A Wisdom Case for Total Abstinence from Alcohol in Modern Times
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In my view, the Bible is just ambiguous enough on the topic of beverage alcohol to put the question in the category of matters of conscience. But matters of conscience are not matters to “leave alone;” they’re not excluded from the call to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works” (Heb. 10:24).
These issues call for respectful challenging of one another’s assumptions — and for pondering the path of our feet (Prov. 4:26).
So, I offer here a few thoughts, mainly with two groups of people in mind: those who are trying to decide what sort of stand they ought to make in their own lives, and those who are looking for ways to communicate a no-drinking position to others they care about.
I’m aware that most of the moderate-consumption advocates I know won’t find this at all persuasive, so in that sense, it’s not an entry in “the debate.” But in another sense, it is: some of the undecided and open minded may find something here that bears fruit later on.
Some framing
A strong wisdom case begins by pointing out a few facts and dismissing some distractions. For brevity’s sake here, just the facts.
- Relative to today, people in Bible times had fewer beverage options; it was harder (maybe impossible) to avoid fermented beverages entirely, even if you wanted to.
- In ancient times, wine was not normally fortified with alcohol as it often is today (more on this practice at winespectator.om, and winecoolerdirect.com, eater.com and of course Wikipedia).
- If not before, certainly after the rise of Greek culture, wine was routinely diluted with water (NY Times, Wikipedia), often to the point that the mix was more water than wine (winespectator.com, “Wine and Rome.”)
Along with these background facts, a few logically obvious points are often lost in the fray in discussions on this topic.
- Not everyone who ever got drunk started out with the intention of getting drunk.
- Nobody ever got drunk without a first drink.
- Nobody ever got chemically addicted to alcohol with the intention of getting addicted to alcohol.
- More than 10,000 people were killed in drunk driving crashes in the U.S. in 2016 (“It’s Not an ‘Accident,’ It’s a Crime.” Sheriff & Deputy, March/April 2018). Nobody who ever drove drunk and killed someone had their first drink that night with a DUI crash fatality as their goal.
I could go on like this for some time, talking about cheating lovers, domestic violence, and all sorts of other alcohol induced or aggravated crimes. To many of us, these facts alone point to some obvious conclusions. But they’re just background lighting for a biblical wisdom case against beverage alcohol.
The argument from wisdom
For various reasons, a “wisdom case” against beverage alcohol consumption tries to avoid the argument that Scripture directly forbids beverage alcohol or that Jesus and the apostles drank only non-alcoholic wine.
The wisdom case I’ve taught in various venues goes like this:
1 Believers must be wise stewards.
A few passages help bring well-known principle into fresh focus.
Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (ESV, Matthew 10:16)
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. (1 Cor. 4:2)
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. (Prov. 4:7)
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Rom. 14:12)
The “so what” of this principle is that if a course of action is dumb, we shouldn’t do it. If there’s a smarter option, we should do that instead. It’s good stewardship.
2 We are called to keep our minds sharp.
But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, (Titus 2:1-2)
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober … (1 Thess. 5:5–8)
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Pet. 5:8)
These passages add up to strong direction to avoid anything that is likely to compromise our ability to stay sharp in tempting times.
3 Beverage alcohol poses dangers to both wise stewardship and sharp-mindedness.
The Bible’s warning passages in reference to “wine” and “strong drink” are well known, and it’s commonly claimed that they refer only to drunkenness and not to having the occasional drink. But as noted above, it’s really not rational to propose a complete non-relationship between drunkenness and “one drink.” You can’t have the former without the latter. They’re connected.
Since many get drunk without starting out with that goal, it’s absurd to claim that a single drink poses no risk at all of leading to drunkenness.
The likelihood may be low, but the stakes are high.
Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. 31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. 34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. 35 “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.” (Prov. 23:29–35)
To this and similar passages, we should add the humiliation of Noah (Gen. 9:20-26) and the degradation of Lot (Gen. 19:30-38). It’s significant that the first occurrence of “wine” in the Bible is a story of tragic family consequences. Did either of these men sit down with a mug that day thinking, “I believe I’ll get drunk now and do something ruinous”?
4 Avoiding pointless hazards is wise.
There is no risk-free living. Driving to work every day is a risky activity — but so is farming the back forty. We take these risks because they’re unavoidable and because the potential gain is worth the degree of risk involved. But acts with a high risk and low potential are just stupid, and recklessness is not a fruit of the Spirit!
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. (Prov. 22:3)
Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead. (Prov. 15:21)
When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. (Prov. 19:3)
In our culture, we’d say the fool “gets it.” You have to enjoy life. Cut loose and have a good time … and it’s God’s fault when things go horribly wrong.
