Drink Responsibly?

Drink Responsibly?

By Reese Currie, Compass Distributors

To many Christians, the words “drink responsibly” seem to be an oxymoron. You either abstain from alcohol entirely, in which case you are doing what they believe the Bible says we must do, or you drink, and therefore all of scripture's condemnations of drunkenness apply to you.

Yet, the Law of Moses records, “You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household” (Deuteronomy 14:26, NASB). God just doesn't have the same problem with the moderate consumption of alcohol that many Christians do.

Most of the verses that Christians in favor of prohibition say forbid the consumption of alcohol altogether only actually apply to drunkenness. There is such a thing as drinking in moderation, but many Christians reject this. There are some basic psychological reasons why they believe this way. Adults who were raised in an alcoholic home typically suffer from “all-or-none functioning”; to them, everything is black-and-white, and there are no shades of gray. You either abstain altogether, or you drink and are a drunk—there's no space in their psychological make-up to consider that one could drink moderately and not be a drunk. This is because they lived their early lives in families in which behavior was either strictly controlled or completely uncontrolled. It makes it hard for such people to see a middle ground.

Prohibitionist Christians must weave an elaborate web of lies around the Scriptures to support their views; “Jesus made non-alcoholic wine”, when the context of the passage (John 2:1-11) clearly indicates that the wine being consumed at the event was capable of getting people drunk; “grape juice, not alcoholic wine, is used in communion” when Paul clearly states in 1 Corinthians 11:20-22 that people were getting drunk on communion wine and that practice had to stop. You can read more about this in another of our articles, What Does The Bible Say About Alcohol?

Another misapplication of Scripture to attempt to provide a Biblical basis for prohibition is this quotation, which applies only to the Israelites who were fed manna by God in the desert as they went from Egypt toward the Promised Land: “I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 29:5,6, NASB). The people who quote this passage rarely forbid their church members to eat bread, yet it is seen entirely logical to forbid the use of alcoholic beverages based on this verse. What's really being said here is that eating bread and drinking wine or strong drink are equally normal practices, both of which were suspended for the miraculous period in which God provided manna to eat.

However, I do not want the Biblical truth about alcohol to breed licentiousness. The use of alcohol has its limits. One has to “drink responsibly.” In the world, that means to go ahead and get drunk, but don't drive your car while drunk, or drink so much that you get into bar fights. The Christian faith simply has a higher standard than the world does. So, what does it mean to “drink responsibly” from a Biblical perspective?

I think the Bible teaches us three rules concerning the proper use of alcohol. 1) Don't get drunk. 2) Do not drink in such a way that it will cause yourself or another person to stumble. 3) Do not drink if you have made religious vows not to drink.

Rule #1: Don't Get Drunk

Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (NASB).

So, the first rule to me is, if you don't think you can handle drinking just one or possibly two drinks, but would always want more than that, you shouldn't drink at all—you should opt for complete abstinence. It is possible for some people to drink to relax, or drink to socialize, without getting drunk. But if you are one of those people who doesn't see any point in drinking unless you get drunk, you should just repent of drinking at all, because you are approaching it from a sinful perspective.

The only right perspective toward drinking alcohol is that found in Deuteronomy 14:26; you should be able to rejoice in God's presence with your use of alcohol. If drinking makes you want to do things that would be unacceptable in God's presence—such as getting drunk—you shouldn't drink at all.

In case anyone is confused about the definition of drunkenness, I will give a Bible-based definition. You are drinking too much if, as a result of drinking alcohol, any one of the following things occurs.

