Adopted Alcohol Policy (from Dallas Theological Seminary)

Dallas Theological Seminary’s Alcohol Use Policy

Summary

Discretion is required for each member of the DTS family to walk in wisdom and grace as we respond to various expressions of conviction within the Christian community regarding the use of alcoholic beverages. The position of DTS is that Scripture does not prohibit the moderate use of alcohol, yet it warns against the dangers of excess. Therefore, members of the DTS community are asked to be cautious and discerning in their choices regarding alcoholic beverages. As physical-spiritual image bearers of the Triune God, we aspire to be known for excellence in Christlikeness and the exercise of moderation in all things.

Explanation

As a community of believers in Christ, adopted by the Father, and indwelled by the Spirit, Dallas Theological Seminary faculty, staff, and students possess a unique opportunity to live in loyalty to the Lord, faithfulness to the Scriptures, and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Within this calling and freedom, we recognize that the Christian community differs over the use of alcoholic beverages, with a range of positions extending from full acceptance to total abstinence. The position of DTS is that Scripture does not prohibit the moderate use of alcohol (Deut 11:13-14; 14:22-26; 1 Chr 12:39-40; Luke 7:33-34; 1 Tim 3:8; 5:23). However, the Bible clearly forbids drunkenness as well as the abuse of freedom that would cause others to stumble in violating their own consciences (Rom 13:13; 14:13-23; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:18; 1 Tim 3:3; Titus 2:3; 1 Pet 4:3-4). Because the Bible both affirms the appropriate use of alcohol and warns against its dangers, members of the DTS community are asked to be very aware and discerning in their choices. While members of the Seminary family are asked to exercise cautious freedom and discernment with the issue of alcohol consumption off campus, Dallas Theological Seminary premises and events will continue to remain free from alcoholic beverages, except for liturgical, ceremonial, medicinal, or other exceptional instances as approved by the administration.

In light of the differing convictions on the use of alcoholic beverages, each member of the Seminary family is urged to walk in wisdom and grace toward one another. Paul admonishes believers not to be characterized by conflict, divisiveness, or judgmental attitudes when promoting their preferred version of Christian conduct (1 Cor 8; Rom 14-15). As we walk together in the Spirit, the effects of His presence in our lives (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control [Gal. 5:22-23]) testify that Christ’s love for us compels us to live for the good of others, to model His sacrificial love to all people, and to unselfishly place the interests of others above our own (Rom 15:2; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Phil 2:3-4).

It is important to understand that DTS’s policy on the use of alcoholic beverages does not represent the only factor that should guide behavior. One’s ministry context plays an important role in choices regarding the issue of alcohol consumption—whether that involves the biblically defined use of or abstention from it. Seminary students, faculty, and staff are admonished to be faithful in their ministry context by submitting to the guidelines established by the leadership of their own local churches, denominations, parachurch ministries, or mission organizations (Rom 13:1-5).

Likewise, in public and global contexts, seminary board, faculty, staff, and students should understand they represent both the Lord and Dallas Theological Seminary, and they should therefore obey any local or national laws regarding alcohol consumption and consistently demonstrate sensitivity to cultural standards as representatives of the Church, the Seminary, and our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we seek to honor and serve.

All aspects of our lives serve as a testimony to the world and at the same time should build up the church. As physical-spiritual image bearers of the Triune God, we aspire to be known for excellence in Christlikeness and the exercise of wisdom in all areas of life—our sexuality, diet (whether food or drink), character, finances, ministry, relationships, work ethic, and doctrine. As the mission of DTS states, we exist as a community “to glorify God by equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of His Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide” (emphasis intended).

