Is Running A Beer Parlour As A Trade Is A Sin Or Not?
Question: Praise the Lord. We know that God doesn't want us to be Idle. A question that disturbs my mind is, "Is running a beer parlour as a trade is a sin or not? If yes, could the tithe paid from such a trade is a sacrilege or not? God bless."
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! Praise the Lord! God says in His Word, "Idle chatter and mere talk leads us only to poverty, but all hard work will bring much profit." (Prov 14:23, Paraphrased). So from this above Scripture we know that God never wants us to waste our time in idle talk, talk talk and talk without definite plan and action to succeed. But He wants us to work hard day by day with a definite God given plan which He has already planned for us, of which we should seek Him and get the plan going with the gift He has invested in our lives. Each moment of time He gives us breath to live, He expects us to use that unique gift which He has given to us to make a positive difference in this world for His Glory (Rom 12:6; Eph 4:7).
The difference between a believer and a unbeliever is, a unbeliever lives for his own survival, seeking comfort and more riches (Matt 6:31-32), while we as believers are told to seek the Kingdom of God and His right way of living in this opportunistic world of the survival of the fittest, and God has promised us that He will add by and by all the things we need in our lives to fulfill His will for our lives. In other words, when we walk with the vision that God has given to us personally, we will experience His day to day provision for all of its fulfillment, when we walk for our own survival, we will perish because of the lack of vision in our lives (Matt 6:33; Prov 29:18). When we worry about ourselves and our lives rather than being full of peace and joy received through uploading prayer to God as per His instruction (Php 4:4-7), it shows that we are more concerned about ourselves and have lack of concentration towards the fulfillment of God's vision for our lives (Matt 6:34). God can never bless lethargy and disobedience.
Is running a beer parlour as a trade is a sin or not? If yes, could the tithe paid from such a trade is a sacrilege or not?
In the broadest sense, “beer” is any alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of grain, just as wine is any alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of fruit. So what does God reveal about wine? God has said in His Word that He gives water pool in the wilderness and water springs in the dry lands of the earth, so that people can establish a city to dwell, sow fields and plant vineyards, so that they may yield a fruitful harvest to make bread out of the grain for the heart of man to be strengthened [i.e. also beer] and wine out of the vineyard to make the heart of man glad so that he can rejoice and be joyful in the Lord and also be thankful to the God who has given it all in its season as a blessing for man to multiply and glorify Him in all things (Psa 107:35-38; 104:15).
As God has instructed us through apostle Paul, "...whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10:31). Does drinking beer glorify God? As I said above, if this beverage is taken moderately to be glad in a feast occasionally for all the hard work we have done and be thankful to God, it does glorify God because you are merry and thankful to God and He will acknowledge it through blessing you more than before (Deut 14:22-24, 25-26, 29). Even this we see in the incident of Hannah's prayer which was done in bitterness of soul where she wept in anguish before the Lord in His Presence for a child birth as she was barren for years. Now Eli the priest who was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord, watched her mouth moving but her voice was not heard as she was praying from her heart straight to the Lord, immediately Eli the chief priest thought that she was drunk (1 Sam 1:9-13), then she explains that she was not drunk and is not a wicked woman to do so without reverence and awe for God's Presence, which clearly shows that when people come to the Presence of God, they could come to drink wine or similar drink and eat oxen or sheep or whatever their heart desires which they bring before the Lord as tithe, and therefore fellowship with God and rejoice in His Presence for whatever blessing he gives to them (Deut 14:24-26).
We as humans become addicted to anything that makes us merry, we should also be careful to avoid regular drinking of it or become rip roaring drunk where we lose control over ourselves and may dishonor God instead of glorifying Him, such habits once becomes rooted in us will destroy our lives instead of building it for the Glory of God (Prov 23:29-35). Anything habitual will become addictive and is not healthy either physically or spiritually (Prov 31:4-5). So we as God's children must understand that "wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them [i.e. by drinking without moderation] is not wise." (Prov 20:1, NIV). Does having strong drinks of wine or beer which will cause mocking and riotous raging to stagger in to all evil works, will it glorify God? By no means it can bring any glory to God.
