Is a little alcohol alright with the Bible?

On the other hand we should want to strengthen our brethren.

Alcohol is non-polar and the basis of many other medicines because (one of the reasons) it will dissolve other medicinal substances which are insoluble in water.
It is amoral.

Personally, I abstain but not because I believe that there is anything intrinsically evil about alcohol.

Matthew 15:16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

Romans 14:
14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
...
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

God's word calls wine "pure".

It's our lack of love and concern for our brethren not the wine that is evil.

The use of alcoholic beverages can be wrong but not because alcohol is evil of itself.
To say that any substance is evil in and of itself is to go against the Scriptures.

Even drugs are amoral and are medicines to be used under the proper control of a doctor.
How would you like to have the dentist drill your teeth without novocaine (a derivative of cocaine)?
It is the misuse of the drug that is evil.

To flaunt one's faith liberty before a brother or sister is also evil.

HankD

 

ten pages, and 140 posts, and we're still discussing alcohol. Maybe there's a little too much time speant on the topic??

 

Some of you are gonna get up to Glory and find that the "Booze" isle of Heaven's grocery store is empty! No alcoholic beverages in GloryLand. And I'll fight it all the way to the front gates there--where one day the "Alcoholic Beverage" entity will wave a white flag in the face of the victors!

Your friend,
Blackbird

 

I know! I've never known Baptists to talk about the subject this way...at all!

I must've truly led a sheltered life or ran in different circles!

 

blackbird said:

Some of you are gonna get up to Glory and find that the "Booze" isle of Heaven's grocery store is empty!

What of it? I thought we were discussing what was permitted right here, on earth.

 

No sooner is the horse beaten to death then he is resurrected.

If we are alive through the Spirit and not oxygenated blood in Glory, then it wouldn't matter anyway. The physics of intoxication won't be possible in the first place.

But you are correct, all temptation to commit sin will be gone.
No alcohol.
No tobacco,
No coffee.
No TV to watch and lust.
No computers to waste endless hours of the Lord's time upon, etc, etc...

HankD

[ October 02, 2002, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: HankD ]

 

No Krispi Kreme, baseball or shotguns.


[ October 02, 2002, 11:21 AM: Message edited by: BrianT ]

 

You would have to bring up the Krispe Kreme thing.



HankD

 

I have a friend who has gone through a 12 step program to get off of drugs and alcohol. One time, with other friends, one offered me a shot of some ice cold vodka. I took it freely and refused more that were offered thorughout the night.

Later, I realized that I took it in front of the friend who had gotten off of the stuff. While it wasn't a problem for him, I resolved never to take a drink in his presence out of respect for him.

I realized that was a stronger witness than my freedom to "have a taste." It immediately helped me to identify with him in his eyes, especially with the same group of friends. It wasa matter of "giving up a freedom" for a better witness.

Other than that, I enjoy it once in a while and if someone has a problem, I put it down or refuse it when it is offered. THAT is the powerful witness, the willingness to put it down for the sake of another in your presence.

My brother-in-law is against drinking and we get along fine and are comfortable with each other's views on the subject. Now, get us started on barbecuing/smoking ribs and peach cobbler/apple pie. . .

Brett

 

Let me get up on my 28 foot high worship center roof and shout this--to where all my deacon's, SS teachers, little ole ladies--can hear--

"ALCOHOL IS WINE'S JUNKYARD!!"

And for all of my members who are afraid that the preacher will see me guzzle my brew--so I'll drink it by stealth--because the preacher just may be too weak to handle it--

"ALCOHOL IS WINE'S JUNKYARD!!"

 

Actually, alcohol is God's creation...

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

HankD

[ October 04, 2002, 12:40 AM: Message edited by: HankD ]

 

HankD! Son! Brother!

God made the grapes and wheat,etc. Man just figured out what to make of it once it started its decaying process after the fall of Adam and his lovely wife, Eve.

