Wine

I Timothy 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
Wasn't wine in the bible for medicinal purposes also. Would someone address this verse of scripture as I'm in the dark on it!... Brother Glen

 

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Your claim that the absence of preservatives in biblical times justified the use of alcohol then is a weak argument. First of all, the guests at the marriage feast were not using it as a perservative, they were drinking it. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nevada is rather arid, is it not? do you or any of your friends own dogs? Would you drink water from a dog dish after a day in the sun? After half a day? After an hour?
Perhaps one of the more scientific minded on this board can give you a list of the various bacterium that would grow in that water. If you decide to conduct this experiment, make sure you don't use city water that has been chlorinated. Make it just plain, old tepid, warm, algae growing water.

Incidentally, there is very little on this Earth that makes me recoil in horror.

Maybe Jesus WAS more moderate on this issue. I am not Him.

I have had a drinking problem in years past, sir. I have scars, aches and a fine piece of surgical steel 9" long in my leg from my folly! Another in my ankle. I had a pick up truck that ended up having a hood ornament sitting on the dashboard by the end of it all. No, you won't find my story in the scriptures, but you will find me on the Baptist Board. God saw fit to spare my life from a potentially tragic car wreck. He also saw fit for me not to kill another in it for I may not have been able to live with that. Don't you lecture ME on this subject!
You know why we sin, Wester? Because it's FUN! That's right, FUN! We wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun. Do you know what the wages of sin are? DEATH! There is a purpose to everything under the sun. My purpose is to let you know this.

- Clint

 

Wester, you don't really care what sort of influence you are, do you? As long as you get to "win" a point.

Yes, there is a difference between wine drinking and drunkeness. Drunkenness is prohibited in the bible, wine drinking is not. Satisfied?

NOW, let's get real about a few other things:

1. The moderators have asked for this subject to be cooled down. Respect for them basically means to leave things alone and let the conservative side have the last say.

2. They gave you the reason -- alcoholism is a growing problem among people of all ages and we in no way want to encourage it or seem to encourage the use of alcohol on this board, for THAT reason.

3. Yes, water in the ancient Middle East WAS sanitized by the addition of wine.

4. The fact that the master of the wedding in John commented on when the best wine was introduced did NOT mean the guests were drunk! He was simply commenting on the custom and why it was that way.

5. Wine for one's stomach's sake has two possibilities: stomach pains due to tension may be what Timothy was dealing with. He had quite a load on his shoulders for a young man. Yes, a small amount of wine does relieve tension. Secondly, in the days before antibiotics, one of the only ways to sanitize injuries was by putting alcohol on them. There are bacterial infections of the stomach, one of which is known to cause ulcers. It may be that wine was considered a possible cure for that, and it may have been since alcohol kills bacteria. (Beer would not have done it.) Antibiotics today are much faster and safer and target the specific bacteria rather than simply bombing the system.

6. There are plenty of ways to prevent heart attacks other than wine.

7. Yes, wine still has medicinal uses, as I can testify. I -- and it runs in the family -- have something called paradoxic drug reactions -- most cough syrups will leave me wide awake and higher than a kite. For me, a little wine is safer and just as effective. More than a tiny amount, though, and I'm wired for light and sound again and can't sleep. The medicinal use of alcohol is, as it is with me, used in rather small amounts. This is not the same as drinking a glass of wine, whether one agrees with drinking a glass of wine or not.

8. We live in a time of accumulated mutations in the human genome. As an entire population of people, I would not be at all surprised if our ability to tolerate alcohol has suffered a severe decline since early days. I worked in a long-term hospital when I was in my early 20's. We had a lot of alcoholic patients. It shocked me to see that some of the most intelligent people I had ever met in my life were part of this alcoholic population. Are mental 'sensitivity' and physical sensitivity linked? I don't know, I just mention what I saw. But if there is anything to it, then it is even more imperative that intelligent people DON'T drink!

9. Our country (USA) has laws about minors and alcohol. Arguing that wine drinking is not prohibited by the Bible then is not the point, really. The point is that we don't want to seem to encourage drinking among minors who are also part of this forum.

10. Simple courtesy on Wester's part, and the part of those arguing with the moderator and administrator (Clint and Barnabas) would be to accede to their wishes no matter how one feels about it personally.

 

Thank you for answering my question Helen!... I shall leave quitely as I see you are busy... Brother Glen

 

Amen to that Helen. And now with the kind permisssion of you all, this thread is hereby closed. Thank you for all who contributed positively to the topic, and who's desire was that this may be of some sort of edification to the body of Christ. God bless all! Barnabas, BB Administrator

[ January 31, 2002: Message edited by: Barnabas ]