I even had an argument with a tee totaler aunt that said that wine in the bible was actually just juice.
My mother still thinks Jesus drank Welsh’s Grape Juice and never wine.
Wine in the Bible was wine; alcohol was the preservative before the days of refrigeration.
My argument to any and all was: How was it possible, before the days of chemical preservatives and especially refrigeration, for things like apple and grape juice NOT to ferment?
Yeast spores are always floating in the air, and as soon as the spores would land on some sugary substance, such as fruit juice, they would be “born” from the spores. Then the yeast would do precisely what God had made them for; feast on the sugars an produce carbon dioxide and alcohol as waste products. It is as natural as when God commanded in Genesis Chapter 1:
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
I do think that the complete prohibition on alcohol as a religious tenant (and not a personal one) is anti-God. He just never commanded that, nor would He want to. Those Christians who say it is so are sinning as much as any other sin, and never realize nor question it. And I don't mean that they HAVE to drink alcohol, but those who profess that other people who do are sinning. Frankly, that is just wrong.
I remember going to some in-laws home for Thanksgiving in Tampa, Florida several years ago. I brought some very good and expensive German beer with me as a gift (we had just returned from Overseas--Germany and Italy--after 7 years). Well, my in-laws were appalled! They made me put the beer back in the car, and exclaimed they did not allow a single drop in their home due to it being sinful and of the Devil!!!
They were QUITE judgmental of my behavior after that. They never called me by my name after that, but to my wife only referred to me as "Your husband" (probably thinking, "The Lush"). However, I never get drunk.
And ACTS reference to ‘New Wine’ that made people talk funny was ‘New Juice’?...............