21 Reasons Christians Should Abstain From Alcohol
December 4, 2008 15 Comments
My friend and former pastor has written a post detailing 21 reasons why Christians should not use alcohol. He is a bit more moderate on this issue than I am but I still like him anyway. Click here to read his post. Click here to read his post. For the record, I think Christians should completely abstain from using alcohol in any form. I do not think that drinking is a sin, in and of itself, but I think it gives Satan a window into the lives of Christians. As such, it should be avoided. I do make exception for the medicines that have a bit of alcohol in them.
Do you agree with him? Do you agree with me? What is your position?
The Everyday Christian 
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I think everyone should drink a little wine for health and relaxation. I believe the Good Lord made the miracle of fermentation for Man’s benefit. Jesus drank wine and served it to his friends. I don’t think He would have served wine if He believed that it made Satan’s job easier! To me, your belief is a remnant of the old Protestant fear that anything that makes us feel good is evil.
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You are certainly entitled to your opinion 🙂 However what about the recovering alchoholic? It has been proven time after time that 1 glass of wine could lead to that individual’s downfall. In your post you said “EVERYONE” should drink a little wine for health and relaxation? Maybe instead we could use vitamins for health and studying the Bible for relaxation? I won’t address the “Miracle of fermentation” or the miracle of cocaine or the miracle of tobacco either:)
Ever try and drink the water in Jesus’s day? It may have killed ya 🙂 Jesus did alot of things we can’t do because He is Jesus. You say Jesus would never make The enemy’s job easier? What about loosing him on the earth? WOW. Its all about free agency not a monarchy 🙂 As to old protestant fear of all that makes us feel good is evil, how about justifying a personal choice because you like it? I am an “Old Protestant” and all I fear is the wrath of God. Try telling a mother who lost her little child to a drunk driver that everyone should drink a little wine 😦
I don’t say these things to hurt you but simply to give you and others something to reconsider.
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The Jewish custom of the day was for the children and women to partake of the first wine served at any gathering. The wine served to women and children was that which was unfermented. When the guest came to Jesus they mused at the fact that most host serve the best wine first, but Jesus saved it for the end, Thus, giving the implication that the wine that Jesus actually served was that which was not fermented. The same Greek word for wine describes both fermented and unfermented wine. So, looking at the custom of the day we can only come to the conclusion that Jesus never did serve up actual, fermented wine.
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Steve,
“A remnant of the old Protestant fear that anything that makes us feel good is evil”
Interesting. My fear is that anything that takes our focus away from glorifying God is a tool that can be used from Satan. When we choose to pursue our own “good feelings” instead of God’s glorification we are out of God’s will. That should scare us back on the right path.
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One can’t avoid everything that Satan can use as a window. That logic would preclude use of the internet since Satan can influence men with internet pornography. Believers need to be mature in how they use the gifts God gives us.
1 COR 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Psalm 104:14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
Maturity means, not getting drunk with wine wherein is excess or abusing Christian liberty to cause a brother to stumble. There is a right time and place and moderation.
Just something to consider.
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Scott,
You said: “One can’t avoid everything that Satan can use as a window.”
This is a true statement and I didn’t mean to imply that we could. But we are to do everything in our power to resist Satan influence on us. One way to do that is to avoid the things that we know he uses in our lives. Even if we can’t completely avoid the “windows” Satan uses, we can minimize our contact with them.
Satan observes us and knows our weaknesses. He does all he can to get us into situations where we will give in to our weaknesses. Then he beats us up over it. Weaknesses vary depending on the person. Drinking seems to be a common one these days. I have seen it numerous times, a person starts drinking in moderation but over time, they become alcoholics. I know this is not true of every person but it is a common thing. As such, we should completely avoid the issue.
Most importantly though is the damage drinking does to the witness of the believer. It basically destroys that persons ability to share their faith. That is too high a price to pay. This same reasoning can be used with other behaviors too and as such they should also be avoided.
