Christians and Alcohol
by David J. Stewart
There is NO "safe" amount of alcohol
"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." -Proverbs 23:29-35
Alcohol is a Mind-Altering Drug
There is absolutely NO way for a believer to justify drinking alcoholic beverages. The Scriptures found in Proverbs 23:29-35 clearly warn everyone (Christian or non-Christian) to abstain from the DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE OF ALCOHOL. "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." Did you read that?...LOOK NOT! God is telling us NOT to drink intoxicating wine, not even to "look" at it (i.e., consider drinking it)! For the wise Christian, drinking alcohol is NOT even an option.
The Bible is such a practical book. I recently ran across an atheist's website. The man tried to discredit God and the Bible by pointing out all the ugly portions of the Bible. But the real world is ugly and God is very honest with us in the Bible. It doesn't surprise me that spoiled rotten Americans would have a problem with the Bible. The Bible puts the cookies on the bottom shelf...the truth is there if you want it. Most people don't want to hear the truth (but ironically say they do).
If you'll take another look at the above passage of Scriptures, you'll find the truth about alcohol...it "biteth like a serpent" and "stingeth like an adder". "Strange women" is simply a reference to women who are not his wife. It's just a fact, alcohol and immorality go together! The reference to a man lying down in the "midst of the sea" is simply his hallucinations from the effects of the alcohol. Likewise, the hallucination of lying down at the top of the ship's mast. Alcohol is a DRUG! This is a well-established FACT. As such, alcohol should be treated as a drug but is not. Alcohol abuse has killed millions, whereas Marijuana has not. So why is alcohol legal when Marijuana is not? Multitudes of people have spent years in prison for smoking and/or selling Marijuana. Unbelievably, there are people who have been sentenced to life in prison for mere drug possession, while drunk drivers who committed murder walked away Scot-free. Alcohol is far more dangerous and intoxicating than Marijuana. This is a great HYPOCRISY in America. The Bible clearly teaches that the effects of alcohol have sinful tendencies.
Alcohol's Bloodthirsty History
Look again at the Scriptures above..."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." Clearly, this is a reference to drunkenness. Only God knows how many beer-drinking people have woke up the next morning, suffering from a hangover, not remembering what sins they committed the night before. Hundreds-of-thousands of alcoholics have frozen to death on city streets, feeling no coldness due to the numbing effect of the alcohol. Many others have been jack-rolled (beaten up) and didn't remember anything when they woke up in the hospital. It is wickedness! Millions-upon-millions of Americans brag about the times in their life when they got drunk, vomited all over, and then went out and did it again. It's like an achievement to them, all the time laughing and mocking the sin of drunkenness. I used to work with an unsaved man, Russ, who once bragged about party guests at his house who were dancing naked up on his roof. He thought it was the greatest. I watched another man, Dean (a big guy from Iowa), run a knife clear through his hand while trying to cut a rubber hose while drunk. He was off work for a month.
I've seen what alcohol can do. I've stood over the graves of a mother and her unborn baby who were killed by a drunk driver. I saw the crying father and his children. I saw the caskets lowered into their graves. There's just an indescribable feeling when you see those first few shovels of dirt hitting the tops of the caskets. There was a full-size casket and then a very small casket for the baby. So sad, so needless! Where were the beer companies with their "drink responsibly" signs at the funeral?
Alcohol is a deceiver (Proverb 20:1), a bloodthirsty substance always lurking in the bodies of fools for it's next victim.
The Cold Hard Facts
The cold FACT is that 95% of the people who drink alcohol will drive afterwards. It's just the simple truth. It's a great big lie of the alcohol industry. Every single day in America, MILLIONS of beer drinkers stop off in a bar for a drink and then DRIVE away. So the "Don't Drink and Drive" slogan is about as useless, meaningless, hypocritical, and deceitful as any statement ever made. It's a lie of the devil. The beer companies know this dark reality, but the slogan sounds good so they promote it anyway. It's an insult to everyone who has ever lost a loved one because of alcohol to preach "Don't drink and Drive" when people come out of bars by the millions daily and drive away. It's just a FACT: Millions of people drive after consuming alcohol every day.
