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  • This is a production of World Video Bible School.

  • To God be the glory!

  • Frequently, people get together in a setting, such as this,

  • and along with their dinner they serve wine to drink.

  • Is there anything wrong with that? Is that appropriate?

  • You know, popular liquor commercials that air on television conclude with the

  • words,

  • "Drink responsibly."

  • And alcohol commercials depict

  • healthy, athletic people having a good time and engaging

  • in outdoor adventures.

  • Are those commercials accurate? Are they painting a true picture of what alcohol

  • will do for you? And is it possible to

  • drink responsibly?

  • I want to talk with you for a few minutes about the other side of this picture.

  • I know that alcohol has many defenders,

  • but I like what Abraham Lincoln said.

  • He said, "Alcohol has many defenders

  • but no defense."

  • I want us to begin by considering the evil effects of alcohol, and I want to start

  • with a verse from the Bible. Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 1.

  • The Bible says:

  • "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler,

  • and whoever is led astray by it

  • is not wise."

  • In the United States of America everyday there are more than 700,000

  • people who receive treatment for alcoholism.

  • In the year 2002, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety

  • Administration,

  • 41% of all the deaths that occurred in traffic accidents

  • were alcohol related. Now, that means that

  • every 30 minutes someone was killed in a traffic accident

  • because of alcohol.

  • You know, it if there were a disease that that was killing off this many people, the

  • government would be

  • vehemently warning against it and funds would be given to study it, and to try

  • to find a cure.

  • We'd be having telethons to raise money to find a vaccine.

  • But alcohol, instead, is promoted and advertised at every turn.

  • In the year 2000, the alcohol industry spent

  • $1.42 billion

  • on advertising through television,

  • radio, print and outdoor advertising.

  • The resources spent on advertising alcohol is enough to feed 20,000,000

  • people.

  • One study says that young people view approximately 20,000 commercials

  • each year, of which 2,000

  • are for beer

  • and wine.

  • Now, that's an average of more than five TV commercials per day.

  • Now, do you think it has an effect?

  • The median age at which children begin drinking is 15.7 years

  • old.

  • One statistic that I read said that college students spend approximately

  • $5,500,000,000 each year

  • on alcohol. Now get this.

  • That is more

  • than they spend on soft drinks, milk, juice, tea,

  • coffee

  • and books

  • combined.

  • About 18,000,000 Americans experience problems with alcohol

  • and 10,000,000 are alcoholics.

  • Alcohol is involved in

  • 50% of spouse abuse cases,

  • 38% of child abuse cases,

  • 65% percent of drownings. 54% of those in jail for

  • violent crimes are there because of the use of alcohol.

  • 49% of those convicted for murder or attempted murder,

  • had been drinking when they committed those crimes.

  • I can go on and on with statistics like these,

  • and as powerful as these statistics are,

  • I'm not going to bore you with any more of them.

  • Neither do I want to spend all of my time talking about binge drinking or

  • drunkenness or any of those things.

  • Because just about everyone would agree that those things are wrong. At least

  • anyone who

  • says they respect the Bible,

  • because the Bible so plainly states it.

  • Galatians 5:21 says that drunkenness is a work of the flesh

  • committed by those who will not inherit

  • the kingdom of God. It's very plain, there's no doubt about it. Everybody

  • believes that. But you see,

  • the problem is generally not over what we call "drunkenness." It's over what is

  • called "social drinking,"

  • or what some people would call "drinking in moderation."

  • That is, people

  • drinking at their meal, like a setting such as this. Or people drinking at a

  • wedding, or

  • getting together with other people for the purpose of recreation and just

  • having a few drinks. Now, that's where the argument starts with a lot of people.

  • Now, we could approach this subject from several different standpoints. But what I

  • want to do is to

  • look at the arguments that are made by religious people, people who say they

  • have respect for the Bible.

  • And I want to look at some of the best efforts they make

  • to defend what we call

  • "social drinking."

  • Alright, let's consider some of the arguments that are made in defense

  • of social drinking.

