Puritans love this scripture seemingly above all other. Oh, probably not really, but it so often seems so when overly pious people start proof-texting against what most of us think are normal and general social practices. A most distinguished overseas divine was delivering the famous Cole Lectures at Vanderbilt University just as Nashville, Tennessee, happened to be stirred up over an approaching local option election to legalize the sale of alcoholic beverages. Some enthusiastic young church people asked to speak to a crowded audience before one of the lectures began. A most attractive and eager teenager concluded her vigorous speech by exclaiming, "No Christian can have anything whatsoever to do with whiskey!"

As he began his lecture, the guest speaker said softly and gently, "Daughter,…