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First of all, in this study, we will notice what the
Bible teaches about strong drink. We learn that strong drink hinders
one from properly discerning between good and evil, Lev. 10:8-10.
Strong drink also effects a person physically. The Psalmist pictures
the partakers of strong drink as "They (that) reel to and fro, and
stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end", Psa. 107:27.
Solomon says that strong drink causes poverty. "For the
drunkard...shall come to poverty, Prov. 23:21. He also says that strong
drink brings sorrow and woe. "Who hath woe? Who hath contentions? Who
hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Whos hath redness of
eyes? They that tarry long at the wine: they that go to seek mixed
wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it moveth itself
aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an
adder", Prov. 23:29-32.
Strong drink also deranges the mind. Solomon, speaking
to partakers of strong drink said, "Thine eyes shall behold strange
women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yes, thou shalt be
as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon
the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not
sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I
will seek it yet again", Prov. 23:33-35.
Strong drink will cause one to forget the law and to
pervert justice. Solomon again said, "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it
is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they
drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the
afflicted", Prov. 31:4,5.
Strong drink destroys one's judgment. Isaiah said, "But
they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of
the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink,
they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong
drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment", Isa. 28:7.
Now that we have noticed what the Bible says about
strong drink let's turn our attention to some facts about strong drink.
Statistics show that 60% of all arrests are alcohol related. They also
tell us that Americans spend three times as much for alcoholic
beverages as they do for religion. More money is spent in America, on
strong drink, than is spent for education. One out of every three
alcoholics is a woman. One out of every four mentally disturbed persons
is an alcoholic. Sixty per cent of all adult Americans drink alcoholic
beverages to some extent. Since there are so many imbibers of strong
drink it is only natural that many attempts are made to justify their
partaking of it. We will notice some of the more prominent ones at this
time.
Notwithstanding the multitude of Scriptures that
denounce strong drink, one attempt to justify it is that the Bible
condones it. The Scripture used to back up this attempt is 1 Tim. 5:23
where Paul told Timothy to "Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake."
In answering this attempt I will say two things:
1. Paul said, "Use a LITTLE," not "A LOT"; and
2. He also said, "For thy STOMACH'S sake," not "for thy HEAD'S sake."
Others say, "We can use the tax money derived from the
sale of alcoholic beverages." I do not have the figures for all of the
states, but I do have them for Massachusetts, a state that is supposed
to be average in this respect. For every one dollar taken in as
revenue, the state of Massachusetts spends $4.82 on alcohol--caused
crimes and care of alcoholics. In 1954, an average year, the Federal
government paid out $718 million more for its liquor crime bill than it
took in from alcohol revenues.
Still others try to justify strong drink by saying, "We
live in a free land where we have the liberty to drink if we want to."
Liberty does not give a person the right to infringe upon the liberty
of others. What about the liberty of the thousands that are killed on
the highways every year because of drunken drivers?
Some say that a man must drown his sorrows in strong
drink. A MAN does not drown his sorrows--he stands up and faces them as
a man should. Besides, strong drink will not drown sorrows--it will
only increase them. Some attempt to justify strong drink by saying,
"It's only a disease." Strong drink does lead to a diseased mind and
body, but it is the only disease I know that will send a person to
eternal torment.
Finally, this statement is made many times, "One little
drink won't hurt." Science has discovered that some people's
bodies are so constituted that they can become an alcoholic if they
take only one drink. The alcoholic is such because he took only one
drink--the first one.
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