5 We should seek every advantage for successful competition.
Olympic athletes have a distinctive way of arranging their lives in pursuit of success. Their personal discipline amazes. They take advantage of every tiny detail of posture, clothing, or gear that might gain them a performance edge. Mostly, we respect that. They’re competing at the highest level.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:24–27)
Every Christian is called to Olympic-level godliness –- elite uprightness of character. Few can claim to have achieved that, but the pursuit is supposed to be where we live every day.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (Heb. 12:1)
If there is spiritual advantage in total abstinence, shouldn’t we be eager to seize that advantage?
Avoiding fermented beverages wasn’t easy in ancient times. There is little evidence that most bothered to even try. But in our times, tee-totaling is easy. Alcohol is a much-to-risk and almost nothing to gain scenario, and abstaining is a negligible sacrifice with a significant benefit. Wasting that opportunity is simply not wise.
Aaron Blumer 2016 Bio
Aaron Blumer is a Michigan native and graduate of Bob Jones University and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). He and his family live in small-town western Wisconsin, not far from where he pastored for thirteen years. In his full time job, he is content manager for a law-enforcement digital library service. (Views expressed are the author's own and not his employer's, church's, etc.)
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Kudos to Aaron for this helpful and honest article. Christians need to understand that, when it comes to beverage alcohol, the Bible says, “I may,” but it does not say, “I should.”
We ought to stop distorting Scripture to support personal opinions. Telling people the Bible forbids beverage alcohol will backfire when careful students of Scripture discover we were mistaken, or even worse, deceitful. But opponents of Biblical abstinance should stop telling people that the Bible (almost) commands us to consume alcohol. Its a Christian liberty issue, and wisdom suggests many reasons why voluntary abstinance is better than moderate consumption. Aaron has done a good job articulating those reasons.
G. N. Barkman
I’d like to add by kudo to Greg’s. It is a wisdom issue and both sides sometimes discredit themselves with their exegetical gymnastics in defense of their position.
Personally, I can’t afford it. It’s the same reason I don’t go to Starbucks.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
This has been my personal position on the matter for many years. Thanks, Aaron.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Let’s remember that the “Standard American diet and lifestyle” kills nearly eight times more people than does alcohol—it’s about six hundred thousand deaths versus eighty thousand. I look forward to the day when the # of sermons spent on the issues of gluttony and sloth reflect their impact on society at large. (#notholdingmybreath) Note also that the typical crowd at a wine tasting looks a lot healthier than a typical fundamental congregation. Just sayin’.
Regarding the notion that people can and do get drunk without intending to, sure, that happens, though not nearly as often as people going to the party with the full intention of getting drunk. Usually it’s distilled spirits—generally much stronger than fortified wines, at least before they’re mixed—and people get “caught” generally because they don’t recognize the signs that the party is going to be fairly hard-drinking. For my part, my parents taught me a fair amount about how to recognize those situations, especially my dad, and he also made sure I knew what hard liquor smelled and tasted like, and that knowledge seemed to serve me a lot better at Michigan State than did the abstentionism a lot of my fellow students had learned at home.
That noted, the reality that you can get in trouble in a hurry by drinking hard liquor does not mean that it’s “unwise” to drink at all. That’s just silliness—you may as well argue that because a kid with a sports car or motorcycle might wrap himself around a tree, you shouldn’t drive at all. Reality is that while Scripture does not mandate drinking, it does consistently speak of “full wine-vats” as a blessing, and Jesus did indeed create a blessing at Cana. It does the Gospel no favors to pretend otherwise, because it implicitly teaches people to doubt what Scripture clearly says.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[Bert Perry]On a related note, I was reading a book on aging the other day by one of our nation’s top medical doctors. He dropped in passing that virtually every American who has consumed a typical American diet for much of their lives will have clogged arteries as they age. Just threw it out there as a “by-the-way” factoid. Huh? Why is this not talked about more?Let’s remember that the “Standard American diet and lifestyle” kills nearly eight times more people than does alcohol—it’s about six hundred thousand deaths versus eighty thousand. I look forward to the day when the # of sermons spent on the issues of gluttony and sloth reflect their impact on society at large. (#notholdingmybreath) Note also that the typical crowd at a wine tasting looks a lot healthier than a typical fundamental congregation. Just sayin’.
I suppose I could start a thread on the way a lot of us have assaulted the temple of the Lord with a knife and fork but I suspect the silence would be deafening.
I had a massive heart attack a little more than a year ago and have benefited, if a little late, from learning how we are eating ourselves to death. Consider that up to 80% of disease is diet related. Consider that obesity in men is described simply as a waist measurement at the belly button (NOT your pant size) is 40 inches or more. Consider the calories we consume that have little or no nutritional value (donuts,anyone?) just because they taste good.
