Christians drinking alcohol

Aspzan said:

This is a multiple purpose post. Firstly I want to ask
do you drink and what are your reasons for or against it?

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No, I don't drink. What are my reasons for not doing so?

Proverbs 20:1
1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

Proverbs 23:29-33
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.

Ephesians 5:18
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Luke 21:34
34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.

Romans 13:13-14
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Hebrews 12:1
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

While having a drink now and then is not condemned in Scripture, alcohol is, I think, at least a "weight" to the believer, a thing whose risks far outweigh any of its benefits, and so ought to be forsaken:

Alcohol is a toxin to the body.
Alcohol suppresses right and natural inhibitions.
Alcohol clouds reason and blunts reflexes.
Alcohol is powerfully addictive.
Alcohol is frequently associated with evil and divine judgment in Scripture. (Isaiah 23:1-3; Jeremiah 13:13-14; Ezekiel 23:33; Habakkuk 2:15-16; Genesis 9:21-22, etc.)
Drinking alcohol is a potential serious stumblingblock to others.

It's also worth noting that those in Scripture who wanted to honor God and specially consecrate their lives to Him (Levite priests, judges, prophets, those under a Nazarite vow) were careful never to drink alcohol.

In light of these things, "It tastes good" is a foolish and self-centered reason to imbibe alcohol. As far as I'm concerned, a believer who regularly partakes of alcohol demonstrates a serious lack of wisdom and love for God and others.

Aspzan said:

What do you think about what is said in the video?

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I think its actually pretty good. I would have liked to hear a lot more Scripture offered as a basis for his views, though.

Aspzan said:

I stopped drinking alcohol a short while ago. I've dealt with similar things such as stopping smoking, which I have never had any interest in restarting. I stopped drinking alcohol because I believed it was against my Christian beliefs. A minor reason was to lose weight and be healthier.

For the majority of the time I have been happy in my decision and not tempted by alcohol at all. More recently, I was tempted earlier this evening. I decided to pray and distract myself. I am not as tempted now.

This is a multiple purpose post. Firstly I want to ask
do you drink and what are your reasons for or against it?

Secondly I wanted to ask/say
how can even drinking say, a beer or two be acceptable if it has a physical and mental affect on the person. Would this not constitute drunkenness?

I have also heard it said that the Lord should be our refuge and not alcohol. He should be what relaxes us or brings us joy:

What do you think about what is said in the video?

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Jesus turned water into wine for the wedding guests, and that was a miracle, In the bible, it says to give strong drink to those who are suffering. It is supposed to be for the heartbroken and the people in pain not to be abused for long periods of time.

With that being said, Don't be an alcoholic now, it will kill you and take over your life and that will be your God.

Do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Yes, Jesus drank wine and turned water into wine. It was just a miracle he wanted to demonstrate and he probably drank on special occasion. But, if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you would not want to drink wine.

Well, I sat through the video, I and have to say, not one scripture to back his claim that Christians shouldn't drink alcohol. Your feelings on a matter are irrelevant....the only thing that matters, is what saith the scriptures, and the scriptures say, don't be a drunkard.

aiki said:

Proverbs 20:1
1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.

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Then don't be led astray.

aiki said:

Proverbs 23:29-33
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

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A drunk.

aiki said:

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things.

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Sounds like a Chronic alcoholic to me, and once again...don't do that, or are all these verses to say those who drink in moderation will eventually become an alcoholic? None of them reinforce not drinking in moderation, exactly what the bible says we can do.

aiki said:

Ephesians 5:18
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

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Yep, don't be a drunkard.

aiki said:

Luke 21:34
34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.

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And there it is again....nothing new or against what god says it ok.

aiki said:

Romans 13:13-14
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

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Ditto

aiki said:

Hebrews 12:1
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

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If we are easily ensnared by anything, we should certainly stay away from it...exactly what some people do.

There was a time when a thread like this would have been at least 50/50 for/against, but it seems people started looking at the bible for themselves, instead of listening to preachers who just reveal the bad. This is a little something God gave us, the warnings on not letting it get out of hand are plenty, and I won't be one to try to take away one of the few allowed joys of life.