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Jerry,
I am sorry but I am having trouble following your comment here. I will address your comment about “keeping all the standards”. That is exactly what we are commanded to do. God’s standard is perfection so we must be perfect. The problem is that it is impossible for us to be perfect. Our sin nature will not allow it. So we are doomed. But here is the good news…Jesus fulfilled the standard for us and his perfection was imputed to us. That is the Gospel…we can’t meet God’s standard of perfection so Jesus does it for us. God provides the way for us to be reconciled to him. Thus, we don’t have to face Hell. Praise God for what he had done for us.
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You certainly have to follow your conscience on issues like these.
Have you ever thought about the fact that the US culture is the only Christian culture that has any issues with alcohol? (I am currently living in Korea and spent four years in Germany and in traveling Europe.)
We are also quite health conscious and find it ironic that the same churches that believe we should not drink alcohol, drink soda like there’s no tomorrow. Now granted, one can’t get drunk off of soda, but it’s terribly unhealthful. It also makes one wonder about all the gluttons in our churches who eat without constraint.
I just wonder if the American church is a little too hypocritical in some areas and not so consistent with others.
There is nothing wrong with one deciding to completely abstain, especially for the right reasons.
I visited one church (only once) where the pastor actually said, “the Bible doesn’t say anythng good about booze.” Which if you are going to actually teach a principle is one thing but his statement was untrue. As we see in Psalm 104 and in Timothy. Scripture does have many cautions regarding it that should be heeded. I especially find it interesting though in Proverbs 31 that he warns kings and leaders not to drink lest they forget the law, but actually encourages it for the “perishing” and those in “bitter distress.”
4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
it is not for kings to drink wine,
or for rulers to take strong drink,
5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing,
and wine to those in bitter distress;
7 let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
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Scott,
I think you are onto something here. Many of our churches are not very consistent in their stated beliefs and practices.
On a personal note, how long have you been in the military? I want to thank you for your service and the sacrifices you have made. It is also comforting that you are a servant of our Lord while you are serving our country.
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Thank you. I have been in since 1994, served an enlistment, commissioned in 1999 and will now be promoted to Major next week. I pursued the ministry until I realized that God had actually called me to the military and my family as my full-time ministry. I am quite content now understanding I am where He wants me. The Joy of the Lord is peaceful.
The other interesting thing is that I am not really into drinking alcohol; I just want to ensure I am practical in my doctrine. I do occassionaly have a drink though now and then. I have never in my life been drunk and tried never to drink where/ when I thought I would compromise anyone, including myself. Most cultures teach their children wisdom in drinking, that is what I think we lost in our US culture. Parents tend not to purposefully teach their children wisdom in anything. It seems quite haphazard that the children in our churches even turn out sane. And as statistics show, the lack of faithfulness is seen as college students turn away from their upbringing. I am glad to see that you are proponent of home-schooling. Another commonality I noticed between us.
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Congratulations on the promotion.
Homeschooling….that is another subject I like to discuss. We have 3 daughters (only 2 of school age). It is important to us to be able to direct our kids education. There is so much that goes on in the public school system that is detrimental to children, especially children who are christian or who are from a christian home.
What curriculum do you use? We have used Bob Jones in the past but this year we are using Switched-On Schoolhouse. It seems to be working well for our kids. It is computer based and really cuts down on our time preparing and grading lessons. Unless something changes we will continue to use it for the foreseeable future.
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We started off with Veritas Press, classical Christian education, but shot off into Charlotte Mason.
We played the game, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, and I was truly impressed with what my 10 and 8 yr old boys pulled out of their brain. One question referenced the century of the civil war and my oldest was quite sure he knew the answer. My fear was that even if he knew 1860’s that he might say the wrong century. He “guessed” right though and with every right answer, told us what book he learned it in.
I’ve heard of Switched-On through some of our home-school mags, but don’t really know much about it. There are certainly a lot of choices now a days which is quite a blessing.
Koreans are gaining a lot of interest in homeschooling and are eager to learn.
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I can tell that this is not the first time you mention this topic. Why have you chosen it again?
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Tom, I had to take care of my diabetic Dad for the last few years of my life until he died in 2006. I believe that his diabetes was largely due to his strong alcoholism. As a consequence of his diabetes and the way that he treated my Mom for most of my life, I do not touch alcohol period! There is not one alcoholic beverage of which I like the taste!
Christians SHOULD abstain from alcohol, period!
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