by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Deuteronomy 29:19 says the drunkard cannot be included with the sober. Christians are commanded to “watch and be sober<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 5:6). and “let us who are of the day be sober<\/em>“(I Thessalonians 5:8). Instead of relaxing our minds with a little alcoholic beverage or a little weed, we are commanded instead to “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober<\/em>…” (I Peter 1:13), and “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour<\/em>‘ (I Peter 5:8).<\/p>\n Romans 13:13-14 says to “walk properly<\/em>” and lists revelry and drunkenness as ways to walk improperly. He adds, “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts<\/em>.” I can make sure I am sober, alert, and my mind is girded up and watchful by abstaining totally from drinking alcohol. One drink is all it takes to “make provision<\/em>” for the flesh. One drink and we relax our guard. One drink and alcohol is working on the brain, and clouds the judgment and the guarded stance. This is why men and women go to bars. One drink and the inhibitions are loosened a bit. A sober person is careful and watchful, concerned about protecting his\/her morals and character. One drink and those concerns don’t seem all that important. Now the guard is down, and the devil sees his opportunity to cash in. To purposely let down your guard enough to let the alcohol in to do its intended work is not good thinking.<\/p>\n Trying to fit in the bar scene because our “friends” do it is not good sober thinking (Corinthians 15:33). They are not sober-minded and are\u00a0not <\/strong>concerned about morals. Why would you “make provision<\/em>” for the flesh by trying to fit in such a crowd? Christians have fun in other ways while staying sober at all times. One drink affects the level of sobriety and lets the guard down. We all need the guard up at all times. “Be sober” is not a suggestion. It is a command.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton Deuteronomy 29:19 says the drunkard cannot be included with the sober. Christians are commanded to “watch and be sober” (I Thessalonians 5:6). and “let us who are of the day be sober“(I Thessalonians 5:8). Instead of relaxing our minds with a little alcoholic beverage or a little weed, we are commanded…<\/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":[27],"tags":[371,1319,565],"class_list":["post-93216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-alcohol","tag-drinking","tag-sober"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67682,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dissipation\/","url_meta":{"origin":93216,"position":0},"title":"Dissipation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul mentions that drinking wine involves dissipation and that instead of doing that which dissipates good moral judgment, one should instead be \"filled with the Spirit\" (Ephesians 5:17-18). Being filled with the Spirit is the opposite of what alcohol or drugs do to the sober thinking\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":2606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-a-moderate-drinker-still-sober\/","url_meta":{"origin":93216,"position":1},"title":"Isn’t a moderate drinker still sober?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: To say that taking a drink of alcohol means you are not completely sober (I Thessalonians 5:6-8) is wrong. By this reasoning, a moderate eater would be condemned as a glutton (Proverbs 23:20-21). Answer: The fault in this line of reasoning is that two different things are being paralleled.\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":66051,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-one-drunk\/","url_meta":{"origin":93216,"position":2},"title":"When Is One Drunk?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":91551,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-risk-of-small-amounts-of-alcohol\/","url_meta":{"origin":93216,"position":3},"title":"The Risk of Small Amounts of Alcohol","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Drinking in Moderation Is Not Harmless by Andy Sochor via Plain Bible Teaching for Today It is not uncommon to hear or see debates on whether it is permissible for Christians to drink alcohol in moderation. That is an important discussion. However, it is also interesting to take note of\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":47178,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/leaving-the-pit\/","url_meta":{"origin":93216,"position":4},"title":"Leaving the Pit","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wilson Adams It was the most compelling argument I've ever heard against social drinking... A young man in his 30s stood in front of the Leaving the Pit Conference in Indianapolis on Saturday and told his story. His alcohol use began in high school and intensified in college. He\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":1679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/new-testament-beverages\/","url_meta":{"origin":93216,"position":5},"title":"New Testament Beverages","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton One of the greatest difficulties in studying God's stance on drinking is the bias translators have brought to the meaning of words used in the Bible in regards to drinking. The most common Greek word, which is translated \"wine\" is oinos\u00a0which is directly equivalent to the\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\/93216","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=93216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93216\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}