General warnings:
PR 20:1 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;
whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
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PR 23:31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
PR 23:32 In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
PR 23:33 Your eyes will see strange sights
and your mind imagine confusing things.
PR 23:34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas,
lying on top of the rigging.
PR 23:35 "They hit me," you will say, "but I'm not hurt!
They beat me, but I don't feel it!
When will I wake up
so I can find another drink?"
Scriptures that speak of people in responsible positions not drinking:
PR 31:4 "It is not for kings, O Lemuel--
not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
PR 31:5 lest they drink and forget what the law decrees,
and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.
PR 31:6 Give beer to those who are perishing,
wine to those who are in anguish;
PR 31:7 let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
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LEV 10:8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, 9 "You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the Tent of Meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.
Texts which demonstrate dangers:
GE 9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.
GE 19:30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. 31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth. 32 Let's get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father."
GE 19:33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
It is clear that even holy men were overcome with drink at times. Couple this with our modern understanding that it is addictive, and that tendencies to addiction might even be inherited, why would we want to endorse drinking at all? The Bible does not forbid it. But I would hardly think as a church we should endorse it.
The thing that all of the texts above have in common is that strong drink tends to lessen our control over our faculties, making us more open to sin.
In Bible times they didn't make a huge distinction over whether the wine was new, old etc. Sometimes they would, in fact it is clear they understood it from Jesus' parable about the wineskins. But they referred to BOTH as wine. They didn't have refrigeration, so they just used it in whatever state it was in.
But can we really endorse an activity that lessens control, and that contributes to many modern evils such as accidents, etc. and even at times abuse, etc.
Now does this mean that the Bible expressly forbids drinking of alcohol? No, in fact it doesn't. The main emphasis is on avoiding drunkeness, not just alcohol in general.
But the point is, there is little to recommend it, and much reason to avoid it.
