Is it okay for a christian to drink wine?

aiki

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If you need to drink alcohol, then you most certainly shouldn't. If it makes no particular difference to you if you never have an alcoholic drink, you are in the right "head space" to drink in a moderate and responsible manner.

And, of course, you don't ever run the risk of the sin of drunkenness if you never drink alcohol.
 
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Victor E.

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I like to drink wine once in a while but I was wondering if it's bad? I don't get drunk but once in a blue moon I like to have wine in the evening.

'It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink' Proverbs 31:4

I consider myself a king (Colossians 2), by the atoning blood of Christ, I am also a partaker of the high priestly order of Melchizedek, a ruler with the KING of kings and LORD of lords (Christ)...therefore I choose to abstain from all alcoholic beverages (Yes I know about the wedding at Cana and Timothy's infirmity).

In moderation, it wouldn't be the end of all things but most who say they drink in moderation, slowly find themselves creep into 'not moderation' we should examine ourselves...here's a plumbline for 'sin'

'But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin' Romans 14:23

whatever is not of faith, is sin. Do you put faith that drinking wine will edify your spiritual life in Christ?

'For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit' Romans 14:17

'You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is beneficial' 1 Corinthians 10:23

Also note, you don't want to cause another brother who may have had a previous alcohol addiction, to fall back and stumble into sin. We should love one another and look out for those of the family of faith. 1 Corinthians 8:9-13.

I am merely submitting Biblical information and suggesting that drinking alcohol on a constant basis, is not God's best for us. Especially drunkenness which the Word clearly instructs us not to do. (Ephesians 5:18).
 
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Jonathan Leo

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I like to drink wine once in a while but I was wondering if it's bad? I don't get drunk but once in a blue moon I like to have wine in the evening.
Drinking alcohol is allowed, getting drunk is a sin, not because drunk in and of itself sin, it’s what comes from drunkenness is the problem, here’s a few

Violence
Seeing strange things,
Loss of balance or self control
Lust is increased
Slandering
Gossiping
Gluttony of food

A saying I use,
Too much drink turns quiet boys into macho men
And unpretty girls into glamorous models.

Drink has it’s uses, unfortunately, too much of it and it starts using you!
 
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Francis Drake

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Also, many times in the Bible when it says "wine" it is translated in the original Greek or Hebrew as "juice" or "unfermented juice" or "unfermented wine." Just because it says "wine" in the English Bible does not mean it is talking about alcoholic wine necessarily
William, this was neither true, nor scientifically possible back then.

Fermentation into alcohol and gas is an automatic process in natural grape juice that is totally impossible to halt other than by boiling.
It is the same with natural apple juice, it automatically turns into hard cider.

You will probably have seen that grapes have a natural sheen on their skins when you buy them. That is a natural yeast.
As various scripture stories show, the grapes were crushed by treading them underfoot in a wine press.
The juice that runs off will then contain the yeast washed off from the skins.
Grape juice also contains a high amount of natural sugars, and the yeast reacts with that sugar and converts it into alcohol and CO2 gas.

This alcohol/CO2 fermentation is further proved by Jesus's story about not putting new wine into old wineskins. As the wine ferments in the skin, the CO2 gas would inflate the skin and rip it apart if it wasn't new and stretchy.

My house has a large apple tree. Early this summer I bought an apple press. From my own tree, plus that of neighbours, I collected close on 100 Kg of apples!
I pressed all those apples and just left the juice in large tubs. By using a hydrometer to measure the before and after specific gravity, I learned that after 10 days, my apple juice is now 6% alcohol.
Again, I never washed the apples, nor removed and bruised bits. In the traditional manner, the whole lot went straight in complete with bugs worms and abundant yeast etc. The resultant alcohol killed all uncleanness and left me with a lovely powerful cider.

I am now learning how to turn some of that cider into cider vinegar for cooking and pickling.

Yummy.

PS
I also brew loads of beer (from a kit) and am trying my hand at wine.

Incidentally, beer is a massively healthier drink than any soft drink.
The beer I brew is what we call a "bitter" in the UK. One kit will produce 23 Ltrs (40 pints). I only add I Kg sugar for that kit, plus about 1 teaspoon per bottle to give the final pressurisation. A percentage of that sugar is then turned into CO2 and alcohol.

1Kg sugar divided amongst 40 pints (less some turned into gas etc) is quite minimal when compared to the massive amount in soft drinks or say fresh orange juice.
 
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aiki

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I am now learning how to turn some of that cider into cider vinegar for cooking and pickling.