  • Number one. Here's the first one.

  • Sometimes it's said,

  • "There is not any verse in the New Testament that specifically forbids

  • drinking in moderation.

  • All of the verses address only the subject of drunkenness."

  • What about that?

  • First, let me say this.

  • There are a lot of things that are not specifically condemned in the Scriptures,

  • but are still wrong. You know, using heroin is not specifically condemned.

  • But who's going to argue that

  • since the New Testament doesn't specifically command people to

  • abstain from heroin, then

  • its use must not be forbidden.

  • But you know, many things in the Scriptures are forbidden in principle.

  • Now listen to me.

  • I do not believe, listen carefully, I do not believe this is the case when it

  • comes to drinking.

  • I don't believe drinking is forbidden in principle only,

  • but rather that it is forbidden specifically.

  • Now, you say, "Where?"

  • The answer is,

  • in every verse that forbids drunkenness. Now, a person might say,

  • "I don't understand. You're saying that social drinking is forbidden in the

  • verses that discuss drunkenness? What are you talking about?"

  • Let me explain this.

  • In Ephesians 5:18, the King James version, says this:

  • "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."

  • Now, the phrase

  • "...be not drunk" is translated from the Greek root

  • "methusko."

  • That word means, according to Young's Analytical Concordance,

  • "to begin to be softened." According to S.T. Bloomfield, "to moisten,"

  • or "to be moistened with liquor,"

  • and, in a figurative sense, "to be saturated with drink."

  • E.W. Bollinger

  • says, "Methusko means to grow drunk, marking the

  • beginning of methuo."

  • Now, this word "methusko" is an Inceptive verb. It's a

  • word that "marks the process of becoming drunk."

  • So what Paul is actually saying here is,

  • "Do not begin the process of becoming drunk."

  • And when a person consumes alcohol,

  • he is beginning to be softened.

  • He is beginning to be intoxicated.

  • And that's why I say social drinking is condemned

  • in the verses that discuss drunkenness and in the word "drunk."

  • The implication here is that

  • persons

  • begin to be drunk when they begin to drink. Now, I believe that the reason

  • people struggle with this is

  • because of what they see, or perhaps I should say, because of what

  • they don't see. If they don't see the person staggering or in a drunken stupor

  • then they don't consider the person be drunk.

  • But that's not the Bible basis upon

  • which drunkenness is determined.

  • And I think science and medical studies also bear out the fact

  • that when a person begins to drink, they are to some degree,

  • drunk.

  • So, how much alcohol does a person have to drink in order to be

  • affected?

  • As early as the 1960s, the Journal of the American Medical

  • Association stated:

  • "There is no minimum (of blood alcohol concentration)

  • which can be set, at which there will be absolutely

  • no effect."

  • Now, somebody might say, "Well, that's old. You know, we're wiser now. We have

  • had scientific advancements in the last forty years."

  • Listen to this quote from the Journal of the American Medical Association,

  • dated May 3,

  • in the year 2000.

  • It says, "Although legal limits for blood alcohol content levels

  • have been set in most states,

  • impairment in driving skills can occur

  • with any amout of alcohol

  • in the bloodstream."

  • Now, listen to this.

  • There's a website, it's overseen by the University of Oklahoma Police Department.

  • You can go to this website, you can put in your weight, you can put in what

  • you're drinking, the length of time you're drinking, the number of drinks,

  • and it will approximate your blood alcohol content. Now, I did some samples

  • for a 160 pound person. That's approximately

  • what I weigh.

  • I put in one drink, five ounces, a fortified desert wine, drinking it

  • immediately.

  • It said that it put this person at .05 blood-alcohol content.

  • A 160 pound person,

  • one drink, twelve ounces

  • of reduced alcohol beer, now notice, reduced alcohol beer,

  • drinking it over a period of one hour,

  • put them at .02 blood-alcohol content. Now, you say, "That doesn't mean

  • anything to me. What is .02? What does that mean?"

