I know many Christians who don’t drink alcohol. I know some who don’t drink tea or coffee or any other drink containing caffeine. These Christians believe there is a Biblical mandate not to drink, so they follow their beliefs and don’t drink.
But other Christians do drink alcohol. They give the example of Jesus turning water into wine, or quote Paul’s instructions to Timothy. It’s one of many topics that the Bible isn’t as clear on as some of us might like.
So should characters in Christian fiction drink alcohol?
Personally, it doesn’t bother me as long as they drink in moderation, and the drinking is either consistent with the character (if the character doesn’t have an issue with alcohol) or clearly presented as wrong (if they characters do have an issue with alcohol, or if they are under the legal drinking age).
What I don’t like is characters acting out of character.
I recently read a Christian novel where one of the Christian characters downed three strong cocktails in less than an hour, with predictable side-effects. I didn’t think this was necessary to the plot, and it left me wondering about the character. Was she really that stupid? Why did she accept the first drink, let alone the second and third?
It made a difference that the character was Christian—a churchgoing Christian who should have known better. My reaction might have been more charitable if the character hadn’t been a Christian (or hadn’t been a Christian yet).
I accept that drinking alcohol may sometimes be needed as a plot point. If so, fine. Just don’t add a drinking scene to be “hip” or “relevant”, the way some general market authors add sex scenes. Make the scene mean something. Make sure it has a point, and that drinking alcohol is the only or best way of making that point.
I’m personally walking this line with a story I’m writing now. It’s an Irish romance adventure. Long story short, one of the main antagonist of the story is naturally an angry person and at a village celebration, he gets hammered and takes his frustration out on the main character. Now, alcohol is not main focus of the story by any stretch of imagination, but I don’t want to include it if it is absolutely frowned upon in Christian fiction society.
My personal view is that it’s okay as long as bad behaviour is recognised as bad behaviour – and it sounds like that’s what you’re doing. It helps that the bad behaviour comes from the antagonist, because the reader is programmed to not like the antagonist or their behaviour.