What does becoming a Christian have to do with not drinking anymore?
Oh I'm sorry. My Baptist denomination does teach that it is a sin to drink beer, although the Catholics for some reason still do drink beer (we don't know why).
Everyone in my family are Christians and we refuse beer because it is against our religious beliefs. We believe that it dishonors God.
On the other hand my parents are conservative, so that might also explain some of the beerlessness away....
The only instance the Bible gives that it is OK to drink beer is when you are extremely ill, then the Scriptures permit you to take a little bit to try and heal your sicknesses. Otherwise in my study of the Bible I have not come across any Scriptures talking about or supporting the consummation of beer/alcohol/booze/whiskey. The wine that Jesus gave in the New testament was actually grape juice, my church teaches
(it has something to do with the translation of the original Greek and the original languages), and it was not actual wine.
As for telling your friends you are Christian, I might be a bold person and I do not scare easily or experience fear that often
(God has taught me how to be courageous) because I've just come right out and have loudly proclaimed it. And with pride. Then I tell them to put away their worldliness.
(You should know that as I wrote this message to you I wrote it in the spirit of boldness and I was not the least bit concerned with what you would think about me because I don't really care what others think about me)
Jesus has often asked, "Why are you afraid?" and "Fear not!"
Fear is not from God. The Scriptures say that perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment.
You shouldn't be scared of telling your friends you are a Christian. Let them gasp. Let them wither. I welcome the looks on their faces with glee. Jesus said if you are ashamed of him then He would be ashamed of you in Heaven! If you deny Him He will also deny you. Being denied by God is worse than any earthly friendship you could ever lose, especially if it costs you your salvation.
Jesus also said, "He who looses his life for My sake shall find it." Which is why you should never be afraid of persecution. To that effect I am kind of like the character Seto Kaiba from the cartoon Yugioh, when he said
"Do it, and see what happens." He was daring his persecutor to persecute him
(not that swift retribution would follow). I am quoting Seto of course.
If you really are afraid of persecution you might want to take a self defense class and learn how to fight and use weapons. I am getting into Kung Fu in a few days here, and I look forward to what they have to teach me about combat. It discourages bullies if you know how to fight back. Bullies only prey upon the weak. If you are strong and you stand up to them they may actually run away from you...just like the cowards they really are.
