Grace, peace, and love to you from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I will indulge you this one time with a proper reply in return; But I am not going to keep going back and forth with you on it because I know you prefer alcohol as your worldview or your personal slant when reading the Scriptures. For did you ever once consider that maybe you could be biased towards alcohol because you enjoy it?
As for your Teetotalism statement:
Well, I believe that the Christian can either partake in grape juice or possibly the Israelite wine which was a wine that was diluted with water (Whereby it is very low in alcoholic content). I know the Israelite drank wine that was mixed with three parts water, but it is not so clear that the Christian followed this Jewish custom because of the change of certain commands within the covenants (Hebrews 7:12). The Lord's Supper practice is strongly suggestive that it was grape juice because it was called the "fruit of the vine" (See Matthew 26:29). Alcoholic wine is not the fruit of the vine but it is the decomposed fruit of the vine. Alcoholic wine would be more like the excess remains after yeast ate the fruit of the vine.
Yes it does. You simply do not want to see it.
Currently, you have on alcoholic glasses when reading the Scriptures;
So your viewpoint on Scripture is from that slant or bias.
I will show you why.
Well, first, technically the first piece of Scripture I quoted is not a single verse, but it is a passage instead. Second, you essentially tell me that my quote from Scripture is taken out of context but you did not show me why. You simply asked a question instead. Three, to answer your question: God provided a way of miracles for their survival. He made it so that their clothes would not perish off their backs, and he fed them with manna from Heaven, and they drank from the "Rock" (Jesus) that followed them (1 Corinthians 10:4). The not drinking of wine is similar to a Nazarite vow. They were to be holy and separate. Christians are to be separate, especially from unbelievers and idolatry (2 Corinthians 6:17). Believers are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:16). God's miraculous provisions no doubt played a role in their knowing that their Lord is God. But the passage also says they did not have the normal bread and wine, either. This also was a part of knowing God, as well. In the New Testament, we are told that if we keep His commandments we can have an assurance in knowing Him (1 John 2:3). For he that says he knows Him (Jesus) and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:4). Keeping God's commands makes one holy and separate from the rest of the world.
Ephesians 5:25-27 says,
25 “even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Titus 2:14 says,
“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
First, I was referring to Deuteronomy 32:33 (along with Deuteronomy 32:14) and not Deuteronomy 32:32. Second, metaphors only have meaning if they are based off of something that is true. The worship of God and or the Rock (Jesus) is likened unto the pure blood of the grape. The pure blood of the grape is grape juice and not intoxicating wine. Alcohol is not pure juice or pure blood of any kind of grape that is squeezed or crushed because it is a process of decay. Those who worship false gods and idols is likened unto the wine
being the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps (See again Deuteronomy 32:33). This is clearly the picture we get when looking at intoxicating wine. The addiction, broken families, and death toll from alcoholic wine should tell you that is indeed like a venom from snakes. So the metaphor is using real world things that we know are true. This helps us to understand what the metaphor is saying.
Hannah is an example of motherhood. She refrained from drinking wine. This is a good thing because we now know that drinking strong wine for mothers can hurt the baby. Surely, it is not a coincidence we see this story in the Bible confirm a medical fact.
Just as there is a good wine and a bad wine mentioned in the Bible, the Bible also talks a bad bread and a good bread, too. For the Scriptures refer to how leavened bread is sinful and unleavened bread is not sinful during the Passover time within the Old Covenant. What makes the bread bad is the yeast. Yeast is a picture or symbol of sin. We see yeast is the active ingredient used to make alcoholic drinks. In fact, cutting out (or reducing greatly) a person's leavened bread consumption within their their normal every day intake will help them to lose weight, and feel more healthier.
Because (strong alcoholic) wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging. It is has been medically proven that people can get highly addicted to alcohol and they cannot stop drinking it. The substance or drug mocks the life God gave them because they can easily fall into addiction because of it. Even with moderate use of wine, it can destroy a person's health. The substance or drug is raging in the sense that it can seek to take control of a person's life. It rages to take control of you and make you do crazy things. Those who are deceived by wine are not wise. In fact, I am sure many alcoholics did not intend to be alcoholics. They were just like everyone else here who thought they could control their moderate drinking. But Scripture says the heart is deceitful.
You are missing the point. It is describing what the beverage is like and what it can do to a person.
Proverbs 23:31 says,
"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup,
when it moveth itself aright."
Now, it is true that the previous verses are talking about the drunkard. But then we get to verse 31 and we see that it tells the drunkard to not even look upon whine when it is red and when it moves itself aright. This is very telling. Why tell the drunkard to not look at wine when it is red when the problem (according to you) is not alcohol itself? It also says the condition of the wine, as well. This lets us know that there is a different kind of wine besides wine that is red in the cup and it moves itself aright. We are seeing a truth expressed here that is talking about a particular kind of wine that can lead a person to drunkenness. The drunkard is told not to look at this kind of wine. But where in this Scripture does it say that a person who is not drunk can look upon this wine? The person who tarries at wine does so not because he planned it. It started with one drink. Then life got hard and he desired to forget his sorrows by drinking.
Same truth is expressed here. While the drunkard is in view, the truth of Proverbs 23:32 still remains true for all people. It still can bite a person like a serpent and sting them like an adder by surprise. There are many testimonies of alcoholics who did not plan on being an alcoholic. Many could simply just not stop.
Proverbs 23:35 says that the drunkard seeks this beverage yet again (even after all the trouble it causes him). Why? Because it is habit forming. It is addictive. Even people who drink moderately desire to have it regularly.
I used to drink alcohol maybe once or twice a year (knowing very full well of the dangers of alcohol). But what if life got hard for me? Is it not possible I could turn to booze to make me forget life's problems? I don't know that answer personally, but I know it is a reality for many. I remember one time, a friend (Who said he was Christian) got me to drink 151. This stuff is pure destruction to your body. You cannot drink this moderately and live very long.
First, verses 4-5 is about kings; And Jesus is a king by the way.
We are also called kings and priests. So this should tell you that we cannot have wine according to verses 4-5. For we are to imitate Christ and follow in His steps.
Second, quoting verses 6-7 does not help you in any way.
It is talking about giving wine to those who perish (i.e. to help people who are in extreme pain and are about to die; For the alcohol can numb their pain). Alcohol can also help the person who had anguish to the point of being an extreme mental case. Today we have drugs to help people who have mental problems. Back then, all they had was alcohol. But surely this is not the solution today (Seeing we are under a New Covenant with new commands and we have now advanced in regards to medicine). But verses 6-7 is not talking about kings. It is in reference to those who are poor (see verse 7) and the suffering.
Not true.
When I said, "Wait. Did you just say drinkin alcohol is fun?"
You said: "Yes it is, just like eating food is fun... is fun bad?"
Anyways, I gotta run, but I pray that you will consider the truth of what Scripture says instead of what you prefer it to say so as defend your enjoyment or fun in alcohol (Which is a drug).