42 Sermon Illustrations on Drunkenness

Martin Luther boasted that he could easily drink Melancthon under the table. Luther had a beer tankard with the Lord's Prayer on it; Malancthon could get to "Thy Kingdom come" while Luther could chug down to "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, Amen." [or something to that effect]

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My memory was correct in principle but not in particulars. I found this entry in the Google digitized book website, taken from The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, 1911, "Martin Luther And His Work," page 727:

“When entertaining some of his colleagues at dinner, Luther called the company’s attention to a large wineglass encircled with three rings. The first, he said, represented the Ten Commandments, the second the Creed, and the third the Lord’s Prayer. Having emptied it at a single draft, he filled it again and passed it to Agricola, something of a fanatic on the subject of faith, who was able to get no further than the Ten Commandments, to Luther’s great amusement.

“Beer and wine he partook of freely, as was the custom of his countrymen, and his table-conversation may often have been less restrained in consequence; but his enemies exaggerated when they accused him of being a hard drinker. While he never criticized the moderate use of wine and beer, he always severely denounced over-indulgence in them, not sparing even his own elector, John Frederick, who with all his piety, was prone to frequent intoxication.”

Remember when people thought marijuana would make booze obsolete? Well, it hasn’t happened. In 1980, one in three college students smoked marijuana at least once a month. By 1993, that number was down to one in seven. Cocaine use is also down, from 7% to 0.7% for the same time period.

The bad news is that drinking on college campuses is as heavy as ever. Only 16% of college students claim to be nondrinkers. College students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol each year, more than they spend on books and other beverages combined.

#3069

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December 28 will bring bittersweet memories to Robert Whittimore. While it marks the third anniversary of his mother's death and the day that a drunken fight sent him to jail in 1994, it also concludes a year of sobriety.

Although he grew up attending Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches and was baptized as a youngster, the western Kentucky native drifted away from God. But he came back last winter, thanks to what he learned in the first "Experiencing God" study at the Graves County Jail.

The 11th of 13 children, Whittimore had plenty of family members willing to post his bond, even after the judge raised it from $1,000 to $10,000. He kept turning down the offers and spent more than three months in jail so he could complete the 12-week-long course.

"The main thing to me was the love relationship God wants with us," said Whittimore, who now works at a poultry-processing plant. "I did a lot of reading my whole life but I never looked at it that way. It taught me he was expecting a love relationship, not just obedience -- that he wanted somebody to love him back."

After his release, he took another step to formalize that relationship, getting baptized with several others at a Presbyterian service. Although he hasn't joined a Baptist church, he sounds like one in discussing his faith.

"I believe in Jesus Christ and know the things he has done for me," he said. "I believe that. I believe when you're saved you're saved for life. You may make mistakes but today I'm striving to do what's right."

Whittimore also has returned to the county jail, although this time voluntarily. He goes there on Saturday nights to visit inmates and participate in worship services conducted by various churches.

He also likes to relate his experience to residents in this community a few miles from Mayfield. Many are familiar with his family, since his father operated a garage and salvage yard here for 50 years before his death in 1991.

Some of those conversations have included apologies to people he offended the past three years. He said his drinking problems reached a peak then both parents and two siblings died over a 12-month span.

"Pride doesn't taste so bad after you swallow it," said Whittimore, who shared his testimony at a recent meeting of the Graves County Baptist Association. "I tell people how wrong I was instead of telling them how wrong they are. I sow the seed and God gives the increase."

He hopes Experiencing God will continue to make an impact in others' lives, too. He said he was impressed with Henry Blackaby's teaching videos, the simplicity of the course and modern-day examples of God at work that were easy to understand.

"I was looking for something but I wasn't sure what it was," he said of his past troubles. "Sometimes I don't think I was saved until recently, because I didn't really understand what I was getting into."

Now he does. He especially understands the value of sitting in jail to experience God.

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Copyright (c) 1995 Baptist Press

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"Drunkenness is the ruin of a person. It is premature old

age. It is temporary death."

- St. Basil

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 106.

A deeply ingrained culture has developed on American college campuses that promotes the drinking of alcoholic beverages, with thousands of deaths, injuries, sexual assaults and health problems among the results each year, according to a new report.

The study, commissioned by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, found the following results were true on a yearly average:

• 1,400 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related injuries.

• 500,000 students are accidentally injured while under the influence of alcohol.

• More than 600,000 college students are assaulted by other students who have been drinking.

• More than 70,000 students are sexually assaulted or date-raped by people who have been drinking.

• More than 100,000 students say they were too drunk to know if they willingly had sexual relations.

• 2.1 million students drive under the influence of alcohol.

• 31 percent of students qualify for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and 6 percent for alcohol dependence.

• More than 150,000 students report a health problem related to drinking alcohol.

• About 25 percent say they have academic problems stemming from alcohol use.

“The consequences of excessive drinking are far too common on many college campuses nationwide, and efforts to reduce high-risk drinking and its related problems have largely failed,” task force co-chair Mark Goldman of the University of South Florida said in a written release.

The study, based on data from a variety of sources, reports students who drink the most include first-year students, males, whites, athletes and fraternity and sorority members. Students who drink the least are found at religious schools, two-year institutions, commuter schools and historically black schools, according to the report.

Although recent studies show the percentage of college students who abstain from alcohol has increased from 15 to 19 percent between 1993 and 1999, binge drinking has become a concern, according to the report. About 40 percent of students binge drink. Binge drinking is defined as consuming at least five drinks in a row for men and at least four in a row for women. About 20 percent of students say they have binged more than three times in the last two weeks, according to the report.

The NIAAA report, released April 9, came two weeks after another study revealed there had been a significant increase in binge drinking at schools for women. Between 1993 and 2001, students who binge drink at women’s colleges grew from about 24 to 32 percent, according to a report from the Harvard School of Public Health. There was a 20 percent decrease in abstainers at these schools. There also was a sharp rise in frequent binge drinkers from 5 to 12 percent, the study reported.

The NIAAA report recommended prevention efforts that focus on at-risk students, the student population overall, and the college and surrounding community. Among strategies that are effective or show promise, according to the report, are enforcement of minimum drinking-age laws, limitations on the number of alcohol retail outlets near campus, the expansion of alcohol-free dormitories and the reinstatement of Friday classes and tests.

The report, titled “A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges,” may be accessed at www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov.

An officer wearing the insignia of a colonel’s rank called to see President Lincoln. Lincoln listened with sympathy to the man, for he knew that he had a record for gallantry, but he also knew that the lines on the officer’s face told their own story of long and unrestrained indulgence. He rose up, and, as was his habit when deeply moved, he grasped the officer’s hand in both of his own and said, “Colonel, I know your story, but you carry your condemnation in your face.” The President afterward said, “I dared not restore this man to his rank and give him charge of one thousand men, when he puts an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brains.”

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Version (probably the original) from Carl Sandburg's "Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years" (1926), page 353.

A man came wearing a colonel’s uniform, though no longer a colonel, dismissed for drunkenness on duty. Lincoln knew him. The man had a record for valor in battle. Lincoln heard the story. The man wanted back his old rank and place. Lincoln stood up, too moved and uneasy to stay in his chair. He took the soldier’s right hand in both his own. Then slowly, tears in his voice, he told the man: "Colonel, I know your story. But you carry your own condemnation in your face.” They were hard words to say, Judgment Day words. Later in referring to the case Lincoln told James M. Scovel, “I dare not restore this man to his rank and give him charge of a thousand men when he ‘puts an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brain.’”

In 1841 a thirty-three-year-old Englishman was walking to a

temperance meeting some fifteen miles away. He read a newspaper

account of plans to open a railroad line in the same direction and

reasoned that perhaps the railroad could be enticed to give reduced

fares for groups of people who planned to travel together to the same

destination. The outcome was a special round-trip fare for the normal

one-way rate. The man's name was Thomas Cook who, virtually

uncontested, remained the only travel agency of any size for the next

fifty years. Though Cook began as a temperance leader, not a travel

agent, cynics might have assumed that the prosperity of his business

would have weakened his primary interest - temperance. But during his

half-century in business, almost all of his earnings went to combat

intemperance.

One of Christianity Today's earliest cover stories examined alcohol on the 25th anniversary of Prohibition's repeal.

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With regard to the use of alcoholic beverages, my practice and teaching are those of total abstinence. This stand is based on biblical principles, but I am free to confess that it is not based on biblical precepts or biblical practice. Both the Old and the New Testaments enjoin moderation rather than total abstinence. How then can one describe one's position as biblical if it goes beyond the Bible?