As someone else touched on, I think preachers and such were so down on it that they actually changed Gods intentions for alcohol by only touching on part of the truth, because they either have a loved one, or knew someone who became an alcoholic, and I guess they assume it will happen to everyone...it will not, far from it. I feel for them, and alcoholism can be a terrible thing, but nothing should make us skew Gods word, ever, however, I suppose if there ever was a good excuse to do so, this would be it.

There's is a little more too it, but in general, moderation or not at all.

Kenny'sID said:

Then don't be led astray.

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Obviously, yes.

Kenny'sID said:

A drunk.

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And the simplest way not to be a drunk is never to drink alcohol.

Kenny'sID said:

Sounds like a Chronic alcoholic to me, and once again...don't do that, or are all these verses to say those who drink in moderation will eventually become an alcoholic? None of them reinforce not drinking in moderation, exactly what the bible says we can do.

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Simply read the rest of my post if you want to understand why I posted these verses and passages.

Kenny'sID said:

Yep, don't be a drunkard.

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It says more than "don't be a drunkard." There's that bit about the Spirit, too.

Kenny'sID said:

And there it is again....nothing new or against what god says it ok.

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Does God say it's okay to drink alcohol? I don't see in His word that He forbids doing so, but I don't see that the general tenor of Scripture approves doing so, either.

Kenny'sID said:

If we are easily ensnared by anything, we should certainly stay away from it...exactly what some people do.

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Yes, and? Have you just discovered how to state the obvious?

Anyone who truly cares about people is not going to encourage them to drink.

aiki said:

Obviously, yes.

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Very good.

aiki said:

And the simplest way not to be a drunk is never to drink alcohol.

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And the simplest way not to become an adulterer is to never have sex.

aiki said:

Simply read the rest of my post if you want to understand why I posted these verses and passages.

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Already did.

aiki said:

It says more than "don't be a drunkard." There's that bit about the Spirit, too.

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And?

aiki said:

Does God say it's okay to drink alcohol? I don't see in His word that He forbids doing so, but I don't see that the general tenor of Scripture approves doing so, either.

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I do, and ot appears I'm not the only one.

aiki said:

Yes, and? Have you just discovered how to state the obvious?

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Nope, only do it when people can't see the obvious.

rockytopva said:

Anyone who truly cares about people is not going to encourage them to drink.

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Where specifically did that happen?

Anyone who truly cares about about people is not going to try to take a granted joy from them, nor will they only post one end of Gods word, leaving out the rest.

This is a fairly fundamentalist approach to dealing with sin is to entirely cut oneself off from anything that would cause one to sin and secondly to rely only on the Lord for everything through prayer. It works well for many things and if you have a family member who is an struggling alcoholic do not whatsoever drink near them! In the same vein one can assume that taking any form of mind altering drug is bad yet a vast amount of people are on such medications. If we are honest with ourselves then we should acknowledge our failings from time to time. I think wisdom is needed here as Solomon declares there is a time for everything. Being a raging or sloth drunk is clearly a sin and should be avoided but drinking a glass of wine after a days work to lift ones spirit would hardly constitute the same.

Aspzan said:

I stopped drinking alcohol a short while ago. I've dealt with similar things such as stopping smoking, which I have never had any interest in restarting. I stopped drinking alcohol because I believed it was against my Christian beliefs. A minor reason was to lose weight and be healthier.

For the majority of the time I have been happy in my decision and not tempted by alcohol at all. More recently, I was tempted earlier this evening. I decided to pray and distract myself. I am not as tempted now.

This is a multiple purpose post. Firstly I want to ask
do you drink and what are your reasons for or against it?

Secondly I wanted to ask/say
how can even drinking say, a beer or two be acceptable if it has a physical and mental affect on the person. Would this not constitute drunkenness?

I have also heard it said that the Lord should be our refuge and not alcohol. He should be what relaxes us or brings us joy:

What do you think about what is said in the video?

Click to expand...

I do drink, i drink because yes I like the taste of it. But I never advocate nor put myself in situations where I support drunkeness. For example, my office have happy hours, sometimes I drink, sometimes I don't. At most its two beers. Im always animate about not sticking around people getting drunk, nor do I support it if the topic arises. With any food or drink , it has to be done in moderation.

