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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I dunno, Darrell, Seems to me that I know a young man with a thyroid condition who’s doing quite well because he went to the doctor and started taking his medication. Maybe that’s an impossible condition in your view, but honestly…
And reality is that every time one of you guys mentions “difficult cases”, what comes to mind for me is the 95% plus of cases of obesity where there isn’t any underlying physical problem for the obese except a tendency to put too much food down the ‘ol pie hole while not getting exercise.
It’s a dodge, and a pretty pathetic one in my view too. You’ve got 1/2 to 2/3 of most congregations overweight and obese, with 600,000 people dying from the consequences each year, and all you can do is say “we need to prevent Christians from enjoying a glass of wine because somewhere, somehow, someone might accidentally get drunk and get hurt.” And when people who have enjoyed wine responsibly tell you exactly why that’s extremely unlikely, you ignore it.
If you wonder why pastors often don’t preach the full counsel of God, and why you get hedging on things that are brutally affecting Christians, re-read this thread.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Bert,
Some people do lack self-control with their knife and fork—I never said otherwise. My point is that anyone who would preach on this topic had better be well-informed, understand medical conditions and approach this stewardship issue biblically. Paint with a broad brush from your pulpit and you will literally crush someone who already suffers from the shame of excess weight—someone who longs to be shed of it, but whose health condition and broken body prevents them from getting there—and then you stand in the pulpit and add the weight of them being guilty of the sin of gluttony and you will crush them.
Bert,
I assume all of the members in your church are thin, correct? Because, based on statements you have made in this thread, everyone who isn’t is living in sin and are therefore subject to church discipline.
I’m curious to learn how the principles of gluttony as you interpret them are scripturally applied in your church. Can you share?
Ashamed of Jesus! of that Friend On whom for heaven my hopes depend! It must not be! be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768)
May I humbly suggest that we are defining biblical gluttony almost exclusively on the current American/western viewpoint of acceptable/unacceptable body image? Frankly, beyond being a ridiculous assumption, the current emphasis on body image in the good ‘ol USA is knocking hard on the door of being a cultural idolatry.
Lee
A 44 inch waist on a six foot man is not a “body image” problem, it’s a medically diagnosed and proven health problem.
If a doctor diagnoses your obesity is the result of an actual glandular problem for which you are not responsible, that’s understandable. Just don’t make excuses for yourself. Your bones aren’t that big and the only glandular problem you have is your elbow gland.
Now let’s get back to the OP and admit that alcohol is a wisdom issue but being overweight is as harmful to the human body as cigarettes and probably more so.
I think I’ll have some raw kale for a snack!
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
[Ron Bean]Now let’s get back to the OP and admit that alcohol is a wisdom issue but being overweight is as harmful to the human body as cigarettes and probably more so.
I, for one, am very pleased to see you come to agree that alcohol is a wisdom issue - it is unwise to consume it! ;)
I will not concede, however, that a) being overweight = sin of gluttony or that b) it is as harmful to the human body as cigarettes.
On that note, you should do a study to find out which is more detrimental to society (to the individual and to others combined) - tobacco products or alcohol. You may be surprised to find the latter easily outranks tobacco use problems. Interestingly, the Bible doesn’t specifically warn against smoking but it certainly does warn, in very strong terms, against alcohol. Kind of difficult to get around those warnings, brother, and I just can’t for the life of me figure out why you insist on claiming God blesses something and give strong caution against it.
Ashamed of Jesus! of that Friend On whom for heaven my hopes depend! It must not be! be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768)
Bert, I encourage you to do some in depth research on thyroid conditions if you start writing your article on gluttony. Thyroid conditions can be the result of an overactive or an underactive thyroid, so just using the example of someone you know may not be the the whole story. My wife’s issues were also thyroid related. Her thyroid was actually going from under to over active and back and forth. She was actually undernourished and still gaining weight (most of it water, but some fat as well. She had went from being on the lower end toward the higher end of the BMI recommendation). Essentially because of the thyroid problem and other issues she could not get all the nutrients she needed from her food. Sure, you can reduce calories to reduce fat, but if that kills you because you are undernourished that is not honoring to the temple of the Holy Spirit.
