When Is One Drunk?
by Terry Wane Benton
We knew when we were children that when we spun around a little while and then stopped, but the world seemed to keep moving, we were “drunk.” When we lost our balance, we were “drunk.” No, we were not drunk by drinking liquor, but we were unstable due to the motion sensors of our brains. Now, we did not have to fall down drunk, just the spinning sensation was enough to know we were not balanced. We were drunk, motion drunk.
Now, how does this relate to the subject of alcohol consumption? Did you know that you begin to get drunk with a half glass of alcohol? In an article titled "The 6 Stages of Getting Drunk" by Dr. Izak Loftus, there is the first stage that we want to consider in light of our need to be sober-minded as the Bible teaches. We will give the doctor’s quote first so that you can know what to expect from the first drink of alcohol from a physical and mental perspective. After this, we will consider the biblical demands of sobriety at all times.
"The jovial phase
Drinking less than half a glass of alcohol an hour is enough to suppress the functions of the frontal lobes which control your inhibitions, self-control, willpower, ability to judge and concentration.
When this part of the brain is being suppressed you have fewer inhibitions, your self-confidence is boosted, you become more jovial and daring and you talk more - and louder. All of this explains why alcohol is considered an excellent social lubricant.
This effect can be detected at a blood alcohol level as low as 0.01 g/100 ml, which is easily reached by drinking less than half a glass an hour. It's way below the legal limit of 0.05 g/100 ml.
Believe it or not, at this stage your judgement is diminished and your personality has been sufficiently altered to increase your risk of dying an unnatural death - as a result of an accident or fight, for example."
Now, the conscientious Christian knows that self-control, willpower, and the ability to judge and concentrate are very important. The works of the flesh are hard enough to combat without opening the door just a little. The Bible condemns “drinking parties” and “revelry” before it even gets to the condemnation of “drunkenness.” Romans 13:12 says to “put on the armor of light”. Don’t take off the guarded condition of being in God’s light. Then Romans 13:13 says to “walk properly, as in the day.” In the day we are aware, the light of day exposing things more clearly to us. That is the condition our mind should be in at all times, but “walking properly” means that you know where you are stepping, and you see where you are going. Then he says, “not in revelry”, which is usually the first stage of drunkenness where you do not see or care what comes out of your mouth, and what you have opened the door to, or where this is leading you. Now, Christians are to be careful what they say and what they do, but the first drink of alcohol works against your self-control. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22f) and staying in tune with the Spirit is how you keep your self-control, including the things you will say. The first drink opens the door to “revelry”. This word has a core meaning of letting loose the inhibitions or reluctance to say or do something. The doctors said the first half glass of alcohol diminishes your judgment and your personality.
But, please notice that revelry and drunkenness are to be avoided because it opens the door to “the works of darkness.” In Romans 13:14 the Spirit commands that we “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Did you get that? All the arguments in the world can never justify making a provision for the flesh to impair our judgment and loosen our self-control and godly inhibitions.
Our fleshly lusts need to be controlled. They need to be inhibited by our conviction to walk with the armor of light, to walk properly, to walk with good judgment, and to see where our next steps will be. When you drink that first half glass of alcohol you have made provision for the flesh. You have given the flesh the opening it desires to weaken your principles and priorities in favor of sin. In the doctor’s article, we don’t even need to know what step two is. Step one is already “making provision for the flesh” and already clouding our judgment. Say no more! We don’t need that! We need to hold on to our soberness of mind and heart. Knowing what happens in step one, I cannot encourage drinking alcohol for pleasure, especially when my influence among others needs to be controlled and guarded. While the social drinkers are loosening their inhibitions, do I really need to be among them loosening mine too? To ask that question is to answer it if you are serious about walking properly in soberness.
"Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation" (I Thessalonians 5:6-8 NKJV).
"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1:13 NKJV). Do we need to loosen the loins of our minds? We need, rather, to gird up the loins of our minds. That means strengthening the determination to use good judgment and make godly decisions. The Bible demands carefulness, not carelessness. Control, good judgment, and awareness of dangers are all part of sobriety!
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith" (I Peter 5:8 NKJV). Give Satan an inch and he’ll take a mile! Play close to the fire and you will get burned! The Proverb writer warned us not to even look at that drink that hooks us and diminishes our judgment (Proverbs 23:31).
How drunk can we lawfully get? At what stage do we begin to enter into sin? If the doctor’s journal is correct, and we have no cause to doubt it, our greatest concern is over the first drink. If Satan can just get us to take the first one, he knows he can loosen our will to reject a second one, and the alcohol is only beginning to make its way into our bodies.
The full effects of that first drink can’t be judged at the moment of swallowing it. It washes through your brain in slow increments, and by the time you decide it is not going to do anything, you take another while the first is beginning its effect. In other words, you cannot make a good judgment about the effects of the one as to what it is going to do. I know that if I don’t drink the first one, my judgment will stay in place.
When do we begin to get drunk? At stage one with the first half glass or less. I don’t know how serious you take sin, or how serious you take the need for sober-mindedness, but I cannot see that making an opening for my judgment to be slightly impaired is a good idea at all. Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts! Our guarded stance should be to be very careful about when one begins to drunken the judgment. The doctor concurs that it is the first half glass. I know how to avoid beginning that process. Do you?