NO ONE can responsibly drink and drive because there is NO KNOWN SAFE LEVEL of BAC (Blood Alcohol Content). The shocking TRUTH that few people realize is that MOST alcohol-caused accidents involve drunks with BAC's within the present acceptable legal limit of .08 (eight hundredths). So according to the LAW, if you divide your blood up into 100 equal parts and 8 of those parts register as alcohol, ONLY THEN are you considered legally intoxicated. Astonishingly, the public actually goes along with this deception! 'Com on folks, .08 is nearly 10% of your blood!!! The old BAC used to be .10, but MAD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) fought to have the standard raised because so many people were being MURDERED by drunks with BAC's within the acceptable limit. The cold hard fact is that each individual's body is different and reacts differently to alcohol (and to different amounts of alcohol). Different brands and types of alcoholic beverages are manufactured under different conditions, having varying amounts of alcoholic concentrations, thus providing a river of toxic cocktails. With all the uncertainties involved, there is simply NO reasonable premise upon which to establish SAFE Blood-Alcohol-Content levels. The list of murdered victims by drunk drivers is PROOF of this fact. Therefore, in the best interests of the country, ALL alcoholic beverages should be outlawed.
I watched my neighbor break all the windows in front of his house after beating his wife up...he was as drunk as could be. I remember a woman who lived across the street from us when I was growing up...month after month, her face black and blue, many of her teeth missing...her husband and her were both alcoholics. The truth is that a library could not contain the volume of books which would need to be written to reveal all the evils caused by alcohol consumption. I don't care where you live in America, just pick up a local newspaper and you'll read about alcohol-related fatalities on a regular basis. It's a great evil in America.
Did you know...
At BAC's as low as 0.02 percent, alcohol affects driving ability and crash likelihood. The probability of a crash begins to increase significantly at 0.05 percent BAC and climbs rapidly after about 0.08 percent. (Zador, Krawchuk, and Voas, 2000)
Virtually all drivers, even experienced drinkers, are significantly impaired at .08 BAC. (NHTSA, 2003)
In 2003, of the 17,013 total alcohol-related fatalities, 14,630 had BACs of 0.08 or over. BACs of 0.01 to 0.079 accounted for 2,383 fatalities. (NHTSA, 2004)
While there is no "safe" amount of alcohol for drivers, most people can drink moderately and drive legally when the illegal per se limit is set at .08. A 170-pound male typically would have to consume more than four drinks in one hour on an empty stomach to reach a BAC of .08. A 137-pound female typically would have to consume three drinks in the same time frame. (NHTSA, 2003)
If every state passed a .08 BAC law, 400 to 600 lives would be saved each year (Centers for Disease Control, 2001).
SOURCE of FACTS
According to the above statistics, it is a FACT that 2,383 people died in 2003 as a result of a BAC of .01 to .079...so don't tell me that it's ok for a Christian to drink alcohol. Did you read statement # 4 above?...'there is no "safe" amount of alcohol for drivers'. What part of NO don't you understand? NO SAFE AMOUNT! So why be reckless with someone else's life and wellbeing? Beer is for fools!!! According to the Greater Dallas Council of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, a man who weighs 140 to 240 lbs will have a BAC of .02 if he drinks JUST ONE BEER! The average man who weighs 160 to 200 lbs. will have a BAC of .04 to .05 if he drinks 2 beers within an hour. The FACTS don't lie, beer drinking is a fool's game of Russian Roulette.
