Alcohol - a world wide phenomena

There are medical studies that suggest a daily glass of wine or other alcoholic drink is beneficial for health.

Most of what you have written is not scripture but a matter of opinion.

I am really not trying to defend the consumption of alcohol but rather just stating that, according to scripture, that Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana. This wine was a choice alcoholic product given the stamp of approval of the chief steward. I have been to many weddings and the guests do not make merry with grape juice, that just doesn't happen and is ludicrous to suggest that it does.

If the word 'wine' refers to grape juice, then why would Jesus be accused of being a winebibber. Are you saying that it is a sin to drink grape juice? Makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Matthew 11:19
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

It sounds that your brother had serious mental issues that were exasperated by being drunk but not the cause of it. I am glad to see that he survived the ordeal. My older brother has been an alcoholic since his teens and there were horror stories related to his drinking as well. He was the reason that I gave up alcohol in 1992 because I didn't want to end up like him.

U r correct...the Bible tells us little of the physical effects. But, science tells us what is contained in that post and all is medically correct, not just an opinion from the Doc's.

Per emails...I have colored red the points re; God's workers.

75 Scripture Warnings against drinking of Alcohol
‘There is more Scripture objectively condemning the use of alcoholic beverages than will be found on the subjects of lying, adultery, swearing, cheating, hypocrisy, pride, or even blasphemy.
(This is a wide collection...there are more specifics)