Even the great man of God Noah errored in his way, when he became rip roaring drunk, it caused division and curse to come upon his children (Gen 9:20-24, 25-27). So a man like Noah who walked with God day by day to please Him in all things and glorify God in all things (Gen 6:9), could later be tempted in his life by wine to bring shame momentarily to his family and the great name of God he represented, then all of us who are the children of God are in the same boat and could easily be led astray by wine in our own lives to bring disgrace and shame to our lives and families, and above all bring dishonor to the great name of our God whom we represent as His dear children, if we would take drinking of wine and beer lightly to play with it. So it would be wise to stay away from anything alcoholic if we think that we could lose control in our lives.
Never allow yourself to be tempted (Jam 1:12-16; 1 Thess 5:22), nor tempt anyone through your wine or beer drinking lifestyle, which might cause them to fall in to addiction and destroy their lives. Say, you have perfect control over taking wine or beer by the grace of God, but others who see you and get involved in it are not be able to keep the moderation, but due to their circumstances and lack of depth of spirituality in their lives fall prey to destruction, you become the reason for their sinful fall in to destruction though you might not have done it intentionally (Prov 31:6-7; Rom 14:16). So do not boast and blow horn to tempt others which may cause them to be destroyed for which you have a responsibility as a brother in Christ (Rom 14:12-13). God has given a worthy and wealthy alternative instead of wine which costs us so much financially with risk of losing wealth temporarily and eternally when we indulge in it, that is, instead of wine, we can be filled with a better effect of merriment through making melody in our heart, submitting to one another, thanking, praising, worshiping and singing in and through God to God always at all times, which fills us more and more with joy unspeakable and peace unthinkable that never gets dissipated unlike a wine, the effect of merriment stays with us as we continue to keep close fellowship with God (Eph 5:18-21; Isa 55:1-3, 6). Drinking in itself is not sin unless you get drunk with it, or cause other weak person weaker by your bold faith without love towards others (Rom 14:14-17; Gal 5:6). Any believer who wants to glorify God in their lives should not be "given to much wine" (Titus 2:3).
When you ask me the question, is running a beer parlour as a trade is a sin or not? Please answer me with another question, is running a exclusive knife shop as a trade is a sin or not? I know what you will say, it is not a sin you will answer easily. But if you know beforehand that someone will take those knife and use it to kill someone else, and act lawlessly for extortion, will you still say that it is not a sin to have such a shop? To know the root of the problem, we must go to the sin nature within the heart of all humans that we have inherited as the sons of Adam in the flesh (Rom 5:12; 3:23). Jesus said, out of the heart of humans all evils originate and defiles them (Mark 7:21-23). Wine or beer goes in to our stomach and is thus eliminated (Mark 7:19), so trading wine or beer in itself is not a sin as much like trading a knife exclusive shop in itself is not a sin. As we know it is good when people drink moderately and enjoy to go modestly, but we cannot avoid people who come in to such shop to be drunk and also cause mockery or riot in their inebriated state. So if we are a believer, then our soft conscience which is the voice of God in our soul might get oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7).
And regarding tithing, God said "You shall not bring the hire of a whore or prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD your God for any vow: for even both these are abomination to the LORD your God." (Deut 23:18), which shows that God does not accept the tithe that comes through doing certain type of businesses that are a abomination to Him. I believe that a dog is a faithful animal and people should not make a business out of it, and also women are created in the image of God and so should not be commercialized but rather must be kept as a private treasure to nourish and cherish (Gen 1:27; Psa 128:3; 144:12; Prov 5:18; Eccl 9:9). At the same time spiritually, dogs are a type of unsaved people who act like they are saved, but they have no transformation within their lives (Psa 22:16; 2 Peter 2:22; Php 3:2; Rev 22:15), in the same way, weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed women who are ungodly or unsaved women become the vessels through which Satan operates to bring temptation to make people fall in to sin (Eccl 7:26; 2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:2-3, 5; Rev 17:5; Num 25:1-18; 31:16). No I do not think God has put restrictions to a wine trader not to bring a tithe out of the earnings which he gets through it. But generally I would say, avoid all evil appearance of the wine trade as a believer as it has the potential to lead any human in to bondage of alcoholism and death through evil addiction. Even when you want to keep a wine shop, discourage people from getting drunk which should be a written rule which will deny mockery and riots of sinful and lustful works of evil. No, it is not a sacrilege when a wine trader brings his tithe to God. All things like drinking beer/wine etc...without getting drunk are lawful for a believer, but is it profitable spiritually for us (1 Cor 6:12)? All things are lawful for us who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (1 Peter 1:18-19), who can accuse us or take us away from the Love of our Lord (Rom 8:31, 33-34, 35, 37, 38-39)? Nobody!, but we should make sure that we are not brought under the power of any thing for it to become a sinful habit which will never glorify God (1 Cor 6:12).
