May I add a few points to the "drinking" issue as it relates to modern day Americans (especially) and a lesser extent to European countries.
First, there is historical proof that the wind made in the Bible was ferminted for two reasons. A) To allow it to be stored without microbial growth that would either turn it to vinagar or just plain make ruin it as a safe drink. There is also historical proof that the wine of the day was a fifty-fifty cut with grape-juice and in some documents it was cut with water for the specific purpose of lowering the alcoholic content to prevent becoming drunk.
Second, Yes, there is one place where evidence of drinking wine to get drunk is mentioned and that just happens to be the first miracle recorded of the Son of God, Jesus. The statement was made by a guest as to why the "best" wine was used first and the cheaper wine later after the guests were drunk. This does seem to indicate that wine was indeed consumed as a "feel good" beverage during the first century. Let us remember that Jesus would have been right and not sinning if the other guests did not see anything wrong with drinking wine for this purpose, but then we have to deal with several verses mostly found in Proverbs not to drink beyond your capacity of "control" and become a drunken slop (my paraphrase, but I think it fits.)
Now, I used to drink. I could drink anybody I knew under the table. I could drink fifteen different drinks in the same evening and beat anybody at the pool table and even keep my mouth under control.
I would cook steaks, Italian sausage and roast corn on charcoal while having a nice cold six-pack to enjoy (part of which I poured on the meat of course). You can't enjoy your buzz unless you are drinking on an empty stomach. I would ask my six year old daughter to bring me another cold one from the frig which she (being daddy's loving daughter) would jump up, run into the house and open it carefully to make sure it didn't spray me (Did you hear what I just said? She was learning habits from her father.)
Still being a drinker I remember being in Israel at a nice restaurant with a tour group containing both Christians and non-Christians. We had a few people with us that we had been working on to accept Jesus as their Savior. Another group that were with us, sat together at a different table because we were Baptists and they were Catholics and people just tend to stay with the people.
I will never forget that there were several men and women we took along in the hopes of converting to accept Jesus. One had become a friend of mine and I had been working with him all week by pointing out the place we think that Jesus may have been killed. I was sick the first week with a protozoa and missed a lot of side trips, but God answers prayers and we were allowed to go where we wanted for a couple of extra days in the old city of Jerusalem, where we met a very nice Christian Arab (who was an Israeli citizen, by the way--many people don't realize there are lots of Arabs that are Israeli citizens and who fight right next to the Jews during a war.
One of the non-Christians pointed (discretely) at the Catholic group and said, "Look, those people are drinking; obviously if I become a Christian, the Catholic group is not the right group or they wouldn't be sitting there blatantly drinking booze--they sound like a bunch of hypocrits to me. ) I tried to defend them and say, well I don't think they have a problem with a little wine with their food since most are only ordering one glass. He turned to me as serious as the sun rises and says: "No, I don't care. I'm trying to find out which of your groups are right before I even think about making that committment and to sit there and blantantly drink in public does not seem to be the Christian thing to do.
Now, my point is NOT whether the Bible says we can drink or not, but it says (and I'll again use my own thoughts on this) to pluck out your eye or whatever else if it is going to hurt your Christian witness.
Another time, just this last year an engineer who is an evolutionionist who says that God could not exist, and every Christian I have met is a hypocrit anyway. I had a new neighbor move in and this engineer who does not believe in God was giving me a ride. The neighbor was standing in his front yard having a "cool-one" (And in Oklahoma, regular beer is only 3.2%--that was so Oklahoma could sell beer at that level of alcohol and it is classified as "non-intoxicating". To buy regular 6% beer, it cannot be sold cold, nor can it be sold by a regular store--it must be purchased at a liquor store. So, people move to Oklahoma are surprised at the lower alcohol beer and think its funny until they find out that we were drinking beer throughout the prohibition (and bootlegging it to other states) because three-two beer (as its called) is identified by state law as a non-intoxicating drink. You can drink three-two in state parks, but you better not get caught with a bottle or glass of rum in a state park.
finally, everybody in Oklahoma who drinks knows you can get JUST AS WASTED on 3.2 as you can on what is known as Liquor store beer--the only downside is the number of visits to the rest-room.
That man, who was driving me home had never discussed drinking with me, but he pointed at my neighbor with his 3.2 beer can in his hand and his friend with a 3.2 can (much like you see on certain cartoons while the men stand in the alley and talk). I will never forget what he said without being prompted: "Well, looks like you have your missionary work cut out for you. Obviously, your next door neighbor isn't a Christian or he wouldn't be standing there drinking beer in front of the whole town.
It struck me that, whether or not the Bible "legalizes beer or wine in the OT" or even the new; does not the Bible warn us from doing anything that will harm your witness to non-Christians?
Let me tell you that regardless of whether that young engineer becomes a Christian or remains an athiest--some of his blood will be on the hands of the man with the single beer can in his hand.
I told my wife I was going to quit drinking because I was training my girls that it was okay to drink and if any of them continued to do it when they got big and became alcoholics (or already had alcoholic tendencies) then their blood might be on my hands because I not only did something that may have been okay in Biblical times due to storage of the juice and obviously there wasn't much problem with it.
I live in the Bible belt and work with people from all over the world. I would say that in a group of 350 people I know of two that I actually believe are TRUE Christians and they laugh at us, calling us hypocrits if they dare see us with a cold six-pack, or a mug of beer at the steak house. Let alone a fifty dollar glass of wine at one of our Italian resataurants.
People are watching you...brothers and sisters in Christ. Are you like John the Baptist and Jesus Himself? Can a person tell you are a Christian, because whether you like it or not, they are watching you and they want you to mess up and drink or cuss or any other reason they can justify their theory that Christians are nothing more than dumb-hicks who believe something as archaic as a 2000 year old book.
God has given them a longing (for lack of a better term) for God and any excuse they can use to not have to accept the "narrow path" they will and hypocritical Christians just give them one more excuse.
Believe me folks, its not just the government that is watching you!!!
. . . just my thoughts on the subject and to boil it down to one sentence: If you do anything that is questionable and harms our testamony, the blood of those who do not accept him just may be on our hands.
Today, people are watching us carefully just to see how liberal and how much entertainment we will bring into the churches in an attempt to loose a battle that has already been won; but, how many soldiers are we going to loose before Jesus says, as He did in the day of Noah---that's enough.
So, go enjoy your wine, but look around and see how many people would just love to see you play the part of a hypocrit while calling yourself a Christian.
