This week and next, I want to spend some time examining what the Bible says about alcohol. That’s not as easy as you might think because of a couple of factors:

• Emotion: This is an issue that many people have a lot of emotion tied up in. Either they’ve been personally touched by alcohol abuse, or they’ve been frustrated by traditions that have been bound upon them. Others have publicly taught one side or the other of this issue and are hesitant to go back and see if their previous conclusions are true.
• Prior assumptions: Lots of assertions are made about alcohol, especially about what the Bible teaches about it. Many of these hinder serious study rather than advance it. My appeal is that we suspend judgment until we examine the evidence. That sounds logical, but I find it rarely happens when studying this issue.

Here’s my plan of study:

1. The Pentateuch: We need to examine the first five books of the Bible, the books of the Law. These should receive special attention for several reasons. First, there was a time when these were probably the only written witness God’s people had. Surely God had a message for them about this important topic. Secondly, the teachings of these books give us a good idea of how the Jews would have viewed this subject. They placed a special emphasis on what was written in the Law, placing the teachings of the Pentateuch above those of other books.
2. Most of the rest of the Old Testament: I want to look at some of the wisdom literature separately, but feel that a survey of the rest of the Old Testament is in order.
3. Wisdom literature: Actually, I want to look at Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon separately.
4. The gospels: As always, we need to take time to look at what our Lord said and did concerning alcohol in his lifetime.
5. The rest of the New Testament: We’ll conclude our biblical overview with the other books of the New Testament. (I started to say “the letters,” but then I remembered the reference in Acts 2)

Stay with me through this. Let’s take a good look at what Scripture says. Is there a better way to determine what we should do as Christians?

[I’m largely refraining from commenting on comments, trying to present my thoughts bit by bit. Toward the end of the series, I’ll try and be more interactive.]

Previous posts in this series:
The Christian and Alcohol (Alcohol abuse)
The Christian and Alcohol, Part 2 (Alcohol in the history of the U.S.)

Living in the United States in the late 20th and early 21st century, it would be easy to think that the majority of Christians have always opposed the use of alcohol, especially in this country. Actually, history tells a different story.

When the Puritans set sail on the Mayflower, they brought with them more beer than water. Alcohol was consumed on a regular basis, being safer to drink than oft-polluted water. It was seen as a gift from God, serving as an analgesic, an “energy drink,” an enhancer of food, and a tool of socialization. The Puritans, however, were strongly opposed to the abuse of alcohol. As famed Puritan preacher Increase Mather worded it, “Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan, the wine is from God, but the Drunkard is from the Devil.” Those who abstained from drinking alcohol were considered to be less healthy and less spiritual, since they rejected part of what God had created for man.

The community provided strong social controls, both informal and formal. Though their rate of consumption of alcohol was much higher than what is typically found today (they averaged about three and a half gallons of alcohol per year per person), their overall sobriety was legendary.

All of this began to break down as people became more mobile and the culture moved from a rural society to an urban one. Social controls began to disappear as people moved away from their communities and stepped into the relative anonymity of city life. Drinking, which had been done in a family situation crossing gender and age barriers, began to be primarily an activity of men away from their homes. In addition, while it was difficult to produce wine on the frontier, whiskey and other distilled drinks were easily made and were relatively inexpensive.

The temperance movement grew up to combat the abuses. At first, the movement sought to bring back moderation, but eventually moved to a push for prohibition. Many religious leaders, seeing the effects of alcohol abuse, joined the fight. Eventually, the theme of the church’s message on alcohol changed, from extolling its virtues and condemning its abuse, to condemning even the production of alcohol. Giving up on re-establishing the social controls that had once controlled the abuse of alcohol, Christians sought to eradicate this evil from the land. Their motto was taken straight from Scripture: “Touch not; taste not; handle not.”

[I’m largely refraining from commenting on comments, trying to present my thoughts bit by bit. Toward the end of the series, I’ll try and be more interactive.]

Previous posts in this series:
The Christian and Alcohol (Alcohol Abuse)

Some Additional Readings:
“National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.”
“The Rejection of Wine”
“Christianity and Alcohol” — This Wikipedia article contains MANY additional resources for investigation
“Protestants and Catholics: Drunken Barbarians and Mellow Romans?“

I want to spend some time looking at the Christian’s dealings with alcohol. Historically, Christians have taken the road of moderation, accepting the drinking of alcohol while condemning the abuse of alcohol. In the United States, over the last two hundred years, the temperance movement has been strong. This has led the church to re-examine her position, and many have chosen one of two roads: prohibition or abstention. Prohibition seeks to make alcohol illegal (this is the official stance of the Southern Baptist convention, for example), while abstention is about people making personal choices (which some bind on all other Christians, while others see them as personal choices).

I want to spend some time looking at what the Bible says about alcohol, as well as how drinking exists in our culture. To start off, I want to examine the current situation in this country.

Alcohol abuse is a terrible problem in this country. Not only in this country, but around the world. (Technically, alcohol abuse and alcoholism are not the same. Alcoholism is a disease, while alcohol abuse is a pattern of behavior.)

The U.S. Center for Disease Control lists the possible effects of excessive drinking:

• Chronic diseases such as liver cirrhosis (damage to liver cells); pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas); various cancers, including liver, mouth, throat, larynx (the voice box), and esophagus; high blood pressure; and psychological disorders.
• Unintentional injuries, such as motor-vehicle traffic crashes, falls, drowning, burns and firearm injuries.
• Violence, such as child maltreatment, homicide and suicide.
• Harm to a developing fetus if a woman drinks while pregnant, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Alcohol abuse or dependence.

It’s a problem that needs to be taken seriously. Anybody who flippantly says, “The Christian can participate in the use of alcohol in this country” is doing great harm, in my opinion. The typical use of alcohol in the United States in the 21st century, while actually improving over much of what happened in the 20th century, is unquestionably abusive. Drinking anything in the quantities that many people drink alcohol would be ridiculous. (Who sits down to drink a six-pack of Dr. Pepper? Who chug-a-lugs orange juice? Had a kegger with milk lately?) Beverages aren’t meant to be recreation. The effects of alcohol compound the damage.

How should the church react to such a problem? What’s a biblical response? Those are the things that I’d like to examine in the next few posts.

[I’ll probably take it slow, so those who comment will get ahead of me as usual. Because of that, I may not always comment on the comments. We’ll see.]