I really appreciate the charitable, non-dogmatic tone of Kyle Worley’s brief against Christians drinking alcohol, but his conclusion as well as his framing drove me a little nuts. For instance:

My hope is not that you will read this and stop drinking alcohol. I think the data says it should be an exception for anyone who has a serious interest in being a good steward of their physical health, but the scriptures do not require you to completely abstain from alcohol.

This calls back to an earlier section:

The data is in: Alcohol consumption, even moderate alcohol consumption, has negative health effects. It disrupts sleep, carries increased cancer and cardiovascular risks, and strains the liver.

Leading wellness and lifestyle voices like Andrew Huberman have been shown up on podcast after podcast saying the same thing: If you can, you ought to dramatically reduce (or totally stop) your alcohol consumption.

You might say: “You are free in Christ to drink alcohol, but you should seriously question its benefits.”

“The data says” and “the data is in” as defeater statements are simply not helpful in conversations like this. To begin, “the data” is never in for good. We are not at the end of (data) history. These are always provisional matters, which are always subject to interpretation.

Plus: “Leading wellness and lifestyle voices”? Come on.

Moreover, try applying this kind of simplistic thinking elsewhere. The internet isn’t good for you. McDonald’s isn’t good for you. Owning one dollar more than you need isn’t good for you. Getting fewer than nine hours of sleep per night isn’t good for you. Television isn’t good for you, and neither are smartphones.

But Christians aren’t wellness-optimizers. We aren’t trying to live until ninety-five no matter what. Stewardship of one’s life includes stewardship of one’s mind, heart, and soul. Nearly everything we do daily is less than ideal relative to what health-optimizers would recommend. In a word, the gospel isn’t goop.

Besides, shouldn’t we look to Scripture for the rich symbolism and practice of alcohol (i.e., wine) in human life? David Bentley Hart has a wonderful reflection on this in The Beauty of the Infinite. Jesus did institute the practice of drinking wine weekly for all Christians. That seems relevant to this conversation!

So the whole frame has to go. Start afresh with another framework, and then we can really get started.