An analogy is to be found in the case of slavery. Nowhere in the Bible is the institution condemned, and from the time of the patriarchs to Philemon the worthies of both dispensations owned slaves. Many of the injunctions addressed in the New Testament to servants, according to the older versions, are correctly directed in the Revised Standard Version to slaves. The defenders of slavery in the South before the war made out a very plausible case from the Bible. Thereupon the Quaker historian Henry C. Lea satirized their plea by making an equally good case in all apparent seriousness for polygamy, which was practiced in the Old Testament and nowhere expressly forbidden in the New Testament. Yet few in this land today would fail to agree that Christian principles require alike the emancipation of slaves and the abandonment of polygamy. Similarly one may argue that Christian principles call for abstinence from intoxicating beverages.

SPIRIT AGAINST LETTER

Yet an exegesis which deduces from Christian principles a position at variance with early Christian practice may well appear strained. This is the old question of the spirit against the letter, the question whether the Bible is a code of laws or an enunciation of principles. The Old Testament itself discloses both views. The Pentateuch is the Torah, the Law, whereas Jeremiah called for a New Covenant graven not on tables of stone, but on hearts of flesh. Judaism tended, however, to forget the prophets and to build up the law as the only feasible focus for the religious life of the people. Christianity rebelled against the legalism of Judaism. Jesus transgressed the laws of the Sabbath and Paul declared the law to be abrogated. But legalism crept speedily again into Christianity. The precepts of Jesus were treated as legal demands and the Church in the Middle Ages built up so many regulations about holy days and clean and unclean foods that Christianity had come to resemble closely the Judaism of Jesus' day.

ANOTHER CYCLE

The Reformation was another revolt. The rules were abrogated, but the cycle recommenced. The Bible was so potent a weapon in combating the church that it soon came to be seated in a position of rigid authority. The first stage was to say that whatever the Bible did not prohibit might be allowed. The second was to say that whatever the Bible did not enjoin must be rejected. And the third was to say that whatever the Bible at any point enjoined must be reinstated. Hence in some quarters the restoration of polygamy and in Puritan England the revival of a rigid Sabbatarianism. The final stage in biblicism was not openly recognized. It consisted in imposing upon the Bible a meaning which would justify current practices actually adopted on nonbiblical grounds. For example, George Fox refused to lift a hat as a mark of deference to persons in authority. His real motive was social equalitarianism, but when challenged for a biblical warrant he replied, "Shadracb, Meshach and Abednego were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace with their coats and their hose and their hats on."

More insidious has been the use of this method by the temperance reformers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to wrest the meaning of Scripture in order to find in it an explicit warrant for their practice. Since several words, used in the Hebrew and in the Greek of the Old and New Testaments, describe drinks of juice, the assumption has been that some referred to fermented and some to unfermented beverages and that wherever a drink was commended or not condemned, it must have been nonalcoholic.

The validity of this contention can be tested only through an examination of the meaning of words, but prior to a philological study one must take into account the ethical presuppositions of Judaism and Christianity which conditioned the meaning of words. Their attitude toward the use of alcoholic beverages is not isolated, but is a part of an entire attitude to life. These religions may be described as life affirming and morally disciplined ' They are to be contrasted with religions which are, on the one hand, orgiastic and, on the other hand, ascetic. Orgiastic religions believe that God is to be discovered primarily within the processes of nature, particularly those of fertility and fermentation. Communion with God is sought by eating the flesh or blood of an animal in which the god supposedly dwells, or through the excitations of sex and intoxication.

The contrast to the orgiastic religion is the ascetic, which regards all things physical as evil and as unfit vehicles for the communication of the divine. The body is defiling, especially the dead body and blood. That which excites the body, such as the sexual act and inebriation, are likewise defiling. Quite commonly religions of this type demand celibacy, vegetarianism and total abstinence. Judaism and Christianity at certain points reveal tendencies in this direction, but the main line of both is not ascetic.

AFFIRMATIVE ATTITUDE

Judaism and Christianity are affirmative in their attitude to life. The Old Testament declares that God made the world and saw that it was good. Ascetic religions regard the world as evil and frequently assign its creation to a malevolent deity. But the Jewish-Christian tradition looks upon the creation as originally good. Corruption of the good ensued. After, not before the creation, came the fall. Because of this corruption in man, not in nature, certain restrictions have to be placed upon the use of nature. Hence life must be disciplined. These two words characterize the Jewish-Christian attitude to life, affirmative and disciplined.

This being so, one would scarcely expect to find total abstinence enjoined as an absolute rule, certainly not on ascetic grounds. We should certainly expect to find drunkenness and all excess condemned. What we do find in fact is the inculcation of moderation.

But the temperance reformers would not have it so. The attempt has been made to give another sense to Scripture. This was done by making distinctions as to the meaning of the words used for beverages in the Old 'Testament and in the New. In each, two words are in primary use-in Hebrew yayin and tirosh, in Greek oinos and gleukos. The contention is that in each language the one word refers to unfermented and the other to fermented juice and that only the unfermented is approved.

A careful study of the context in which these words occur does not bear out the distinction. In Hebrew tirosh is the word alleged to represent unfermented grape juice. The various usages of the word indicate that it does mean the juice of the grape whether in the grape or in the vat. It is the raw product out of which wine is made as bread is made out of flour. Tirosh is commonly translated "new wine." But this is not to say that it was not intoxicating. We have one passage in which very clearly it was so regarded. Hosea says, "Whoredom and yayin and tirosh take away the understanding" (4:11). Here tirosh is distinguished from yayin but both are compared to fornication.

With regard to yayin there is no question that it was intoxicating. Noah drank of the yayin and was drunken (Gen. 9:20-21). The daughters of Lot made their father drunk with yayin (Gen. 19:32-35). Eli said to Hannah, "How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy yayin from thee" (1 Sam. 1:14).

Such drunkenness was roundly condemned alike in Proverbs and in the prophets (Prov. 20: 1; 23:29-32; Isa. 28:1-7; Joel 1:5; Hab. 2:5).

But if the temperance interpreters were correct, yayin should be universally condemned; but such is not the case. The lover in the Song of Solomon sings to her beloved, "Thy love is better than yayin" (1:2).

The clearest passage is in the 104th Psalm: "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 yayin that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengtheneth man's heart" (vs. 14).

And then there is the great passage in the prophet Isaiah: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy yayin and milk without money and without price" (55:1).

As far as the words are concerned, the attempt to distinguish between a fermented wine which is condemned and an unfermented which is approved simply will not hold. The temperance interpreters are driven to say quite arbitrarily that whatever is approved must be unfermented.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXT

The attempt to find a distinction between two kinds of beverage in the New Testament, the one intoxicating and the other unintoxicating, likewise breaks down. The Greek equivalent of the Hebrew tirosh is gleukos. The word is used once in the New Testament and the context certainly indicates that it was intoxicating. The occasion was the preaching with tongues at Pentecost. Some of the bystanders were amazed. Others mocked saying, "They are filled with gleukos" (Acts 2:13). What point was there in the sneer if it meant that these men were talking gibberish because they had had grape juice for breakfast?

The common word for wine in the New Testament is oinos. This is the Hebrew yayin. As in the Old Testament only the abuse and not the use is condemned. Drunkenness is of course reproved. Our Master said, "Take heed to yourselves lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness..." (Luke 21:34). Again the servant who in his lord's absence began to beat the other servants, to eat and drink and be drunken, was to receive his portion with the unfaithful (Luke 12:45-46, Mt. 24:45-51).

The apostle Paul was shocked that at the love feast one was hungry and another drunken (1 Cor. 11:21). His corrective for this disorder was not an absolute prohibition, but that he who was hungry and presumably by the same token he who was thirsty should first be satisfied at home before coming to the assembly (1 Cor. 11:34). Again he enjoined, "Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness..." (Rom. 13:13). The pastoral Epistles require that bishops should not be quarrelsome over wine (1 Tim. 3:3); that elderly women should not be enslaved to too much wine (Titus 2:3), and I Peter condemns winebibbings (4:3).

(An excellent treatment on the historical side of the issue is that of Irving Woodworth Raymond, "The Teaching of the Early Church on the Use of Wine and Strong Drink," Columbia, Studies in History, Economics and Public Law, Number 286, 1927.)

USE OF WINE

But the use of wine is nowhere subject to prohibition whether in precept or in practice. Jesus was contrasted with John the Baptist who had taken a Nazarite vow: "John the Baptist is come eating no bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, he hath a demon. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold, a gluttonous man, and a winebibber,..." (Luke 7:33-34). Surely this reproach would have been without point if Jesus were consuming only grape juice.

