I’m not Baptist, but I did come from a non-denom background that is more similar to Baptist than anything else. Some people are just legalistic, but a few people have some reasonable rationale that goes into what they do.
First, some people know they have a propensity to addiction in general or an addiction to alcoholism. They know they have to be really careful with it, and they’ll let their families know, too. If they’re legalistic, they’ll try to make everyone else do the same thing. If they’re not, they’ll just do it within their own family where it makes sense to do it.
Second, some will cite references from the Bible that talk about making sure you don’t cause a brother or sister to stumble. Again, if they’re legalistic, they won’t make any distinction between a dry county in the Bible Belt and any given place in Germany. But some people will conclude that their particular role in the community and in the church puts them in a position where the use of alcohol will cause others to stumble, and while it’s not sinful to do a little social drinking, it’s better for them to hold themselves to a higher standard. Legalism means holding everyone to that same standard, but believe it or not, some people actually aren’t legalistic.
Third, some people will give reasons that have to do with being parents. (This one is courtesy of my own parents). When kids are growing up in a home where certain things are reserved for adults, just about any kid will want that thing more than anything else, and as soon as possible. If the adults are always drinking coffee and seem to be enjoying it, the kids will want a hit of that coffee at the earliest possible age. It’s the same thing with alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, etc. Matter of fact, let’s say the adults get together with other adults on a fairly regular basis in order to play some poker (10 dollar buy in- nothing crazy), have some beer (just one or two, and light beer at that) and maybe smoke a few cigarettes (not illegal, not sinful). In a house where that happens and the kids aren’t allowed to do any of that, odds are really good that those kids will smoke, drink, and gamble some allowance away well before the age of 18. In a house where these things don’t happen, children will not do things that are illegal, and most people will say this is preferable.
Fourth, and especially with regard to the things Jews did (and do) with alcohol, there’s the reasoning from drunk driving. Some Baptists (and other conservative Protestants) reason that ancient Judaism did include quite a bit of drinking, and while sexual inhibitions were affected in the same way, modern dangers with regard to transportation were not as much of an issue. What’s the worst that could happen- maybe you fall off your camel? Consequently, there are some Baptists who reason that if they’d lived in a much different time, maybe it wouldn’t be so irresponsible to drink a little. But in our current situation, the wise choice is to make sure you’re always able to drive completely unimpaired. Buzzed driving is drunk driving, as they say, and even if you’re not falling down drunk, it doesn’t take nearly as much to slow your reflexes by a fraction more than you expected.
As for me, I’m fine with doing a small amount of social drinking on rare occasions- just not enough to alter my mood. When you depend on alcohol in order to be in a certain kind of mood, that’s how alcohol dependency develops, and I obviously don’t want that. Additionally, I won’t ever drink on any kind of regular basis because I know there’s a moderate amount of risk due to family history, and if I ever have any kids, I also see some wisdom in the idea of making sure they aren’t around it all the time.
). Coffee…well, lattes are to die for. (But I didn’t enter the world of caffeine till I was 28, and then, only 1/2 mug at breakfast to help me stay awake.)