{"id":1389,"date":"2009-07-17T23:44:46","date_gmt":"2009-07-18T07:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2009\/07\/17\/what-about-drunkenness\/"},"modified":"2009-07-19T22:48:38","modified_gmt":"2009-07-20T06:48:38","slug":"what-about-drunkenness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/2009\/07\/17\/what-about-drunkenness\/","title":{"rendered":"what about drunkenness?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On another blog<\/a>, I made this comment regarding my stance against alcohol use:<\/p>\n

I am not saying that our culture is now so corrupt that alcohol is a worldly device. I am saying that there are good and sufficient reasons for Christians today to totally abstain from alcohol use. We can make the arguments on the basis of wisdom, on the basis of changes in alcohol content and production in modern times, on the basis of clear scriptural warnings, and, I think, on the basis of the prohibition on drunkenness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I may need to revise my statement on culture in that first sentence at some point, but my purpose here is to develop an argument against alcohol use on the basis of the prohibition on drunkenness.<\/p>\n

The first thing we need to establish is this: What do we mean when we talk about the prohibition of drunkenness?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Those Christians who allow for some drinking usually will agree that drunkenness is forbidden by the Bible.<\/p>\n

We find examples <\/strong>of special classes of people who were forbidden to drink intoxicating beverages at certain times: the priests ministering in the tabernacle (Lev 10.8-11); those taking on a Nazarite vow (Num 6.1-4); Samson\u2019s mother during her pregnancy (Jdg 13.3-5, Jdg 13.13-14); and Kings (Pr 31.4-5 [it is possible that this prohibition is only during the \u2018working day\u2019, similar to the priests in the tabernacle]).<\/p>\n

We see prohibitions<\/strong> in the wisdom literature of Proverbs: Pr 23.19-22, Pr 23.28-35.<\/p>\n

We see Isaiah pronounce a \u2018woe\u2019<\/strong> (a curse saying \u2018you are as good as dead\u2019) on those who are drunkards (Isa 5.11, Isa 5.22) in Israel. In Isa 28.1-8, he pronounces another woe over the drunkards of Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel). Amos likewise pronounces a \u2018woe\u2019 against those who are at ease in Zion (Amos 6.1) partly because of their drunkenness (Amos 6.6).<\/p>\n

We see the eschatological hope of the believer scorned by the drunkard<\/strong>: Lk 12.45, Mt 24.49, tell in parabolic form the dangers stated in Lk 21.34 for those Christians who are not watchful for the coming of the Lord, but instead beat the Lord’s servants and get drunk with the drunken. 1 Th 5.7-8 likewise calls the Christian to sobriety and watchfulness.<\/p>\n

We have an exhortation<\/strong> in Rm 13.13, and a command<\/strong> in Eph 5.18 against drunkenness.<\/p>\n

We see<\/strong> that the believer is commanded not to associate with another believer who is a drunkard (1 Cor 5.11). We also see that the drunkard will not inherit the kingdom (1 Cor 6.10). Last, along with the list of those who will not enter heaven, we see drunkenness catalogued<\/strong> as a work of the flesh, Gal 5.19-21.<\/p>\n

I think that from these passages we can say that drunkenness is prohibited for believers. The Bible treats it as a serious matter.<\/p>\n

Now, I am going to carry the argument a bit farther.<\/p>\n

The prohibition on drunkenness ought to be considered a command for abstinence by Bible believers.<\/em><\/h3>\n

You may think that an extreme statement, but let\u2019s really think about drunkenness, especially as it is described as a \u2018work of the flesh\u2019, Gal 5.19-21.<\/p>\n

Think about it this way. Here is our list from that passage:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • immorality (kjv: adultery, fornication)<\/li>\n
  • impurity<\/li>\n
  • sensuality<\/li>\n
  • idolatry<\/li>\n
  • sorcery<\/li>\n
  • enmities<\/li>\n
  • strife<\/li>\n
  • jealousy<\/li>\n
  • outbursts of anger<\/li>\n
  • disputes<\/li>\n
  • dissensions<\/li>\n
  • factions<\/li>\n
  • envying (and murders, kjv)<\/li>\n
  • drunkenness<\/li>\n
  • carousing<\/li>\n
  • and things like these<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Now let\u2019s think about a few of these things. I know that immorality is forbidden. What is immorality? We know what adultery and fornication means. Does the Biblical prohibitions on immorality mean only<\/em> a prohibition on the act of fornication or adultery? Is it permissible for a man to flirt with a woman who is the wife of another man? Is it ok, just so long as, you know, nothing happens<\/em>?<\/p>\n

    Consider in this connection our Lord\u2019s elevation of our understanding of God\u2019s will in the Sermon on the Mount:<\/p>\n

    Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    So let\u2019s keep looking down this list in Gal 5.19-21:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • What about idolatry<\/em> or sorcery<\/em>? Should we only be concerned if someone is actually bowing down to a stone god or actually trying to cast spells? Would it be OK to delve into these things, make a study on them, collect books about them, collect little idols to put on the mantel at home, etc, so long as we weren\u2019t actually going to pray to demons<\/em>? Were the Ephesians wrong to burn their books? (Ac 19.19)<\/li>\n
    • What about outbursts of anger<\/em>, or disputes<\/em>, or dissensions<\/em>? Are we OK if we get mad a little bit? Righteous indignation, you know. Just so long as we don\u2019t go into a berserker rage, is that OK?<\/li>\n
    • What about drunkenness<\/em>?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      At what point does drunkenness occur? In my country, our police consider you to be Impaired at .08 blood alcohol content. ((It\u2019s a bit higher in the Excited States.)) You lose your license and learn the virtues of walking for that level of drunkenness.<\/p>\n

      So for the Christian, would, say, .08 be the line? If you pass over that line you are drunk and have just fallen into the prohibited category. So at .079999, you are OK?<\/p>\n

      Remember, \u201ceveryone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

      Paul calls these sins \u201cworks of the flesh\u201d. What is the work in the flesh, of the flesh, by the flesh that produces immorality? Lust. What is the work in the flesh, of the flesh, by the flesh that produces drunkenness?<\/p>\n

      What would you call that in you?<\/p>\n

      The love of what? The love of drink? The love of wine? The love of beer? The lust of the flesh.<\/p>\n

      I think that Christians are taking the prohibition against drunkenness all too smugly and all too lightly.<\/p>\n

      \"don_sig2\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      On another blog, I made this comment regarding my stance against alcohol use: I am not saying that our culture is now so corrupt that alcohol is a worldly device. I am saying that there are good and sufficient reasons for Christians today to totally abstain from alcohol use. We can make the arguments on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[117,71],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2fYWj-mp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1392,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1389\/revisions\/1392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxgoad.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}