See if you are a believer and you feel uneasy about moving in this wine/beer business, it means that the Holy Spirit is specifically speaking to you and disturbing you through His voice in your conscience (John 14:17; 16:8, 13-14), it means God wants you to move to something of a higher level and deeper depth than before in your spiritual life, so that you can glorify God better through your life and business than ever before. Though certain things may not be sin in itself, when God speaks and nudges us to consider something higher and greater and deeper, our disobedience to his voice can bring things sinful in to our lives. You may not be understanding today when God sees in to your future, and tells you to avoid things that will not glorify God in your future, because God knows your future in the present while you cannot see it like Him. So leave the wine/beer business if you feel that you are disturbed by the voice of the Holy Spirit, and pursue that higher plan that God has for you in whatever business or ministry that He has for you to do. After all, if you are a believer and a child of God, He is the boss and your Father, you must learn obedience from hearing His voice and walking according to it even when it does not seem comfortable or even when it brings huge loss to you personally and financially (Heb 12:4, 5-8, 9-11; Mal 1:6; John 13:13-17; Matt 10:24-25). God can bless you in a single day, than you laboring for a thousand years and still toil without achieving the blessing which you are after (Gen 22:17; Heb 6:14, 15). It is better to obey God, than to give foolish sacrifices or tithe of great proportion which is nothing to God without you obeying His voice (1 Sam 15:22-23; Psa 50:10). Trust and obey, for there is no other way, for you to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.
Thank you.
Much Blessings.....
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! Praise the Lord! God says in His Word, "Idle chatter and mere talk leads us only to poverty, but all hard work will bring much profit." (Prov 14:23, Paraphrased). So from this above Scripture we know that God never wants us to waste our time in idle talk, talk talk and talk without definite plan and action to succeed. But He wants us to work hard day by day with a definite God given plan which He has already planned for us, of which we should seek Him and get the plan going with the gift He has invested in our lives. Each moment of time He gives us breath to live, He expects us to use that unique gift which He has given to us to make a positive difference in this world for His Glory (Rom 12:6; Eph 4:7).
The difference between a believer and a unbeliever is, a unbeliever lives for his own survival, seeking comfort and more riches (Matt 6:31-32), while we as believers are told to seek the Kingdom of God and His right way of living in this opportunistic world of the survival of the fittest, and God has promised us that He will add by and by all the things we need in our lives to fulfill His will for our lives. In other words, when we walk with the vision that God has given to us personally, we will experience His day to day provision for all of its fulfillment, when we walk for our own survival, we will perish because of the lack of vision in our lives (Matt 6:33; Prov 29:18). When we worry about ourselves and our lives rather than being full of peace and joy received through uploading prayer to God as per His instruction (Php 4:4-7), it shows that we are more concerned about ourselves and have lack of concentration towards the fulfillment of God's vision for our lives (Matt 6:34). God can never bless lethargy and disobedience.
Is running a beer parlour as a trade is a sin or not? If yes, could the tithe paid from such a trade is a sacrilege or not?
In the broadest sense, “beer” is any alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of grain, just as wine is any alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of fruit. So what does God reveal about wine? God has said in His Word that He gives water pool in the wilderness and water springs in the dry lands of the earth, so that people can establish a city to dwell, sow fields and plant vineyards, so that they may yield a fruitful harvest to make bread out of the grain for the heart of man to be strengthened [i.e. also beer] and wine out of the vineyard to make the heart of man glad so that he can rejoice and be joyful in the Lord and also be thankful to the God who has given it all in its season as a blessing for man to multiply and glorify Him in all things (Psa 107:35-38; 104:15).
