Is This a Good Thing?
This is really for my friends back in Union County, Mississippi. Apparently, the city of New Albany has decided to go “wet”. For my Colorado peeps, that means they’ve decided to sell alcohol, but only within the city limits. The rest of the county will remain dry. The question many people maybe asking is, “Is this a good thing?”
What I would like is to facilitate is a discussion, for those interested, about whether or not New Albany’s new “wet” status will be good in the long run, bad, or make no difference whatsoever. I will have no partiality in this debate since I live far, far away. However, I do have family and friends who call New Albany and Union County their home, so I am interested to hear the opinions.
I’ll go ahead and tip my hat. While idealistically I believe that the absence of alcohol from a community can only be good, I know that its presence doesn’t mean that the community is suddenly going to become a vile pit of sinful living. The fact is that alcohol is already present, it just can’t be sold publicly.
If you want to get religious about it, if you’re going to crusade about remaining a dry county, then why not crusade against all the gossip, slander, internet pornography, sexual immorality, marital unfaithfulness, and divorce that happens every day which unfortunately we have accepted as a part of “normal” life. Pornography and adultery tear more marriages apart than casual alcohol consumption. Divorce destroys more lives than alcohol since more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce, whereas only 8% of the population (US Dept of HHS) are substance abusers.
You can search the Scriptures from beginning to end, and all you will find are commands to refrain from becoming drunk, warnings about the allure of strong drink, but not a single outright command – except for those taking a Nazarite vow (and this is only temporary) – to absolutely abstain from alcohol. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not an advocate for alcohol, but if you’re going to use the Scriptures as a defense, be careful not to go beyond what they actually say. You can make an argument for not offending your brother’s conscience, or abstaining from the appearance of evil, but even that does not rise to the level of an outright ban.
You may disagree with me, and I’m okay with that. I’m not dogmatic about this, even if I come off a little strong. If you want to know how I would have voted, I would have probably voted “no”, but my reason for voting no isn’t because I think alcohol is evil and forbidden by the Scriptures. There is a certain innocence which will be lost, a certain kind of stress will descend upon the community between those who are for it and those who are against it. Those who were for it, have only gained a convenience. Those who were against it will feel a sense of loss which goes much deeper than the sense of victory for those who were in favor.
How do you feel about it?
6 comments
Well Written Shane !! ~ Brothers In Christ, Fred
Walk in Wisdom
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5: 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
Authorities: Dozens arrested in Mississippi meth ring bust
6 nabbed in meth bust
Three arrested in meth lab bust … New Albany trying to sell properties
Just Google it thats what i got the first time…….NOW IS BEER REALLY THAT BAD?
And people are saying i dont want to raise my kids in a town that has beer? REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The whole arguement for becoming “wet” is all about promoting false hope. “Vote For Progress” the signs say. “We can get better restaurants and additional tax revenue,” the supporters say. I’m afraid the fancy restaurants aren’t coming anytime soon because the vote was so close. They will wait to make sure that it isn’t changed back in 5 years before investing in a new building especially during the current economic situation. The new tax revenue will all be spent on additional law enforcement as evidenced by the creation of a position for a DUI officer in the police department one week before the election. We are not going to see growth like Tupelo or Oxford because we do not have and are not getting a mall or university. The only progress we made was saving people a 10 minute drive.
I don’t consider myself better than those who choose to drink, but I do not want it around my children. Drinking is not just a personal choice as it effects everyone around you. Comparing beer and meth isn’t a valid arguement. While it is true that drugs are a problem all over our country, they aren’t stocking them on the shelves at Wal-Mart for children to see. Now I get to explain to my kids a little earlier in life the difference between Coke and Coors, and why we don’t buy the “fruit” drinks from that section. Forgive me for not being overly excited about that, I really hope it’s worth it to everyone else.
Shane-I consider this a good thing for New Albany and Union County. Anybody who thinks the city/county was dry up until yesterday never read the arrest log in the paper or looked in the road ditches or gas station garbage cans. This will enable the city to keep the tax revenue that was being spent in Marshall or Lee County or Oxford. DUIs will (hopefully) go down since people won’t have to drive all the way back home from Tupelo or Oxford after drinking. Again, I think this is a good thing for New Albany and Union County. It was going to be hard to attract new growth from the Toyota plant and suppliers without beer sales, this will be a huge economic boost for the area.
Thanks for starting this thread Shane!
Great topic, Shane. As believers, at some point we are wasting our time crusading against the availability of destructive substances and media and so forth. Im not saying we should stop fighting to keep our society safe for little(and big) eyes and bodies and hearts. Im saying we should always make our focus spreading the gospel. Some people say it would be a great blessing if pornography were removed from the internet, but the demand for it would not diminish much. People would just flood the adult video stores for what their human heart desires. The world needs a new heart with new desires to combat the human desire to sin. Its true that if you resist the devil he will flee from you, meaning that the individual must remove his or her available temptation. We must not get too upset when the dry counties go wet or when all these dispenseries pop up. If we remove the demand then they will disappear.