The temperance interpreters have maintained that the wine into which water was turned at the wedding feast at Cana must have been unintoxicating. But can one suppose that the guests at an oriental wedding, having already freely imbibed, would have considered the last wine to be the best if it were unfermented?

Finally the wine used at the Lord's Supper must have been fermented unless Jesus was going flatly counter to current Jewish usage. The word wine, by the way, is not used in the accounts of the Lord's Supper. Its presence is inferred from the references to the cup.

The apostle Paul recommended to Timothy that he be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for his stomach's sake (I Tim. 5:23).

The case is so abundantly clear that so lengthy a refutation might well appear superfluous. One notes that the contributors to Kittel's Theologisches Wörterbuch do not so much as consider whether oinos might have been unfermented, nor whether nepho could have meant "totally abstinent" rather than simply "not drunk." The only reason I have discussed the matter at such length is that in this country biblical literalists still persist in their effort to make of the Bible a book enjoining total abstinence. It is argued that since intoxicating wine is a drink of death and Christ is the Lord of life, he simply cannot have turned water into intoxicating wine. There is really no use in discussing the meaning of words in that case. The matter is settled by the presuppositions.

NEED FOR TOTAL ABSTINENCE

Nevertheless a sound case can be made for total abstinence on the basis of biblical principles. These principles have to be applied and reapplied to new sets of circumstances, and what may have been legitimately permissible in one era ceases to be in another. Before considering these principles, we do well to recall the difference between the situation in biblical times and our own.

Drunkenness of course existed in biblical times and was condemned, but it was not so rampant as in our day because we have made such technological advance. First, the discovery of distillation has rendered possible an enormous increase in the alcoholic content of beverages. Secondly an industry has arisen which depends for its existence on an expanding consumption of alcohol. Thirdly, the temptation to excess has been increased by all of the new strains involved in modern living, and finally menace of inebriation is greater in a society where any blunting of extreme alertness may result in serious accidents.

Whereas in antiquity drunkenness was certainly to be condemned as a destroyer of judgment and a breeder of crime, today in the United States alcoholism is one of our major social problems. In 1949 Dr. Jellenik compiled statistics which added up to nearly four million alcoholics in this country, to be exact the number was 3,852,000. Of these 3,276,000 were male and 576,000 were female. The alcoholic is defined as one for whom the craving for alcohol has become a disease and who consumes so much as to be recurrently incapacitated for work. (E. M. Jellenik, Quarterly Journal of Alcoholic Studies, XVIII, June, 1952, pp. 215218.)

Selden Bacon, writing in 1951, considered the above estimates conservative. He reported also on the financial losses to industry in the year 1946. The most moderate estimate was a billion dollars. Other "seriously considered estimates ran to more than ten times that figure" (The Civitan Magazine, March 1951, pp. 1-8).

Surgeons report their heaviest time to be on weekends, because of the higher number of automobile accidents in which alcohol is a very frequent causative factor. Ministers must give an inordinate amount of time to the endeavor to keep married couples together in cases where alcohol makes it almost imperative for them to live apart.

Recent investigations have taught us that alcohol is not a stimulant, but a sedative which relaxes the controls of intelligence and will. The consumption of alcohol may develop into the disease known as alcoholism. Some persons by reason of personality factors, perhaps physical factors, are predisposed to this disease. No one can tell in advance whether he is of this type. He can find out only by getting well on the road toward alcoholism, and then to stop is a frightful struggle.

This is the situation as described by sober investigators. To this situation biblical principles must be brought to bear. The first principle is this: "Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?...know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit...?" (1 Cor. 6:15 and 19). Certainly of themselves these tests do not require total abstinence. The question is, what does dishonor the body? Many will hold that a moderate use of alcoholic beverages is no dishonor, but others will reply that although a moderate use under carefully controlled conditions is no dishonor, nevertheless the moderate can lead to the immoderate, and the consequences of immoderate use in our highly mechanized society are so drastic that one is wise to preclude the possibility of excess by refraining from the moderate which may lead to it.

The second great biblical principle is consideration for the weaker brother. The classic passage is in Romans 14:

Let us not therefore judge one another any more. One man hath faith

to eat all things, but he that is weak eateth herbs. Let not him

that eateth set at naught him that eateth not; and let not him that

eateth not judge him that eateth.... Let us not therefore judge one

another any more; but judge ye this rather, that no man put a

stumblingblock in his brother's way.... I know, and am persuaded in

the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself; save that to him

who accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if

because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in

love.... Overthrow not for meat's sake the work of God.... It is

good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby

thy brother stumbleth.

Apparently there were in the early Christian cornmunity those who abstained not simply from meat and wine polluted by having been offered to idols, but from all meat and from all wine. They were vegetarians and aquarians. The apostle regarded them as weak. Nevertheless they were to receive consideration, and the strong should adopt the practice of the weak rather than give offense.

If we translate these precepts into the terms of our situation, we may say that there are some who are capable of drinking in moderation, but others either for physical or psychological reasons are in danger of the Lost Weekend. For the sake of such people, those who can drink without excess should abstain in order to create a social environment in which abstinence is not an act of courage but accepted behavior.

The apostle Paul did not draw this specific inference. He was not legislating. He was enunciating principles. These two principles, that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit and that the strong should accommodate themselves to the weak, are the biblical grounds on which I base my practice and teaching of total abstinence.

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This article originally appeared as the lead story in the July 7, 1958 issue of Christianity Today. At the time, Roland H. Bainton was Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School. Among his published works are Here I Stand, A Life of Martin Luther (1950) and Yale and the Ministry (1957).

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After a sophomore at Colorado State University in Fort Collins drank herself to death, her family lamented that it was just “one mistake” that killed her. Not so, points out reporters at the Denver Post. They found the personal web site for Samantha Spady, 19, where she posted photos of herself drinking with captions such as “I was drunk” and “Drunk[expletive] me”.

Just before her death from a blood alcohol level of .43 percent, she posted, “I'm also going to get extremely wasted this weekend.” A family spokesman points out Spady was a great student and a former DARE volunteer, but still insists her death was a “terrible accident” caused by “one mistake.” He admits the family had seen the web site, but hadn't seen the multiple photos of her getting drunk.

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Denver Post

Last spring, I came across the following, charming passage in the Chicago Sun-Times (March 31, 2004):

"Police later would learn that 'Chrissy' was Christine Singleton,

a 23-year-old woman who was found stabbed in a South Side gangway

on Sept. 18, 1989. They'd also learn that [Michael] Ward

confronted Singleton there because he believed she had stolen

drugs, jewelry and cash from him. They argued, and Ward knocked

a bottle of Night Train wine from Singleton's mouth and stabbed

her in the neck with the broken piece of glass.”

As awful as this crime was, the thing that struck me most was the naming of the wine. You just don't see that in newspaper stories.

Not being an aficionado of alcoholic beverages, I turned to the Internet for background information. At bumwine.com, I found Night Train reviewed along with other such back-alley favorites as Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose: “Some suspect that Night Train is really just Thunderbird with some Kool-Aid-like substance added to try to mask the Clorox flavor.”

Night Train is bottled by Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery in California, but you can't tell it from their website, gallo.com. While they put their Gallo of Sonoma Estates Series of table wines up front, you can't find Night Train. Not surprising, given Gallo's obsession with corporate image. Their site features a vineyard at sunset (or sunrise), with the words “World Class Quality” superimposed. No dumpster in view. But I think I found a rationale for Night Train under Corporate Vision: “Relentlessly Focus on the Customer.”

Their focused take on “Chrissy” Singleton was uncanny in its accuracy; they knew her like the back of their hand. She was looking for something in a cheap sedative. As the bumwine.com critic puts it, “Some of our researchers indicated that it gave them a NyQuil-like drowsiness, and perhaps this is why they put 'night' in the name.” Yes, there are risks, but the wine will get you to the inebriated state you desire: “The night train runs only one route: sober to stupid with no roundtrip tickets available, and a strong likelihood of a train wreck along the way.” The price is right ($1-3 a bottle), and the experience only gets better as you go along: “[T]he first sip is always the foulest.”

It's a pitiful affair, but that doesn't stop the Gallo Brothers from delivering the goods, however surreptitiously. If they cared for souls, they wouldn't be in the business, one which serves many skid-row customers at least a gallon a day. I looked on their “Heritage” timeline for mention of regret over Chrissy's death, but I didn't see it. They noted the opening of the first overseas office (in the U.K.) in 1985 and the introduction of their “Estate” wines in 1993, but nothing about Michael Ward's murder with one of their broken bottles in 1989. I'm not sure the word got out to corporate headquarters in California.