At the suggestion of my sister, I once gulped down a half a cup of straight apple cider vinegar! She said it had significant health benefits but neglected to say that she takes about half of what I did, diluted with water and sweetened with honey! I should have known from the awful smell that things would go badly. I swigged a mouthful and thought my tongue was going to shrivel up and fall off! And the burning in my stomach was ferocious! I was puckered for 3 hours. Of course, my sister found my experience enormously amusing. Not a bit of sympathy. She just laughed and laughed.
 
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Xethea

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I've prayed and studied before I ever tried things I was told what is wrong or right about anything from Christians or others. Many of those people are wrong.

In drinking, many believe wine in bible is just grape juice and non alcoholic every time the bible says wine. No, it's always alcoholic wine, and even Jesus drank it. If it was a sin, would Jesus drink it? He even made wine himself for a wedding celebration for many people. But it wasn't intended to be like crazy college kids and get drunk and such. It's not like they had soda, energy drinks, coffee, iced cold drinks and such- wine was a common and tasty drink that has a certain good feeling after a bit, but even so, wine is used for health for a certain serving each day. Even the bible brings that you for someone's health.

The issue about it isn't that taking one drop of alcohol in your mouth is a sin, but its if you plan to overdue it, let it make your brain lose confrontation and focus where you'll easily give into temptations easily. Its a risk that easily takes you into sin. That's why men try to get women drunk for "you know what," because a woman may refuse if she knows it's wrong and will refuse the temptation.

But simply doing anything a lot can do bad things to your body. If it has no good use for God's will, then what is the purpose of doing it? Food and water keeps us alive for God to continue using us on earth. But too much food or water can make you unhealthy where God can't use you more physically and it may even lead to death or other issues. That's a sign you need to take it easy, same with wine. Don't take in so much that it gets in the way of God's will for your life. Some of you habe a big temptation to drink a lot, to go to clubs, to party and have you know what getting drunk, so you definitely need to stay away from alcoholic drinks. Others though just like a decent or also amount, some of us just want a nice taste or tiny buzz that won't interfere with how we react to life and choices and won't lead to mistakes like car wrecks, intercourse outside of marriage, fighting, overdosing, etc.

Another reason its wrong, is some people basically worship alcohol, all day every day or every moment after work or the weekend, they want to drink alcohol. Its a deep desire in their life. They may be big drinkers and alcoholics, that can often lead them to homelessness because it's all they spins their money on sometimes and even when they know they need to stop, they beg for money to have it instead of living for God.

It's not a sin to consume alcohol. But giving your life up to alcohol, foolishness, and such, well lets just say- if you aren't drinking for anything that leads or uplift Godly works or prevents you from pursuing the will of God, then you shouldn't be getting into it.

So you can drink wine or alcohol, but all yourself before you take a sip- is this for the will of God, ou're for my own will that is not of God? Does this help me pursue the will of God, or does it lead me astray?
 
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MarkRohfrietsch

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A lot of excellent answers in this thread with scripture to back it up.

"It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." -Proverbs 31:4

As you can see in Proverbs 31, she is telling her son who is a righteous man that drinking alcoholic beverages is not for him. For me, I was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol and cigarettes before God delivered me of those things so I especially stay away from addictive substances like that. Alcohol can be very dangerous, but a glass every blue moon I don't think is going to kill you. It seems like a very thin line with wine. Just be very careful is all I would say. I think I read somewhere that middle-aged women are at the highest risk of being addicted to wine. Alcohol is extremely addicting and kills thousands and thousands a year

Also, many times in the Bible when it says "wine" it is translated in the original Greek or Hebrew as "juice" or "unfermented juice" or "unfermented wine." Just because it says "wine" in the English Bible does not mean it is talking about alcoholic wine necessarily
You don't press grapes year round, and in that climate 2-3 days you have wine; in 25 days, you have fully fermented wine. The bible talks about new wine in new wineskins; why? Because new skins will stretch with the gas buildup; old skins, already stretched, would burst.
 
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RadiantGrace

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My congregation growing up insisted it was grape juice, because HE would not be tempting people to sin, (by consuming alcohol) and it was proved in scripture where the steward said "You have saved the best until now;" and EVERYONE knows how much better grape juice is than that nasty old alcoholic wine.

Except grape juice would not have been available. Grapes are covered in yeast and when squeezed, they ferment very quickly. Most sugars would have been converted into alcohol within a day or two. After that, wine matures, developing better flavors.

Good and bad wine refers to the fact that wine was made by whatever yeast was on the grapes, rather than the yeast introduced in controlled wine making that we have today. Sometimes the wild yeast made great tasting wine, sometimes it made not great tasting wine. Wine making has been refined by the right types of grapes, in the right soils, in the right climate, picked at the best time, fermented by the right strain of yeast. Back then, it was just random. So you brought out the best wine and after eating and drinking, you brought out less quality wines.

