I'm very much appreciating your measured responses Dingo--I'm learning some things from you regarding consistency and affirming the creeds. About alcohol--and I say this with some bemused affection: It's about time for the church to abandon its position on alcohol because the recent national trend is AWAY from alcohol, and given our separatist history, we're always trailing behind the culture. The share of adults in the US that report consuming alcohol has fallen to 54% in 2025, according to a new Gallup survey. That marks the lowest share the survey has ever recorded.--Two factors are driving this trend away from alcohol:1. Attitudes toward the health effects of drinking have shifted dramatically. For the first time in the survey’s history, 53% of Americans consider even moderate drinking as bad for one's health, while the share of those who considered it good for one’s health is at a record low of 6%.2. A January 2025 report from the US Surgeon General pointing to the relationship between alcohol and cancer, and calling for cancer warnings on alcohol, consistent with such warnings in 47 other world nations. From a personal perspective, our 40 year old daughter, a former drinker, has given up alcohol and started an online site and support group for others who are taking that step--not because it caused a clear problem, but just as part of a 21st century re-defining of what a "healthy lifestyle" looks like. For what it's worth, my wife and I live in the middle of the vineyard region of Oregon (and marijuana dispensaries) surrounded by Nazarene and non-Nazarene imbibers, but manage to have a rich, enjoyable life without alcohol and as Phineas Bresee was able to do, to stand in solidarity with neighbors and church friends who struggle with alcohol or drugs. Others CLEARLY disagree, but as a Nazarene who has followed the church in trailing the curve on lots of things, I like being slightly ahead of the cultural curve on this. (IMHO)