Hello everyone! I had an awakening to the faith about 18 months ago and now strive every day to live for God (some days I think I do well, other times I fail, thank God for Jesus right?!). I’m 26 years old and unfortunately, most of my friends don’t practice the faith and as a consequence, most of their Friday and Saturday night rituals include going out to the bar and getting drunk. Now I don’t really go to bars very often now. However, there are a few friends I only see about twice a year and my seeing them basically depends on my hanging out with them at a bar. I have heard different things involving drinking and whether it is a sin. I have come to believe that having 2 or 3 drinks is okay. Afterall, I can’t reach out to my friends if I’m not there (yes I could not drink I suppose but it is very difficult for me to completely abstain). So I guess my question is, is my behavior sinful? Am I edging on the border of sin? Or if I’m trying to reach out to my friends (and yes, I do talk about my faith when I am with them) acceptable? Am I being a little too scrupulous? All help is greatly appreciated. It is very hard to have 99% of your friends be heathens. I’m trying to make new, faithful friends of course and it’s working but I can’t just get rid of my hedonistic friends. Gosh it’s so hard growing up now adays!!!
Be careful. At about your age, my late DH also believed having 2 or 3 drinks a day was not bad. Each day. Every day. On stressful days, he would have 3 or 4. The older he got, seemingly the more stress he had. He justified it by telling me he was discussing religion at the bar (he was a very faithful practicing Catholic in the early years of our marriage). He continued to tell me this, and I (sort of) believed it, because his behavior (for the most part) was “normal”. He never was a stumbling, slurring drunk. I would meet some people he discussed religion with, because they actually came to church because of him! They all told me how wonderful my DH was. He died of alcoholism 6 months ago. At the end he was consuming 14-15 drinks
PER DAY (all hidden from me, because he would go “to work” in the morning, but then go on “sales calls” starting around 10 am, end his “sales calls” around 3, give himself a few hours to “pull it together” (which he did amazingly well), come home around 6, and tell me he had just stopped for happy hour for “a couple” on his way home “from work”. He was in commission sales, and had built up quite a renewal base, so the income was always there, so I had no reason to think he was not “at work”. Now he is dead. So BE CAREFUL, especially if you find it difficult to abstain now at the tender age of 26. Minister, but don’t get sucked in and down.
Amazingly, DH only had one DWI…I am still horrified thinking of what could have happened. When he got his DWI, the officer administered the breathalyzer 3 times, because he could not believe DH was as coherent as he was with a 0.25 BAC. He was walking, talking, carrying on a normal conversation. What alerted the officer to the problem was he was driving 10 miles below the speed limit.
So again, BE CAREFUL. Alcohol can get the best of them.