  • Another website

  • at "stopimpaireddriving.org" says

  • that, "At .02 -

  • some loss of judgment,

  • relaxation,

  • slight body warmth, altered mood,

  • decline in visual functions

  • (such as rapid tracking of a moving target), decline in ability to perform two

  • tasks at the same time (divided attention)."

  • The world admits, not even considering religious people,

  • but the world admits some amount of drunkenness, impairment, loss of judgment,

  • soberness, however you want to say it,

  • with one drink.

  • Now, in light of that,

  • how can a Christian possibly defend social drinking. With one drink, you are

  • already affected

  • or impaired

  • to that extent. And it gets worse with each consecutive drink.

  • And so, the Bible does condemn social drinking.

  • And it's in the verses that discuss

  • drunkenness.

  • Ok, I want to show you another verse. It's 1 Peter, chapter 4, and verse 3:

  • "For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the

  • Gentiles--when we

  • walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries,

  • drinking parties,

  • and abominable idolatries."

  • Now, I want you to notice that Peter condemns

  • "drinking parties."

  • Now, the commentator, Albert Barnes, wrote about this first. Now listen, it's

  • a lengthy

  • section we're going to discuss here.

  • He said, "The idea in the passage is, that it is improper for Christians to

  • meet together

  • for the purpose

  • of drinking..." Now, before we go any further, let's ask this,

  • "What does that do to the idea of social drinking?"

  • You know, another reference book by Richard Trench in "Synonyms of the New

  • Testament" says

  • that the Greek word here means,

  • "the drinking bout, the banquet, the symposium

  • not of necessity excessive...

  • but giving opportunity for excess."

  • Now, if that's a correct understanding of this word,

  • then the idea is that drinking parties are wrong regardless of whether or not

  • we get drunk.

  • Alright, let's continue with Albert Barnes' comments.

  • This is what he has to say about the phrase "drinking parties."

  • He says the things forbidden by it is in assembling "together for the purpose of

  • drinking..."

  • The idea in this passage is

  • "...that it is improper for Christians to meet together

  • for the purpose of drinking-- as wine, toasts, etc. ...It would forbid, therefore,

  • an attendance on all those celebrations in which drinking toasts is understood to

  • be an essential part

  • of the festivities, and

  • all those where hilarity and joyfullness are sought to be produced

  • by the intoxicating bowl."

  • And he ends by saying this, "Such are not proper places

  • for Christians."

  • Now, let's consider

  • a second argument.

  • Sometimes people will appeal to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18.

  • And they will say that this passage shows that "alcohol is only wrong when

  • used in excess..." Thus, moderate drinking

  • would be okay.

  • Let's consider this passage. The King James version says this:

  • "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;

  • but be filled with the Spirit."

  • And so the argument says this. The person would argue,

  • "See, drinking alcohol in moderation is not condemned, it's drinking it in excess

  • that is a problem."

  • Now this argument, I believe,

  • is really a misunderstanding of the word "excess."

  • The word doesn't refer to an excessive amount of alcohol.

  • it refers to excessive behavior, ungodly

  • behavior.

  • The American Standard says:

  • "And be not drunken with wine, wherein is

  • riot..." Instead of using the word "excess" it says "riot." I think that better conveys

  • the idea.

  • The idea then is this. And

  • remember, this is an inceptive verb:

  • "Don't begin drinking alcohol which brings ungodly behavior,

  • but rather be filled with the Spirit

  • which will have the opposite effect." Alright, number three. Let's consider

  • another argument that sometimes is made in defense of social drinking.

  • This argument would say that

  • drinking wine has "health benefits.."

  • This is sometimes used by people who are seeking to defend social drinking.

  • And they will refer to a study which states that drinking one glass of wine

  • per day is actually good for your health.

  • Now, first I would say that this argument really diverts attention

  • from the real issue.

  • When people get together to drink socially,

  • they're not doing it for the health benefits.

  • When people have a party and they have an open bar, the purpose is not out of

  • concern for people's hearts and their medical conditions. This argument is just

  • a smoke screen.

