maybe you didn't see it when i posted it before
He causes grass to grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
producing food from the earth,
wine that makes man’s heart glad —
making his face shine with oil —
and bread that sustains man’s heart.
(Psalm 104:14-15)
Christ does not do evil by making men's hearts glad. He does not do wrong to give comfort and joy and refreshment to those whose storehouses are emptied.
Alcoholic wine in Biblical times was limited in content and is not like wine today. The sugar of grape juice can only ferment up to 3% alcohol, which is of little to the use to a drinker because they would need to drink a lot of it to get even get a light buzz. For grape juice to exceed 3% alcohol, then yeast must be added. The yeast added to ancient wines produced between 4-10% alcohol. Alcohol also kills yeast cells and prevents alcoholic content over 10%.
Yes, does Biblical wine make your heart glad? Sure, it does. At a 3% alcohol level it can make you feel a little better. But it is not going to get you drunk unless you drink a ridiclous amount of it. For many folks can drink 7-8 glasses of a 3% alcoholic beverage and barely feel a light buzz.
The point is that I am trying to make is that the Biblical wine was not fermented like our version of wine today. Also, ferementation is a process of death and decay. Why would Jesus create an element that was a process of death and decay? Did God ever create something that was partially dead? Or does God create life?
how would you feel if God gave you freedom, and you used that for licentiousness? would you blame God, who let you have free will? He made a world in which it's possible for us to follow our own hearts desires into sin and death -- a thousand terrible things are within reach of my hands to do -- will i call Him unrighteous because evil exists and it's in my hand to do it? i dare not!
i'm not disputing that we should take care not to lead others into sin, not at all. i hope you see that. what i mean to say is that we should not judge anyone over food or drink - including Jesus - and that what He gave to those people rejoicing at the feast - people who were "well drunk" - was received with thanksgiving.
When I read the words "well drunk", it means that whatever substance they drank of, it was a lot. If the beverage was strong in alcoholic content, then it would contradict what the Bible teaches on drunkeness. For the Scriptures say that no drunkard shall inherit the Kingdom of God.
if we just let John's words say what they say, it is abundantly obvious that Jesus made wine from water, and that the man best qualified to judge the quality of it said it was superior to all the rest of the wine that had been served, and that this was marvelous because the type of beverage they were drinking deadens the senses, and normally men would serve inferior product once everyone was to the point that they couldn't tell the difference anymore. grape jelly simply does not have that effect on people. wine with an alcohol content does have that effect.
we don't need to go searching dictionaries from the 18th century to project our prohibitionist sentimentality onto the 1st century text. the Word speaks for itself, and the immediate context is clear!
i'd say this thread is fruitless if it weren't for the abundance of grapes.
Well, if you believe Jesus served alcoholic wine, then you would again be in contradiction of Scripture. Habakkuk 2:15 says, “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his nakedness! Apparently, the Scriptures warn against disturbed individuals waiting on others to get drunk and pushing others to drink, so that they can satisfy their own lusts against others.
Sobriety is repeatedly taught in the Scriptures. The Spirit of Christ says in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8,
“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation”.
Source:
Is Drinking a Sin in the Bible? | Seeing God's Breath
(Note: While I do not agree with the writer's belief that a believer is not allowed to drink in moderation and soberly in private, I do agree with him on how the wine that Jesus served was not intoxicating and that alcohol can be a very dangerous thing (as taught in the Bible)).
