Proverbs 23:31

The Hebrew word for 'Look' in Proverbs 23:31 is the word 'ra'ah' and it means 'have experience with, consider, esteem, approve'. Given the meaning of the word 'Look' in that chapter, the verse tells us not to have anything to do with alcoholic beverage. Yet many say it is ok to drink in moderation.

How can one not have experience with alcohol and yet partake of it at the same time?

 

Spoudazo,

They cannot find one scripture to refute abstinence without twisting it.

It is clear that Solomon was saying 'Do not have experience with alcoholic beverages' in order to comptetely avoid falling into that drunken state that he discribes in the surrounding passage.

If one lie makes one a liar, or one theft makes one a thief, and even just to lust after a woman in one's heart is considered adultery, how can one be positively sure that even drinking in moderation is not a drunkard in God's eyes?

Based on Proverbs 23:31 and also on scriptures throughout the Word of God that show the deceiving power of alcohol or that God calls it poison of dragons and venom of asps, I can say without a doubt that alcoholic beverage in the life of a believer is strictly forbidden by God.

And now someone will try to come back with the lamebrain 'if I eat food I am sinning because it leads to gluttony.'

BUZZZZZ Wrong!

Man has a need for nourishment in his body, or he will die. We are to take care of the body.

Alcohol has no nutritional value. As a matter of fact, alcohol works against the body in many ways.

Alcohol is not a product of God. Grapes, when left on the vine, eventually will rot. Alcohol is something that man learned how to produce from grapes and other substances.

Also, at the end of the creation week, God looked at everything He had created, and it was 'very good.' It was not until after man's fall, and the flood, that we see alcoholic beverage being introduced to mankind. And then it brought a curse, not a blessing.

Alcoholic beverages are to be avoided like the Bubonic plague.

 

Isa 25:6 The LORD of Hosts will prepare a feast for all the peoples on this mountain--a feast of aged wine, choice meat, finely aged wine.

The fact that new wine was also left to stand on its lees just the same as old wine as we have just learnt. The difference is that while the lees (dregs, skin particles) added to the strength of the old wine (alcoholic) the lees in the new wine (unfermented) merely added to its sweetness and colour. Marshall's Bible Handbook also brings this out:

The dregs of wine (lees) were used to improve the flavour, colour, and strength of new wine. "Wines on the lees well refined" (Isaiah 25:6) referred to a rich full-bodied wine - a symbol of the blessings of the feast of the Lord.

taken from Leighton G. Campbell's book "Wine in the Bible and the Case for Total Abstinence" pp. 101 -102

 

Let us further consider the following:

But on the new wine being allowed to stand, this
principle would subside by natural gravity; hence the
ancients poured off the upper and lucious portion of
the wine into another vessel, repeating the process as
often as necessary, until they procured a pure, sweet
wine which would keep. (Kitto ii.955 Roman
Antiquities)

Another confirmation that wine standing on it's lees, did not always refer to alcoholic or fermented wine, is scientifically explained by Dr. William Patton:

Chemical science teaches that the gluten may be so effectually
separated from the juice by subsistence as to prevent fermentation.
The gluten, being heavier than the juice, will settle to the bottom by
its own weight if the mass can be kept from fermentation for a limited
period. Chemistry tells us that, if the juice is kept at a tempature
below 45 degrees, it will not ferment. The juice being kept cool, the
gluten will settle to the bottom, and the juice, thus deprived of the
gluten, cannot ferment.

We have thus learnt from a thorough examination of the text and the facts concerning wine that it is totally unjustified to automatically assume that Isaiah 25:6 refers to the drinking of alcoholic or intoxicating wine.

taken from Leighton G. Campbell's book "Wine in the Bible and the Case for Total Abstinence" p. 102