Why I Don't Drink...

...besides the obvious reason that I'm underage.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. What's wrong with alcohol? I used to think that everyone who drank was a raging alcoholic who couldn't control themselves. I know, I know. I was wrong about that one. But in all seriousness, what is my opposition against it? Besides the obvious reason of my being underage, what other reasons do I have for choosing not to follow the typical college scene and not drinking? If you're of age, then what's the problem? I really don't have a problem now with other people drinking, but I still have my personal issues with it.

I've come up with a couple of reasons:

1) My own negative stigmas and prejudices. For the longest time, I automatically judged someone harshly if I knew they had a drink now and then. My automatic thought process was, "Well then, they obviously can't be a Christian. I'm so much more put together than they are." How wrong am I to think that I am any better than somebody because I don't like alcohol? But, there are other people out there who still think that way. And therefore, I don't want any fraction of my life to distract people from seeing Christ in my life.

If my drinking an alcoholic beverage is going to blind people or unbelievers from seeing Christ in my life, then I don't want any part in it. Whether or not that person is being judgmental or not, I don't want to be a stumbling block or hindrance. This is not to say that there are not other things in my life that aren't stumbling blocks to other people. I can't go five minutes without sinning it seems like sometimes. But this is something that has prevented me from seeing Christ in others' lives and I don't want to do the same to other people.

2) I don't like the taste of it. I never said I hadn't had any before. I went to Europe, wine's the big thing, champagne's on your table everywhere you go, etc. I drank a lot of wine...a lot. I don't like it. It's gross. And if that's supposed to be the "classy, fancy" stuff I don't even want to taste the cheap ole beer. And by the way, I got tipsy off a glass of wine...can you imagine what a Bud Light would do to me?

3) I've seen how it's harmed other people. People throw their lives away by drinking. I don't want to be that person. God has given me way to big of a future. I can not waste my life by drinking carelessly and wasting my time.

I know this is a random blog entry. But I've just felt very convicted about this lately when people in my classes ask me why I don't drink or party. This isn't to say that I won't buy a drink on my 21st birthday or anything. I can't make any promises. And it's not that I don't want to have a good time...I just prefer to remember what I did over the weekend. :)