PROVERBS

Proverbs on Alcohol

Selected Proverbs

INTRODUCTION

The Biblical Treatment of Alcohol

It would be very easy for me to take a self-righteous approach and join the writer of our literature in condemning the use of alcohol. Whereas I might get a lot of "hurrahs" from people whose respect I love to have, I would be committing intellectual fraud. I do not believe that the Bible teaches abstinence with regards to alcohol. I believe it teaches moderation.

Throughout this lesson our writer demonstrates that he has already decided what he believes and then forces certain scriptures to reinforce his beliefs. (This practice unfortunately is not restricted to the discussion of alcohol.) Each passage he quotes (with the possible exception of Prov. 21:31-33) deals with moderation, not abstinence. There are too many other passages in the Bible which speak of alcohol in a favorable light: "wine which makes man's heart glad" (Ps. 104:15); Jesus' first miracle of changing over 100 gallons of water into wine (not grape juice) in John 2:1-11; and Isaiah 25:6. This last passage is significant because it describes the new age of the Messiah as being one of abundance in which wine flows freely. The abundance of wine symbolizes the joy which the kingdom of God brings.

[Two items need to be remembered here. First, the people of the Bible drank wine and not unfermented grape juice. One of the reasons they drank wine was that grape juice lasts longer once it has fermented; it is destroyed within just a few days though if it remains simply and purely grape juice. The headwaiter literally tells the bridegroom that people put out the good wine at the beginning of a ceremony; only later after people are drunk does the host bring out the cheaper wine (John 2:10). Whatever it was they drank, it could make them drunk. Second, it is interesting that our writer focuses on the alcohol part of the verses when the Bible focuses also on the abuse of food. Probably as many people die from weight-related issues and unhealthy eating as do from alcohol.]

The biblical approach to alcohol is that of moderation or temperance. For example, when Paul lists the qualifications for the ministers, the deacons, and their wives, he does not list abstinence. Rather he lists temperance, not being addicted to wine; he doesn't say: "to NO wine" (1 Tim. 3:3). Phillip Keltner told me that when the temperance movement in the early part of the 20th century broke out, it promoted temperance, not abstinence. Abstinence became a later development.

Issues Which Must Be Taken Into Account in this Debate

Having said this, I feel though that the following needs to be emphasized:
    *I've never met a tea-totaller who was an alcoholic. The only alcoholics I ever met drank alcohol. Eliminate the alcohol and you eliminate alcoholism.
    *Remove alcohol and you remove one of the main killers among teenagers.
    *Remove alcohol and you remove all the domestic violence which is started by drinking.
    *Remove alcohol and you remove all the fatal accidents caused by drunk drivers.

We will scream to the highest heavens about the 500+ people killed in Iraq this past year and not even blink an eye at the 100,000 people killed during the same time period due to alcohol-related events, accidents, etc. Something is wrong here. We will lash out at the tobacco industry which produces a product which may kill you in another 30-50 years; however, we keep silent on a product which can kill you the next time you get behind the wheel of a car.

An Issue Facing Corsicana

It is interesting that this is the topic now up for study in light of recent developments in Corsicana. So many adults are going to vote "yes" to have convenient stores sell alcohol for their own convenience so that they don't have to drive to Angus or Rice. We need to remember though, "It's not about us." It should be about the youth. We will be exposing more and more young people to alcohol if this passes. The group promoting it says that it will help with economic development. The truth though is that more money is spent on alcohol-related illnesses and accidents than the amount of revenue raised from the sale of alcohol. This though doesn't affect Corsicana directly; however, it does affect our state taxes and robs other important programs of needed funds (such as education).

Some claim that it is OK to sell alcohol in Corsicana since the youth now can get it in the outlying areas. That's true; but first the flow of alcohol in alcohol will go from being a trickle to being a flood. The most vulnerable will be affected--youth and those who otherwise would not drink unless it was so easily accessible. Second, the proper response to this situation is not to open the floodgates but to clamp down on the offending people/businesses. Such logic would be like giving heroin to the heroin addict because he's going to get it any way. Ultimately I am not responsible for what others do; however, I am responsible for my response.

My last observation regarding Corsicana is this: "Been there, done that." People are acting like Corsicana has been dry forever. That's simply not true. Alcohol used to flow freely in Corsicana. I've heard for the longest stories about life in Corsicana during the days when alcohol was easy to get, and those were not the "good ol' days." We've been there; we've done that; and it didn't work. Why do we want to go back there again?

Other Facts Regarding Alcohol

Alcohol Facts Regarding Underage Drinking:

Alcohol is the most widely used substance among secondary students.¹

Among Texas students, the average age for first drinking beer is 12.4, followed by 12.7 for wine coolers and 13.3 for liquor.¹

Twenty-seven percent of seniors report binge drinking of beer and 22% report binge drinking of liquor. Binge drinking is defined as drinking five or more drinks at a time.¹

Alcohol kills five times more Texas teens than all other drugs combined.¹

Dallas leads the nation in the rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths.²

Texas leads the nation in the rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths among 15 to 20-year-olds.²

Adolescents who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop problems with alcohol use and dependence than those who begin drinking at the age of 21 or older.²

Underage drinking costs the nation almost $60 billion a year. In Texas, the cost of underage drinking is more than $4 billion a year. Costs include traffic crashes, violent crime, burns, drowning, suicide attempts, fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol poisoning, and treatment.³

Alcohol use is correlated with accidents, violence, academic failure, impeded emotional growth, high risk behaviors that lead to unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV), negative attitudes, and poor health practices.³

Alcohol use, purchase, and possession are illegal for persons under the age of 21.

It is illegal to make alcohol available to children other than your own.