As God has instructed us through apostle Paul, "...whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor 10:31). Does drinking beer glorify God? As I said above, if this beverage is taken moderately to be glad in a feast occasionally for all the hard work we have done and be thankful to God, it does glorify God because you are merry and thankful to God and He will acknowledge it through blessing you more than before (Deut 14:22-24, 25-26, 29). Even this we see in the incident of Hannah's prayer which was done in bitterness of soul where she wept in anguish before the Lord in His Presence for a child birth as she was barren for years. Now Eli the priest who was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord, watched her mouth moving but her voice was not heard as she was praying from her heart straight to the Lord, immediately Eli the chief priest thought that she was drunk (1 Sam 1:9-13), then she explains that she was not drunk and is not a wicked woman to do so without reverence and awe for God's Presence, which clearly shows that when people come to the Presence of God, they could come to drink wine or similar drink and eat oxen or sheep or whatever their heart desires which they bring before the Lord as tithe, and therefore fellowship with God and rejoice in His Presence for whatever blessing he gives to them (Deut 14:24-26).
We as humans become addicted to anything that makes us merry, we should also be careful to avoid regular drinking of it or become rip roaring drunk where we lose control over ourselves and may dishonor God instead of glorifying Him, such habits once becomes rooted in us will destroy our lives instead of building it for the Glory of God (Prov 23:29-35). Anything habitual will become addictive and is not healthy either physically or spiritually (Prov 31:4-5). So we as God's children must understand that "wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them [i.e. by drinking without moderation] is not wise." (Prov 20:1, NIV). Does having strong drinks of wine or beer which will cause mocking and riotous raging to stagger in to all evil works, will it glorify God? By no means it can bring any glory to God.
Even the great man of God Noah errored in his way, when he became rip roaring drunk, it caused division and curse to come upon his children (Gen 9:20-24, 25-27). So a man like Noah who walked with God day by day to please Him in all things and glorify God in all things (Gen 6:9), could later be tempted in his life by wine to bring shame momentarily to his family and the great name of God he represented, then all of us who are the children of God are in the same boat and could easily be led astray by wine in our own lives to bring disgrace and shame to our lives and families, and above all bring dishonor to the great name of our God whom we represent as His dear children, if we would take drinking of wine and beer lightly to play with it. So it would be wise to stay away from anything alcoholic if we think that we could lose control in our lives.
Never allow yourself to be tempted (Jam 1:12-16; 1 Thess 5:22), nor tempt anyone through your wine or beer drinking lifestyle, which might cause them to fall in to addiction and destroy their lives. Say, you have perfect control over taking wine or beer by the grace of God, but others who see you and get involved in it are not be able to keep the moderation, but due to their circumstances and lack of depth of spirituality in their lives fall prey to destruction, you become the reason for their sinful fall in to destruction though you might not have done it intentionally (Prov 31:6-7; Rom 14:16). So do not boast and blow horn to tempt others which may cause them to be destroyed for which you have a responsibility as a brother in Christ (Rom 14:12-13). God has given a worthy and wealthy alternative instead of wine which costs us so much financially with risk of losing wealth temporarily and eternally when we indulge in it, that is, instead of wine, we can be filled with a better effect of merriment through making melody in our heart, submitting to one another, thanking, praising, worshiping and singing in and through God to God always at all times, which fills us more and more with joy unspeakable and peace unthinkable that never gets dissipated unlike a wine, the effect of merriment stays with us as we continue to keep close fellowship with God (Eph 5:18-21; Isa 55:1-3, 6). Drinking in itself is not sin unless you get drunk with it, or cause other weak person weaker by your bold faith without love towards others (Rom 14:14-17; Gal 5:6). Any believer who wants to glorify God in their lives should not be "given to much wine" (Titus 2:3).
