Why I don't drink alcohol and a major red flag in some businesses

[Forest_Garden]

this post will begin with a personal note
please read the major red flag in the market section

I've seen that for the most part drinking alcohol causes disagreements and leads to relationships being broken, including family that would otherwise be on good terms.
Bob Marley once said that alcohol is the destruction of a nation. I can't say that marijuana
is the healing of a nation but I can say that without alcohol, most, if not all will be better off.

And the relationships you do make revolving around alcohol are usually, very temporal.

I have noticed a dissipation of the Holy Spirit after a night of getting drunk.
I've also noticed that my understanding becomes lessened
unlike when I was young, I would find myself
refreshed somehow after a night of drinking.

The potential of a man doesn't last long past his 20's when continuing with alcohol.
The usual sense of encouragement, joy or excitement becomes bitter, arrogant and aggression and can become a problem
even for those who are not violent.

Major Red Flag in the Market

I've noticed drive thru shops opening up in the city I live in. They sell slushy style daquiris or maybe similar alcoholic beverages.

I've heard people including the employees say how customers will pop the straw through the tape and drink
the alcoholic beverages that are sold by these drive thru shops while still on the road driving.
I believe it was the employee of one of these shops and a fellow coworker say it in the same weekend, that or within a week from each other.

Its my understanding that a open container alcoholic beverage is any kind of alcohol that has been opened, whether it be a beer
or vodka, or whisky, etc. If a police officer pulls you over and sees any of these in your car, its going to be an issue.
So, it would make sense that selling people alcoholic beverages through a drive thru, in a to-go cup as a beverage that quickly melts is not a closed container alcoholic beverage. I'm not a lawyer but it seems to be promoting drinking and driving, and encouraging it. Putting a piece of tape over a to-go cup does not make it a closed container.

I won't lessen the argument by saying that if you put a piece of tape over a open container of a beer, or vodka or any other alcohol, does not make it a closed container.

I don't condone drinking and driving.

 

[Freth]

I would say that this is a world problem, not just an alcohol problem specifically. The more you are in the world, the less the Holy Spirit is available to you for discernment, because you are not focused on Godly things.

I do agree that selling alcohol in drive-thru style stores encourages drinking and driving by its very nature, but the vast majority of people who go through and buy alcohol are heading home or to some other location to drink in private.

The bigger issue here is the sin problem. The desire to get inebriated in the first place, people who are selfish and don't care or think to care about the impact their actions may have on others, etc.

The world isn't going to change. Drive-thru convenience stores aren't going away. I think the best effort we can make to counteract these sorts of things is to spread the gospel.

 

[com7fy8]

I've seen that for the most part drinking alcohol causes disagreements and leads to relationships being broken, including family that would otherwise be on good terms.

I think character can be the main problem. The drinking can be one symptom of character which is not satisfied in God's love. And the weakness of this character can also show in bad relating.

Only God is able to make us sober in our character . . . so we are deeply satisfied so we are not trying to use booze to get satisfaction . . . and so we are kind and gentle and humble so we don't hurt each other and argue and complain against one another and only try to control and use each other.

And love does not only keep us clear of things which are wrong, in us, but love has us relating well >

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)

Unforgiveness and worry can make us drunk so we do not think and relate with good sense. God's love can make us immune to such stuff, but also make us kind, "tenderhearted".

Now I think "clamor" can mean making a big racket of arguing, but also it can be the noisy and nasty and negative stuff going on in our minds.

Stopping drinking, then, won't cure this.

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

 

[Ophiolite]

The world isn't going to change. Drive-thru convenience stores aren't going away.

Fifty years or so ago driving while under the influence was commonplace in the UK. Fifty year later, with tighter laws, tougher sentencing, more enforcement, public education and the consequent wide-spread peer pressure, it has been substantially diminished. The world can be changed. It takes time and it takes commitment, but it can be done. The first step is to recognise this is true.

 

[Desk trauma]

Putting a piece of tape over a to-go cup does not make it a closed container.

In the states that allow such sales it satisfies the legal requirements otherwise they would be shut down in short order.

 

[Sketcher]

The potential of a man doesn't last long past his 20's when continuing with alcohol.

Please clarify what you mean here. Are you saying that men who continue to drink don't live much longer than their 20's, or are you saying something else?

 

[FireDragon76]

Unfortunately, alcohol has deep roots in western culture, even though many people would be far better off without it.