SHOULD WE DRINK?

1. SHOULD WE DRINK?

2. 1 Timothy 3:8-13 says that the deacons are not to be given to much wine, does this mean that they can drink little wine without getting drunk, or are they not permitted to drink alcohol at all?

3. 1. It was simply fruit of the grape. 2. It was intoxicating.

4. Matthew 9:17 "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

5. Genesis 9:21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.

6. 1 Timothy 5:23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities.

7. Atheneaus, the Grammarian (200AD) in his book the Banquet recommends for the dyspeptic (someone with digestive problems) “let him take sweet wine, either mixed with water or warmed.. As being good for the stomach, for sweet wine does not make the head heavy”.

8. Pliny said: “Wines are most beneficial when all their potency has been overcome by the strainer.”

9. Pliny said: “As soon as the must is taken from the vat and put into casks, they plunge the cask in water till midwinter passes and regular cold whether sets in.”

10. R.L. Harris wrote: “All the wine was light wine, i.e. not fortified with extra alcohol. Concentrated alcohol was only known in the Middle Ages when the Arabs invented distillation (‘alcohol’ is an Arabic word) so what is not called liquor or strong drink (i.e., whiskey, gin, etc.) and the twenty percent fortified wines were unknown in Bible times.”

11. “The strength of the natural wines is limited by two factors. The percentage of alcohol will be half of the percentage of the sugar is the juice. And if alcoholic content is much above 10 or 11 percent, the yeast cells are killed and the fermentation ceases. Probably ancient wines were 7 to 10 percent … To avoid the sin of drunkenness, mingling of wine with water was practiced. The dilution was specified by the Rabbis in the N.T. times for the wine then customary at Passover.”

12. “Wine was always drunk diluted, and to drink it unmixed was looked on as barbarism”

13. “Few things have wreaked as much havoc on personal lives, families, and society as has the beverage alcohol. 39 % of all traffic fatalities involve drinking drivers (over 25,000 annually). Over 50 % of criminal activity involves the use of alcohol. Most domestic violence involves alcohol. 25 % of all divorces can be blamed on alcohol. Add to the above the ravaged lives of those who become addicted to alcohol and you begin to see the destructive nature of this product. ‘Alcohol constitutes the country’s greatest mental health problems. It accounts for about 25 % of the patients in mental hospitals’ (Dr. Karl Menninger).”

14. Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. Proverbs 23:20 Do not mix with winebibbers,

15. Proverbs 23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. 31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; 32 At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. 34 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: 35 "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?"

16. Isaiah 5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them! Isaiah 5:22 Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink,

17. Habakkuk 2:15 " 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! Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

18. 1 Thessalonians 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

19. Sober can mean: “to drink no wine” (LSJ) and it can mean: “Being free from every form of mental and spiritual excess and confusion be self-controlled, be clear-headed, be self-possessed.”

20. 1 Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles -- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

21. Romans 14:21 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.

22. "Proponents of the acceptability of so-called social or moderate imbibing of alcoholic beverages (in reality nothing is more anti-social and moderation may only be used properly to refer to what is right in and of itself and drinking to ANY degree, is wrong per se) like to OVERPARK at this verse. They smugly and sneeringly contend that social drinking is simply an indifferent matter and is neither right nor wrong as long as other people are not harmed by their practices. However, alcoholic beverages do not fit matters of indifference. They are wrong per se -- in large amounts, in controlled amounts, in minute amounts ... Passages in the New Testament, other than Rom. 14:21, which prohibit alcoholic consumption as a beverage, are 1 Thess. 5:22; 1 Peter 2:11; 4:3, 4. Some might be quick to say, "But Peter

23. said, `excess of wine' and social drinking is not excess!" Peter also said, "excess of riot." Would moderate rioting be all right? Would just a little rioting be all right? Would moderate rioting be acceptable to society? Brother J. D. Tant, colorful preacher of the past, was once asked if he thought it all right to drink a little. He answered that he thought such was all right. But he was quick to say that he thought a little adultery, a little lying, a little murdering, a little stealing, etc., would be all right also. He reduced the matter to total absurdity. He knew a little drinking was wrong."

24. "Meats and wine are obviously in the same category here. Meats are indifferent; wine is indifferent. But the wine could not be a matter of indifference if alcoholic in content. Therefore it must be unfermented wine about which the apostle made allusion here -- not the hard stuff that turns men into monsters and women into harlots."

25. "I do not accept the view (and I do reject the view) that the word "wine" in this passage refers to intoxicants, and that Paul therefore classes the drinking of intoxicants within the realm of indifference. The word "wine" here is used with the word "meats" (flesh) and must refer to something which stands before God as meat stands. I cannot accept the notion that inspiration would categorize intoxicants with meats. Further, the word "wine" (oinos) does not necessarily mean intoxicant. It may refer to the juice freshly squeezed from the grapes.

26. It may refer to the juice of the grape while it is still in the grape. This is the word used in John 2, and I do not believe for a moment that the Lord made something intoxicating… Millions of broken homes, destitute children, murders on highways, cases of loss of influence for good, and countless other tragedies all declare that the drinking of intoxicants is not a matter of indifference. A Christian will have nothing to do with drinking intoxicants. Cf. 1 Pet. 2:11."

27. 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,

28. “The higher qualities of the mind are the very first to be rubbed out by alcohol. The delicate capacities of intellectual decisions and choice and discretion and willpower are those faculties which are first dulled and then wiped out by alcohol …” (The Problem: Alcohol-Narcotics, p. 14).

29. “While I have never known a Christian who made better by drinking, I have known several who have lost their good influence and interest in heavenly things because of alcohol. Christian who do not drink socially never have to apologize for doing so. I have never met a person who regretted not using the beverage alcohol but I have met many who rued the day they took their first drink. About 10 % of those who start drinking become problem drinkers. Most Christians live lives of total abstinence. There example I heartily recommend to you.”

30. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.

31. The justification for "social drinking" that many brethren (even elders and preachers) seek on the basis of this qualification for deacons is non-existent. Who is going to decide how "much" it takes to equal "much wine'? The drinker himself cannot do so, for by the second or third drink his judgment is impaired by alcohol.

32. If "not given to much wine" means that it is all right to drink moderately, consistency would demand that "Be not over much wicked" (Eccl. 7:17) grants permission to be somewhat wicked. Likewise, when Paul ordered, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body" (Rom. 6:12), one may as well argue he was actually giving license to sin as long as one does not completely yield to it. Would it be all right to steal or commit fornication "moderately" as long as one did not become addicted to those practices? Such is the "reasoning" of those who would defend drinking in any amount from I Timothy 3:8.

33. Further, if this passage authorizes "moderate" drinking (I deny that there is such a thing), it does not merely justify moderate consumption, but moderate addiction! Notice: If "not given (addicted) to much wine" means that one can drink some, it also means that one can be addicted to some wine. This obviously proves too much and therefore proves nothing.

34. Any interpretation of this passage which makes it contradict many Scriptures that elsewhere condemn strong drink (Prov. 20:1), those who drink it (I Pet. 4:3), and those who encourage others to drink it (Hab. 2:15-16) is obviously a false interpretation. There is no Scriptural authorization here for consumption of any amount of alcohol as a beverage for a deacon or any other Christian.