and their lives.
5. Pray for them.
   This kind of goes in line with the previous tip.  The reality is that if you care about their lives you should be praying for them.  When they tell you about their troubles, pray for them.  When you think about them during the week, pray for them.   As you get to know them better, ask if you can pray for them right then and there. 
6. Bring your Christian friends with you.
   God has designed us to work together as a body.   We called to work together.  We are called to unity.  We are called to lift each other up.  We are called to use our gifts where they are needed.  So why do we always think of evangelism and missions as a Lone Ranger affair?  If you are doing this alone, I would say that you are working from an area of weakness and not strength.  So don’t go it alone.  Plus, you just look weird drinking by yourself.
7. Listen.
   This goes hand in hand with the caring tip, but I think it deserves to be by itself.  You need to listen to the problems of those that are around you.  Bars can be a breading ground for loneliness and dispair.  Be observant of those that around you in the bar.  Be there to listen.
8. Toast “to the glory of God.”
   You might think this is corny, but it works for me.  It helps me remember why I’m at the bar.  It’s a reminder of what my ultimate purpose is.  It helps me to remember that there is Someone greater than beer.
9. Pray for yourself.
   “Pride comes before the fall.”  Don’t think that you can do this without God.  He is your ultimate strength.  Pray for strength.  Pray for guidance.  Pray for opportunities.  Pray for humility.  Pray for patience.  Pray.
10. Share the gospel.
    In in the end, missionaries share the gospel.  You can be nice.  You can pray for people.  You can listen to their problems.  You can do all this and more, but if you don’t share the gospel, it’s pointless.  The gospel is the only thing that has the power to change anythig in their lives.  If you don’t share the gospel, you’re nothing more than a nice guy who likes to drink beer. 

 

photo by: Penningtron

I got an email from Brad Ruggles (of BradRuggles.com go check him out) asking the following questions:

On a side-note, have you thought about reviewing any micro-breweries around the country or having readers submit reviews? I came across a neat one in Nashville when I was there a couple of weeks ago that I might hit again on the way back. I would also like to know if there are any others around the country I could hit on my travels. Do you know of a blog/web site that has these kind of reviews?

At the moment I don’t know of any good sites for this (if you have any leave them in the comments below). Originally, I had thought about doing reviews of local pubs, bars, and micro-breweries. But there isn’t much of a demand for knowing about where to get your drink on in Albuquerque.

So here is the challenge. Send me the reviews of your favorite place to get a drink. Here is the info that I will need:

• Name
• Address
• Web Site (if they have one)
• What beers do they carry (brewed on location, local only, domestic, imports, everything under the sun)
• If they brew their own beer, give us the best beers to try
• Whats good to eat
• What makes it your favorite place to go
• At least one picture of the place (preferably with you in it)
• Any other good information about the place (history, best/worst times to go, owners names, inside info, ect.)

When you get your review all together nice and neat like, you can email it to “reviews [at] thebeerean.com” (of course you need to format the address the proper way changing [at] to @ and taking out the spaces). I will then put your review on the site (ok some might not make it due to unforeseen reasons, but pretty much all of them will make it out). Depending on how many I get and how often, I’ll probably try to space them out a little bit.

There are some plugins out there for WordPress that will let you plot your posts on a map. I’ll do the leg work on finding the right one, and then I’ll post your reviews with them also having a place on the map. Then we can easily find a good place to get a beer no matter where we are (well unless someone hasn’t done a review for that area).

There are plenty of blogs that focus on one or the other, but not both. That’s just one place that we can look at the lack of the Christian influence on the world of beer. You can go into almost any bar, pub, or micro-brewery and see this even more. The only influence I’ve ever seen in a pub is the presence of Monk’s Ale.

So what does this mean? Why should we care? What difference does it make whether Christians have an influence in the world of beer. Well I would say we should care because there are lost and dying people in the world of beer who don’t know about Jesus.

If we are to be followers of Jesus, we must be about what Jesus is about. In Jesus’ words, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” We should be about the same thing.

Unfortunately for decades it has been taboo for Christians to be in the world of beer (and still is in most places). So we have stood on the sidelines of the world of beer while people have died and gone to hell. But Jesus has told us to be, “in the world.”

If you go by the name of Beerean, you are called to go into the world and share with them the hope that they can find in Jesus. It is no accident that you are Christian that likes beer.

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. – Psalm 37:4

Jesus gave you the love for beer that you might take His light into the dark places. He gave you a love for beer that you might be able to share the hope that Jesus has given you with those who would probably never hear it otherwise. He has given you the love of beer that you might be a missionary to the world or beer lovers.

So to my fellow Beereans out there listen to Jesus and, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” If you don’t go, who will?