I personally do not drink alcohol and advise others not to out of wisdom, but it has not escaped me that wine has become such a fad in American culture. According to this article: “America's current interest in quality wine stems from a 1991 60 Minutes Program that examined the health benefits of moderate wine consumption.” It may have started innocently enough, but consumption has increased to the point that “wine today is part of the very fabric of America.”Ancient Israel was enamored with wine, too (see Isaiah 5:11-12), so it seems that America has achieved par with Isaiah’s audience. Today, we give every aspect of wine great attention, but we have no regard and no respect for God.
I say all of the above because the Bible never ceases to amaze. What was true continues to be true, and I can only wonder about the depths of God’s understanding compared to our lack of the same.
The lesson is titled, “Meet Divine Expectations.” What are God’s expectations of Christians today? Paul gave us a hint in Romans 12:9-21.
Another source I read gave the illustration of an employer’s expectations for an employee. Maybe you could show a picture of a classified ad and analyze it with your class to get some understanding of the expectations the employer would have of an employee?
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2 comments:
You uncritically accepted the quote about wine being "part of the very fabric of America" without considering the statement came from a PR rep for a wine producer. It's her job to make wine seem much more popular and fashionable that it really is.
And you use one passage from Isaiah, about alcoholics "who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine," without any mention of the many times God equated wine with his material blessing of Israel.
I personally don't drink alcohol, either. But, I also think it's important to treat the whole message of the Bible with a little more respect and honesty. And we should also use care in our critical thinking, since our dedication to sound reasoning is an indication of how much we believe in truth.
I certainly think God expects us to use our minds and our testimonies (statements of truth) for his glory, too.
Thanks for the feedback! For arguments sake, assume I got it wrong as you describe. Tell us specifically what you would have said differently to make the point.
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