(If you'd like to see more on Gallo's, and Mogen David's, hypocrisy, check out the July-August 1988 issue of Saturday Evening Post.)

My first fall here in Evanston, Illinois, a towering Norwegian-American began attending our church, drawn there by a lakefront concert provided us by the choir from Broadview Missionary Baptist Church. We were both Vietnam-era military guys, and we hit it off well. Before long, he asked if I'd like to accompany him to one of his Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. I'd never been to one and was eager to see how they went.

The stories the members told were tragic but fascinating. One fellow was a genius at hiding his booze, whether behind encyclopedias, under chairs or in the yard. And this wasn't train yard ripple. It was the pricey stuff, the kind Ernest and Julio would proudly display in their “Product Portfolio.” Night Train or Cabernet Sauvignon, the wreckage can be awful.

The Sun-Times article got me to thinking how great it would be if newspapers regularly reported the products involved in alcohol-related offenses. Here are a few selections from that same March 31 issue, followed by my suggested additions:

“Two weeks ago, a woman named Lynda Fairman was stopped by a Palos Heights police officer for driving her car all over the road. Fairman made it clear to the officer just who her dad was –- former Gov. George Ryan. The officer managed to shake off his awe and arrest Fairman on a charge of driving under the influence.”

ADD: While searching the car, the police found a half-empty bottle of Paul Masson Grande Amber Brandy, with traces of the suspect's lipstick around the rim.

“According to police, Anne Hatch, 21, and Elizabeth Bell Hatch, 22, were partying at the Crobar nightclub when the pair became belligerent and refused to leave the area after being bounced from the club. Police said Elizabeth Hatch charged a squad car and struck an officer in the face, knocking off the officer's glasses.”

ADD: The bartender said that Anne had had several servings of Jack Daniels Lynchburg Lemonade and that Elizabeth favored Smirnoff Raspberry Twist Screwdrivers.

“A new study out Friday indicates that binge drinking is most prevalent in the upper Midwest. Defined as drinking five or more alcoholic beverages within a few hours, binge drinking also is prevalent in Texas and Nevada but is lowest in the South, the research shows.”

ADD: Heileman's Old Style Beer is particularly popular among binge drinkers in Wisconsin, while Michelob Golden Draft Light leads in Minnesota.

That would keep the alcohol industry's PR men hopping. Wouldn't you hate that job if the whole truth were told?

________

Mark Coppenger, at markcoppenger@earthlink.net, is pastor of Evanston (Ill.) Baptist Church. His commentaries appear biweekly in the Illinois Baptist newsjournal.

*

Editor Frank Kelly Rich's bimonthly tribute to overdrinking -- the magazine MODERN DRUNKARD -- is a 50,000-circulation glossy “about drinking and only about drinking, and not just drinking, but heavy drinking,” he told the Los Angeles Times in January. Recent features included biographies of great drunks, a dictionary of bar slang, and a testimonial on how drinking cured one man's fear of flying.

“The most accomplished people,” Rich said, “have been drinkers,” and he implied that people in the Middle East ought to drink more. Calling serious drinkers an “oppressed minority,” Rich said he himself has about eight drinks a day, sometimes up to 30 (when he frequently blacks out). Said Rich's wife, of her husband's career, “When you find your calling, you have to go with it.”

*

Millions of dollars are spent every year on advertisements by the alcohol industry in soliciting us constantly to invest in alcohol. As a result of their efforts, there are millions of alcoholics in the United States who spend $185 billion each year for alcoholic beverages. Statistics show that there are far more victims of alcohol than any other drug in this nation.

Seventy percent of those alcoholics began drinking when they were teenagers. Is this a problem among young people? Absolutely! There’s a tremendous amount of peer pressure on our young people to use alcohol. Many times, the pressure comes from their families and out of the refrigerators in their own homes.

In the Old Testament Proverbs, there is a warning portrayed from father to son:

• “Do not mix with winebibbers ... for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding” (Proverbs 23:19-23).

• “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine” (Proverbs 23:29-30).

• “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?’” (Proverbs 23:33-35).

Think about the consequences of alcohol today: poverty, gluttony, immorality and laziness. Families are being torn apart and people are being destroyed because of alcohol. And it seems that our nation is blind to the cost of it.

Unfortunately, the dependency upon alcohol has increased tremendously over the years. And one group that is struggling with dependency is teens. Approximately 11 million teenagers under the age of 21 drink alcohol, and most of them drink to excess, according to the American Medical Association.

The AMA has reported that alcohol is used most by high school seniors and usage continues to increase. Young men usually try alcohol for the first time at just 11 years old, and the average girl has her first drink at 13. Our nation’s youth are flirting with danger and learning that alcohol should be simply another common pattern in their ritualistic lives.

It’s time to learn the facts. Alcohol is not a stimulant; it is a narcotic and therefore causes one to lose control. When alcohol enters the bloodstream, one’s inhibitions are loosened. It causes people to lie, physically and emotionally abuse their loved ones, deprive their families, commit adultery, and cause destruction -- even death.

We need to get back to the place where we know that drunkenness is sin and realize that alcohol creates instability physically, emotionally and spiritually.

It brings misery and sorrow. People drink for happiness, but they’re still unhappy. They drink for sociability, but become argumentative. They drink for sophistication, but become obnoxious. They drink for confidence, but become doubtful.

There is an old Japanese proverb that says, “First the man takes the drink, and then the drink takes the man.” That statement couldn’t be truer, and we need to learn to take a stand and not associate with this deadly business because the consequences are severe.

In my estimation, there is only one cure for this problem we have and it is not moderation. The only answer is total abstinence. Scripture says, “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” (Proverbs 23:31-32).

Many people will disagree with me on this and excuse their drinking by saying, “People drank wine in the Bible.” But the Bible talks of two different kinds of wines -- one that is permissible and another that is not; one that is similar to grape juice before fermentation and another that is intoxicating. When intoxicating wine is presented in the Bible, it is strongly condemned.

The Apostle Paul said, “[D]o you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

The Word of God is clear. Remain totally abstinent of all things that are displeasing to Him. Christians who are concerned about their neighbors, friends and family should always ask before they decide to take a drink: Will this offend others? Will it cause someone else to stumble? (see Romans 14:21).

I once heard about a group of preachers at a restaurant. The waitress came to the table and said, “Would you all like a drink?” One of the men said, “No, I had a drink 30 years ago that has satisfied me to this day.”

Her eyes got big and he said, “Have you ever heard of a drink like that?

The waitress replied, “No, sir.”

The preacher exclaimed, “It’s the drink of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is that drink. Why settle for substitutes? He can satisfy every desire and quench one’s thirst for God, life, peace and meaning. What is the answer for prevention of more problems with alcohol in America? Proverbs 23:31. Make a commitment -- leave it alone. Practice total abstinence. That’s the answer. What is the cure for the issue of alcohol in our world and nation? Jesus is the answer.

*

Joshua Hanson, a 29-year-old bar owner, spent the night drinking with his buddies at a couple of bars in St. Paul, Minnesota. They headed back to their hotel rooms in the early morning hours. When Joshua got off the elevator on his floor, for some reason he decided to take off running. Sprinting down the hallway alone, he said he was confused by the reflection on the window pane at the end. With a crash, the 275-pound former prep football player and wrestler broke through a double-paned window with a safety bar. It was the 16th floor.

He Joshua landed on a concrete overhang one floor above the street. It helped to cushion his fall, but he still broke his leg, collapsed both lungs and tore his trachea. He has no memory of the plunge.

One month later, asked if he could explain why he survived, Hanson said: “I wish I knew, for real I do. Somebody had a plan for me.” He added that one reason he survived is his 8-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn.

The fall has made him more contemplative and given him a fresh perspective, he said, though he didn’t know whether it would cause him to drink less.

“I went to church the first Sunday I got home, no doubt about it,” he said. “There ain’t too many days go by that I don’t thank God that I’m still here.”

If we could, allow us to finish out this mini-series by making a brief case for Christians to abstain from intoxicating substances for pleasurable purposes. Due to space, I offer but two of many reasons which could readily be marshaled in support.

• First, abstinence is absolutely preferable. When it comes to ethical options for biblical Christians to entertain pertaining to their moral stance toward consuming intoxicating beverages for pleasurable purposes, there are really only two broad options to consider. On the one hand, the believer may choose abstinence, the view which this mini-series advocates. And, on the other hand, many believers choose what is popularly known as moderation. Obviously, there exist other views. However, surely no Bible-believing Christian considers the undisciplined indulgence of dangerous intoxicants a viable moral option. Hence, we will consider either abstinence or moderation to be the superior moral option for believing Christians.

