Deeply divided people hold strong opinions on the issue. I'll share mine. I don't drink alcohol. Period. I hold to total abstinence. Here's why...
1. There is no good reason to drink. Sure, many people argue their freedom to drink in moderation but they cannot answer this one question: What's one good reason to drink? I know, they'll throw up the bit about medical benefits (funny how people trying to legalize marijuana use the same rational). It doesn't hold water (or wine). Outside of preference or a misguided assertion of "my rights" there is no reason to drink alcohol.
2. There are some strong, clear dangers to drinking alcohol. Drunkenness always begins with one drink. Broken families, ruined finances, sexual assaults, murder, death, etc are often rooted in the fact that one or more parties were involved in drinking alcohol. Alcohol is simply not worth the pain that it causes or even the pain it could cause.
3. As Christians we are exhorted to be sober minded. To be able to think clearly and reasonably is not something that comes from drinking alcohol. The Bible exhorts Christians to have the mind of Christ. That doesn't happen under the influence of alcohol. People under the influence of alcohol never make better decisions than when they were sober... never. Do not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
4. The line between moderation and drunkenness is not clear. Sure police departments have tried to draw the line between moderation and drunkenness with their take on an objective blood-alcohol content level, but I'm pretty sure normal people can only determine such things in subjective manners. The warning sign of drunkenness is alcohol itself.
5. It impairs my ability to be prepared for spiritual warfare. If one of the greatest spiritual battlegrounds is my mind and alcohol clouds my mind, even a little, then it is affecting me on the most important battlefield. There is too much at stake spiritually for me to give into a momentary lapse of sound-mindedness.
6. I don't drink alcohol for the sake of others around me. Let's assume that I could "drink responsibility" as the beer companies are always encouraging us to do. What if my drinking leads others to addiction or even death. The industry is often highly sexualized as well. Watch the beer commercials and you find an industry that makes a mockery of women and trivializes sex. No alcohol for me, I won't share in its consequences on my family, neighbors, and community. It really does hurt my witness.
7. It is non essential for my existence. Those who argue for alcohol don't like to acknowledge that life without alcohol is better. Alcohol contributes in no way toward the betterment of my life, my family, my mental state, my social skills, etc. Period.
8. I am a pastor. That's not to say I abstain because I might lose my 'position' otherwise. It is due to the fact that I have sat at too many bedsides of people dying of cirrhosis of the liver. I have sat in the wreckage of too many marriages. I have sat on the side of the street by too many who have lives devastated by alcoholism. I have gone with family members to the morgue to identify their child who died because of drunk driving. I have come to hate alcohol.
9. It is addictive and harmful. There are literally millions of people who have become captives of their own desires and often hate the fact that they feel they cannot stop drinking. I know that not everyone become addicted, but there is too much danger in the fact that you, or someone you love, could become addicted. "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. 'They struck me,' you will say, 'but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.'" Proverbs 23:29-35 (ESV) The word for it is alcoholism.
10. It is a false solution to my problems and difficulties. Often the allure of alcohol is that it will help us relax, forget our problems, or give a reprieve to our daily toil. At this point it becomes an idol. Jesus is the strong tower we are to run to for help. Jesus exhorts us to cast all our cares upon him. Jesus is the answer, not the counterfeit savior: alcohol.
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise." Proverbs 20:1 (ESV)
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