Other than toasting in celebration and partaking of the Eucharist, if you are Catholic, what other reasons are there to consume alcohol? How many drinkers do you know who take a few sips from a glass a few times a year?
I agree with your sentiment though. The government has no right to legislate people health, well being or productivity.
>Other than toasting in celebration and partaking of the Eucharist, if you are Catholic, what other reasons are there to consume alcohol? How many drinkers do you know who take a few sips from a glass a few times a year?<
Alcohol kills so many people. Alcoholism is a disease that not only destroys its victims, but it also can and does destroy the victim’s family members. That said, it’s legal and history has shown that making it illegal caused crime to skyrocket.
Decriminalizing marijuana should possibly be considered; because we know making it illegal does not lessen its use and it most obviously causes crime, rather than stops it.
I’m Jewish. We have many occasions for partaking of potent potables, and for thanking the almighty for providing the occasions and the fruit of the vine.
“Other than toasting in celebration and partaking of the Eucharist, if you are Catholic, what other reasons are there to consume alcohol? How many drinkers do you know who take a few sips from a glass a few times a year?”
If I go to a Knights of Columbus event, it's quite likely that there will be beer, and perhaps wine. Many folks won't drink any of it, but many will have a beer. Or two. Or even three or four over the course of a long day. Or a few glasses of wine.
Nearly everyone I know drinks. And everyone I know who drinks does so socially and responsibly. In my own house, we typically have between a half-case and a case of wine in at any one time. We cook with some of it, but we drink the rest. A glass (or sometimes two) with dinner. Fairly ordinary for us. I have scotch, bourbon, rum and other hard liquors in the house. We drink those less often, but nonetheless, they get consumed over time.
My parents taught us to drink alcohol from an early age. I was four when I'd sip my father's nightly beer with dinner. Yup - four years old. I was little older at my introduction to scotch. I've just never had a problem drinking. I raised my own children similarly. My son goes to college on a campus where binge drinking is a notorious problem. He's the fellow who helps the more drunken ones back to their dorm rooms after they've puked their guts up.
The attitude toward alcohol that is prevalent in American society is purely insane. Don't drink a drop of alcohol till you're 21!!! Then, magically, the beer fairy will tap you on your head and you will be “ready” to drink! But not really! You'd be better off without the evil vice! But don't worry - if you just wait until you're 21, you'll do fine!
Drinking alcohol is ultimately a behavior that requires adult supervision and adult judgment. But learning those behaviors and judgment don't come at the blink of an eye at midnight on one’s 21st birthday. Ideally, children should be taught to drink moderately and responsibly. They should be explicitly taught when it is acceptable to drink and when it is not. How much is acceptable, how much is not. When to avoid alcohol, when to indulge. How to drink, how not to drink. The dangers of alcohol, the pleasures of it. How to select a good wine, a decent wine, an enjoyable beer, a fine liquor.
If parents teach their children what to do with this stuff when their children are young, their children will know what to do, will know how to behave as adults, and how to supervise themselves as adults when they turn 21.
My parents raised four children by this rule. We're a motley crew. Between us, there are three divorces, four failed marriages, mental illness, homelessness at times, financial problems, you name it. But none of us has ever had a problem with alcohol. Except my older brother, who died, we're all light, social drinkers. Yet, none of us were ever forbidden to drink by our parents, only that we learn to drink moderately and appropriately.
Sorry, I just don't know what in the world you're talking about. Lots of folks drink regularly or semi-regularly, with meals, in the context of social events, without overimbibing.
sitetest
I'm not a Catholic, so please forgive my intrusion. I was just reading why Matt Drudge might have tweeted "Have an Exit Plan" after having read about the weakening and soon collapse of our Earth's magnetic field and the radiological and societal chaos to follow, so my thoughts are in the post-SHTF frequency range at the moment thinking about food and clean water.
The fermented drinks, from almost no alcohol kombucha through progressively higher content wines, beers and ales, are full of things that are good for you and the alcohol kills off the bad. (Nice combo. Thank you, Father.)
Regarding drinking alcohol, I think it depends upon your intent and remember that "all things in moderation" is a good place to stay.
Best not to give Jesus a rival or Satan an opening.
Most have seen or know what "too much" looks or feels like. Many know the disgust, some the heartache, and a few know the horrors, of cleaning it up.
Those are but a few of the not-so-fine print warnings about misuse and abuse, written on the label of life by the Creator Himself, meaning that you really don't want to be, be around or have your kids grow up around alcoholism.