Bibles and Beer

[JustaServant]

Every Monday night, Uncle Charlie’s bar in Cheyenne, Wyo., hosts “Bibles and Beer,” a discussion that routinely pulls in people of all faiths — and an atheist.

Across the country, faith is becoming bar talk. The trend combines the traditional religious charge to go where the people are with the reality that a lot of them are in bars. Organizers include those from mainline churches, those building churches and bar owners and brewers. Some are trying to push the model nationally, taking an ageless yearning for meaning and purpose to places where people often go to try to wash their worries away.

More....
http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-n...ge-to-taverns/

[Credo ergo sum]

Sounds ideal

[bearer]

We've got Theology on Tap around here. It's great!

My family has been sitting around the dinner table drinking beer and talking Scripture and theology as long as I can remember.

[jhayes1]

This is awesome. We need to go where the people are going to. Why not to a bar?

On a similarly-themed topic, I remember Tim Staples on Catholic Answers Live being asked if it was okay to go on vacation to a place that does not have a Catholic Church. And Tim said it very well can be acceptable since it is those places that need to be evangelized the most. He and his wife have done that before, where they have gone on vacation that did NOT have a Catholic Church for the specific purpose of evangelizing the Catholic faith to those who do not have it.

One would not normally think of evangelizing in a bar, but why not? So many people are there, and they need to grow more in the faith then anybody and everybody else.

[kempo1]

Just seen this story on fox news. Father jonathan morris commented about this saying he thought it was a great idea but asked the guy who is pushing this does he agree that there should still be a place for reverence and worship and going to church. The guy had made a comment that people are tired of the way churches act and some dont want to get dressed for church and a few other complaints i cant remember. I am not sure how i view this, the church definitely should never comform to the world and a bar should never replace a church in any way shape or form. I guess if it just a form of evangelizing to get people in church then that is great, but if it becomes the church then there is the problem.

[TheDoors]

I wonder if there is Theology on Tap somewhere in my area. I've always wanted to check it out.

[Lifesong]

I have always had my own "bar ministry" meaning at restaurants my husband and I like we have gotten to know regulars and I have spent my share of time just listening and offering to pray for them and have offered my own witness when appropriate. Nothing heavy, but a couple glasses of wine seems to give me a bit of courage Anyway, we can be witnesses for Christ whever we go and usually that means really listening to those in pain- I had one lady tell me that no one has ever really bothered to hear her story before and really listen to her. If we just stay in Church and don't take it to the streets we are not doing what Christ has asked us to do. Anything that gets the message out there to a hurting world works for me!

Blessings,

Val

[Crescentinus]

There needs to be Theology on Tap here in the Philippines!

[Benjamin Chung]

I have a problem seeing how alcohol and the gospel can readily work together. I had to recently drop a friend from facebook due to her pushing the bar scene on her friends and I objected to it as being potentially immoral and against the faith based way of life that the gospel preaches.....I still don't see how the alcoholic bar can be a good place to minister. But I would welcome any other reasons that you might conjure up as to why bars and gospel can be valid.

[Credo ergo sum]

We're not talking about binge drinking while talking theology, of course.

[JustaServant]

Originally Posted by Credo ergo sum

We're not talking about binge drinking while talking theology, of course.

I don't know.....
Bibles and WINE might just go a direction none of us would want to see.

[PatriceA]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Chung

I have a problem seeing how alcohol and the gospel can readily work together. I had to recently drop a friend from facebook due to her pushing the bar scene on her friends and I objected to it as being potentially immoral and against the faith based way of life that the gospel preaches.....I still don't see how the alcoholic bar can be a good place to minister. But I would welcome any other reasons that you might conjure up as to why bars and gospel can be valid.

Its not the "bar scene" when Theology on Tap is taking place. There is nothing immoral taking place during Theology on Tap. Drinking alcohol is not an immoral activity and certainly discussing theology with a group of friends and priests is not an immoral activity either. So having a beer or a glass of wine or other adult beverage with discussing theology wouldn't equal an immoral activity taking place. Usually the places that the group picks around me to hold this event is a restaurant that you might go out with a group of your friends to share a meal but there also happens to be a bar also. So people go up to the bar, get a drink and then sit around discussing theology. People are very well behaved and modestly dressed.

[Isaiah45_9]

An Irishman moves into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walks into the pub and promptly orders three beers.

The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks quietly at a table, alone.

An hour later, the man has finished the three beers and orders three more.

This happens yet again.

The next evening the man again orders and drinks three beers at a time, several times. Soon the entire town is whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers.

Finally, a week later, the bartender broaches the subject on behalf of the town. "I don't mean to pry, but folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers?"

'Tis odd, isn't it?" the man replies, "You see, I have two brothers, and one went to America, and the other to Australia. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond."

The bartender and the whole town was pleased with this answer, and soon the Man Who Orders Three Beers became a local celebrity and source of pride to the hamlet, even to the extent that out-of-towners would come to watch him drink.

Then, one day, the man comes in and orders only two beers. The bartender pours them with a heavy heart. This continues for the rest of the evening - he orders only two beers. The word flies around town. Prayers are offered for the soul of one of the brothers.

The next day, the bartender says to the man, "Folks around here, me first of all, want to offer condolences to you for the death of your brother. You know-the two beers and all..."

The man ponders this for a moment, then replies, "You'll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well... It's just that I, myself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent."

[Dale_M]

Tweets which mention beer or church, mapped by counties of the US. Data collected June 22, 2012 - June 29, 2012

(click on picture to make it bigger)

[JonNC]

I don't have anything to add to the thread, but when beer and Bibles are mentioned, it seems appropriate for a Lutheran to say something.

Jon