We are praising God that we found someone who specializes in such things. She is now taking a dietary and supplement approach. This was not as simple as just going to a dietitian and finding a healthy recommendation. Crystal has regular blood tests and checkups to keep things in line and she is at a healthy weight- even by your standards. Most people do not even have access to the type of treatment she is getting because it is a new cutting edge approach. Most would consider it alternative medicine, but it is actually coming out of one of the main hospitals in Sioux Falls, and there is a waiting line to get in.
I am not suggesting that being overweight is not a sin issue for some people, I am just concerned that we not paint with too broad a brush.
…..maybe I’ve learned that with a degree of tweaking, either hyperthyroid or hypothyroid can be treated? Yes, there would be a few “corner cases”, and perhaps your wife’s was one of them, but….we’re going to build theology off of corner cases? Really?
Well, I guess to be fair, that’s exactly what the “wisdom” argument is for completely abstaining from alcohol instead of simply avoiding overindulgence, which is of course what Scripture actually says. The argument is a corner case that a few moderate users might fall into drunkenness accidentally and have horrendous results. No actual statistics are presented, of course, but it could happen. Maybe.
Really, a lot of this debate bears a lot of similarity to Jason’s absurd claim that more people die from alcohol than tobacco. For alcohol—including the drunks that all parties here agree are sinning—it’s 88000 per year from all causes, and for tobacco, 480,000 people die each year . More or less, tobacco kills about half of those who ever smoked. (come on, Jason, you can do better than this—this is a 30 second Google search)
And fine if you want to believe that associating obesity with gluttony is just cultural, but quite frankly this is not exactly something that started with Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda. For that matter, look at Deuteronomy 32:15—Jesherun grew fat and rebelled. Ahem. And what was the sin of Sodom? Look in Ezekiel 16:49; they were overfed, among other things. What does Proverbs 30:9 say? Huh, isn’t excessive fat a sign of too much food?
Sorry, guys, but you’re arguing against Scripture here, both by arguing that we can be “wiser” than our Savior if we don’t do what He did, and by arguing that gluttony is not something that we ought to be interested in. Science and Scripture come together here.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[Bert Perry]Really, a lot of this debate bears a lot of similarity to Jason’s absurd claim that more people die from alcohol than tobacco. For alcohol—including the drunks that all parties here agree are sinning—it’s 88000 per year from all causes, and for tobacco, 480,000 people die each year . More or less, tobacco kills about half of those who ever smoked. (come on, Jason, you can do better than this—this is a 30 second Google search)
Be careful, Bert - you put words into my mouth. I did not compare deaths, I compared which is more detrimental to society. I’ve never heard of domestic abuse or sexual assault associated with tobacco use, nor have I heard of a BTC (Blood Tobacco Content) level or experienced any MACSD (Mothers Against Cigarette Smoking and Driving) campaigns. I am in the Navy. Even the Navy is beginning to “get it” - that most sexual assault and abuse cases occur when someone is intoxicated…and they don’t know what to do with it (drunken sailors, after all).
[JNoël]On that note, you should do a study to find out which is more detrimental to society (to the individual and to others combined) - tobacco products or alcohol.
……..
[Bert Perry]Sorry, guys, but you’re arguing against Scripture here, both by arguing that we can be “wiser” than our Savior if we don’t do what He did, and by arguing that gluttony is not something that we ought to be interested in. Science and Scripture come together here.
Conjecture. You are assuming Jesus drank alcoholic wine.
And I am not arguing that gluttony is not something in which we should be interested.
Ashamed of Jesus! of that Friend On whom for heaven my hopes depend! It must not be! be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768)
Huh, isn’t excessive fat a sign of too much food?
In the OT/ANE being fat was a sign of being rich or prosperous. It was not a sign of gluttony or sin.
So in Deut 30:9, it is an irony that Israel got fat off of God’s blessing and then rebelled. Ezekiel 16:49 is about an excess of food due to prosperity (which is the very next phrase). Prov 30:9 references the well-known phenomenon of someone becoming prosperous and turning away from Lord because they no longer sense their need of him.
Besides you missed the classic reference in Amos 4:1 where wives are called “cows of Bashan,” basking in their prosperity and demanding more of their husbands. No discussion of gluttony is complete until somebody’s wife has been called a cow.