1) Genesis 9:20-26 – Noah became drunk; the result was immorality and family trouble.
2) Genesis 19:30-38 – Lot was so drunk he did not know what he was doing; this led to immorality
3) Leviticus 10:9-11 – God commanded priests not to drink so that they could tell the difference between the holy and the unholy.
4) Numbers 6:3 – The Nazarites were told to eat or drink nothing from the grape vine.
5) Deuteronomy 21:20 – A drunken son was stubborn and rebellious.
6) Deuteronomy 29:5-6 – God gave no grape juice to Israel nor did they have intoxicating drink in the wilderness.
7) Deuteronomy 32:33 – Intoxicating wine is like the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
8) Judges 13:4, 7, 14 – Samson was to be a Nazarite for life. His mother was told not to drink wine or strong drink.
9) 1 Samuel 1:14-15 – Accused, Hannah said she drank no wine.
10) 1 Samuel 25:32-38 – Nabal died after a drunken spree.
11) 2 Samuel 11:13 – By getting Uriah drunk, David hoped to cover his sin.
12) 2 Samuel 13:28-29 – Amnon was drunk when he was killed.
13) 1 Kings 16:8-10 – The king was drinking himself into drunkenness when he was assassinated
14) 1 Kings 20:12-21 – Ben-Hadad and 32 other kings were drinking when they were attacked and defeated by the Israelites.
15) Esther 1:5-12 – The king gave each one all the drink he wanted. The king was intoxicated when he commanded the queen to come.
16) Psalm 75:8 – The Lord’s anger is pictured as mixed wine poured out and drunk by the wicked.
17) Proverbs 4:17 – Alcoholic drink is called the wine of violence.
18) Proverbs 20:1 – Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging.
19) Proverbs 23:19-20 – A wise person will not be among the drinkers of alcoholic beverages.
20) Proverbs 23:21 – Drunkenness causes poverty.
21) Proverbs 23:29-30 – Drinking causes woe, sorrow, fighting, babbling, wounds without cause and red eyes.
22) Proverbs 23:31 – God instructs not to look at intoxicating drinks.
23) Proverbs 23:32 – Alcoholic drinks bite like a serpent, sting like an adder.
24) Proverbs 23:33 – Alcohol causes the drinker to have strange and adulterous thoughts, produces willfulness, and prevents reformation.
25) Proverbs 23:34 – Alcohol makes the drinker unstable
26) Proverbs 23:35 – Alcohol makes the drinker insensitive to pain so he does not perceive it as a warning. Alcohol is habit forming.
27) Proverb 31:4-5 – Kings, Princes, and others who rule and judge must not drink alcohol. Alcohol perverts good judgment.
28) Proverbs 31:6-7 – Strong drink could be given to those about to perish or those in pain. Better anesthetics are available today.
29) Ecclesiastes 2:3 – The king tried everything, including intoxicating drink, to see if it satisfied. It did not. (Ecclesiastes 12:8)
30) Ecclesiastes 10:17 – A land is blessed when its leaders do not drink.
31) Isaiah 5:11-12 – Woe to those who get up early to drink and stay up late at night to get drunk.
32) Isaiah 5:22 – Woe to “champion” drinkers and “experts” at mixing drinks.
33) Isaiah 19:14 – Drunken men stagger in their vomit.
34) Isaiah 22:12-13 – The Israelites choose to drink; their future looks hopeless to them.
35) Isaiah 24:9 – Drinkers cannot escape the consequences when God judges.
36) Isaiah 28:1 – God pronounces woe on the drunkards of Ephraim.
37) Isaiah 28:3 – Proud drunkards shall be trodden down.
38) Isaiah 28:7 – Priests and prophets stagger and reel from beer and wine, err in vision, and stumble in judgment.
39) Isaiah 28:8 – Drinkers’ tables are covered with vomit and filth.
40) Isaiah 56:9-12 – Drinkers seek their own gain and expect tomorrow to be just like today.
41) Jeremiah 35:2-14 – The Rechabites drank no grape juice or intoxicating wine and were blessed.
42) Ezekiel 44:21 – Again God instructed the priests not to drink wine.
43) Daniel 1:5-17 – Daniel refused the king’s intoxicating wine and was blessed for it along with his abstaining friends.
44) Daniel 5:1 – Belshazzar, ruler of Babylon; led his people in drinking.
45) Daniel 5:2-3 – The king, along with his nobles, wives, and concubines, drank from the goblets which had been taken from God’s temple.
46) Daniel 5:4 – Drinking wine was combined with praising false gods.
47) Daniel 5:23 – God sent word to Belshazzar that punishment would be swift for the evil he had committed.
48) Hosea 4:11 – Intoxicating wine takes away intelligence.
49) Hosea 7:5 – God reproves princes for drinking.
50) Joel 1:5 – Drunkards awake to see God’s judgment.
51) Joel 3:3 – The enemy is judged for selling girls for wine.
52) Amos 2:8 – Unrighteous acts of Israel included the drinking of wine which had been taken for the payment of fines.
53) Amos 2:12 – Israel is condemned for forcing Nazarites to drink wine.
54) Micah 2:11 – Israelites are eager to follow false teachers who prophesy plenty of intoxicating drinks.
55) Nahum 1:10 – The drunkards of Nineveh will be destroyed by God.
56) Habakkuk 2:5 – A man is betrayed by wine.
57) Habakkuk 2:15 – Woe to him that gives his neighbor drink.
58) Habakkuk 2:16 – Drinking leads to shame.
59) Matthew 24:48-51 – A drinking servant is unprepared for his Lord’s return.
60) Luke 1:15 – John the Baptist drank neither grape juice nor wine.
61) Luke 12:45 – Christ warned against drunkenness.
62) Luke 21:34 – Drunkenness will cause a person not to be ready for the Lord’s return.
63) Romans 13:13 – Do not walk in drunkenness or immorality.
64) Romans 14:21 – Do not do anything that will hurt your testimony as a believer.
65) 1 Corinthians 5:11 – If a Christian brother is a drinker, do not associate with him.
66) 1 Corinthians 6:10 – Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God
67) Galatians 5:21 – Acts of the sinful nature, such as drunkenness, will prohibit a person from inheriting the kingdom of God.
68) Ephesians 5:18 – In contrast to being drunk with wine, the believer is to be filled with the Spirit.
69) 1 Thessalonians 5:6-7 – Christians are to be alert and self-controlled, belonging to the day. Drunkards belong to the night and darkness.
70) 1 Timothy 3:2-3 – Bishops (elders) are to be temperate, sober, and not near any wine.
71) 1 Timothy 3:8 – Deacons are to be worthy of respect and not drinkers.
72) 1 Timothy 3:11 – Deacons’ wives are to be temperate and sober.
73) Titus 1:7-8 – An overseer is to be disciplined.
74) Titus 2:2-3 – The older men and older women of the church are to be temperate and not addicted to wine.
75) 1 Peter 4:3-4 – The past life of drunkenness and carousing has no place in the Christian’s life.’


It is post #143...I will carry it forward for you.

Drinking alcohol is fine...as long as it is not abused.

19) Proverbs 23:19-20 – A wise person will not be among the drinkers of alcoholic beverages.

It's not what is say, though, does it.

"Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat"

This is drunkenness and gluttony.

Sorry, but I'm a big boy...I don't need strangers giving me their interpretation of scriptures. Believe what you will...I know I do.

I don't like it when people twist scripture to suit their personal views. At least that's how this appears to me.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Drink is a cancer in human society, eating out its vitals and threatening its destruction.” So much devastation is caused by alcohol in our community, on the roads and in homes, that this is hardly a bold or surprising statement. Indeed, even if the Bible were silent on the subject, the object lessons of devastation from a thousand years of history would still be crystal clear. But the scriptures say plenty.

“Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: ‘They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?’” (Proverb 23:29–35).

It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak” (Romans 14:21).
Because one out of seven people who drink wine will become problem drinkers or alcoholics, how can a Christian support an industry that encourages more people to stumble than any other legal substance?

Authorities know that one in seven that start drinking will become problem drinkers and that approximately one in sixteen people who ever take a social drink will become an alcoholic! Would you even step one foot on an airplane if you knew there was a one in 16 chance that it would crash and end your life? (Actually, the odds for a commercial airliner crashing are closer to one in a million—but even with those odds some people will not fly. Yet many of these same people will take a drink!)

Consider this other well-known fact: In the next 24 hours, alcohol will be responsible for nearly half of all…

• ... the homicides.
• …the people who will die on the highway.
• …the people who will be admitted to the hospital.
• …the people who will be incarcerated in jail or prison.
• …the people who will be arrested for domestic violence.
• …the people who will be born with birth defects.

In addition, alcohol deserves a mention for being responsible for a quarter of all suicides.

It’s clear enough from these appalling statistics that any clear thinking citizen, especially a Christian, would feel profound conviction to avoid a drug that accounts for a veritable tidal wave of misery to every culture it touches. If we truly love our brother and God, how can we defend drinking alcohol in any degree?

"Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat," - Proverbs 23:20
If the word prohibited all alcohol consumption, sure. But it doesn't. Alcohol isn't, in itself, a problem. It is excessive use of it. The root problem is the human heart.
I'm a realist. People have always drank and they will always drink, no matter what I think, say, or do.
I used to have a real drinking problem. I was drunk once for 2 years, though the last time I got drunk was in 1989.
I would like it if no one drank. One day no one will.
Clean the inside of the cup and the outside will be clean.

Wine is found in Genesis when Noah, after the flood, got drunk. “Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent” (Genesis 9:21). The sad record is that Noah drank and stumbled around naked and shamefully exposed himself to his sons. Not a good ending.

Lot also drank, and he was therefore easily seduced into having incestuous relations with his daughters. “So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose” (Genesis 19:33). The offspring of this relationship became the nations of Moab and Ammon, the mortal enemies of God’s people. And there is no shortage of evidence today that alcohol often leads to sexual immorality—such as adultery, rape, and incest.

Then there is the infamous experience when the children of Israel drank alcohol, stripped themselves naked and worshiped a golden calf (Exodus 32:6, 25). This fermented “church social” ended in a horrible massacre.

Amnon, another drinker and the son of David, raped his half-sister Tamar. Because of this incestuous act, he lost his life at the hands of his enraged brother while intoxicated (2 Samuel 13:28).

These are only a few examples. For more about the terrible repercussions involving alcohol in the Bible, look at 2 Samuel 13:28, Job 1:13–19. Truly, when one considers the Biblical record of fermented drink, you have to wonder why would any genuine Christian argue in its defense!

So...what are you going to do about it?

We are called to be sacred vessels filled with Gods Spirit. “And be not drunk with wine, in which is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 DNT). Again, could the Bible more clear?

Can we fill the same cup with fermented wine which = sin and the Spirit of God at the same time.

It should not be accepted for social use because of the fleshly desires. Walk after the Spirit not the flesh.

Be a witness by not drinking or promoting Alcoholic drink.

First the man takes a drink.

Then, the drink takes the man.

From a Japanese proverb, date unknown but prior to 1886.

I believe that I have no scriptural basis to tell someone not to drink. I have much scriptural basis for telling one to not get drunk. There is a difference. I have known many who could have a drink or two with no trouble.
If someone asked me if I thought they should drink or not, I'd tell them that they'd probably be better off without it. But I wouldn't use scripture to tell them not to, since I believe scripture puts forth responsible drinking.
Since we will never do away with alcohol, I believe the best thing to do is to educate people on how to drink responsibly and the dangers of misuse. If I see someone drinking too much, I'll say something. Though I don't know anyone who drinks.
I've been through rehab and 5 years of 12-step group attendance. So I know a thing or two about this subject.

The problem is not alcohol, or for that matter, any other substance. The problem is the heart. And ignorance. Shalom.

i agree the problem is the heart. Alcohol is not a sin.

But i don't even say one or two is okay because the effects weaken the heart.
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

It is also a well-documented fact that drinking even the smallest quantity of alcohol impairs reactions and weakens normal inhibitions.

Put simply, it lowers a Christian’s resolve to resist temptation.