  • But anyway,

  • they're referring to a study that says that there's a chemical substance in

  • wine

  • called "resveratrol"

  • which helps prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.

  • I want to read you something from the Mayo Clinic website concerning this

  • issue, and is dated March 9, 2007:

  • The American Heart Association

  • doesn't recommend (it does not recommend) that you start drinking

  • alcohol just to prevent heart disease.

  • Alcohol can be addictive. Too much increases your risk of of high blood

  • pressure, high triglycerides,

  • liver damage, obesity,

  • certain types of cancer,

  • accidents and other problems.

  • In addition, even small amounts of alcohol can cause

  • cardiomyopathy--weakened heart muscle--and heart failure in some people."

  • Now here's one more quote. This is from Martha Grogan, a cardiologist at

  • the Mayo Clinic.

  • She's answering the question, "Does grape juice have the same benefits as red wine?"

  • She says: "There is evidence that drinking red wine may reduce your risk of heart

  • disease.

  • This benefit is most likely due to a substance called resveratrol

  • found in the skin and seeds of grapes-- especially dark red and purple grapes.

  • Resveratrol is also found in grape juice--

  • especially juice made from the dark purple concord grapes.

  • Recent studies have suggested (she says) that

  • red and purple grape juices may provide the same heart-healthy benefits

  • of red wine."

  • And she goes on to say this:

  • "Both the red wine in grape juice also contain antioxidants...,

  • which have been shown to increase your... 'good' ...cholesterol

  • and lower your risk

  • of clogged arteries..., and may help

  • lower blood pressure."

  • And so, this argument's just a smokescreen and really isn't worth considering.

  • A fourth argument that sometimes people make

  • is they will say, "Paul told Timothy to drink wine for his stomach's sake."

  • Let's read it.

  • It says: "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake

  • and your frequent infirmities." 1 Timothy 5:23.

  • First, I'm not quite sure why social drinkers go to this passage at all,

  • because this passage isn't talking about having alcohol at a party or

  • drinking with your buddies.

  • It's discussing alcohol as a medicine.

  • You know, most people believe that Timothy's stomach problem was related to

  • the water in Asia Minor which could be

  • very dangerous.

  • And what Paul is saying here is an elliptical statement.

  • He's saying: "Be no longer a drinker of water

  • [alone] (water only), but [with it] take a little wine..."

  • Now, secondly it's worth noticing that Paul had to instruct Timothy to drink

  • wine for his stomach's sake. Now that suggests two things. First, Timothy had

  • reservations about doing it.

  • Secondly, if it was common for the early Christians to do this,

  • then Paul's encouragement wouldn't have been needed in the first place.

  • You know, there's a a big difference in

  • medicine and beer.

  • The person who wants to defend having a beer with his buddies is not going to

  • find support for it

  • in this verse.

  • Alright, number five. A fifth argument that sometimes is made is people will say, "In

  • Bible times they had no way to prevent fermentation

  • and therefore they must had drunk alcoholic wine."

  • Now, here's how the process works.

  • Grape juice is composed of two leading elements: sugar and gluten.

  • The decay of the gluten is what causes the growth of yeast germs.

  • And in the presence of the yeast the sugar in grape juice is gradually converted

  • into alcohol.

  • Now, the ancients actually had figured out a number of different ways to

  • prevent this process from occurring.

  • In W.D. Jeffcoat's book "The Bible and Social Drinking," he goes into a detailed

  • explanation of these processes. But I want to mention just very briefly four

  • processes.

  • One is boiling.

  • The water would be evaporated out so that fermentation could not occur,

  • then later the water is readded to reconstitute the juice.

  • A second process

  • was through the use of sulfur.

  • The juice was exposed to sulphur fumes, and then sealed and kept until it was

  • used,

  • and that would prevent fermentation.

  • A third process was cooling.

  • The juice was kept at a temperature below 45 degrees fahrenheit by

  • placing it in airtight jars

  • and immersing them in springs or storing them in caves where it was cool.