I’m going to go eat a big salad!
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
Kudos but same argumentation could be used to avoid almost anything …
A Wisdom Case For Total Abstinence From Rollerblading:
- Believers must be wise stewards. (Yup!)
- We are called to keep our minds sharp (yup!)
- Rollerblading poses dangers to both wise stewardship and sharp-mindedness.
- Rollerblades are expensive
- Falls happen and can cause head injuries (stats) (head injuries )
- Avoiding pointless hazards is wise. (Yup)
- We should seek every advantage for successful competition (Yup). And that’s why – [successful QB in the NFL] – eschews rollerblading
Jim, this is why I avoid rollerblading.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
First time I strapped rollerblades to my feet, I knew it was a mistake. That’s why it was also my last time…
- I would start with Aaron’s argumentation (which is good (I’ve preached that sermon more than once!)
- Most people should not drink and many who do cross the line
- 56% of adults consume beverage alcohol (source)
- Christians are called to either drink in moderation in a non-offensive way OR eschew completely
- Some Christians will drink in moderation / others will eschew completely
Well, the silence could be deafening, or maybe we should raise the roof a touch, eh? Here’s an interesting article about sugar consumption from UCSF that notes that excess sugar, perhaps especially fructose, interacts in a very interesting way with the brain to become habit-forming. Added sugar is about 15% of daily calories, and added fats are about the same.
And to be fair, when one argues against SAD and general laziness, it tends to be a very direct confrontation because it’s part and parcel of our whole lifestyle. You tell people to ease up on the candy and fried chicken at church events, and you’ve left off preaching and gone to meddling. But we need to meddle if we’re getting tired of reciting heart disease, stroke, cancer, and the like at our prayer meeting “organ recitals”, I think.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
OK, we encourage our young men to join the infantry, and we’re worried about rollerblading? Seriously?
I’m having trouble reconciling the life of David with this one…. :^)
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
When an argument is solid and you don’t have a good counter, try the ol’ “Hey, look over there!”
Whether or not the American diet is killing more people, and whether or not that topic is neglected from pulpits has no relevance for the question of the wisdom of total abstinence vs. moderate drinking.
As for other high risk behaviors, the article addresses that. Some basic risk-benefit or risk-need analysis is required
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Aaron, the great counter-argument to what you state is simply the example of the 2nd Chapter of John. OK, so we are to suppose that Christians are wiser if they do not do what Jesus clearly did, to the point where His opponents called Him a winebibber?
Seriously?
Another point where I’d reject your argument is Colossians 2:16-23. Some of these rules that we love so well in fundamentalism have an appearance of spirituality, but lack any power of restraining sensual indulgence. As the old joke goes, “Catholics don’t recognize Westminster, Prostestants don’t recognize the Pope, and Baptists don’t recognize each other at the liquor store.”
And really, we see just this statistic around the Bible Belt, where DUI deaths are actually higher than average despite far more churches preaching heavily against all alcohol. The only exception to this pattern in the states of the old Confederacy is Georgia. You have plenty of anti-alcohol preachers, plenty of dry cities and counties, and plenty of drunks.
And plenty of fat people who need to hear about what Scripture says about gluttony and sloth. And really, this is the Pareto Principle, that the majority of your problems come from a minority of causes, and it is in fact valid to point out that solving problem #14 before addressing #1 is indeed a waste of time.
Now to be sure, the great effectiveness of southern preachers in curtailing drinking and its effects might suggest that they could be equally effective in fighting gluttony and sloth, to be sure, but they would at least have the advantage of preaching something that the Scriptures actually say. It’s worth a try.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Although I agree with Aaron on this one rather than Bert (on most subjects I agree with both of them), Bert makes a point that has concerned me for a long time. He writes:
Regarding the notion that people can and do get drunk without intending to, sure, that happens, though not nearly as often as people going to the party with the full intention of getting drunk. Usually it’s distilled spirits—generally much stronger than fortified wines, at least before they’re mixed—and people get “caught” generally because they don’t recognize the signs that the party is going to be fairly hard-drinking. For my part, my parents taught me a fair amount about how to recognize those situations, especially my dad, and he also made sure I knew what hard liquor smelled and tasted like, and that knowledge seemed to serve me a lot better at Michigan State than did the abstentionism a lot of my fellow students had learned at home.
I hope my children chose the abstinence path, but I am not too naive to realize that as they grow older they will not always do exactly what I desire. As they make their own decisions I want them to know what they are getting into. My fear is that a person who has only been taught abstinence, will decide to take a risk and drink a couple of wine coolers with a meal and start to think that the warnings were way overblown. Then they take a much smaller shot of whiskey on an empty stomach and are shocked at the results.
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