Extended Note of Reference

In the days of ancient Israel, people commonly drank wine and beer (Heb. shēkār—long translated “strong drink”). The fact that Nazirite men and women abstained from wine during their time of special vow (Num 6:1-4) demonstrates how ordinary drinking wine was in biblical times. Consumption of these drinks took place at banquets, sacred meetings, times of worship (Gen 14:18-20), and weddings (SOS 1:2). Wine—a gift of God “to gladden the heart of man” (Ps 104:15), a drink used in the joyful worship of Yahweh (Deut 14:26), and a joyful part of prophetic portraits of millennial blessings (Amos 9:14)—was a normal part of daily living in biblical times. New Testament evidence is similar to that of Hebrew Scriptures. Our Lord’s first miracle was turning ordinary water into a lavish bounty (120 to 180 gallons) of the best wine (oinos) the steward at a wedding feast had ever tasted (John 2:1-11). The red wine at the Passover Seder and used during Christian communion speaks of the blood of our Lord Jesus (Matt 26:27). Paul encouraged Timothy to “drink a little wine” for health reasons (1 Tim 5:23). However, good things—even the best of things—can be abused. Thus, those called to leadership in the early churches were expected not to drink too much wine (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 2:3). Both wine and beer are subject to abuse, leading to drunkenness, wantonness, and ruin (Gen 9:20-21; Prov 20:1; 23:29-35), but it is important to remember that abuse does not make a good thing evil in itself.

Source: https://www.dts.edu/about/policies/alcohol/

The Good Old Days - Were They?

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.
—Ecclesiastes 7:10

By Ken Collins

     Life was easy in the fifties. Most of the shows on television were about cowboys. The good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats and it was easy to tell them apart. The good guys never did bad things, and the bad guys never did good things. The television shows that were not about cowboys were about happy, loving families, such as Leave it to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet, or they were about superheroes, such as Superman, who was always on the side of right and his personal faults never tripped him up.

     But those days were not really so good, you only remember them that way. What you forget as you reminisce about the fifties is the terror of that decade. We began with the hysteria of the red scare and ended it terrified of the bomb. On the weekend, we went to the local school to see the latest fallout shelters, which if we had enough money, we could bury in our backyards so that we could survive the nuclear holocaust. No matter what town it was, everyone in it knew that they were the number one target on the Russians’ list. We stared up into the nighttime sky in fear and awe at Sputnik, the first artificial satellite ever to orbit the earth, and in our terror we flocked to the theaters to watch movies about oppressive invaders from outer space. In those days, a black family traveling cross-country to visit relatives had to sleep in the car, because ‘decent’ motels didn’t take colored people. Instead of eating in restaurants, they had to satisfy themselves with a specially designated take-out window, and they had to plan their route to avoid towns where the ‘decent folk’ didn’t like colored people driving through.
     Later we discovered that the actors who portrayed our domestic ideals on the television tube did not live them in their daily lives. They suffered divorce and went through child custody battles; they had drug problems, and George Reeves, who was the 1950’s Superman, ended his life with a gun to his head. Many of the he-men whose manliness we admired at the movies turned out to have been gay all along. The ‘decency’ that separated black and white in the fifties is now an unspeakable moral failing. Nothing turned out to be what it seemed at the time! Not only were our pleasures illusions, our terrors were as well, and as for the Communist Bloc we feared so much—it evaporated like a bad dream at the dawn of a new day.
     The sixties weren’t any better. We began that decade with the assassination of the president of the United States and ended it with the Viet Nam war and filled the middle with racial strife. The seventies contained the inglorious end to the Viet Nam war, the resignation of a president, and war veterans who were denied the glory we promised them.
I could go on and on, but my point is clear: the good old days aren’t good, they are just old. And so, Ecclesiastes tells us not to ask why the old days were better than these, because such a question arises, not from wisdom, but from amnesia.
     Would you like to go back to the fifties in a time machine? I don’t think so. Even though you know how things turned out, it isn’t a place most of us would like to live. Back then, hearing aids were the size of paperback books, there were no computers, television was only black and white, and there was no air conditioning in private homes. There was no Heimlich maneuver, no CPR, no open-heart surgery, and no effective treatment for epilepsy, depressive disorders, or migraine headaches. Remember whiplash? There were no headrests, seat belts, or airbags in cars, and most of the good highways had not yet been built.
     So why do we forget the trials, tribulations, and troubles of former times and remember them fondly? Why do we yearn to return to a time in which we lived in terror day and night?
We remember them as the good old days, because we know how they turned out. We have anxiety about the present age, because we do not know how things will turn out, and in being anxious, we reveal our lack of faith.