A Second Look at the Biblical Approach to Alcohol

So often proponents of drinking point to the fact that people throughout the centuries have drunk. That's true; yet also remember that society has changed radically in the past 100 years. During Jesus' day a drunk could not get into a high-powered vehicle and turn it into a lethal weapon. Most didn't even have a horse to harm others. As late as the nineteenth century the worst a person could do was to get on the horse. All he would do was to fall off the horse and break his own neck, not wipe out a mother and her children. Any discussion that does not take our present culture into account cheapens the debate.

In addition to this, we need to understand that the ancient Israelites had a different approach to drinking alcohol than we do today. Notice that the proverb states: "Don't gaze at wine when it is red, when it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly" (23:31). In other words, it may be OK to gaze at wine but not when it is red. What does the writer of Proverbs mean by that? William Barclay (one of the foremost scholars of the NT, who was also not a tea-totaller nor a conservative) writes that the Jews did not drink unmixed wine. Rather they drank a diluted version of the wine: 2 parts wine with 3 parts water. He writes: "In the East wine was an essential. Drunkenness was in fact a great disgrace, and they actually drank their wine in a mixture composed of 2 parts of wine to three parts of water" (William Barclay, The Gospel of John, vol. 1:97). You can make a case for drinking watered-down wine on the basis of Scripture but not for much else. (Before appealing to Scripture as the basis for justifying drinking, make sure you have investigated thoroughly the issue to make sure that the situations are the same between the 1st and 21st centuries.)

Finally, there is a verse regarding alcohol that most people overlook in this dialogue: "use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments" (1 Tim. 5:23). Most people will read this verse and say, "Ah ha! So Paul does condone drinking!" They fail to recognize what is going on in this situation. Timothy is such a tea-totaller that Paul has to command him to drink wine, not in order to be temperate but in order to take care of his "upset" stomach and weak constitution. Wine is being prescribed for medicinal reasons, not for reasons of temperance versus abstinence. An upset stomach is the issue, not abstinence. If Timothy had not had these stomach problems, Paul would not have commanded him to drink the wine.

VARIOUS SCRIPTURES ON ALCOHOL

Alcohol is Deceptive

(20:1) Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler, and whoever staggers because of them is not wise. (23:19) Listen, my son, and be wise; keep your mind on the right course. (23:20) Don't associate with those who drink too much wine, or with those who gorge themselves on meat. (23:21) For the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and grogginess will clothe [them] in rags.

The primary principle behind these verses is that the persons you associate with can easily influence you. Think about going up to a person who is sitting on the floor and giving them a hand to help them up. It would be far easier for them to pull you down than for you to pull them up. In the same way spiritually, it is easier to be pulled down spiritually than it is to pull somebody up spiritually. We need to be careful with whom we associate.

A secondary principle may also be operating here. Bill Gothard, noted Christian speaker the last third of the 20th century, has advised his listeners to investigate the CEO's running the companies they are interested in investing in. If the CEO has a drinking problem or is out of shape, it shows that he lacks self-discipline. This person's lack of self control will carry over into the way he runs the company. (Some people may be out of shape for health reasons they have no control over; this does not apply to them.)

Alcohol is Destructive

(23:29-30) Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has conflicts? Who has complaints? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has red eyes? Those who linger over wine, those who go looking for mixed wine.

We are either naive or misleading if we claim that everybody who drinks has these troubles. That's not true. I've seen healthy individuals who drink and who do not experience misery as a result. On the other hand, though, I have seen people who have been severely affected negatively by alcohol. While at college I saw people do things while drinking they would never do otherwise: jumping into swimming pools during the dead of winter, getting violently sick to their stomachs, fighting, etc. Drinking removed all the healthy controls in their lives so that they gave way to behavior they would have otherwise never engaged in.

Alcohol is Addictive

(23:31) Don't gaze at wine when it is red, when it gleams in the cup and goes down smoothly. (23:32) In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper. (23:33) Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say absurd things. (23:34) You'll be like someone sleeping out at sea or lying down on the top of a ship's mast. (23:35) "They struck me, but I feel no pain! They beat me, but I did not know it! When will I wake up? I'll look for another [drink]!"

Drinking can lead to addiction. The truth is most likely that you're an addict whether you've ever drunk or not. Alcohol simply helps you find out if you are an addict. When you find out you are though, then it just might be too late. This is a terrible risk to take.

Alcohol is Distractive

(31:4) It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers to desire beer. (31:5) Otherwise, they will drink, forget what is decreed, and pervert justice for all the oppressed.

Alcohol is a Sedative

(31:6-7) Give beer to one who is dying, and wine to one whose life is bitter. Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty and remember his trouble no more.

The sad thing is that alcohol can be a misleading sedative. In a previous lesson I spoke of a young lady who basically drank herself to death. She went from being a 100-pound beautiful young lady into a 70-pound wraith who looked like she had just stepped out of Auschwitz concentration camp. Why was she drinking so heavily? So that she could drown out her memories of having an abortion. She thought that if she drank enough she would forget what she had done. That was not the way to handle this. Rather, she should have faced her problem head-on, gotten psychological help, and let the Lord heal her. Instead, she drank her problems and herself away.

A FUNNY LITTLE ASIDE

This whole study reminds me of a story Dr. Drumwright told at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. A pastor of a very conservative Baptist church got up and preached that Jesus turned the water literally into wine. The church was not used to this. They were repeatedly told in the past that Jesus had only made grape juice. The hair on the back of the deacons' necks stood up; the pastor took a big gulp and then said, "It is OK to drink--but only if the wine has been produced by Jesus Christ and bottled by the Holy Spirit."