Having been “raised in the church,” so to speak, I have always “known” that drinking is sinful, and have abstained (with a few exceptions in my college years, for which I’m grateful for the opportunity to have repented of). I could not have explained myself, though, against the arguments that proponents of social drinking use. My sister, raised in the same circumstances as I, has recently decided that social drinking (i.e., one glass of wine over dinner) is just fine.<\/p>\n
I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your efforts and that they will be of great use to me as I prepare to give an answer for my convictions.<\/p>\n\t
Thank you for taking the time to let me know that the articles were useful to you. It is good to know that they are encouraging others to live faithfully.<\/p>\n
It has long been a goal of mine to tackle and explain issues as clearly as I can. I recall from my teenage years asking why certain things were wrong and getting vague answers. I also remember some of my favorite Bible classes being those where the teacher made us prove things that we had always taken for granted.<\/p>\n
I can’t say that I have always been successful. Some of the questions that I have received have caused me to do a lot of digging for which I am grateful. Others leave me feeling that I missed some critical point, so I didn’t answer well enough. Of course, there are always those that no matter what is said or how clearly it is said, the answer is never good enough; but that comes with the territory. The important thing is helping people better understand the message God has given us.<\/p>\n
Pass the word to your friends, neighbors, and even your enemies. I hope that what everyone finds will improve their walk before the Lord. If I can be of further service, just write.<\/p>\n
“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen<\/em>” (I Peter 4::11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I have been reading and re-reading the articles on your website that pertain to social drinking. I’ve been surprised at the lack of articles that exist (at least through a Google search) that really address the issue. Having been “raised in the church,” so to speak, I have always “known” that drinking is sinful,…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[127,371],"class_list":["post-6864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-about-this-site","tag-alcohol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25179,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-tell-me-your-source-for-your-opening-statement-in-social-drinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":6864,"position":0},"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":59741,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/social-drinking-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":6864,"position":1},"title":"Social Drinking (Thompson)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Thompson Many times in trying to justify social drinking people will use as a defense Paul's admonition to Timothy in I Timothy 5:23, which says, \"use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities.\" I think this passage has not been thoroughly discussed until we\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":25182,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/social-drinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":6864,"position":2},"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":6864,"position":3},"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":2618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-words-carousing-or-reveling-condemn-social-drinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":6864,"position":4},"title":"Do the words “carousing” or “reveling” condemn social drinking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My preacher said that the words \"carousing\" and \"reveling\" are often misused today. Some have associated these words with social drinking. However, carousing and reveling refer to parties where drunkenness is either the goal or by-product of the party. I tried to discuss\u00a0I Peter 4:3\u00a0with him, suggesting that \"tippling\"\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":36020,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/adolescent-alcohol-use\/","url_meta":{"origin":6864,"position":5},"title":"Adolescent Alcohol Use","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0David Murphey, et al., \"Alcohol Use,\" Adolescent Health Highlight, Child Trends, Publication 2012-34, November 2012. Though continuing a downward trend, alcohol use remains a problem among teenagers despite the fact that the minimum drinking age is 21 throughout the United States. 40% of high school seniors, 27% of high school\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6864","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=6864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6864\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}