I do agree though that you have to keep your motives in check like the video. If that means that you have to be sober then do it, if that means to cut down on it that you're not being careless with your drinking, then that's fine too. I do agree that there are time where you could be a stumblingblock if you're knowingly drinking with someone you know are struggling in the situation. But I dont think its always a direct causation.

Its a case where I can't say its a sin, but be wise about it and keep your heart in check.

rockytopva said:

Anyone who truly cares about people is not going to encourage them to drink.

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Jesus encouraged people to drink by turning water into wine.

For some people, alcohol is like a swimming pool. They get in, they get out, they are still in the same place. For other people, it's like a river. They get in and when they get out, they aren't in the same place anymore, they aren't the same person anymore.

I got sober in AA 5 years ago, it's a river for me. The alcoholic comes to prefer being drunk or buzzed to being sober. For some alcoholics, we also prefer having our inhibitions dropped. The chemical helps the ego stage a coup d'tat on the soul.

The books 'the strange case of dr Jekyll and mr hyde' and 'the great divorce' are very good descriptions of my experience with alcoholism. These are the core reasons of why I don't drink, the spiritual consequences. On top of those, the powerlessness, I know personally that if I compromise my sobriety, I will continue to compromise it, and I won't have control over where those compromises take me or how they impact others. So I don't do it at all.

I realize that not everyone is like me or has the same experience with alcohol so I don't think it's a sin for Christians to drink.

It's definitely one if I do though. And it had me, it had me good and tight so that I was fighting FOR my drinking against family friends and loved ones when I should have been fighting against. It's a spiritual blindfold for me. I wasn't the one who took it off, and I don't want it back on again.

I don't drink alcohol for health reasons- my genetic profile doesn't suggest its a good idea and I know from experience I am less healthy as a result when I have drank regularly (usually 1-2 glasses of wine a day). Nevertheless, I don't see how drinking alcohol responsibly is a sin.

I am who I am said:

I'm not sure that I understand. Do you fight alcoholism? Like AA? Sorry if that's too personal.

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No, I have never gotten just that, I mean drunk in my life, nor been able to swallow beer or wine like most youth do because I hate the taste of it so I do not know how I would react to it if I would actually get drunk. The only stuff I can get down is medication like against caugh - which I rarely take anyway, and I do not get drunk on that.

Ok the golden rule in the bible Love Your neighbour as Yourself,
Am I a good example to my neighbour if I drink, get lewd and her husband start getting tempted by me? Nor am I a good neighbour if I drink and get aggressive or start pitying my self. Or fall asleep and can not drive home. Well no matter how I would react it is no good. Besides it gives too much calories taste bad and gives an awful belly.

it would be wise for those on either side of the issue to be mindful of romans 14:14-23.

Aspzan said:

This is a multiple purpose post. Firstly I want to ask
do you drink and what are your reasons for or against it?

Secondly I wanted to ask/say
how can even drinking say, a beer or two be acceptable if it has a physical and mental affect on the person. Would this not constitute drunkenness?

Click to expand...

1) I don't drink because it stopped really doing anything for me and I started getting a headache the next day after drinking a very little. I'm like, this really isn't worth it and stopped. Once in a very great while I may have a flavored beer.

2) What kind of physical or mental effect? The Lord provided us with alcohol to refreshen our spirits. The Lord in Proverbs reveals how it is good to drink and Paul encourages Timothy to drink for his health. Jesus presumably drank wine or at least provided it to people at banquets. Quite clear from the Bible that drinking isn't a sin.

If drinking makes you lose your ability to maintain a sound mind, then yes you shouldn't drink. Moderation is the key. Drunkenness is to be avoided, but God reveals to us in his word that having a drink is a good thing, even to be encouraged at times. Nothing in the world (or in God's word either!) is wrong with it under moderate and controlled portions.

There is nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. Wine is served at Holy Communion in my church every Sunday. It was a common element at the time of Jesus; He undoubtably drank wine mixed with water at mist meals. I enjoy a glass of wine or a beer with my meals. Drinking to excess, on the other hand, is a sin. If you cannot control your drinking then by all means you should not consume alcohol.