  • Fourth, filtration.

  • The yeast was strained out of the juice, thereby stopping the process.

  • Plutarch said:

  • "Wine is rendered old or feeble

  • when it is frequently filtered.

  • The strength of the spirit being thus excluded,

  • the wine neither inflames the brain

  • nor infests the mind and passions,

  • and is much more pleasant to drink."

  • Number six. A sixth argument that sometimes people make

  • is, they will say, "Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana

  • of Galilee."

  • First, it is not the case that anytime we see the word "wine" in the Bible,

  • that it always refers

  • to an alcoholic drink.

  • "The word 'wine' is a generic word,

  • and it can refer to either fermented or unfermented juice of the grape."

  • The context has to be used to determine which one is meant,

  • whether it is alcoholic or nonalcoholic. Now, let's look at some examples.

  • Here is an alcoholic

  • passage.

  • In Proverbs 23:31, the Bible says: "Do not look on the wine when

  • it is red, when it sparkles in the cup,

  • when it swirls around smoothly;

  • At the last it bites like a serpent,

  • and stings like a viper." Now that was clearly alcoholic.

  • Now here's an example of

  • non-alcoholic usage.

  • In Isaiah 16:20, the Bible says: "...In the vineyards

  • there will be no singing,

  • nor will there be shouting;

  • no treaders will tread out wine in the presses..." Clearly, non-alcoholic. Here's

  • another example, Isaiah 65:8:

  • "As the new wine is found in the cluster,

  • and one says, 'Do not destroy it,

  • for a blessing is in it,'

  • so will I do for My servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all."

  • Now here it is still in the grapes, but it's called "wine."

  • Now, in all of these passages the same Hebrew word is translated by our English

  • word "wine." And the same thing is true in the New Testament with reference to the

  • Greek language.

  • In the New Testament there are five different Greek terms for wine. The one

  • most commonly used is "oinos."

  • It's used sometimes of fermented wine, and sometimes of unfermented wine or grape

  • juice.

  • So, a person should never assume that because the word "wine" is used, that he's

  • talking about alcoholic wine.

  • Well, what about the argument that Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding

  • feast,

  • and therefore He endorsed

  • social drinking.

  • First,

  • the person making that argument has to prove that it was alcoholic wine

  • which he cannot do.

  • Secondly,

  • I believe the context indicates just the opposite.

  • I want you to notice this passage. In John, chapter 2 and verse 10,

  • after Jesus had turned the water into wine,

  • the governor of the feast tasted it and this is what he said in verse 10:

  • "And he said unto him, 'Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and

  • when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.

  • You have kept the good wine until now!'"

  • Now, what's interesting to note is the phrase

  • "well drunk."

  • Some translations translate this

  • as "drunk freely."

  • Thomas Summers states:

  • "'Drunk freely' suggest the idea of drunk largely."

  • I think the way we would say it today is,

  • "They had all they wanted until they had had plenty."

  • Now, if this were truly alcoholic wine,

  • then these people would have already violated the passages that everyone

  • would agree

  • prohibit drunkenness.

  • And what we would have is this. If it's truly alcoholic wine being considered,

  • you would have a group of people

  • who have "drunk freely" of alcoholic wine, they have drunk alcoholic wine until

  • they were "well-wined." They have drunk alcoholic wine until they "had plenty"

  • and then

  • we would have Jesus making a 120 to 160 gallons

  • more of alcoholic wine for people

  • who had already finished off the first round.

  • How could the Lord forbid drunkenness

  • and then do that?

  • I think it's also interesting that the governor of the feast

  • had not yet had his senses dulled.

  • He could readily discern the good wine from that which was worse,

  • which would be indicative of the fact that he had not been drinking alcoholic

  • wine.

  • So, what's the point of all this?

  • The point is

  • that the word "oinos" (wine) can mean either alcoholic

  • or non-alcoholic.

  • And the context of John 2 points to non-alcoholic wine.

