Bible Thoughts April 14, 2002
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, And whoever is intoxicated
by it is not wise"(Proverbs 20:1).
The problem of intoxicating beverages has been with mankind for a long time. The first mention of such was in regard to Noah(Genesis 9:21). Since that day, man has devised ways in which to make intoxicants from varied resources. Not only has he produced such under a natural process, but has made such stronger through increasing the amount of alcohol in the beverages. From wine and beer to the heavy alcohol content of some whiskeys and other drinks, too many have gone from bad to worse. The warning of the Proverb writer is still appropriate for sober thinking people.
Over the years, justification for consumption of alcohol has been sought through using Bible passages in regard to wine. One of the problems in such an approach is that the Greek word for wine in the New Testament means literally a "product of the grape"(oinos). The context of a passage is the safe way to determine the nature of the grape juice, whether intoxicating or not.
When Jesus turned the water to wine, the crowd "drank freely"(John 2:9-10). If that was an intoxicant and they "drank freely," it could have turned into a riotious feast. The many warnings, even in the Old Testament, focus on the consequences of imbibing freely in such drinking. The warning of Ephesians 5:18, "And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the spirit" focuses on the problem of alcohol. There is no credible evidence that Jesus at the feast made an alcoholic drink.
When Jesus ordained the Lord's Supper, the liquid that he used is referred to as the "fruit of the vine"(Mark 14:25).
A distinction is made between wine and strong drink in Luke 1:15. Would not fortified wines be referred to as a strong drink? If it could be proven that alcoholic wines are acceptable as a beverage, this does not justify the drinking of other intoxicants!
The many warnings in the New Testament against the use of alcohol beverages should cause any disciple to avoid imbibing in such. Read: I Peter 4:3; Titus 2:3; Romans 14:21.
Wine was used in the days of Christ as a medicine. The Samaritan poured oil mixed with wine on the man who had been beaten by robbers(Luke 10:34). The only instruction to drink wine(if it is fermented?) in the New Testament was in I Timothy 5:23 when Paul instructed Timothy to "use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." Why did he have to be told to do such? It was for medicinal purposes, not social drinking. Any above the "little" would not be included!
Think, brethren, think! At the point that any beverage or substance consumed for social purposes interferes with one's reactions, decision, or self-control is wrong. Is it not true at the point that a substance(such as alcohol) causes one to lose control of his senses, something is wrong?
Even the medical researchers recognize the danger of drinking.
Alcohol primarily interferes with the ability to form new memories, particularly memories that are explicit in nature. Explicit memories are memories for facts(e.g., names, phone numbers, etc.) and events (e.g., what you did last night). The impact of alcohol on the formation of new explicit memories is far greater than the drug's impact on the recollection of previously established memories.(Ryback, 1971);
Consistent with Ryback’s hypothesis, low doses of alcohol primarily disrupt the ability to form memories for small pieces of information, like items on a word list, while high doses of alcohol can produce blackouts, an inability to recall entire events that occurred while intoxicated (Goodwin, 1995).
Alcohol and the hippocampus(a ridge in the brain-jy)
Considerable evidence now suggests that cognitive abilities mediated by the hippocampus might be particularly sensitive to the effects of ethanol, particularly at moderate to high doses (for recent reviews see White et al., 2000 and Givens et al., 2000). Early speculation that altered activity in the hippocampus might give rise to memory impairments followed from the observation that intoxicated subjects perform poorly on tasks that are sensitive to hippocampal system damage (Ryback, 1971).
Young people: Heed the warnings from the
book of God and from careful research: don't drink! Stay sober and
stay right!
"For if someone sees you, who have
knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he
is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For
through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for
whose sake Christ died. And thus, by sinning against the brethren and
wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat
meat again, that I might not cause my brother to
stumble"(1 Corinthians
8:10-13).
Of all of Paul’s writings, this passage is one of the most revealing regarding the attitude Christians should have. Paul said of idols. “…we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one"(1 Corinthians 8:4) Paul continues by saying. “However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat”(1 Corinthians 8:7-8). Paul realized that the eating of meats was unimportant in the Christian’s journey to God. Eating meat, in and of itself, neither commends or condemns the Christian. Paul recognized that not everyone has this knowledge so he warned, “…take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak"(verse 9).
Meat sacrificed to idols—a real issue in Paul’s time—today represents any issue that, in and of itself, is irrelevant, but because of lack of knowledge on the part of some becomes a real danger. There are two messages within this passage, one explicit and the other implied. The explicit message is that the knowledgeable brother must have patience with his brethren who lack knowledge. It is implied that the less- knowledgeable brother should grow in understanding so they are no longer bound by insignificant issues.
The question may be asked, “how long must I abstain?” Paul said, “…if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again…” Since the eating of meat sacrificed to idols is irrelevant, the knowledgeable brother is not concerned with whether or not he can eat meat. Instead he is concerned with magnifying the glory of Christ into the lives of all he meets. If that glory may be spread by eating meat, he will eat meat. If it may be spread by not eating meat, then he will not eat meat. All things are done for the glory of God. Christians must have this attitude in all things they do. Meditate upon this: is the knowledgeable brother who is more concerned about when he can resume filling his belly with meat instead of edifying his brother for whom Christ died really knowledgeable?-Scott Huston