The reason the Bible doesn’t totally condemn alcoholic beverages is that they do have some use, such as a topical antiseptic and in some medicines. You didn’t mention which verses you were looking at, but I suspect you are referring to the ones where the productivity of the farm is considered a blessing from God. You have to be careful to examine the Hebrew words being used as well as the context in which they are being used. Our English translations tend to broadly translate words as “wine” even when the word or the context indicates that an alcoholic beverage is not under consideration.<\/p>\n
For example, “Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,’ So will I do for My servants’ sake, That I may not destroy them all.<\/em>” (Isaiah 65:8). Since the new wine is found in the cluster, we know God is talking about the juice of the grapes and not a fermented product. The Hebrew word tirosh<\/em>\u00a0refers to fresh, unfermented juice and is translated as “new wine” in this verse.<\/p>\n There are two extensive articles on this topic:<\/p>\nOld Testament Beverages<\/a> Please review them for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Generally, the Bible condemns drunkenness (in a variety of places) but nowhere condemns wine or alcoholic beverages in total. In fact, the mild exhilaration that comes from moderate imbibing of wine is seen as a blessing of God in several Old Testament passages. Health advisor says alcohol impairs the nervous system and strains the…<\/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":[20],"tags":[371],"class_list":["post-8408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-alcohol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2598,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-the-bible-indicate-that-god-accepts-alcohol\/","url_meta":{"origin":8408,"position":0},"title":"Doesn’t the Bible indicate that God accepts alcohol?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Doesn't the Scriptures say that God accepts alcohol? It was used for blessings (Genesis 14:18;\u00a027:28;\u00a0Proverbs 3:10). He gave permission to use strong drink (Deuteronomy 14:26). It was used in the drink offering (Exodus 29:41). God made the grape, which would make the wine, which makes man's hearts glad (Psalm\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":43894,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wine-in-the-bible-how-fermentation-was-prevented\/","url_meta":{"origin":8408,"position":1},"title":"Wine in the Bible \u2013 How Fermentation Was Prevented","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ryan Hasty Wine in the Bible is spoken of as a blessing in its unfermented state and as an intoxicant in its fermented state. Many do not realize that those living in biblical days were able to keep their wine from fermenting and in fact did so regularly. How\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":14582,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-gluttony-and-drinking-are-both-sins-then-isnt-abstaining-from-alcohol-as-ridiculous-as-abstaining-from-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":8408,"position":2},"title":"If gluttony and drinking are both sins, then isn’t abstaining from alcohol as ridiculous as abstaining from food?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How would you answer the following argument: \"Getting drunk is a sin, but gluttony is also a sin. Since the Bible doesn't tell us at what point drunkenness or gluttony is sinful, it is up to us to determine how much is too much. To completely abstain from alcohol\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":3587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-ephesians-518-imply-that-some-use-of-alcohol-is-permitted\/","url_meta":{"origin":8408,"position":3},"title":"Doesn’t Ephesians 5:18 imply that some use of alcohol is permitted?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God wrote in\u00a0Ephesians 5:18, \"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.\" When God tells us not to get speeding tickets, what is He inferring? Obviously, that driving is not a sin. When God tells us not to get drunk, what\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":55927,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-gospel-sanction-the-use-of-beverage-alcohol-in-different-countries-according-to-local-customs\/","url_meta":{"origin":8408,"position":4},"title":"Does the Gospel Sanction the Use of Beverage Alcohol in Different Countries According to Local Customs?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim E. Waldron In our approach to the word of God, we must not assume that modern definitions of words are those which are found in the word of God. Words in the Scriptures must be used in the context in which they were used at the time they\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":24157,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-answer-someone-who-claims-new-wine-in-acts-213-must-be-alcoholic\/","url_meta":{"origin":8408,"position":5},"title":"How do you answer someone who claims “new wine” in Acts 2:13 must be alcoholic?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In\u00a0attempts to discuss my beliefs\u00a0with some people in the denominations,\u00a0the issue of alcohol came up (the person I was speaking to brews her own beer). Their claim was that Acts 2:13 proves that the new wine was alcoholic, even though I tried to point out that, instead, it was\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8408","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=8408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8408\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNew Testament Beverages<\/a>\n