Drinking Alcoholic Beverages

Guy N. Woods

Alcohol, imbibed as a beverage, in any form, and to any degree, is positively prohibited in the sacred writings. In “any form” includes, but is not limited to, the drinking of beer, wine, whiskey, and brandy; and, “to any degree” runs the gamut from the so-called social drinker to the pitiful alcoholic who daily drinks himself into stupidity. Solomon, wisest of the ages, said, “Wine is a mocker strong drink a brawler; and whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Prov. 20:1). To be “led astray” is to sin; those who ingest alcoholic beverages are “led astray;” therefore, those who drink such potions sin. Either this conclusion follows or Solomon’s inspired affirmation must be disputed.

Moreover, indulgence to any extent is wrong because drunkenness is a matter of degree, and begins with the first drop of the fiery liquid. Thenceforth, the change occurring in the individual is a matter of deepening stupidity as more and more is consumed, but the condition begins with the first drink. Dr. Ralph Overman, onetime chairman of the Special Training Division of the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, in an address to a group of boys and girls, said to them: “When you have drunk one drink, you are one drink drunk.” No one ever intends to become an alcoholic; and, it is not possible for anyone to be sure of indulging without over-indulging. It follows, therefore, as a simple matter of common sense, that one should never, under any circumstances, and for any reason, swallow one drop of alcohol for beverage purposes.

Drinking intoxicating beverages is wrong (1) because the practice impairs the functions of the mind, inhibits reason, and destroys moral perception. Those who regularly indulge therein lose the ability to distinguish between matters moral and immoral; and their powers of discernment weaken and eventually fail. The prophet Isaiah, in an exceedingly vivid portrayal of the evil effects of indulgence in strong drink, wrote of the priests and prophets of his day: “And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment” (Isa. 28:7).

Results attending the drinking of intoxicating liquors are thus strikingly set out by the ancient writer as “errors in vision” and “stumbling in judgment.” This is true, literally, and figuratively.

Recent studies in highway fatalities reveal that, in some states, half of the people dying in automobile accidents do so because of the impaired faculties of drinking drivers. It has been proved that a driver, under the influence of alcohol, has inability to judge distances, is unable to make quick decisions, and often suffers from blurred vision. Thus, to the initial sin of drinking, many are adding to their wrong-doing, the crime of murder on the highways! Nor, are those who often thus do always in the category of what is euphemistically described as “problem drinkers.” Often, from a gay and happy party do people who have only been drinking socially gone out into the night to become, in one terrible, tragic moment, the instruments of death for innocent people.

(2) Drinking of alcoholic beverages is wrong, because indulgence therein prompts one to throw off inhibitions, disregard moral and spiritual restraints and engage in acts one would never dream of doing otherwise. To the lowest depths of degradation do men often descend because alcohol has dulled their senses, destroyed their spiritual perception, and rendered them incapable of moral judgment.

In the light of these facts, it is indeed remarkable that there are those who attempt to justify “moderate drinking” and excuse “social” drinkers. Anything which corrupts that which it touches must be, and is, always wrong; and, Christians ought to avoid all participation therein. Actually, it is through so-called moderate drinking that most people become alcoholics. These unfortunate people were a) at one time non-participants; b) they then became moderate drinkers; and c) from this graduated to “problem drinkers.” Researchers have established the fact that in virtually all instances a time of moderate and restrained indulgence precedes excessive drinking. Many regard beer, and even wine, as harmless drinks, on the allegation that the alcoholic content is less than in some other liquors, but these beverages are all the more dangerous because many people do not fear them. Recently, the chief of the surgical staff of one of the nation’s great hospitals said: “I have had ample opportunity to see hundreds and hundreds of people injured, crippled, or killed as a result of accidents caused by drinking drivers. It is not the drunken driver but the drinking driver — the one with a glass or two of beer under his belt — who so often takes chances that result in disaster.”

Any drinking of alcoholic beverages produces a form of drunkenness, and no drunkard “shall inherit the kingdom of heaven” (1 Cor. 6:10). It is, therefore, but the exercise of good common sense to avoid the grave dangers associated with the drinking of intoxicating liquors by never swallowing one drop of the “befuddling beverage.” As someone has well said, it is all right to “drink like a fish, provided you drink what fish drink!”