  • Here's a seventh argument. Sometimes people will argue from 1 Timothy,

  • chapter 3 and verse 3,

  • that elders are required to "not be given to wine," whereas in verse 8, deacons are

  • "not to be given to much wine."

  • Now, of course the argument that they make is

  • that this passage implies that elders can't have any wine, but that deacons can

  • have some wine just as long as it's not too much.

  • You know, it's argued that these two phrases "not given to wine" and "not given

  • to much wine" give implied consent

  • for deacons to drink wine in moderation.

  • First, we need to understand that warnings against excess can never be used as

  • approval

  • for the action itself. For example,

  • the Bible says: "... let not the sun go down on your wrath."

  • Now this verse is, of course,

  • not approval for practicing wrath prior to sundown.

  • In 1 Peter, chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, again

  • shows the fallacy of this implied consent argument.

  • Verse 3 mentions the "excess of wine."

  • Now, some folks would say,

  • "See, that only condemns wine in excess." Or, they might argue that this verse

  • implies consent for wine

  • so long as it's not excessive. In other words,

  • moderate drinking is okay.

  • But the passage goes on in the next verse to discuss "excess of riot."

  • Now, if this implied consent argument is accurate, then

  • in this verse, in this very next verse, the same context,

  • then we would have divine sanction for riot in moderation.

  • Certainly that's not a valid argument.

  • Ecclesiastes 7:17 says: "Be not overmuch wicked..." (the American

  • Standard Version).

  • Well, if we want to use this argument

  • would that imply it's okay to be a little bit wicked?

  • James 1:21 says: "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of

  • wickedness..."

  • Does that mean it's okay to have wickedness so

  • long as it's not overflowing? Now,

  • let me show you where this argument will take you, just how absurd this will get.

  • Let's assume for a moment

  • that it's true that

  • elders can't drink at all,

  • but that deacons can drink in moderation.

  • Well, this same phrase that's applied to deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8,

  • is applied to the aged women in Titus, chapter 2 and verse 3.

  • And so, the aged woman

  • could also drink in moderation, if this were true.

  • But very interestingly,

  • it's not applied to the younger women.

  • And so they, the younger women, cannot drink.

  • In addition, in 1 Timothy 3:11, in describing deacons' wives, the

  • word "sober"

  • is used in the King James, the New King James uses the word

  • "temperate."

  • The Greek word here means "to abstain from wine."

  • Titus 2:2 requires

  • aged men not to come near wine.

  • Now let's put all of this together and see what we get.

  • If we were to apply this, elders

  • can't drink at all,

  • but deacons can.

  • Older men can't drink, but older women

  • can.

  • Deacons can drink,

  • but their wives

  • can't.

  • Who would believe this?

  • It's absolute nonsense. But,

  • that's where these arguments will get you when you're trying to defend social

  • drinking.

  • Number eight.

  • Let's consider another argument that sometimes people use. They'll go to

  • Luke, chapter 7, verses 33 and 34.

  • And they will say in that context, Jesus was accused of being a

  • "winebibber."

  • Now, they will say this accusation would not have been made had He not been a

  • person who drank alcoholic wine.

  • Let's read the passage:

  • "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine,

  • and you say, 'He has a demon.'

  • The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look,

  • a glutton and a winebibber,

  • a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'"

  • Now the accusation

  • is that

  • He would not have been accused of being a winebibber, or a drunkard, if He had not

  • been drinking alcoholic wine.

  • I would ask, "Why not?"

  • They said that John had a demon.

  • Where was the evidence for that? There wasn't any, it was a lie.

  • The point is,

  • they were jumping to conclusions not warranted by the evidence.

  • There's really no argument here.

  • Number nine.

  • Sometimes it's argued from Colossians, chapter 2 and verse 16, that

  • we should not impede upon another's liberty. Let's look at the

  • passage and then discuss it.

  • It says: "So let no one judge you in

  • food or in drink,

  • or regarding a festival

  • or a new moon or sabbaths."