Much like God made Iron! Its in the ore state. Man takes a giant excavator, scoops it out of the earth, takes it to the smelting mill, puts a big fire under it, melts the ore, seperates the junk from the iron and then pours the iron into a mold, cools it down, shapes it up a little, and "bingo"--the US Navy has a Battle Crusier!

God didn't make alcoholic beverages. Adam fell--and the grapes started going rotten on him!

Your friend,
Blackbird

 

God made the grapes and wheat,etc. Man just figured out what to make of it once it started its decaying process

I didn't know raisins were that evil!

 

I believe that raisans are a little bit less than alcoholic or even bacterial. You guys are trying to lite a fire under wet wood--pretty soon you're gonna run out of matches--and the wood will still be wet!

Your friend,
Blackbird

 

"DOUGHNUTS AND OTHER BREADS ARE YEAST'S GRAVEYARD!!"

"YOGURT IS BACTERIA'S NURSERY!!"

"CHEESE IS MILK IN RIGOR MORTIS!!"

"MUSHROOMS ARE FUNGAL GROWTHS ON ROTTING BIODEGRADABLES!!"

"SHRIMP FEED ON THE OCEAN'S LATRINE!!"

"MUSHROOM AND SHRIMP PIZZA IS FUNGAL GROWTH AND LATRINE-FEED BOTTOM SUCKERS, RESTING ON A BED OF YEAST'S GRAVEYARD, ALL COVERED IN MILK IN RIGOR MORTIS!! MAKE SURE YOU WASH IT DOWN WITH A NICE TALL GLASS OF CARBONATED TOOTH-DECAY AND THE DRUG CAFFEINE!!"

 

blackbird said:

"ALCOHOL IS WINE'S JUNKYARD!!"

I guess that since your attempt to reason a case for total abstinence has failed, you think that you will succeed by grossing us out?

Think again. Any thinking person who is not swayed by your logical argument, such as it is, isn't going to be taken with a raw emotional appeal.

But why should I care if alcohol is the product of yeast's digestive process? The production of alcohol in wine is identical to the chemical process used to leaven bread. You haven't said anything about leavened bread being wheat's junkyard.

In any case, your reasoning is selective. I can think of far more disgusting things that I eat and enjoy and no one seems to have any moral qualms about.

I have already mentioned, for example, how cheese is a milk by-product that follows secretion from the hindquarters of a cow, curdling, drying, fermenting, and the introduction of bacteria or fungus. Yummy.

"CHEESE IS SPOILED, MOULDY COW SECRETIONS!!!"

Vegetables are grown in soil which is part eroded rock and part dead, decaying vegetable matter, naturally fertilized by the droppings of earthworms, and artificially fertilized with farm animal feces.

"VEGETABLES ARE A BY-PRODUCT OF DECAY AND DIGESTION!!!"

Shrimp and lobster eat dead, rotting flesh and other sub-marine offal.

"SHELLFISH IS THE OCEAN'S GARBAGE DISPOSAL!!!"

What about honey? Plant sugars collected and carried around by creepy swarms of huge insects with nasty stingers, stored in wax honeycombs made from bug secretions. (And doesn't it worry you that honey doesn't go bad?)

"HONEY IS REGURGITATED BEE BARF!!!"

I'm grossed out just by writing this. Wine is pleasant by comparison.

 

Isn't drinking in secret a sign of alchoholism?

 

So then, Navy ships are bad?

 

I know that I will not change anyones mind on this subject but I would like to add a bit of caution to those of you who are so sure of yourselves that wine or strong drink will not harm you.

God has told us in Proverbs 20:1 "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is decieved thereby is not wise."

The word raging means unpredicatable; votatile.

I may or may not have the liberty to drink, but one thing I know, when God gives me a warning about something I am going to stay away from it.

I know that those of you who at dead set on drinking will call me foolish but I would rather be foolish before men than God.