Is it wrong for a Christian to drink alcohol?

[1689Dave]

Whiskey for Pain

"Whiskey is one of the cheapest and best painkillers known to man." So reported Dr. Harold George Wolff of Cornell last week to the Association of American Physicians meeting at Atlantic City. Earlier doctors, he said, prescribed whiskey freely but were finally forced to discard it for "moral and ethical considerations.''

In their experiments, Drs. Wolff, James D. Hardy and Helen Goodell tried a mixture of two ounces of 95% grain alcohol in a glass of ginger ale on themselves, found that it raises the "threshold" of pain 45% for two hours. Two ounces of 90-proof whiskey will turn the same trick. If a five-grain tablet of aspirin is added, any pain can be dulled for four hours. Dr. Wolff urged his colleagues to return to the use of whiskey for "persons suffering continuously," especially cancer victims. Said he: "It is cheaper than morphine. ... Of course alcohol is habit-forming but an alcohol habit is less difficult to deal with than a morphine habit."
Whiskey for Pain

 

[MartyF]

No scripture is pretty clear we are to stay sober minded

Are you trying to be funny? I can't tell.

Sober is a well-known false friend in the KJV. I suggest the following book:

https://www.amazon.com/Authorized-M...1_1?keywords=authorized&qid=1579480675&sr=8-1

There are some passages about excessive drinking. But one doesn't make 150 gallons of wine to be drunk after the wine runs out and expect no one to be buzzed - especially with the lower weights people had back then.

 

[Reynolds]

Are you trying to be funny? I can't tell.

Sober is a well-known false friend in the KJV. I suggest the following book:

https://www.amazon.com/Authorized-M...1_1?keywords=authorized&qid=1579480675&sr=8-1

There are some passages about excessive drinking. But one doesn't make 150 gallons of wine to be drunk after the wine runs out and expect no one to be buzzed - especially with the lower weights people had back then.

You know wine back then barely had any alcohol. I am still trying to figure out how Noah and Lot go so drunk on that extremely low alcohol wine.

 

[MartyF]

You know wine back then barely had any alcohol. I am still trying to figure out how Noah and Lot go so drunk on that extremely low alcohol wine.

???

Why are people so ignorant about how grapes work?

It is this simple:

1. Take grapes.
2. Crush grapes without peeling them or washing them.
3. Pour result into container and cover with cloth.
4. After initial fermentation, store in sealed container for 1 month.
5. Enjoy Wine with 10% or more alcohol content - plenty to give a buzz to the average 100-lb. Israelite.

It's like everyone is a die-hard-evolutionist who believes grapes mutated into higher alcohol content grapes.

 

[Reynolds]

???

Why are people so ignorant about how grapes work?

It is this simple:

1. Take grapes.
2. Crush grapes without peeling them or washing them.
3. Pour result into container and cover with cloth.
4. After initial fermentation, store in sealed container for 1 month.
5. Enjoy Wine with 10% or more alcohol content - plenty to give a buzz to the average 100-lb. Israelite.

It's like everyone is a die-hard-evolutionist who believes grapes mutated into higher alcohol content grapes.

My post was sarcasm. Are you not familiar with the popular Baptist teaching that the yeasts availabe in Bible times would not produce high alcohol?

 

[MartyF]

My post was sarcasm. Are you not familiar with the popular Baptist teaching that the yeasts availabe in Bible times would not produce high alcohol?

Sorry, I missed your sarcasm. My apologies.

 

[The_5_Solas]

No.

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[Alcott]

Could a Nazarite have drank grape Koolaid or Crystal Lite [artificial]?

 

[Rob_BW]

You know wine back then barely had any alcohol. I am still trying to figure out how Noah and Lot go so drunk on that extremely low alcohol wine.

I don't know, but I've seen some Americans here in the Middle East attempt to drink enough 0.0% Heineken to get a buzz.

 

[Revmitchell]

There are always some Christians trying to protect their buzz.

 

[Son of Robert]

Temperance isn't a big issue on this side of the pond. The pubs are more full than the churches.

 

[Reynolds]

There are always some Christians trying to protect their buzz.

Yeah. Some are and some are not.
Along the same lines, I have prescriptions for pain medicines that give me a pretty good buzz if taken by the instructions on the label. For sake of discussion, is an opiate the same or different than alcohol?

 

[MartyF]

There are always some Christians trying to protect their buzz.

God has blessed me with a dislike of alcohol. I don't like the taste of it and I'm not fond of the "buzz" that it gives.

The problem I have with Baptist and other Christian defining drinking alcohol as a sin is that it becomes a "Baptist" or "Christian" distinctive. A vast number of people end up thinking that Christianity is about not drinking and not cussing. People think the Mormons are better because they don't use alcohol. People think Muslims are better because they pray 5 times a day.

For me, Christianity is about my relationship to God. Psalm 23. How I treat my fellow human beings. Matthew 23:23. And how I treat myself. 1 Corinthians 3:16.

 

[Revmitchell]

Yeah. Some are and some are not.
Along the same lines, I have prescriptions for pain medicines that give me a pretty good buzz if taken by the instructions on the label. For sake of discussion, is an opiate the same or different than alcohol?

Sigh, Some things are necessary some are not. Trying to compare alcohol to legally prescribed medicines is not an equal argument.

 

[InTheLight]

Sigh, Some things are necessary some are not. Trying to compare alcohol to legally prescribed medicines is not an equal argument.

Well, 1689Dave just made that argument a few posts upstream.

 

[Revmitchell]

God has blessed me with a dislike of alcohol. I don't like the taste of it and I'm not fond of the "buzz" that it gives.

The problem I have with Baptist and other Christian defining drinking alcohol as a sin is that it becomes a "Baptist" or "Christian" distinctive. A vast number of people end up thinking that Christianity is about not drinking and not cussing. People think the Mormons are better because they don't use alcohol. People think Muslims are better because they pray 5 times a day.

For me, Christianity is about my relationship to God. Psalm 23. How I treat my fellow human beings. Matthew 23:23. And how I treat myself. 1 Corinthians 3:16.

I do not define drinking alcohol as a sin. I made it pretty clear that scripture does not say it is. Getting drunk is. If one can drink without getting drunk (buzzed) then by all means go for it.

 

[Revmitchell]

Well, 1689Dave just made that argument a few posts upstream.

I do not care what arguments he makes on anything.

 

[Reynolds]

Sigh, Some things are necessary some are not. Trying to compare alcohol to legally prescribed medicines is not an equal argument.

It actually is. I dont do it, but my doctor told me to drink 2 glasses of wine per day for my heart.

 

[David Kent]

David Kent, I read the entire chapter, can you help me understand something? As you said, the Nazirite stops consuming wine AND grape juice, but at the end of the passage there is a ceremony that just removes the prohibition on wine. (v. 20 "...and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.")
So the wine abstention is lifted, but the juice abstention continues/is permanent? Am I reading that right?

The prohibition lasted for the duration of their vow. It could be for life or a set period. When theperiod of their vow was finished the the other rules applied:

• 13 And this is the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:
• etc.

 

[Jerome]

My question is, could he drink juice afterward? He made a vow, as you said, to drink neither wine nor juice, but when the vow is ended it only says he may drink wine again:

v. 20 ''...after that the Nazarite may drink wine."