Estimated Blood Alcohol Content – MEN
Drinks
Body Weight In Pounds
Influence
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
240
1
.04
.03
.02
.02
.02
.02
.02
.02
Possibly
2
.08
.06
.05
.05
.04
.04
.03
.03
3
.11
.09
.08
.07
.06
.06
.05
.05
Impaired
4
.15
.12
.11
.09
.08
.08
.07
.06
5
.19
.16
.13
.12
.11
.09
.09
.09
DUI
6
.23
.19
.16
.14
.13
.11
.10
.09
7
.26
.22
.19
.16
.15
.13
.12
.11
8
.30
.25
.21
.19
.17
.15
.14
.13
9
.34
.28
.24
.21
.19
.17
.15
.14
10
.38
.31
.27
.23
.21
.19
.17
.16
Subtract .01 for each hour of drinkingOne drink is 1.25 oz. of 80 proof liquor,12 oz. beer, or 5 oz. of wine
SOURCE of CHART
It Only Takes Once
Though some people can indeed handle alcohol, it just takes ONCE! ALL IT TAKES IS ONCE! This wisdom alone should prevent any Christian from drinking alcoholic beverages. Do you think that anyone in their right mind wants to kill someone because of their own foolish alcohol consumption? Sadly, some people don't care. I used to work with a pathetic little man that had killed a little girl while driving drunk years before...he actually laughed about it. God will judge these reckless and wicked people who wound and kill others while intoxicated. If you take the drink, you are ACCOUNTABLE to God. If you're lucky, you'll get life in prison or the death penalty here on earth. Because of you don't, then God WILL deal with you much more harshly and avenge the blood of those whom you have destroyed. Do you fear God? If you do, then why risk playing with fire. The risks are great! It is good sense NOT to drink alcohol. If you take the matter of drunkenness lightly, then you need to get right with God. As my pastor used to say, "You can't take two drinks of beer if you don't take the first." Now that's GREAT advice!
Alcohol and Children
No Christian can drink alcohol and twist the Scriptures to justify consuming such an unstable and dangerous substance. I used to hear my father say that his beer was "medicine". It doesn't work like that parents, your kids aren't dumb. The fact that you are calling a can that says "beer" something else (medicine) is telling on you. There's drug stores all over the place, you don't need beer. My father was a professed Christian who drank a lot of beer. I remember the day when all his grandchildren watched him as he was lying face down in a pool of alcohol, drunk as could be. He had hit his head and ended up in the hospital. As a carnal believer, he lived in the bars. I can honestly say that my father's beer drinking prevented him from being close to the Lord. There was always a "phoniness" about my father's faith, no real conviction. He played the religious game, but the truth didn't really matter. By the way, he was also an ordained minister (more of a sinister minister). His alcohol problems robbed his family of any happiness when we were growing up.
My father used to take me with him into the bars to buy his beer. He'd give me a quarter to go play a video game while he sat there drinking alcohol (or arguing with my mother on the phone). I remember seeing pictures of naked women on the walls. I saw women in mini-skirts. I heard the devil's rock music. I smelled cigarette smoke. I heard swearing. I saw men grabbing on women sexually. Then he forced me to go to church on Sunday. How could a professed "Christian" and minister of the Gospel take his son into such a place? This is the apostasy which the Bible foretold would come (2nd Timothy 3:1-7). If you want beer, you will have to go to the house of sin to buy it. I'm not condemning my father, I am simply saying that taking a young child into such damnable places is detrimental to their spiritual development. I am also saying that beer is synonymous with EVERY form of sin. Beer flows like rain through house-gutters in a thunderstorm in nearly every bar, gambling casino, strip joint, and evil establishment on earth. This fact alone should repel every Christian from drinking alcohol. By the way, it's just as wrong for an adult to go into such sinful places as it is for any child. Evil is evil. I love my father, but he allowed alcohol to destroy his life (and ours). Oh listen to me all you Christians...alcohol is of the devil, straight from the pits of hell!!! Don't be a fool.
The rest of his article is found at
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Alcohol%20Kills/christians_and_alcohol.htm
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