Listen, failure to understand the Bible in its historical context leads to silly applications. We should condemn gluttony as the Bible does, but don’t take an image of prosperity from God and make it an indicator of sin. People who are in impoverished states are thin because they are unhealthy, not because they are righteous with respect to the sin of gluttony. And let’s not forget that genetics plays a major role, as does lifestyle, other health factors, etc.
Frankly, all the stuff about food seems little more than a red herring, an attempt to draw away attention. Scripture does not warn about the intoxicating and altering affects of food the way it does about alcohol. It is simply bad exegesis and bad biblical application to pretend the two are the same. And that doesn’t mean all drinking is sinful or that gluttony is acceptable. It simply recognizes that the Bible does not treat them the same.
We also should note again, as has been pointed out, that we are using modern categories of health to describe
An interesting pattern: quite a few police department policy manuals expressly forbid the consumption of any alcohol while on duty. Why don’t they say “moderate consumption only while on duty”? Interesting, isn’t it? These are not churches with a temperance movement legacy.
On sources of information: several have observed that there are many conflicting claims and it’s near impossible to find accurate information on this topic. It really isn’t. I recommend sources that do not have a dog in the fight as far as the Christian-living/church debate goes. … which is why my article uses only sources that have no interest in that battle.
The rest is reasoning and biblical principle. It’s not hard.
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“Folks, the simple fact of the matter is that the words for gluttony and drunkenness are used together at least seven times in Scripture.”
They are also used separately quite a few times. The logic of “appears together ergo must be preached together” doesn’t follow. Lots of other things appear together that we do not preach together. It’s called focus.
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 Blumer]An interesting pattern: quite a few police department policy manuals expressly forbid the consumption of any alcohol while on duty. Why don’t they say “moderate consumption only while on duty”? Interesting, isn’t it? These are not churches with a temperance movement legacy.
On sources of information: several have observed that there are many conflicting claims and it’s near impossible to find accurate information on this topic. It really isn’t. I recommend sources that do not have a dog in the fight as far as the Christian-living/church debate goes. … which is why my article uses only sources that have no interest in that battle.
The rest is reasoning and biblical principle. It’s not hard.
Hopefully not putting words in your mouth, but I read your article and comments and get the idea that you are setting this up as a Biblical mandate based on wisdom and reasoning. I could go along with that if the Bible never mentions alcohol in a positive light, but that is not the case. The Bible speaks of alcohol positively while also giving warnings about the abuse of it, so why could wisdom not be the careful use and not abuse of alcohol? If God truly wishes for no alcohol consumption in a modern world where it is not needed, why would he not restrict the positive mention of it in Scripture? When there are people who drink alcohol in moderation without getting drunk, and have done so for many years, and they are told that it is a wisdom issue that they should avoid alcohol, it does not compute with them…and I know many people like this, saved and unsaved alike.
Not to conflate yet another topic with this issue, but I don’t look at alcohol as much different from sexual appetites. The Bible gives us healthy ways for sexual appetites to be expressed, and gives many warnings about all the problems that ensue when expressed in unhealthy/unbiblical ways. And the answer is not that wisdom requires us not to have sex except for procreation, it is to use the appetite in the way God intended as acceptable.
[Ken S]The Bible speaks of alcohol positively
Does it? Or does it speak of oinos (or pick one of the other original language words that we translate into “wine”) positively?
Ashamed of Jesus! of that Friend On whom for heaven my hopes depend! It must not be! be this my shame, That I no more revere His name. -Joseph Grigg (1720-1768)
[JNoël]Does it? Or does it speak of oinos (or pick one of the other original language words that we translate into “wine”) positively?
I guess that depends on whether you are a two-wine believer or not, and how you are able to arrive at determining which is which. I struggle with the “wine spoken positively=automatically means unfermented” and vice-versa position.
Does it? Or does it speak of oinos (or pick one of the other original language words that we translate into “wine”) positively?
That’s correct. It does not speak at all of the ingredient we call alcohol. There are some passages that speak of results that we today know are specifically from the alcohol. These are all negative (other than medicinal use). There are positive passages about the whole called “wine” but zero of these refer unambiguously to the part that is alcohol.
Part-whole fallacies are very common in writing on this topic.
Wikipedia and others refer to the error ad composition fallacy.
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.
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