Jesus says,

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
—John 16:33b, NIV

And John says:

There is no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
—1 John 4:18, NIV

     We fear the present age, because we do not know how it will turn out. We fear, because we do not believe that Jesus has truly overcome the world, and we fear because we do not love Him or trust Him as we ought.
     But if we truly believe that Jesus could die upon a cross and raise Himself up from the dead on the third day; if we truly believe that on the fortieth day He ascended into heaven and sits, alive and well, at the right hand of God, who is His Father, then why do we fear the present age? When we ride a roller coaster, we scream in terror in the middle, but beneath that terror we trust the management, that no true harm will come to us. If we can trust the management of a rickety roller-coaster ride, why can we not trust the Management of the Universe? When will we stop hiring false teachers to encourage our fears and to magnify our anxieties? We know from past experience that our fears are baseless and our anxieties are pointless. We know from past experience that the false teachers who encourage us to be fearful and anxious are working for their own profit and will end their own careers in scandal. Why then do we follow them and not trust Jesus? If Jesus rising from the dead is not enough of a sign for us, what will it take to shake us from our anxieties? What will it take to get us to stop luxuriating in our fear?
     For if Jesus can raise Himself from the dead, and if He promises to do the same at the end of the age for anyone who trusts Him, and if you truly trust Him, then there is no terror you cannot face. For even if you are defeated and cast down and betrayed and backstabbed and slandered—and even if you die and everyone forgets you—Jesus will give you triumph over all the terrors of this life. And looking back on these days, as you look back on the days of old, you will see that your terrors had no substance, your anxieties had no cause, and your trust was not misplaced.
     Why do you wait until the Last Day to enjoy this peace, which you now possess?

Source: http://www.kencollins.com/life/hope-27.htm

Easter Blessings | 2018

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." ...

He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done."...

So...he went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Matthew 26:36,39,42,44

by Stanley Dalizu

     Palm Sunday has rushed by this week and many of us are reflecting on Jesus Christ's coming agony and excruciating crucifixion in payment for the sins of those who would place their trust in Him. Without these revealing passages, we may whisk away the magnitude of what Christ did, exchanging the thought of Christ's unfair and overwhelming advantage in obeying The Father.  The Creator, the King, the One who sustains and knows all things must have known how this would have all played out. He knows and understands beginning from end. He owns everything. He is all powerful. Yet, he chose to come down as a man and give himself a free ransom from the grip of evil and eternal death, in exchange for freedom and eternal life to all who would place total faith and trust in Him alone. It was nothing to him, right? I know of no better analogy than Alabama Crimson Tide Football. In terms of deciding an outcome of any given match-up against the Roll Tide, even the opponent knows the outcome. Or the courage of our fierce  Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen confronting the wickedness of Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy on that grisly D-Day - the largest seaborne operation in all military history.
    Quite often I fail to capture Christ's humanity. His deity and humanity are one of the greatest mysteries, but it sure makes a ton more sense in the adoption process. If Christ's prayer that night were any indicator, what He was preparing to do was an overwhelmingly big deal. And it's still the biggest deal in all of history. What he disclosed to his disciples revealed his vulnerability to how perplexing and anguishing his sufferings would be to him. He pleaded with the Father three times. This was clearly not from despair or distrust of His Father. As preached at our church last Sunday (not by me), "His humanity and divinity collided, and his divinity lead him to subject himself to the Father's will." The Gospels are emphatic that Christ agonized internally to the point of sweating blood (Luke 22:44). Certainly, the astonishing fact is that Jesus knew exactly what the outcome would be and He still accommodated himself to bear the iniquities which the Father had laid upon him. He never abandoned his humanness - or his Father's will.

    Beloved, all said, it is extremely uplifting to have your total support and encouragement in our comparatively small mission and trials. By His hour of suffering Jesus Christ had only betrayal and was denied the supports and comforts we get to enjoy on his behalf (Matthew 26:45-46; Luke 22:21;60-63). It is true that the many dear saints who have suffered much worse than any of us with the most terrible deaths and torments, still were without the same sorrows and consternations of Jesus Christ - some "called their prisons delectable orchards, and a bed of flames a bed of roses." The victory is in Jesus because He defeated death - He rose again! A short while ago we were able to sit in to hear the encouragement and exhortation of fellow and seasoned pastors to a new pastor being ordained. One of the great warnings taken from Joshua 1:6-11 was this: "True courage is the willingness to obey God's voice despite the cost and opposition, circumstances and emotions. God will ask you to take risks, but take courage and seize His assignments for you." Christ really did model for us how to live for Him, The Father, and the Holy Spirit, and truly there is no better way to live life. He hasn’t asked us to do anything He didn’t already do. May the power and grace of Jesus Christ richly dwell in your spirit, beloved.