To Drink or Not to Drink

There are many, many articles, posts, sermons, and what-have-you's concerning the morality of drinking alcohol. This isn't so much about the rightness or wrongness of drinking alcohol, but the wisdom involved in it.

That being said, I will start with a brief synopsis of my view that drinking alcohol is a matter of conscience, a disputable matter, if you will.

In John 2, we have the wedding at Cana.

In this well-known narrative, Jesus goes to a wedding. In Cana. The wedding planners obviously didn't expect such a large turnout (it probably didn't help that Jesus brought 12 extra guests with him), and they ran out of wine. At the request of his mother, Jesus turns some water in wine and gives it to the guests. The point here is, if alcohol was wholesale evil, Jesus wouldn't have made some.

In contrast, one can go too far with the bottle.
"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18)
"Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy." (Romans 13:13)

Even though drinking in moderation is not sinful in itself, it is still a "debatable issue." Romans 14 outlines how one might eat or abstain from certain foods, but does so to the Lord. Verse 14 says, "I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean." Alcohol isn't wrong in and of itself, but as the rest of Romans 14 goes on to say, if it grieves a brother then the "stronger" Christians has a responsibility to abstain on behalf of his "weaker" brother.

"Brief" synopsis aside, where is the wisdom in drinking alcohol?

Proverbs 23 has much to say about alcohol. Verse 21 tells us that the drunkard comes to poverty. Likewise, in verses 29-35, "those who tarry long over wine" know all kinds of sorrow and strife. In Proverbs 31:1-9, King Lemuel's mother teaches him that wine is not for kings, lest they pervert justice, but that it should be given those who are perishing and in bitter distress so that they forget their misery.

Sometimes, wisdom can come from some pretty unassuming places. Last week I was helping with a camp, and one of my students shared about some of interactions he had with his friends at school. They started to do some things (as teenagers do) that he did not want to participate in, saying there was "nothing wrong with it." I don't know what "it" was, but my student questioned this mentality, saying, "There may be nothing wrong with it, but there isn't anything right with it either."

My mind was blown by a freshman in high school.

I was amazed to find that he had thought about doing (or not doing, as the case may be) not because he could, but on the basis on whether it was good or not. Since I was thinking about this post throughout the week, his statement immediately clicked with what the Proverbs were saying about alcohol. There may not be anything wrong with it, but is there anything right about it? Does it lead to a life honoring and pleasing to the Lord?

Maybe. Just maybe. It might be best to avoid alcohol.