When we compare the two options, it is our view that abstinence is definitively the moral option believers should both embrace and practice. As I show below, abstinence is not only thoroughly biblical but also fully consistent with other factors bearing on our moral impulse. Contrarily, moderation has more to do with Athens than Jerusalem, to borrow Tertullian’s legendary comparison. That is, moderately consuming intoxicating substances for pleasurable purposes gleans its moral underpinnings more from Greek philosophy than biblical revelation. Aristotle’s “golden mean” between virtue and vice or courage and cowardice fits nicely the moral trajectory of those embracing moderation.

Exactly what do those who embrace moderation mean when they propose the moderate consumption of intoxicating beverages? The catch phrase which sums up the position we call moderation is pithy and precise: the Bible does not condemn the use of alcoholic beverages but the abuse of alcoholic beverages. Hence, to drink a few beers with the boys as they watch the Braves shame the Yankees is not what the Bible condemns. Instead, this viewpoint holds, the Bible clearly condemns drunkenness, the abuse of alcoholic beverages.

As a reminder here, we note that both views fully agree that the Bible condemns drunkenness. A glance at the Scriptures demonstrates this beyond question. Therefore, those who embrace abstinence have no moral reservations in happily agreeing with moderationists on the biblical warnings against drunkenness. The real question is, whether the Bible offers any prohibitive indicators toward the use of intoxicating substances. The moderation view denies that the Bible offers moral indicators against the consumption of alcoholic beverages for pleasurable purposes (“wine” for medicinal purposes is not in question here, as discussed in 1 Timothy 5:23).

But the Bible not only condemns drunkenness, it also puts in place the moral underpinnings to condemn consuming intoxicating beverages for pleasurable purposes. Indeed it is not too much to conclude that if moderationists are correct concerning the Bible’s moral trajectory for moderation, then it proves entirely too much. How so? Consider: If the Bible does not condemn the use of intoxicating beverages for pleasurable purposes, then the Bible does not condemn the use of other intoxicating substances for pleasurable purposes.

For example, if moderationists are correct, how could we morally argue against the moderate consumption of marijuana for pleasurable purposes? Or, for any number of other mind-altering drugs for that matter? Granted, some may respond, “Yes. But marijuana is illegal. Therefore, because we are to obey government (Romans 13), it would be immoral to consume illegal drugs.” Such a response is not only a classic Red Herring avoiding the proposition at hand, but also a socio-cultural consideration not necessarily related to the biblical question. Indeed, all one has to do to avoid its thrust is to suppose an actual and believable scenario in which marijuana for pleasurable purposes is legal, a scenario that may happen in the United States sooner than we realize.

If our laws eventually allow for such pleasurable usage of marijuana, upon what moral basis will the moderationist boldly stand and counsel their congregations to abstain from the pleasurable consumption of smoking pot? Would it not behoove those who have been faithfully taught moderation from their pastor to remind him that it is not the use of pot the Bible condemns but the abuse of pot the Bible condemns? Moreover, would they not rightly insist that only “tortured exegesis” could insist on abstinence from intoxicating substances like marijuana, which, in some important ways, has been demonstrated to be much less dangerous than even alcohol?

It seems, then, that moderation is clearly an inferior moral option for the Biblical Christian. And, if THE choices are either moderation or abstinence, abstinence remains the superior moral position for Christians to both practice and propose.

• Second, abstinence is thoroughly biblical. In fact, abstinence itself is as old as the human race. God instituted abstinence as the first moral imperative demanded of the human pair He had especially made in His own image (Genesis 2:17; 3:17; 1:26-27; 5:3). Clearly, the don’t-eat-don’t-touch structure of God’s moral expectation for human behavior echoes for us the ethical maxim of abstinence (Genesis 3:3). Imagine Eve arguing it was not the use of the fruit God had in mind but the abuse of the fruit. Indeed God’s clear command implied that usage itself defaulted to abuse. Nor is the moral trajectory of abstinence an exceptional principle in biblical norms. A casual consideration of the moral law recorded in the Ten Commandments verifies the undeniable thread of moral abstinence interwoven within Scripture (Exodus 20:1-17; see also Leviticus 11:1-47; Mark 7:18-19).

We might add that signs are rare, if any, that moderation as a moral principle appears in the biblical text. God commands the people to worship Him not moderately, but exclusively (Exodus 20:3). The yardstick by which moral behavior is always measured appears to us in the absolute, not the relative -- that is, in abstinence, not moderation.

As with both Eve (Genesis 3:3) and Israel (Leviticus 11:1-2) so similarly with our Lord, the occasion Satan first advances to challenge the Messiah tempts Him to deny abstinence and to indulge Himself (Luke 4:1-4). Indeed, when we consider what New Testament discipleship entails we immediately are confronted with the principle of abstinence. Our Lord on more occasions than one uttered the central hub of practicing the Jesus life: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34; Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23).

According to Jesus, denying self is the bedrock spiritual demand to being His disciples. Indeed, our discipleship to Jesus and His Lordship remains an inward faith-vow, a definitive abstinence from our sinful, self-made lordship toward which we’ve so uncontrollably indulged our spiritual allegiance leaving but a darkened, empty hull behind. Jesus calls us to say yes to Him and no to all competition, again the principle to abstinence in play.

Even so, Jesus was carving out no self-made salvation in these Lordship sayings. Abstinence can no more save one than any other moral behavior we may perform. Being a disciple of Jesus does not begin with us; rather it begins with God’s free grace in justification, as we place our faith in the atoning work of Christ’s redemptive cross. Nevertheless, the grace of discipleship -- if it is truly God’s grace and not some antinomian counterfeit -- necessarily proceeds from justification into sanctification and ultimately glorification. Our faith in the Lord Jesus seals us to the Father and secures us as living, breathing disciples of Jesus. Consequently, as disciple -- true followers of Him -- through continued faith in the Lord Jesus and power from the indwelling Spirit, we flesh out biblical discipleship in holiness. The moral principle of abstinence remains crucial in doing so.

While the above represents only a survey of biblical revelation to demonstrate the biblical trajectory of moral abstinence, one may object why no specific texts are used which explicitly prohibit alcohol usage. Perhaps no question comes to the table more quickly and enthusiastically by moderation advocates than, “Where in the Bible does it say, ‘Thou shalt not drink wine?’” Indeed, some appear to think this question is the showstopper which shuts the debate down. However, on a number of levels this question is completely moot. Given what we know about the nature of “wine” on the pages of Scripture (part 2 in this series), one might as well ask, “Where in the Bible does it say, ‘Thou shalt not smoke marijuana’?”

The fact remains, there are many moral issues with which the contemporary Christian must wrestle which are not directly addressed by the Word of God. However, we must enthusiastically insist that all moral issues we face -- including issues not touched directly upon in Scripture -- are, at minimum, indirectly addressed by the Word of God. The moral position that since the Bible is silent on a matter (i.e. there is no direct proof text to quote) the behavior is permissible is frankly absurd for biblical Christians. It reduces the Bible to a revelation of God shackled in time and chained to the culture of a place far removed from us, offering little help to get through the maze of modern morality.

Nevertheless, we remain convinced that God’s Word transcends not only time but all cultural milieu which divides societies both ancient and modern. We further embrace that God guides His people through His inspired written Word as illuminated by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and does so both directly and indirectly, as we fulfill Christ’s call to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton lived in the peak period of world exploration in the 1800s. He searched for the source of the Nile, he disguised himself and sneaked into the forbidden Muslim city of Mecca, he learned 29 languages.

Burton had a big impact on the West’s understanding of Islam. He respected Muslims and found they were honest and dependable.

What about the Christians he found in those lands? He said of the ones in India, “They are notorious for dishonesty and habitual intoxication.”

That’s pretty shameful. Many American Christians leave the same impression.

________

Adapted from "Goa, and the Blue Mountains, Or, Six Months of Sick Leave," by Sir Richard Francis Burton, originally published in 1851, page 243. Retrieved from

I don’t know what you think about Christians and the consumption of alcohol. Maybe you’re a Christian who thinks alcohol is the Devil’s brew and you’re uncomfortable with even sparkling grape juice because it looks too much like the real thing. Maybe you’re a Christian that has a sense that the general public thinks Christians ought not to drink, but you believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, as long as you don’t get drunk. Maybe you call yourself a Christian and you neatly separate your recreational drinking from your church attendance; when you drink you don’t talk about your church attendance and when you’re at church you don’t talk about your drinking. Maybe you’re not a Christian, but you really do wonder what Christians are supposed to think about drinking alcohol. With such diverse opinions the church struggles to give a consistent position on alcohol to the broader culture.

