One of the largest fallbacks for members of the Church is that of alcohol. Members and their families constantly struggle with what the Bible says about this topic. The Bible speaks of wine in many cases. For instance (Proverbs 20:1) Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. (Proverbs 23:29-35) Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. ( 1 Corinthians 6:9-11) Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (Galatians 5:19-21) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

In all of these verses we find wine, strong drink, and such references to alcohol to be condemned. Further more there is a great passage in the book of Romans chapter 14 and verse twenty-one. This verse reads: It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. This verse is clear in that it not only condemns all that would cause a brother to stumble but also points out alcoholism as well. When I hear the argument that you can drink as long as you do not become a drunk, I like to think of this verse. It states simply not to drink wine. Since most argue that wine is OK and the Bible says so.

I have heard before that there are those who like to drink but only do it in moderation. I have heard of those who go to bars but drink soda. I have heard of those who say, "it’s only one drink". The phrase "wine cooler" is also popular among those that are weak in this way. The great letter to the Church of the Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse twenty-two there is a simple statement made. That statement was to abstain from the appearance of evil. Alcohol is surely evil and that is clear in the verses presented at the beginning of this article. Do not let the Church be a haven of misconception. The Bible is very clear on this subject. It is rather unfortunate that this article even needed to be written. There are reasons behind most of what I write. The reason behind this is that the Bible is a poison control center and it has marked every bottle, can, etc. with the skull of eternal death.
 

Copyright 1999 by Brian Yeager may be reproducted for non-commercial purposes at no cost to others.