A Curious Girl: The inevitable response

OK, after last entry, I was waiting for a response something like this -

"how can you call yourself a christian and yet get drunk with no obvious qualms about it? hypocrisy springs to mind..."

Unfortunately, whoever made this signing in my guestbook did not leave an address or even a name, so I cannot respond directly. I hope that whoever you are, you are still reading this?

I'm a little surprised that you took my regretful account of my drunken experience as having no obvious qualms, since, believe me, I am fully aware of the stupidity of the action. To be honest, some of it was also down to the whole 'everyone else is doing it' factor, which I realise is also silly.

I'm not the world's best Christian. Not at all. I wouldn't want people to think that because I am a Christian, I am a virtuous, teetotal, pillar of the community type.

One of the most important things about my diary is that I'm honest. I didn't want to say that I got drunk, I felt very stupid for it, not to mention sick! And I know that there are plenty of Christians that read my diary, most of whom were probably decidedly unimpressed. It's interesting that you imply that I am a hypocrite, because fear of being a hypocrite is exactly why I decided to write about it instead of keeping quiet.

Also, I don't believe I've ever preached against the consumption of alcohol - I think the closest I got was this entry, but even that includes the line - a fellow Christian usually gets hammered... Then I thought, heck, if I was the only Christian in a group of non-Christians drinking, I probably would too (er... I have). I don't pretend that I am qualified to tell people not to drink because it's a much more virtuous state or something.

Finally - and this is just a more general point, it's not meant to be an excuse - but I think it's a curious thing that Christians often seem to be judged (and judge each other) by things like getting drunk... granted, it's there in the Bible - 'Do not become drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit', but it was St. Paul who said that, not Jesus. Please believe me, it's wonderful advice, however the fact that Jesus did not include such pertinent advice to his own teaching was because it was not what was most important. The guestbook signer was right to point out that this is questionable behaviour for a Christian, but no one has thus far picked me up on my unconventional survey answers, or my non-good Samaritan-like behaviour... or other times when I've expressed an unfair opinion or confessed something I've done wrong. I have to ask myself, do Christians content themselves with simply looking holy?

Random word for today: smorgasbord

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