As I’ve stated in previous posts, we first have to differentiate between cultural Christianity and biblical Christianity. One of these days, I’ll devote a post to just this subject. However, let it suffice here to define the former as a version of Christianity that accommodates itself uncritically to the moral and ideological trends of its culture. The latter attempts to steer through its culture with a fidelity to the precepts and principles of the Bible, believing it to be the very Word of God.

I would like to attempt to address this issue of Christian drinking from the point of view of biblical Christianity. It is my hope that I can offer you a few thoughts to rethink the drink if you are a Christian who has inherited or become accustomed to the behavior of social drinking.

First, let’s just get it out that the Bible nowhere prohibits the consumption of alcohol or prescribes total abstinence for Christians. In addition, we are well familiar with the fact that Jesus’ first miracle of His ministry was turning water into wine - real wine. So, let’s look quickly at what the Bible actually says about alcohol.

In Proverbs we get strong warnings against indulging in alcohol.

Prov. 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.”

Prov. 23:19-21 “Listen my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine, or with gluttonous eaters of meat. For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.”

Prov. 23:29-33 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse things.”

The Lord had strong words for drunk priests through His prophet Isaiah:

Isa. 28:7 “And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink; they are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; they reel while having visions, they totter when rendering judgment.”

In the New Testament we see similar warnings against excess.

Rom. 13:13 “Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness...”

1 Tim. 3:2-3 “An overseer, then must be above reproach ... not addicted to wine...”

Eph. 5:18 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation [self-indulgence], but be filled with the Spirit.”

What we find in Scripture are strong warnings against the indulgence in alcohol and reaping the bad consequences of drunkenness. We can find examples of this, such as in the case with Noah and Lot. We do have examples of total abstinence, but these seem to be the exception, not the rule. In Numbers 6, we read about the special vow of the Nazarite – “to abstain from wine and strong drink.” We see the example of Daniel who refused the king’s wine and drank water. And we observe John the Baptist. The angel announced to his father Zacharias, “he will drink no wine and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

So what are we to think about this topic as believers. Should we stand strongly against any consumption? Should we promote moderation? Maybe you’re wondering if we should care at all. Maybe it’s just not that important.

I believe this issue is a big deal for the church. I believe earnestly that Christians who drink need to rethink their habit. However, I believe we have to think about this issue correctly. We can’t just shout louder, we have to know biblically and persuasively why we shouldn’t drink. Two pieces of knowledge can guide us – one is historical and the other biblical.

First, we need to understand the history behind teetotalism that is the common perception among those in my Baptist denomination and many of our Protestant brothers. Second, we need to understand and apply an overarching biblical principle that will give us tremendous guidance on the issue.

The temperance movement of the early 1800s began as a movement against distilled liquors that created an unnatural, much higher alcohol content. The movement was not aimed at first at wine or beer. In the 1800s it has been said we were a nation of drunks. Christian women and preachers led the charge against strong drink, trying to get it regulated. As the movement grew in the century no one could deny the bad effects that alcohol was having on the culture, such as it’s influence in crime, domestic abuse and unproductiveness. Eventually this temperance movement grew into a prohibition movement that included all kinds of alcohol. In the late 1800s there was even a short-lived Prohibition Party that ran presidential candidates. The move to get rid of alcohol gained wide support. Ultimately, the US Congress passed the 18th Amendment that went into effect in January 1920. This prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.” This was the law of the land until 1933, when it was repealed by the 21st Amendment.

Baptists and other groups joined the Temperance and the Prohibition movements. In the process we became teetotalers. We became convinced that in our culture that total abstinence was most appropriate for a faithful Christian lifestyle. A popular “church covenant” even included the topic. The Brown Covenant became popular in the 1830s, and continues to be the covenant that many churches use today. This is the historical explanation of why Baptists and others understand that Christians are not supposed to drink. But with this history gone from our memories, we have a hard time understanding the attitude. And frankly, many today find the attitude prudish and legalistic.

Now with all that said, let me be clear and plain. Even if you know the history of temperance and prohibition and even if you know the Bible does not say “thou shall not drink” but only warns of drunkenness and its consequences, I still believe that abstinence is the right Christian approach to alcohol in our culture because of a key and clear biblical principle that a mature Christian cannot ignore.

I am a 1 Corinthian 8 teetotaler. The context of what Paul tells the Corinthian believers has nothing to do with the consumption of alcohol. In context, he is addressing a problem of some believers being offended by other believers buying and eating meat that had been slaughtered and offered to idols in pagan ceremonies. The meat-eating Christians believed they were in no wrong, and Paul technically agrees with them. However, Paul’s greatest concern is for the offended Christians, whom he calls the “weaker” brothers whose consciences are violated. You might expect that Paul would simply tell the meat eaters to go ahead and teach the weaker brothers to think correctly. Surprisingly, Paul tells the meat eaters to sacrifice their own liberty for the sake of the weaker brothers who have taken offense. Why? Because the overarching concern was to avoid causing your brother to stumble and be the cause of dissension. In other words, I should care more about the other guy than my own liberty - a clear call to self denial.

Beyond this reason is a more sobering and compelling reason. Paul says that the cavalier Christian who disregards his “weaker” brother does not merely sin against his brother, but against Christ himself since Christ died for the weaker brother too. DO YOU HEAR THAT? That gets my attention.

What’s Paul’s conclusion? If eating a certain meat among certain folks causes him to be the reason of dissension, then he will gladly become a vegetarian. End of discussion! Herein lies our relevant biblical principle related to the question of drinking alcohol. If my drinking of alcohol becomes an offense and poor witness to others, then it seems that the Bible does indeed speak clearly to me. I shouldn’t do it. This is not legalism. This is liberty choosing to sacrifice itself for love of God and others.

Maybe your not convinced. Maybe you think this is an inappropriate application of the text. If so, I would encourage you to read it and meditate on it and see if God may reveal something to you that you hadn’t considered seriously before. I believe wholeheartedly that the principle that emerges from the context of 1 Corinthians 8 is absolutely clear and completely sufficient to give us needed spiritual guidance on the question of alcohol consumption. It remains to be seen if we will listen and obey.

To me the choice is clear. If you are a Christian who drinks in our culture, which tends to view Christian drinking as compromise, then you are arrogant and unloving when you understand this and do it anyway. Even though you see nothing biblically wrong with the social drink, you don’t care about the offense you are giving. You may indeed be correct that it constitutes no sin. But being right is not the point. Being obedient to God and loving your brother through your behavior is the point. But if this is your attitude, then ironically, in the end, you’re wrong. You hurt your own reputation, the reputation of your church, and you most grievously sin against Christ.

It’s time to rethink the drink. I can give you all kinds of practical reasons that a Christian ought not to drink (it’s addictive; it’s destructive; if you take one drink, there will probably be a time when you take too many drinks; it’s expensive; you’ll pass it to your children; you’ve got plenty of beverage options; you’ve got bigger problems if you need it to relax or have a good time, etc.). But the one biblical principle that God has given us in His Word ought to be all we need. If you are a Christian drinker, maybe it’s time to evaluate if the practice is congruent with who you want to be and the witness for Christ you should want to have. Maybe it’s time to rethink the drink.

In Scripture we read of two kinds of men -- the spiritual man controlled by the Holy Spirit and the “carnal” man who is ruled by his passions, as noted by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul used the terms old man and new man in Ephesians 4: “Put off ... the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and ... put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22,24, NKJV).

How easy it is to let the old man sneak back into our lives! Have you let the old man stand between God and you? Keep reading! You’re about to learn how to cut out the middle man -- once and for all.

The old man vs. the new man

A man I know had attended church with his wife since their wedding. But she didn’t know much about his buddies at the bar or about his occasional flings with women at work.

One day as he sat in church, the pastor read a passage of Scripture that pierced his heart: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness.... [T]hose who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

He had tried to stop drinking and had felt genuinely guilty about his unfaithfulness. Now, listening to those words from Galatians 5:19-21, he felt condemned before God.

“I’ve got to try harder,” he thought to himself. “I’ve got to overcome these things so I can walk in the Spirit.”

But the pastor quoted another verse -- Galatians 5:16: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Suddenly my friend realized he was thinking backward. We don’t overcome the flesh to walk in the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit in order to overcome the lust of the flesh. It’s the Spirit’s job to provide victory.

