Alcoholic Beverages

Now we know what scripture says about it....and I know that someone will post the scriptures surrounding it.
And the first two stories in the Bible involving alcoholic Beverages was Noah and Lot....(Noah got naked and Lot ended up sleeping with his daughters) Obviously not positive stories.

Drinking wine or beer at festivals at the Temple were also commanded....but getting drunk was prohibited. (Aaron's sons)

It was a great means of flavoring and steralizing drinking water.

And not all wine was actually wine...some of it was actually something akin to jam or jelly we eat today but language barrier is rough to get clarification.

But today most Christians seem to shy away from drinking anything stronger than coffee...other than a fear of the highly expensive DUI is there any reason why people don't drink that much anymore?

By "people" don't drink that much anymore, do you mean Christians? In my experience, people drink like fish. Christians maybe not so much, but even many of them drink moderately.

Personally I don't drink because I just don't feel the need to. It's money that can be better spent elsewhere. Many people who drink are fond of saying, I can take it or leave it. That's my motto—so I leave it.

I would stop drinking because of the hungover time

Awe! I thought you were making an offer

Once upon a time, my parents were assisting me in moving and setting up my new apartment. My mother did the kitchen (I eventually got it straightened out) but I had packed all my liquor bottles up and she was aghast at the number of them. She was about to accuse me of being an alcoholic but the thick layers of dust on them destroyed that notion....so I got a lecture instead on keeping things cleaner. (There is no pleasing her anyway)

But I do use various alcoholic Beverages in various preparations for things because it improves the flavor of them significantly. Not necessarily is all the spirit cooked out either.
,(I do usually give warnings about such things)

The world is better without alcohol

Alcohol has a LOT of benefits as well as detractors.

I'm not suggesting that anyone should drink that has chosen not to. I'm not a fan of chemical dependency for anyone.

Luke 7
33 For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, He has a demon!

34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners! ~NASB


...but whose example shall I follow?

Oh yeah...
Self righteousness wasn't just something done in the Old Testament...we got plenty of those sorts today.

Which is why I take a very neutral stance on the subject. I don't care if you do or don't...

But I do have an alcoholic Beverages consumption problem....I keep intending to get one but forget to get one before I go to bed. Hence it's probably best stated as a "lack of drinking" problem....

I'm too scared to have bottles of wine in my place, as I believe I may get addicted. Nowadays, I only buy a bottle for certain occasions for group events. Most of the drinking now revolves around work (work happy hour, work trips, several parties during the year, etc.) which is occasional but not rare. Once in a while I do get a drink if others are getting it, but most of the time I just get water.

Maybe only Baptists and other more strict Protestants are against even a lick of liquor? For a while I was going to "Theology on Tap" which is usually held in a bar with a Catholic priest and other young Catholics in attendance, and most people would drink. The Methodist pastor while I was in college would also drink.

Wine can be fermented or unfermented grape juice and both terms are used in the Bible.

Pro 23:31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
Pro 23:32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Pro 23:33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Pro 23:34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
Pro 23:35 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.

It is called wine before it ferments which here it is speaking against fermented wine.

Pro 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

I cannot understand that it is alright a person to drink wine but not get drunk for it would seem like a temptation.

Can we kiss a girl but not fornicate.

Can we steal a piece of bubblegum but not steal a car.

Pro 31:4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Pro 31:5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

It is not for kings to drink wine and Jesus has made all the saints kings.

Every year when I put out my chocolate truffles for the Christmas party I have to label them....
"Methodist candy" and "Baptist Candy".

We do have a couple of alcoholics in our Sunday School class. So I make it clear that the Methodist candy has spirits in them. But the rest of the teetotalers are really just a bunch of drunks in disguise.... Because every year the "Methodist candies" are always wiped out but the Baptist ones look almost untouched.
And there isn't enough alcohol in a whole batch to give anyone a buzz...but whatever eh?
The flavors are close too...I ensure it. Just not as well rounded and complete without the spirit.

Flavors in foods are either fat soluble or water soluble. And in order to taste them your tongue needs a liason to make the flavors react with your tongue.

Simple experiment is to dry your tongue and get it really dry.... Keep it dry and sprinkle either sugar or salt on it.... you can't taste it until saliva gets mixed with the grains. Same thing with the flavors I work with....often they become masked by a needed ingredient but brought back out by the alcohol which is a great liason for both oil and water soluble flavors.

See Proverbs 20:1, 23:29-35. Also, Ephesians 5:18.

So what do you believe that these scriptures are telling us?

That alcohol has a deceiving aspect to it and that it is a negative thing if anyone is bound by it, in addiction to it.

I'm a Christian and I imbibe in alcohol and don't see it as a problem. In fact, there are many biblical references to Jesus imbibing in wine/alcohol. If it's alright with Jesus, it's alright with me:

In the Bible, the Nazirites are the only group who are instructed to never drink wine/alcohol (Numbers 6:1–4). Jesus was a "Nazarene," meaning He was from the town of Nazareth, but he was not a Nazirite (Luke 18:37).

Traditional Jewish wedding celebrations included drinking wine, and Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1–11). It is safe to assume that He also partook in drinking the wine in moderation. Another Jewish tradition, the Passover celebration, also generally included wine, which the Bible sometimes refers to as the "fruit of the vine" (Matthew 26:27–29; Mark 14:23–25; Luke 22:17–18). Jesus certainly partook of the Passover cup.

Luke 7 indicates that Jesus drank alcohol at times. While John the Baptist did not drink wine, it is implied that Jesus did drink wine, for the religious leaders of the day accused Him of being a drunkard. Jesus said: "For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'" (Luke 7:33–34)

What are the benefits of alcohol? I could list the dozens of negative effects on the body, not to mention the millions of dollars of destruction and hundreds of thousands of lives it takes every year.

You'll never become an alcoholic if you never start drinking. One never starts out wanting to become an alcoholic...one little drink won't hurt.

Do you know what a drink offering is?
Why was such a thing in existence?

Well, if you look how alcohol is destroying people then it should not wonder you.
In my neighborhood drinking alcohol is something what should not be missed on any feast. My brother in law, destroyed his life and this of his family because of drinking alcohol.

There is a difference between drinking alcohol in moderation and alcohol abuse or addiction.
Some people should never touch it. It might not be right for me because I can't handle it ((hiccup))
But fine with dinner for my neighbour.

Banning it for everyone at all times would only make us fanatical authoritarians. No one needs a church like that.


1 Cor 10 (CSB)

23 “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up.
24 No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.

25 Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, without raising questions for the sake of conscience,
26 since the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. [Ps 24:1 ]
27 If any of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions for the sake of conscience.
28 But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.
29 I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience?
30 If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I criticized because of something for which I give thanks?

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.