Wino? Why, No...

WINO? WHY, NO...

Should we be drinking alcoholic beverages at all?   Is there something wrong with popping a top and having a beer, or having only one martini, or drinking one shot of hard liquor?   I think most of us know getting smashed on booze is obviously not cool, and it's actually proven in a lot of cases to have pretty bad consequences. Women end up pregnant in some cases, and the men need not laugh, because they get stuck with the child support!   But really, we need to look in the bible and let the Spirit guide us when we think on this subject. I haven't had an alcoholic drink in quite some time, myself, but let's see what it says, because the first person recorded to have been drunk starts in Genesis...

Suprisingly enough, the talk of the first of drinking in the bible is by Jesus in the Gospel.   He doesn't specifically say of alcoholic drinks, but most scholars agree that's what He meant; "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matt. 24:37 - 39)

Shortly after the flood subsided, Noah himself became the first recorded to be drunk from the effects of wine: "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.  And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.  And he said, 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.'" (Gen. 9:20 - 25)  Here I want to point out that we should be noting not that Ham was sinful while his father was drunk passed out naked, but rather that the effects of the drinking made him vulnerable and unable to protect himself.  Ham could have come in with a knife and slit his throat while he was out just as easily as come back out and make sport of his father's condition with his brothers.

There are plenty of places in the Old Testament concerning strong drink; the first says this: "And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, 'Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." (Lev. 10:8 - 11)  So from this we can gather that being inebriated is less than holy and an unclean condition of the body, and who of you would go to a church where the priest or pastor is wobbling around the altar in a drunken state?  How can he be in charge of what he is saying or doing?  Look at what happened to Aaron's sons: "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.  And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD." (Lev. 10:1 - 2)  For them, being drunk and making a mistake caused their death!

"He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried." (Num. 6:3)  This is the vow of a Nazarite, one who has separated himself to God.  Basically put, it means a Nazarite was separated to God and did not drink any booze, period.  There is a nonalcoholic wine, but even non-alcoholic beer yet has a little alcohol in it.  The most reknowned Nazarite in the bible was Samson.  Here is what was said even to his mother, instructions while she was pregnant: "Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:" (Judges 13:4)

Now somebody is eventually going to find this and say it shows it to be okay to drink once in awhile; "And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household," (Deut. 14:26)  "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.  Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God." (Deut. 29:5 - 6)  So here the Israelites went 40 years without wine or strong drink while in the wilderness.  They had not the opportunity afforded them to taste wine or strong drink.

Do you want a reputation of being wise, or foolish?  Christians should all know this verse in their bibles: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." (Prov. 20:1)  When someone drinks even one drink, their perception is impaired according to their body weight. A 300 pounder may be less impaired than a 99 pound stripling, but nevertheless, they are impaired!  Nobody with wisdom of their own has ever said that they knew a wise drunk.

1 Sam. has this story; "And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.  Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.  And Eli said unto her, 'How long wilt thou be drunken?  Put away thy wine from thee.'  And Hannah answered and said, 'No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.  Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.'  Then Eli answered and said, 'Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.'" (1 Sam. 1:12 - 17)  Note what these two are saying.  Being drunk is being worthless, and note how Eli, too, sees drunkenness as a negative condition to be in.

Drinking makes us vulnerable.  Consider Ammon, who defiled his sister Tamar.  His brother Absalom thought to kill him, but wanted it to be easy, so he looked for the moment his brother had been drinking!  "Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, 'Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you?  Be courageous, and be valiant.'" (2 Sam. 13:28)

Proverbs also has to say about wine; "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich." (Prov. 21:17)  Who wants a drunkard to work for them?  While drunk they think they have excuse for stealing and whatever other manner of wrongdoing that they may commit, but the end is the same: the employer will fire them!

"Who hath woe?  Who hath sorrow?  Who hath contentions?  Who hath babbling?  Who hath wounds without cause?  Who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.  Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.  They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake?  I will seek it yet again." (Prov. 23:29 - 35) Describes an alcoholic pretty well, don't you think?  A drunk's friends will play mean tricks on them while they are vulnerable, and in their foolishness will still be their friends, even after sobering up.  A very ugly woman's friend is sometimes a bottle of booze; it helps her get married, and he who is drunk no more is in shock!

"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." (1 Tim. 5:23)  Here Paul is advising Timothy to drink a little wine for a stomach ailment.  Not enough to be drunk, mind you, but to help with a medical affliction.

"Jesus saith unto them, "Fill the waterpots with water.'  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He saith unto them, 'Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast.'  And they bare it.  When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, 'Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.'" (John 2:7 - 10)  Now there is nonalcoholic wine, and there is alcoholic wine; but the scripture does not indicate that there is a difference.  Is it wine like Noah drank, or is it nonalcoholic?

Now the two next passages to give one last piece of support to not drinking at all.  "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.  Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more" (Prov. 31:4 - 7)  A king's mother speaks this wisdom to her son who is king, but how is this related to a reason for us to stay away from a drink here or there?  Are we princes?  Are there women who are princesses among us?
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt. 5:9)  Do any of us work for peace, as God calls us to?  If we are children of God, and of Jesus, as He is God, are we not then children of the king, as we know Jesus to be king of heaven and that He has a kingdom and so His children are therefore heirs to the kingdom, and therefore princes and princesses?  "And the disciples were astonished at His words.  But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, 'Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!'" (Mark 10:24)  See here how He called His disciples children, and called heaven His kingdom?  "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." (Rom. 8:15 - 17)

So here we have completed the rest of what I have spoken using Scripture.  As children of God, heirs to the kingdom, with Christ as King, we are children of the King, royalty, and as the king's mother said to Lemuel, it is not for us to drink wine or strong drink!