Our help

According to Romans 8, the Holy Spirit provides three life-changing graces. First, He is our help. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free ... that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.... The Spirit likewise helps in our weaknesses....” (verses 2,4,26).

Only the Holy Spirit, using the truths of God’s Word, can overcome the negative attitudes, morals and behaviors of the “flesh.”

Our holiness

The Spirit is also our holiness. Romans 8:10 says, “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Every day a war rages within us -- the Spirit versus the flesh, the old man versus the new. As we yield every part of ourselves to Christ and study His Word daily, the Holy Spirit helps reproduce the life of Christ within us. “The Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NCV).

Our hope

The Holy Spirit is also our hope. It quickened the body of the Lord Jesus, bringing Him back to life. That Spirit indwells every believer. There are no hopeless challenges for the Christian. There is no sin that cannot be overcome through His power. We are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Are you living in the flesh or in the Spirit today? Are you accommodating the “lusts of the flesh” or putting on the Lord Jesus and making no provision for the flesh?

Why not close the door to your room, kneel by your chair, and ask Jesus Christ to become Lord of your life? Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit. He offers help in your weakness -- and freedom from the law of sin and death. He provides the power to put aside the old man and reproduce Christ’s love in your life. And, He supplies hope to overcome any obstacle in your life through His indwelling power.

Cut out the middle man today. Don’t let the old man stand between God and you!

On the last day of November, Holy Family Catholic Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, hosted a casual Christmas carol singalong and an ugly sweater competition, with cocktails.

Five days later, Calvary Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Minn., hosted a lunchtime carols and cocktails, proving that even at high noon, it’s 5 p.m. somewhere.

The long marriage of Christmas and liquor — Christmas “cheer,” as it is sometimes known — has been institutionalized of late in relatively civilized carols and cocktails events like these.

Indeed, knocking one back while singing a Christmas tune has become a preferred way for even secular groups to celebrate Yuletide. Earlier this month, the Hammond Regional Arts Center in Louisiana served champagne cocktails mixed with peppermint schnapps in glasses rimmed with melted chocolate and peppermint sprinkles as visitors requested seasonal favorites from a karaoke machine.

“If we have it, we’re playing it,” said Tara Bennett, the arts center’s media coordinator. “We’re ecumenical to all religions, especially during the holiday season.”

In that same spirit, Amar, a Washington, D.C., charitable foundation, held a “Christmas for a Cause” bash featuring cocktails, carols and an ugly sweater contest — all to benefit Iraqi, mostly Muslim, women entrepreneurs.

Lately even the feast’s patron saint has been driven to drink. The film “Bad Santa,” featuring an alcoholic St. Nick played by Billy Bob Thornton, is regularly named to “Best Christmas Movies to Stream” lists. Search “drunk Santa” on the stock photo service site Shutterstock and you’ll get 37 pages of hits, some barely safe for work. It’s little wonder, perhaps, that the jolly old elf would hie up on the lawn with such a clatter.

The fact is, however, that combining Christmas and booze is deeply consistent with the holiday’s history.

Judith Flanders, a British historian and author of “Christmas: A Biography,” sketches a story of Christmas merriment that would make many a nun blush.

When the church first designated Dec. 25 as Nativity day in the fourth century, Christmas was already more a feasting celebration than a religious one. “Within 30 years of that first celebration, the then-archbishop of Constantinople was already scolding his flock for ‘feasting to excess’ and dancing rather than spending the day in religious observance,” said Flanders.

By the fifth century, “Wassail” (“Good health,” in Anglo-Saxon) was a standard Christmas toast and synonymous with drinking, according to the 12th-century British cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Christmas music was similarly bound up with hooch from the start. The first English (or Anglo-Norman) Christmas carol is really a drinking song. After the first line, “Lords, by Christmas and the host,” the rest is “purely drink,” said Flanders. It continues: “Drink it well. Each must drain his cup of wine, And I the first will toss off mine. ... Cursed be he who will not say, Drinkhail!”

By the 17th century, the bishop of Exeter, in southwest England, had called Christmas “the time of the whole year, for eating and drinking.”

Across the pond in the burgeoning Colonies, the boozy flavor of Christmas had survived the Atlantic crossing so well that the Massachusetts Puritan leader Increase Mather chastised Christians for spending the holidays drinking and gambling and in “revellings” and “mad mirth.”

In the 19th century, taverns and inns in the United States often served free alcohol on Christmas, including spiked eggnog. One woman was told that the eggnog would be good if “it’s got Christmas enough in it,” Flanders said. “‘Christmas’ here (was) literally a synonym for alcohol.” Eggnog recipes in the 19th century often had nearly one part alcohol to each two parts of milk.

Looking further back, we find that Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century Greek bishop who is the inspiration for Santa Claus, is also the patron saint of barrel-makers. A medieval tale centers on three boys who are murdered by an evil butcher or innkeeper and stuffed into pickling barrels. Nicholas arrives, does some detective work and revives the dead boys.

Dramatic productions and paintings long portrayed this story, and over time St. Nicholas came to be seen as the patron saint of children. Though the gruesome nature of the murder mystery is de-emphasized, depictions of the saint often include the three young men he saved and barrels.

“If Nicholas is a patron of barrels, he must also be a patron of what normally goes into the barrel — beer,” said Adam English, chair of Christian studies at Campbell University and author of “The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus: The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra.”

Accordingly, Samichlaus beer, which packs an alcohol content of 14 percent, is traditionally brewed on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day, though English pronounced it “not very drinkable in my opinion.”

English pointed to a direct reason for pairing drinking and Christmas: “Barrels of new beer finally became ready to drink in December,” he said. Fueled by suds, raucous Christmas revelers celebrated the holiday well into the 19th century by caroling door to door for money, meat and liquor. “The domestic, familial, sentimental, quiet Christmas is a fairly recent innovation,” said English.

It makes sense that these more celebratory aspects of Christmas attract more than Christians. Some 90 percent of adult Americans, including more than 80 percent of non-Christians, celebrate Christmas, according to the Pew Research Center, even as most believe the holiday’s religious aspects are increasingly de-emphasized. (On the other hand, just 16 percent go caroling as adults.)

Just counting Christians, approval for Christmas boozing varies from evangelical Christian leaders, who are evenly split on whether a drinker can be a good Christian, to 19 percent of all Protestants who find imbibing sinful, while Catholics are less likely (12 percent) to consider drinking sinful than the general public (15 percent).

In 2006, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution stating in part that “no one be elected to serve as a trustee or member of any entity or committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that is a user of alcoholic beverages.”

In recent years, some mainline Protestant leaders have expressed concern about the ubiquity of alcohol in church culture, captured in the old saw, playing on the Scripture verse Matthew 18:20, that says, “Where two or three are gathered, there’s a fifth.”

In 2015, the Episcopal Church’s General Convention passed a resolution acknowledging the church’s “long-standing tolerance for the use of alcohol” and urged congregations not to hold events, such as cocktail parties and wine tastings, where alcohol is the primary attraction. After a newly elected Episcopal bishop killed a bicyclist in Maryland while driving under the influence, this summer’s convention in Austin, Texas, followed up with recommendations to take action on “leadership impairment due to alcohol and substance misuse and behavioral addictions.”

Given the symbiotic relationship between drinking and singing, however, it’s likely that cocktails and carols is here to stay. Ronald Clancy, who publishes Christmas music collections, sees little problem with churches bringing people in with bibulous musical events. “I can see that as not being a bad idea, if they put a stress more on the sacred than they do on the secular,” he said.

He suggested starting with “Chestnuts Roasting” and other secular songs before moving to “Silent Night,” “Adeste Fideles” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

If the drinks keep coming, the crowd might not even notice.

British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton lived in the peak period of world exploration in the 1800s. He searched for the source of the Nile, he disguised himself and sneaked into the forbidden Muslim city of Mecca, he learned 29 languages.

Burton had a big impact on the West’s understanding of Islam. He respected Muslims and found they were honest and dependable.

What about the Christians he found in those lands? He said of the ones in India, “They are notorious for dishonesty and habitual intoxication.”

That’s pretty shameful. Many American Christians leave the same impression.

________

Adapted from "Goa, and the Blue Mountains, Or, Six Months of Sick Leave," by Sir Richard Francis Burton, originally published in 1851, page 243. Retrieved from

In Scripture we read of two kinds of men -- the spiritual man controlled by the Holy Spirit and the “carnal” man who is ruled by his passions, as noted by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul used the terms old man and new man in Ephesians 4: “Put off ... the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and ... put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22,24, NKJV).