  • Now, it's argued that we have no right to judge another person with regard to what

  • they eat

  • or drink.

  • But you know, this passage is dealing with matters of liberty, matters of

  • opinion,

  • not matters in which the Lord has mandated right or wrong.

  • These were issues related to the old law.

  • And there were some who are trying to bind food and drink issues

  • of the law of Moses.

  • The point of this passage is,

  • don't let any man bind on you what God has not.

  • The old law had been nailed to the cross and so you're not accountable

  • to it.

  • The food and drink issues here

  • relate to food and drink that had been considered ceremonially clean or

  • unclean. It has nothing to do with matters

  • that are sinful

  • such as drinking alcohol socially.

  • Number ten.

  • Sometimes people site famous preachers in defense of social drinking.

  • And it's been argued that the well-known preacher, Guy N. Woods, recognized that

  • Jesus only stated

  • "fruit of the vine" on the Lord's table;

  • and, therefore, fermented or nonfermented

  • could be used.

  • And he does say that. I've read it in his questions and answers.

  • But first, I would say this

  • Guy N. Woods is not the authority, the Bible is. But secondly,

  • I want to read you something else Guy N. Wood's wrote.

  • He wrote: "Obviously,

  • any man,

  • elder,

  • deacon, preacher,

  • Bible school teacher, or other person in the church cannot set the proper example

  • of Christian living

  • who engages in the use, in any degree,

  • of that which has been the occasion of so much sorrow, grief and ruin

  • in the world. Temperance in the use of harmful things,

  • is total

  • abstinence. There is no such thing

  • as a proper moderate use of drugs,

  • alcohol,

  • and other harmful substances."

  • Well,

  • what if I haven't persuaded you.

  • What if you're not convinced that the Bible prohibits social drinking.

  • Then there's still something else that I want you to consider

  • and that is your influence.

  • When a person who professes to be a Christian drinks alcoholic beverages,

  • he is doing something that even the world sees as an adult vice

  • and he greatly damages his influence.

  • He's doing something that even the world understands is wrong.

  • I think he's also doing something that's going to make himself a stumbling block

  • to young Christians

  • and certainly to new converts.

  • I want to read you a passage from 1 Corinthians 8, verses 10-13. The

  • Apostle Paul is discussing meat offered to idols. Now, I believe the context is

  • different because he's discussing something that is not in and of itself

  • wrong.

  • But of course,

  • those who argue for social drinking

  • don't believe that it is wrong.

  • They believe that it's not necessarily sinful. But listen to what Paul

  • says:

  • "For if anyone sees you who have knowledge

  • eating in an idol's temple,

  • will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened

  • to eat those things offered to idols?

  • And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom

  • Christ died?

  • But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak

  • conscience,

  • you sin against Christ.

  • Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat,

  • lest I make my brother stumble."

  • Now, Paul was saying,

  • "Someone may see me doing it and

  • it may cause him to sin. And in light of that, I will never do it."

  • Matthew 5:16 says: "Let your light so shine before men.

  • that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

  • You know, it's going to be a lot harder to do that. In fact, I would say it's

  • going to be impossible to do that

  • if you have a beer in your hand.

  • Several years ago,

  • I heard a preacher tell about a man in Florida. The man's name was Wilson Thomas.

  • Mr. Thomas had had a hard day at work and he'd stop to have a drink and

  • unwind before he went home to his little boy, Randall.

  • Well, he had a few drinks and he took one bottle home with him. But when he was

  • almost home, a small boy on a bicycle

  • came out on the road in front of him, and Mr. Thomas swerved to miss him.

  • And maybe he would have if his senses had not been dulled by alcohol. Anyway,

  • he hit the boy and

  • it killed him.

  • In a panick, he kept going and he sped home.

  • Several hours later when the police came to arrest him, they found him in his attic,

  • crying and drinking.

  • And it was only then that he found out that the boy that he killed

  • was his own son, Randall.

  • "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler,

  • and whoever is led astray by it

  • is not wise."

This is a production of World Video Bible School.

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