By Ademola Adegbamigbe
When the late Pope Benedict XVI who just died at the age of 95, drank beer on his 90th birthday in Rome, not a few in many parts of the world, especially among the Pentecostals and Evangelicals, recoiled in horror at the sight of him holding a foaming glass cup with hundreds of golden bubbles that could make Adam’s apples of connoisseurs of the liquid make anticipatory and tempting vertical clicks!
According to a report by romereports.com, Benedict XVI received a surprise from his homeland for his 90th birthday. He was visited by the Bavarian prime minister who brought him a basket of bretzels, the typical bread from Germany.
“In addition to the sweets, the pope enjoyed a few minutes at the entrance of his house with music, dances, and typical costumes reminding him of back home. As every good German party, he could not miss the toast with his beer in hand.”
Among Christians, drinking alcohol is a hot binary topic; it divides the faithful into those who believe in it and those who do not. To the latter, Christians who drink beer are hedonists and apostates who worship Bachus the god of wine! Each group has its reasons.
Those who consider it an anathema are ready to quote the book of Judges in the Bible, Chapter 13: “A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
Also, King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”
Those who do not see anything bad in alcohol, often cite the miracle of turning water into wine as recorded in John 2:1-11. Another popular verse is 1 Tim 5:23 where told his episcopal mentee: “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”
Perhaps the late Pope might have drank wine without stumbling, a reason that many Pentecostals preach complete abstinence.
The romereports quoted Pope Benedict further that day: “The nature in Bavaria is beautiful; but it is especially beautiful because of the church towers, because of the houses and their balconies full of flowers, and because of the good people. It is beautiful because God is known there. It is known that He has created the world, which comes to fruition when we cooperate with God to build it. I thank you with all my heart for this Bavarian presence, which you bring to me. It is a Bavaria that is open to the world, which is lively and joyful. It can be precisely this way because it has its root and foundation in faith.”
“Of course, Benedict said the best gift was to spend the day with his brother Georg, 93, who came from Regensburg to be with him.”