How easy it is to let the old man sneak back into our lives! Have you let the old man stand between God and you? Keep reading! You’re about to learn how to cut out the middle man -- once and for all.

The old man vs. the new man

A man I know had attended church with his wife since their wedding. But she didn’t know much about his buddies at the bar or about his occasional flings with women at work.

One day as he sat in church, the pastor read a passage of Scripture that pierced his heart: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness.... [T]hose who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

He had tried to stop drinking and had felt genuinely guilty about his unfaithfulness. Now, listening to those words from Galatians 5:19-21, he felt condemned before God.

“I’ve got to try harder,” he thought to himself. “I’ve got to overcome these things so I can walk in the Spirit.”

But the pastor quoted another verse -- Galatians 5:16: “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Suddenly my friend realized he was thinking backward. We don’t overcome the flesh to walk in the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit in order to overcome the lust of the flesh. It’s the Spirit’s job to provide victory.

Our help

According to Romans 8, the Holy Spirit provides three life-changing graces. First, He is our help. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free ... that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.... The Spirit likewise helps in our weaknesses....” (verses 2,4,26).

Only the Holy Spirit, using the truths of God’s Word, can overcome the negative attitudes, morals and behaviors of the “flesh.”

Our holiness

The Spirit is also our holiness. Romans 8:10 says, “And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”

Every day a war rages within us -- the Spirit versus the flesh, the old man versus the new. As we yield every part of ourselves to Christ and study His Word daily, the Holy Spirit helps reproduce the life of Christ within us. “The Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NCV).

Our hope

The Holy Spirit is also our hope. It quickened the body of the Lord Jesus, bringing Him back to life. That Spirit indwells every believer. There are no hopeless challenges for the Christian. There is no sin that cannot be overcome through His power. We are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Are you living in the flesh or in the Spirit today? Are you accommodating the “lusts of the flesh” or putting on the Lord Jesus and making no provision for the flesh?

Why not close the door to your room, kneel by your chair, and ask Jesus Christ to become Lord of your life? Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit. He offers help in your weakness -- and freedom from the law of sin and death. He provides the power to put aside the old man and reproduce Christ’s love in your life. And, He supplies hope to overcome any obstacle in your life through His indwelling power.

Cut out the middle man today. Don’t let the old man stand between God and you!

On the last day of November, Holy Family Catholic Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, hosted a casual Christmas carol singalong and an ugly sweater competition, with cocktails.

Five days later, Calvary Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Minn., hosted a lunchtime carols and cocktails, proving that even at high noon, it’s 5 p.m. somewhere.

The long marriage of Christmas and liquor — Christmas “cheer,” as it is sometimes known — has been institutionalized of late in relatively civilized carols and cocktails events like these.

Indeed, knocking one back while singing a Christmas tune has become a preferred way for even secular groups to celebrate Yuletide. Earlier this month, the Hammond Regional Arts Center in Louisiana served champagne cocktails mixed with peppermint schnapps in glasses rimmed with melted chocolate and peppermint sprinkles as visitors requested seasonal favorites from a karaoke machine.

“If we have it, we’re playing it,” said Tara Bennett, the arts center’s media coordinator. “We’re ecumenical to all religions, especially during the holiday season.”

In that same spirit, Amar, a Washington, D.C., charitable foundation, held a “Christmas for a Cause” bash featuring cocktails, carols and an ugly sweater contest — all to benefit Iraqi, mostly Muslim, women entrepreneurs.

Lately even the feast’s patron saint has been driven to drink. The film “Bad Santa,” featuring an alcoholic St. Nick played by Billy Bob Thornton, is regularly named to “Best Christmas Movies to Stream” lists. Search “drunk Santa” on the stock photo service site Shutterstock and you’ll get 37 pages of hits, some barely safe for work. It’s little wonder, perhaps, that the jolly old elf would hie up on the lawn with such a clatter.

The fact is, however, that combining Christmas and booze is deeply consistent with the holiday’s history.

Judith Flanders, a British historian and author of “Christmas: A Biography,” sketches a story of Christmas merriment that would make many a nun blush.

When the church first designated Dec. 25 as Nativity day in the fourth century, Christmas was already more a feasting celebration than a religious one. “Within 30 years of that first celebration, the then-archbishop of Constantinople was already scolding his flock for ‘feasting to excess’ and dancing rather than spending the day in religious observance,” said Flanders.

By the fifth century, “Wassail” (“Good health,” in Anglo-Saxon) was a standard Christmas toast and synonymous with drinking, according to the 12th-century British cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Christmas music was similarly bound up with hooch from the start. The first English (or Anglo-Norman) Christmas carol is really a drinking song. After the first line, “Lords, by Christmas and the host,” the rest is “purely drink,” said Flanders. It continues: “Drink it well. Each must drain his cup of wine, And I the first will toss off mine. ... Cursed be he who will not say, Drinkhail!”

By the 17th century, the bishop of Exeter, in southwest England, had called Christmas “the time of the whole year, for eating and drinking.”

Across the pond in the burgeoning Colonies, the boozy flavor of Christmas had survived the Atlantic crossing so well that the Massachusetts Puritan leader Increase Mather chastised Christians for spending the holidays drinking and gambling and in “revellings” and “mad mirth.”

In the 19th century, taverns and inns in the United States often served free alcohol on Christmas, including spiked eggnog. One woman was told that the eggnog would be good if “it’s got Christmas enough in it,” Flanders said. “‘Christmas’ here (was) literally a synonym for alcohol.” Eggnog recipes in the 19th century often had nearly one part alcohol to each two parts of milk.

Looking further back, we find that Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century Greek bishop who is the inspiration for Santa Claus, is also the patron saint of barrel-makers. A medieval tale centers on three boys who are murdered by an evil butcher or innkeeper and stuffed into pickling barrels. Nicholas arrives, does some detective work and revives the dead boys.

Dramatic productions and paintings long portrayed this story, and over time St. Nicholas came to be seen as the patron saint of children. Though the gruesome nature of the murder mystery is de-emphasized, depictions of the saint often include the three young men he saved and barrels.

“If Nicholas is a patron of barrels, he must also be a patron of what normally goes into the barrel — beer,” said Adam English, chair of Christian studies at Campbell University and author of “The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus: The True Life and Trials of Nicholas of Myra.”

Accordingly, Samichlaus beer, which packs an alcohol content of 14 percent, is traditionally brewed on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day, though English pronounced it “not very drinkable in my opinion.”

English pointed to a direct reason for pairing drinking and Christmas: “Barrels of new beer finally became ready to drink in December,” he said. Fueled by suds, raucous Christmas revelers celebrated the holiday well into the 19th century by caroling door to door for money, meat and liquor. “The domestic, familial, sentimental, quiet Christmas is a fairly recent innovation,” said English.

It makes sense that these more celebratory aspects of Christmas attract more than Christians. Some 90 percent of adult Americans, including more than 80 percent of non-Christians, celebrate Christmas, according to the Pew Research Center, even as most believe the holiday’s religious aspects are increasingly de-emphasized. (On the other hand, just 16 percent go caroling as adults.)

Just counting Christians, approval for Christmas boozing varies from evangelical Christian leaders, who are evenly split on whether a drinker can be a good Christian, to 19 percent of all Protestants who find imbibing sinful, while Catholics are less likely (12 percent) to consider drinking sinful than the general public (15 percent).

In 2006, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution stating in part that “no one be elected to serve as a trustee or member of any entity or committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that is a user of alcoholic beverages.”

In recent years, some mainline Protestant leaders have expressed concern about the ubiquity of alcohol in church culture, captured in the old saw, playing on the Scripture verse Matthew 18:20, that says, “Where two or three are gathered, there’s a fifth.”

In 2015, the Episcopal Church’s General Convention passed a resolution acknowledging the church’s “long-standing tolerance for the use of alcohol” and urged congregations not to hold events, such as cocktail parties and wine tastings, where alcohol is the primary attraction. After a newly elected Episcopal bishop killed a bicyclist in Maryland while driving under the influence, this summer’s convention in Austin, Texas, followed up with recommendations to take action on “leadership impairment due to alcohol and substance misuse and behavioral addictions.”

Given the symbiotic relationship between drinking and singing, however, it’s likely that cocktails and carols is here to stay. Ronald Clancy, who publishes Christmas music collections, sees little problem with churches bringing people in with bibulous musical events. “I can see that as not being a bad idea, if they put a stress more on the sacred than they do on the secular,” he said.

He suggested starting with “Chestnuts Roasting” and other secular songs before moving to “Silent Night,” “Adeste Fideles” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

If the drinks keep coming, the crowd might not even notice.