For years, scientists, doctors, and our government have been recommending that we all hop off the wagon and moderately belly up to the bar to enhance our health. Christians searching for any excuse to abandon tee-totaling celebrated with popping corks and a return to the high life. Surely God could not really condemn a practice so healthy and governmentally approved.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press article by Daniel Yee, however, now reports that researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admit, “The science around moderate drinking is very murky” (“Alcohol’s healthfulness in doubt” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 19, 2005). The CDC now worries that “Americans are getting the wrong idea” about drinking and estimates that one in three Americans drinks too much.<\/p>\n
While we scientific laymen were never certain about the medical benefits of alcohol, as Bible students, we clearly understood the spiritual injuries that would follow. Wisdom warns: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine. Those who go in search of mixed wine<\/i>” (Proverbs 24:29-30). Alcohol leads to impaired inhibitions against sin, a deluded perspective on reality, a tongue loosened to speak perversity, and addiction (Proverbs 23:31-35). Even if alcohol should somehow buffer the muscle in the middle of the chest, the spiritual damage done to the heart would far outweigh any such benefit.<\/p>\n
Even moderate use of alcoholic beverages and similar drugs requires the Christian to ignore the warnings of the apostle Peter: “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles — when we walked in … drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties …<\/i>” (1 Peter 4:3). These three words among a group of six indicate three different levels of alcohol use. Drunkenness is self-explanatory — a state of inebriation often punctuated by unconsciousness. In the middle are the revelries, defined by Thayer as “a nocturnal and riotous procession of half-drunken and frolicsome fellows.” Not quite inebriated, but half-drunk. And wrong.<\/p>\n
The last phrase is “drinking parties” but that is really the translators’ complication of a simpler term. Literally, Peter is condemning “a drinking” (Barnes). Regardless of the extent one intends to drink, alcoholic beverages are to be avoided, so that the Christian may “walk properly” and “make no provision for the flesh” (Romans 13:13-14). The first drink is necessary to make the second possible and every alcoholic, derelict, and drunk driver started with what Peter condemns — drinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By J.S. Smith “The government said Monday that a few drinks a day may not protect against strokes and heart attacks after all.” Oops! For years, scientists, doctors, and our government have been recommending that we all hop off the wagon and moderately belly up to the bar to enhance our health. Christians searching for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[371],"class_list":["post-59880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-alcohol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29411,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/drinking-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":59880,"position":0},"title":"Drinking in the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Old Testament Sermon with Audio: Drinking in the Old Testament Article: Old Testament Beverages New Testament Sermon with audio: Drinking in the New Testament Article: New Testament Beverages","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0013_tif-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25182,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/social-drinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":59880,"position":1},"title":"Social Drinking (Spears)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears We live in a world where social drinking is accepted by over two-thirds of our entire population.\u00a0 That segment also accepts just about any other kind of drinking.\u00a0 But social drinking has been elevated a few steps above ordinary honkey-tonk or bar room drinking.\u00a0 No matter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/social-drinking-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89164,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/social-drinking-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":59880,"position":2},"title":"Social Drinking","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David McPherson Most folks are clear on the fact that drunkenness is condemned throughout the pages of the Bible. What some are not as clear on is that social drinking is also condemned. \"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/social-drinking-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-mixed-up-topsy-turvy-society\/","url_meta":{"origin":59880,"position":3},"title":"Our Mixed-Up, Topsy-Turvy Society","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Abernathy Our society can be described as running toward chaos. I am 77 years old, and today's society is not the culture I grew up in. We are seeing more and more what the apostle Paul describes as \"perilous times\" (II Timothy 3:1-5). Today's society is described in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25179,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-tell-me-your-source-for-your-opening-statement-in-social-drinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":59880,"position":4},"title":"Can you tell me your source for your opening statement in “Social Drinking”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm an addictions counselor. Having recently read your article \"Social Drinking,\" (Dudley Ross Spears), I have a question: How did you come up (substantiation for) with your opening statement: \"We live in a world where social drinking is accepted by over two-thirds of our entire population\"? Answer: One of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45681,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-question-to-be-answered\/","url_meta":{"origin":59880,"position":5},"title":"A Question to be Answered","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Will anyone defend this: \"The wise and good thing to do today is to start drinking alcohol\"? If one says, \"But the Bible doesn't condemn all drinking,\" I will respond by asking that question again. If one says, \"But there are passages in the Bible that speak\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}