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Should A Christian Drink Alcohol? (1)
8~/27~/06 CC~/PM
 
Introduction: Why bring this up?
We live in a day where the vast majority of people are drinkers.
Last Spring we heard that Cornerstone University was reviewing their policy concerning among other things, whether or not to continue to require that those on staff could drink or not.
I was talking with a former college student from Cedarville last month who told me that all her friends that have graduated from there see nothing wrong with a little drinking.
For these and other reasons I thought it was time to re investigate to topic of drinking and the Christian.
In consideration of this topic I am most concerned with what the Bible has to say about it!
I believe that there is much confusion and a lot of manipulation when it comes to what the Scriptures actually say.
I anticipate taking a few weeks to complete our study so let’s get started.
Prayer
 
How have you seen the attitude that Christians have toward drinking change in the last 25 years?
To what would you attribute the change?
What are some reasons that believers might use to justify drinking?
Let’s start with the Old Testament.
The word "wine" appears more than two hundred times in the King James version of the Old Testament.
This word was translated from a number of different Hebrew words.
In the Old Testament priests were instructed not to drink wine or any kind of strong drink.
"And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses" (Lev.
10:8-11).
Upon skimming these verses one might conclude that this command to abstain from all alcoholic beverages had only to do with serving in the tabernacle.
A more thorough reading, however, with special attention given to verse 10, makes it clear that abstaining from beverage alcohol was to be a way of life for the priests.
This lifestyle was to demonstrate the difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean.
In this context, the use of intoxicating beverages is seen as unholy and unclean, and the aim of the priest's lifestyle was to set an example before the people.
Rulers were forbidden to use intoxicating wine.
"It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted" (Prov.
31:4,5).
Solomon gave a blanket command, setting forth the biblical principle that all fermented wine is to be avoided.
"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright."
(Prov.
23:31).
There are many Old Testament warnings about the effects of intoxicating wine.
Wine is a mocker.
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise) (Prov.
20:1)
  Heavy drinking brings poverty.
"For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags" (Prov.
23:21).
The use of intoxicating wine brings trouble physically and socially.
"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?
who hath contentions?
who hath babbling?
who hath wounds without cause?
who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine" (Prov.
23:29,30).
Intoxicating wine ultimately harms the user.
"At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder" (Prov.
23:32).
Beverage alcohol is the companion of immorality and untruthfulness.
"Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things" (Prov.
23:33).
The urge to drink can be so strong that it overcomes good judgment, making one forget the misery of his last binge.
"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" (Prov.
23:35).
When religious leaders indulge in strong drink, they deceive their followers as to the realities of life and the importance of getting right with God while there is time.
"Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant" (Isa.
56:12).
Drinking makes a proud and selfish person.
"Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people" (Hab.
2:5).
The description, then, of beverage alcohol as set forth in the Bible is that of an enemy attacking its users and robbing them of everything that is good in life.
In the Old Testament, as well as in the New, wine is often a symbol of God's judgment and wrath.
In writing of God's chastening of His people, the psalmist says they have been made to drink the "wine of astonishment" (Ps.
60:3).
The wrath of God prepared for the wicked is pictured as a cup full of fermented wine.
"For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them" (Ps.
75:8).
The prophet Jeremiah saw God's fury symbolized in a cup of wine.
"For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Then took I the cup at the Lord's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me" (Jer.
25:15 -- 17).
In summary, then, the Old Testament records specific tragedies resulting from the use of beverage alcohol.
It singles out special people and groups whose lives were to be examples to others, and they are commanded not to drink intoxicating beverages.
Clear Old Testament commands declare that we are not to look upon fermented wine with longing nor desire.
Intoxicating wine mocks, impoverishes, affects health, injures its users, and contributes to immorality and dishonesty.
It warps character, encouraging selfishness and greed.
It is seen as a symbol of God's wrath and judgment.
But there is another side to the question.
Some Old Testament verses speak of wine as a blessing, a symbol of prosperity, a source of cheer and gladness.
Consider these examples:
"Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine" (Gen.
27:28).
"And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?" (Judg.
9:13).
"He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart" (Ps.
104:14,15).
How can wine be both a curse and a blessing, a symbol of judgment and a symbol of prosperity?
How shall we explain these seeming contradictions?
Dr.
William Patton's book, /Bible Wines or Laws of Fermentation and Wines of the Ancients/, has become a classic on the subject.
Having given himself to serious study of the Hebrew and Greek texts and their biblical contexts, Patton discovered the following surprising facts.
"(1) The Hebrew words translated "wine" in the Bible do not always mean fermented or intoxicating wine.
(2) The Hebrew word /yayin/, most often translated "wine" in the Old Testament, means grape juice in any form -- fermented or unfermented.
The true meaning can only be determined by the text.
(3) The Hebrew word /tirosh/, also translated "wine," in all but one possible case means "new wine," "unfermented wine."
This word was used repeatedly in the original text in the places where wine has a good textual connotation.
(4) Many wines of the ancients were boiled or filtered to prevent fermentation, and these were often considered the best wines."
So, light begins to break through.
The Bible speaks of two kinds of wine: good wine and bad wine, unfermented wine and fermented wine, wine that does not intoxicate and wine that does intoxicate.
/Tirosh/, translated "wine" in the Old Testament, means new wine or grape juice.
It sometimes refers to the juice still in the grapes before pressing.
Consider these examples:
"Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine" [/tirosh/] (Gen.
27:28).
Note the association with corn, speaking of the harvest.
"All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lotto, them have I given thee.
And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it" (Num.
18:12,13).
The wine here (/tirosh/) is part of the offering of the firstfruits, that is, the earliest gatherings of the harvest.
It is brought freshly pressed to the altar.
"And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee" (Deut.
7:13).
The use of /tirosh/ in this text is again with corn and oil -- part of the harvest.
The reference is unmistakably to new wine, grape juice.
"That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil" (Deut.
11:14).
Note the gathering of corn and wine in the harvest with an unmistakable reference to the wine (tirosh) being juice still in the grapes -- unfermented wine.
And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine [/tirosh/], which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
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