Jesus fed the multitudes of people. They had the opportunity to sin by over eating, by taking extra loaves to fed themselves another day. They could take more than their fill of fish and sell it. Jesus provided people the opportunity to sin just as God gives us the opportunity to sin. Everything I have is a blessing from God and I have the ability to use it sinfully or not.

It is completely wrong to think that God never gives us the opportunity to sin. We are given this hundreds if not thousands of times each day.
 
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RadiantGrace

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The Bible does not forbid drinking alcohol in small quantities. I, for one, drank too much and had to stop altogether, and I no longer have any desire for alcohol. I wouldn't encourage anyone to drink alcohol, but if you seem to need a little, I don't think it's a sin.

You are absolutely right - Christians should not lead others into sin, understanding that every individual has his or her own struggle. Christians can meet at a casino for a buffet. But the brother that is addicted to gambling should not go. The sister who overeats should not go, as should the brother who likes the cheap drinks made available. Maybe smoking is allowed in areas, so again, the ex-smoker may be tempted there. There may be certain 'professional' women that might tempt our brothers there.

Maybe I do a lot of physical labor and take some back pills. I have used them for ten years without any problems. I recommend a brother from Church see my Dr. Feelgood because I am not addicted. Six months later she is a heroine addict.

We all have things that tempt us. We have to respect our weaknesses to these things.
 
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RadiantGrace

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Ancient people didnt know that to help digestion problem one should eat more vegetable and less meat.

A little alcohol of one spoonfull is good to help digestion but which man on earth can drink a little ?

Ancient people drank out of rivers and lakes people washed themselves and their animals in. Animals pooped in the water, and human feces eventually found their way to lakes and rivers. People in cities used to relieve themselves in bowls and throw it out their windows. Before plumbing, where do you think all that went? They mainly lived off grains like wheat and barley. Meat was a rare luxury for the rich. Vegetables were rare, eaten by the rich who could grow them instead of grains, or by the very poor, who picked from the woods.

In short, most people lived on bread. Mixing wine with water made it less toxic.
 
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MarkRohfrietsch

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Except grape juice would not have been available. Grapes are covered in yeast and when squeezed, they ferment very quickly. Most sugars would have been converted into alcohol within a day or two. After that, wine matures, developing better flavors.

Good and bad wine refers to the fact that wine was made by whatever yeast was on the grapes, rather than the yeast introduced in controlled wine making that we have today. Sometimes the wild yeast made great tasting wine, sometimes it made not great tasting wine. Wine making has been refined by the right types of grapes, in the right soils, in the right climate, picked at the best time, fermented by the right strain of yeast. Back then, it was just random. So you brought out the best wine and after eating and drinking, you brought out less quality wines.

Jesus fed the multitudes of people. They had the opportunity to sin by over eating, by taking extra loaves to fed themselves another day. They could take more than their fill of fish and sell it. Jesus provided people the opportunity to sin just as God gives us the opportunity to sin. Everything I have is a blessing from God and I have the ability to use it sinfully or not.

It is completely wrong to think that God never gives us the opportunity to sin. We are given this hundreds if not thousands of times each day.
God does not give us the opportunity to sin; the stain of original sin, our legacy of the fall does.
 
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Dave-W

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Except grape juice would not have been available. Grapes are covered in yeast and when squeezed, they ferment very quickly. Most sugars would have been converted into alcohol within a day or two. After that, wine matures, developing better flavors.
You forget one thing: this was not wine or grape juice that EVER was in a grape. It was a supernatural change from rain water.
 
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MarkRohfrietsch

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You forget one thing: this was not wine or grape juice that EVER was in a grape. It was a supernatural change from rain water.
If you think the only mention of "wine" in the Bible is the wedding at Cana, you need to read more of the Bible.
 
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Dave-W

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If you think the only mention of "wine" in the Bible is the wedding at Cana, you need to read more of the Bible.
No. I was speaking SPECIFICALLY to the comment by RadiantGrace that the yeast on the grapeskins would have made the wine at Cana alcoholic. But there were no grapes involved in that wine.

I was not addressing any other mention of wine or grape juice.
 
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MarkRohfrietsch

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No. I was speaking SPECIFICALLY to the comment by RadiantGrace that the yeast on the grapeskins would have made the wine at Cana alcoholic. But there were no grapes involved in that wine.

I was not addressing any other mention of wine or grape juice.
Not the yeast in the skins but Jesus Christ made it the best wine that they had ever tasted. It's a miracle (mind you, yeast forming fully fermented wine would be too); and BTW, it was in jars, not in skins. Read the Book.
 
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