By the way Christine, in re my comments about alcoholics, and what I said that I wouldn't hire an alcoholic to work in my home: You might be interested to know that my closest life-long friend has struggled with the demons of alcohol abuse, and has many times told me that he feels he is an alcoholic. I have compassion for him and his struggles, and offer listening and talking-type support for him, but in no way have I ever suggested that to make him feel better, I would no longer view alcohol excess as "sin". And yes, his spiritual life has suffered, and he knows that, and he knows that alcohol abuse is wrong and against the teaching of the Bible. Sometimes it seems he has beaten the demon, and other times he falls back into it. At present I think he has been "clean" for many months.
I have always welcomed him into my home as a guest, but if I happened to hire him to work as an employee in my home, I would become quite concerned if he began again abusing alcohol. Eventually (hypothetically, since I've never actually hired anyone to work in my home) I might very well fire him if a resurgent alcohol problem began to be offensive to me.
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