A Christian leader believes a Christian educational institution is traveling a path contrary to the Bible in deciding its staff can consume alcohol on their own time.
By Charlie Butts
One News Now
October 7, 2013
Moody Bible Institute has lifted its ban on consumption of alcohol by staff, although still forbidding use by students, suggesting the Bible doesn’t really ban it. Moody president Paul Nyquist is quoted as saying the school is “very interested in staying and adhering to God’s Word.”
“You can’t substantiate nondrinking from Scripture,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “In New Testament times, in Old Testament times, there was drinking of wine. You can’t get around that.”
Dr. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League of North Carolina and president of the American Council on Alcohol Problems believes that’s throwing aside biblical wisdom.
“The case against alcohol use in the scriptures is no less as strong or as absolute as the case against slavery or gambling or the use of certain drugs like marijuana,” he tells OneNewsNow. “Nowhere does the Bible actually say regarding any of these matters Thou shalt not – but the principles of scripture, I would suggest, clearly steer people to reject them.”
The North Carolina activist believes the staff of a Christian institution such as Moody needs to be an example to its students, some of whom may be weak or vulnerable to addiction issues. Indeed, under the policy change, employees of the Chicago school still may not drink alcohol on the job or with students, who sign a pledge not to drink alcohol while enrolled at Moody.
Creech says he “sometimes wonder[s] if God in his sovereignty is allowing a diminishing of our religious liberties because we’ve dropped our standards and will no longer make sacrifices, fight, or speak out to protect people from those activities that can hold so many people in bondage.”
He quotes Dr. George Sweeting, a former Moody president, as saying: “One cannot drink without giving endorsement to a baneful custom and a conscious-less enterprise. It is unthinkable that a Christian should contribute to an industry that deals in death, misery and the ruining of countless lives.”
This story was posted with permission of One News Now and American Family Radio.
To read Dr. Creech’s statement to American Family Radio in full click here
Click below to hear audio of American Family Radio’s report