Posted on 12/19/2011 9:39:11 PM PST by LouAvul
The church I belong to, some drink alcoholic beverages and some don't. It's apparantly one of those things that if you do, you just don't discuss it. Our former minister (he later told me) actually made his own wine. But he only told me that after he quit making his own wine.
Throughout the Patriarchal and Mosaical Ages God approved of alcohol consumption. He even recommended it (if you believe the Bible to be inspired). For example, Deuteronomy 14:26. Or, Proverbs 31:6.
The prohibition in the Old Testament is concerning drunkenness. (Cf Proverbs 23:29ff)
Jesus lived during the Mosaical Age, so it's logical to assume he drank alcoholic beverages. It was a perfectly natural thing.
In the New Testament, there is no condemnation of alcohol consumption. There is, however, condemnation of drunkenness. Again, anybody who has spent much time around drunks knows the difference.
Anyway, the reason I ask your opinion is because I always assumed it was condemned in the Bible. I think I may have been wrong. What do you think?
God invented alcohol so the Irish wouldn’t rule the world.
I always assumed it was condemned in the Bible
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
why? Don’t you know communion was originally WINE and bread? Some churches still use wine.
AFAIK (and I have read the Bible straight through, as well as Gospels many times), there is no general condemnation of “drinking”.
Personally, I don’t like it. I think it tastes God-awful. And I’m less than enamored of the idea of getting drunk, as so many these days seem to be. Not only pathetic but boring. “Parties” have become nothing more than drunken orgies, period, with nothing else to do.
To serve God you should avoid things that distract you from doing God's will. And alcohol would do that. It is about limiting those things in your life that can take you away from the will of God and serving Him. Can you serve God better clear minded? Obviously. Because we serve God's kingdom daily we should be of sober mind daily.
Secondly when you gave your life to Christ you made a covenant with Him to have Christ as your example. Christ wasn't a liar, used profanity or a drunkard, neither should His children be.
My thoughts anyway.
You were wrong. Drunkenness is the issue. Not alcohol.
Thinking is one thing. Proving from scripture is another.
There is no biblical proscription against alcohol. If you do a word study, there is a greek word for unfermented wine, and fermented wine. When Jesus turned the water to wine, the original greek makes it clear it was the fermented variety.
For those who don’t think so, remember when the comment was made about “saving the good wine for last”? It would make no difference if ti were not fermented.
Yes, it’s a sin to get drunk. It’s also a sin to have unrighteous anger. But there is a righteous anger. The thing is -— this takes judgement and responsibility. It’s easier for people to just make a rule.
This being said, if you cause you brother to fall, (even if you don’t get drunk) then it’s a sin. So if your drinking affects others to drink too much, you are wrong, even more so than are they.
Drunkenness however, is a sin. Booze didn't work out too good for Noah or Lot.
I like a glass of Chaucer's mead now and again, but I am too cheap to buy it.
Christ turned water into wine after the wedding party ran out of wine. Thats a lot of wine to go through if the brides father had been storing away for his daughters wedding.
What better opportunity for Christ to condemn the consumption of alcohol? He not only consumed wine, He created wine.
I'll bet it was the greatest wine these wedding guests had ever tasted.
Some Christians believe alcohol consumption is a sin, but I believe your opinion is correct. I don’t know of anything in the Bible that condemns alcohol consumption. However, I would not drink in front of any Christian who was having trouble dealing with alcohol. For example, one of my Christian friends was an alcoholic. In no way would I risk making him stumble by placing the temptation in front of him. So it’s really more complex than simply whether to drink or not. Not only that, but if Christ’s teachings are relevant to alcohol, wouldn’t he likely say even the desire to be drunk is a sin whether or not one gets drunk?
The question to ask yourself is...
What was Jesus’ first miracle.
The answer should send you down the right path.
Some suffer from the Bourbon-ic Plague...
Tea-Totaller’s won’t drink...Tea...
Prohibition...against hibitions...
Gin...used to remove the seeds from cotton (the seeds are more valuable than the cotton)...
Vino...what Italians drink...
Brandy...specially modified Vino...
Scotch...a person so tight he screws his socks on...
Whisky...makes the fair sex Frisky
Now it’s your turn!
Jesus was cool with it, they called him a “winebibber”
Pick your translation: http://bible.cc/matthew/11-19.htm
I grew up Southern Baptist, still am. And when I was young, every Baptist church had a church covenant, which was an agreement between the members of that church and God. Baptist churches are independent and “associate” together in a convention, so the covenants from church to church would often be different.
One common clause though was that members would not use alcohol as a beverage or sell it for use as a beverage.
We didn’t look down on Christian denominations that allowed drinking. It just wasn’t for us.
However, this stance wasn’t without problems. Occasionally you’d have members that either drank and were thus in violation of the covenant. Or you’d have spouses that were Christian, but wouldn’t join the church because of the covenant.
When we lost the liquor law wars and dry areas became wet, we found that our kids couldn’t work in grocery stores or restaurants and honor that covenant. It was at that point that many if not most baptist churches started dropping that clause.
We acknowledged that Jesus drank wine and that it was almost certainly alcoholic. Though it’s thought that wine of the time was not as strong as wine today.
Scripture even records that Jesus was accused of being a “winebibber and a glutton” Mat 11:19, Luk 7:34
Scripture likewise condemns gluttony, but not eating.
Christ’s first miracle was making wine. Good wine. Under conditions where “grape juice” would have gotten Him run out, not commended.
Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. 1 Timothy 5:23(NIV)
No. That's incorrect. The only word used is oinos.
That's used for fermented and unfermented fruit of the vine.
Incredibly, non-alcoholic beverages are a recent invention, in a way. In ancient times, fruit drinks fermented/spoiled spontaneously, and one would dare drink from much of the available water supplies. Thus, people would ferment their beverages under controlled circumstances, and use the alcoholic drinks to sanitize the water. Hence, the bible advises, “Drink no longer (pure) water, but use a little wine (in it) for thy stomach’s sake, and for thy infirmities.” (1 Tim 5:23); Non-alcoholic beverages meant primarily milk and, when sanitation conditions improved, water.
Only in 1875 did Thomas Bramwell Welch, son of a prominent prohibitionist minister, invent a process for pasteurizing grape juice to inhibit it from turning into wine. Thus was created the notion of a “soft drink,” containing no alcohol, in contrast to a “hard drink,” containing extra alcohol.
Evangelical Christians acknowledge that we should refrain from being drunk. Since it is different for everyone, some can drink very little and become drunk while others can drink more before they become drunk. To eliminate this problem, one should not encourage people to start drinking (ala lead them down the road to sin) thru drinking. Granted I can hold a beer in my hand and not be drunk but I may encourage a fellow Christian to drink and think he can handle the alcohol but he is actually on the way to being drunk. Guidance is to eliminate the guess work by forgoing alcohol all together. Note this is a guidance. Most EC just don’t drink thus eliminate the possibility of being drunk or leading a fellow EC down the act of getting drunk.
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