When you ask me the question, is running a beer parlour as a trade is a sin or not? Please answer me with another question, is running a exclusive knife shop as a trade is a sin or not? I know what you will say, it is not a sin you will answer easily. But if you know beforehand that someone will take those knife and use it to kill someone else, and act lawlessly for extortion, will you still say that it is not a sin to have such a shop? To know the root of the problem, we must go to the sin nature within the heart of all humans that we have inherited as the sons of Adam in the flesh (Rom 5:12; 3:23). Jesus said, out of the heart of humans all evils originate and defiles them (Mark 7:21-23). Wine or beer goes in to our stomach and is thus eliminated (Mark 7:19), so trading wine or beer in itself is not a sin as much like trading a knife exclusive shop in itself is not a sin. As we know it is good when people drink moderately and enjoy to go modestly, but we cannot avoid people who come in to such shop to be drunk and also cause mockery or riot in their inebriated state. So if we are a believer, then our soft conscience which is the voice of God in our soul might get oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (2 Peter 2:7).
And regarding tithing, God said "You shall not bring the hire of a whore or prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD your God for any vow: for even both these are abomination to the LORD your God." (Deut 23:18), which shows that God does not accept the tithe that comes through doing certain type of businesses that are a abomination to Him. I believe that a dog is a faithful animal and people should not make a business out of it, and also women are created in the image of God and so should not be commercialized but rather must be kept as a private treasure to nourish and cherish (Gen 1:27; Psa 128:3; 144:12; Prov 5:18; Eccl 9:9). At the same time spiritually, dogs are a type of unsaved people who act like they are saved, but they have no transformation within their lives (Psa 22:16; 2 Peter 2:22; Php 3:2; Rev 22:15), in the same way, weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed women who are ungodly or unsaved women become the vessels through which Satan operates to bring temptation to make people fall in to sin (Eccl 7:26; 2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:2-3, 5; Rev 17:5; Num 25:1-18; 31:16). No I do not think God has put restrictions to a wine trader not to bring a tithe out of the earnings which he gets through it. But generally I would say, avoid all evil appearance of the wine trade as a believer as it has the potential to lead any human in to bondage of alcoholism and death through evil addiction. Even when you want to keep a wine shop, discourage people from getting drunk which should be a written rule which will deny mockery and riots of sinful and lustful works of evil. No, it is not a sacrilege when a wine trader brings his tithe to God. All things like drinking beer/wine etc...without getting drunk are lawful for a believer, but is it profitable spiritually for us (1 Cor 6:12)? All things are lawful for us who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior (1 Peter 1:18-19), who can accuse us or take us away from the Love of our Lord (Rom 8:31, 33-34, 35, 37, 38-39)? Nobody!, but we should make sure that we are not brought under the power of any thing for it to become a sinful habit which will never glorify God (1 Cor 6:12).
See if you are a believer and you feel uneasy about moving in this wine/beer business, it means that the Holy Spirit is specifically speaking to you and disturbing you through His voice in your conscience (John 14:17; 16:8, 13-14), it means God wants you to move to something of a higher level and deeper depth than before in your spiritual life, so that you can glorify God better through your life and business than ever before. Though certain things may not be sin in itself, when God speaks and nudges us to consider something higher and greater and deeper, our disobedience to his voice can bring things sinful in to our lives. You may not be understanding today when God sees in to your future, and tells you to avoid things that will not glorify God in your future, because God knows your future in the present while you cannot see it like Him. So leave the wine/beer business if you feel that you are disturbed by the voice of the Holy Spirit, and pursue that higher plan that God has for you in whatever business or ministry that He has for you to do. After all, if you are a believer and a child of God, He is the boss and your Father, you must learn obedience from hearing His voice and walking according to it even when it does not seem comfortable or even when it brings huge loss to you personally and financially (Heb 12:4, 5-8, 9-11; Mal 1:6; John 13:13-17; Matt 10:24-25). God can bless you in a single day, than you laboring for a thousand years and still toil without achieving the blessing which you are after (Gen 22:17; Heb 6:14, 15). It is better to obey God, than to give foolish sacrifices or tithe of great proportion which is nothing to God without you obeying His voice (1 Sam 15:22-23; Psa 50:10). Trust and obey, for there is no other way, for you to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.
Thank you.
Much Blessings.....
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