you disrobe in an inappropriate place or a place you might be seen by someone you wouldn't want to see you (cf. Genesis 9:21; Lamentations 4:21)
you have sex with someone you shouldn't (cf. Genesis 19:33-35)
you pass out from drinking (cf. Genesis 19:33-35)
even when not drinking, you exhibit physical symptoms such as “dullness of eyes” (cf. Genesis 49:12)
you are disrespectful and disobedient toward parents (cf. Deuteronomy 21:19-20)
you treat your spouse disrespectfully, or in other ways create conflict with your spouse (cf. Esther 1:10-12)
you try to force yourself on someone sexually (cf. Esther 7:8)
you reel or stagger (cf. Job 12:25; Psalm 60:3; Psalm 107:27; Isaiah 28:7)
you get into a brawl (cf. Proverbs 20:1)
you ever go on an all-day binge (cf. Isaiah 5:11)
you drink enough to vomit (cf. Isaiah 19:14; Jeremiah 25:27)
you have incited others to get drunk with you (cf. Isaiah 56:12)
alcohol has taken away your understanding (cf. Hosea 4:11)
you associate with a bad crowd (cf. Hosea 7:5)
you become a mocker (cf. Hosea 7:5)
you have made inappropriate trades to obtain alcohol (cf. Joel 3:3)
your life and resources are consumed by alcohol (cf. Nahum 1:10)
you get others drunk so you can see them naked (cf. Habakkuk 2:15)
it causes you to become boisterous (cf. Zechariah 9:15)
you speak unintelligibly (cf. Acts 2:13; the subjects of the comment were not actually drunk but speaking in tongues; nevertheless speaking unintelligibly was considered a symptom of drunkenness by the onlookers)
you get involved in drinking parties or carousing (boisterous drunken merry-making) (cf. Romans 13:13; 1 Peter 4:3)

It has been popularly believed for some time that the first sip of alcohol has the potential to render the drinker an alcoholic. This view has been popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous. The notion is to take all responsibility for becoming addicted away from the addict. It's an especially problematic teaching because it means that advice such as Paul gives Timothy--“No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Timothy 5:23, NASB) could be considered dangerous to apply to your own life. That means the concept of Biblical infallibility on moral issues goes out the window! Fortunately, the AA dogma is not true; it takes at least three drinks in a fairly short time frame to produce the chemical conditions in the brain that could spark an addiction to alcohol. So, for safety's sake, and to avoid transgressing with drunkenness, it would be best, if you choose to drink alcohol at all, to limit yourself to a maximum of two drinks in a day, or if you have more, to at least space them out far enough that the first two wear off before you have another.

Rule #2: Don't Cause Stumbling

Romans 14:13-21 says,

Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. (NASB)

Again, I must note that no church I know of has ever put a vow of vegetarianism into their church membership requirements as a result of this passage, but plenty of churches insist on a vow of abstinence from alcohol.

This passage is not necessarily a call to complete abstinence, but it may work out that way in some cases. For example, if your spouse is an alcoholic, and is tempted by the sight of alcohol, you should abstain yourself, at least in your spouse's presence, so that they are protected from stumbling. If a friend is an alcoholic, you can at least not drink in his or her presence.

I believe that it is within the rights of a church to require abstinence as a condition of church membership. If the membership of a local church determines that the effect of any member being a drinker would cause another member or members to stumble, they should be able to make that a requirement of membership. Other Christians are also free not to join a church with this requirement.

If you are a person who actually does get drunk, it is possible that your drinking may cause psychological damage to your children, which I believe would qualify as a way of making them stumble. The children are people who do not themselves even drink yet, but they can be caused to stumble later in life because of the psychological damage they sustain living in an alcoholic home.

In Genesis 9:20-27, we read about an incident of Noah's drunkenness after the family had disembarked from the ark:

Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant." (NASB)

Sometimes, we do something wrong, and ultimately, it ends up that our children are the ones who get hurt because of it. Noah got drunk, and this touched off a sequence of events ending up with Noah's son Ham being cursed, and that curse continuing on through Ham's offspring.

Can drunkenness have a devastating effect on your children, and later, their children? Absolutely. Much study has been done into the issues of “adult children of alcoholics.” These are people who were raised in an alcoholic home, and now live as adults with psychological damage from the events they lived through. The core issues for adult children of alcoholics are a need for control, distrust of self and others, avoidance of feelings, over-responsibility, ignoring their own needs, all-or-none functioning (which we touched on in the introduction), disassociation (separating events from feelings), and being “adrenaline junkies”, who live from crisis to crisis and unconsciously create crises when none exist. Most adult children of alcoholics are unaware of the cause of their problems, but do know they are living tumultuous, tragic, unhappy lives. They will frequently marry alcoholics or individuals with other addictive behaviors, and they will frequently become alcoholics themselves. It is a tragic situation that affects a great many people, most of whom do not realize it is a source of their troubles.

Rule #3: Don't Drink If You've Made Vows Not To

If you have made a vow not to drink alcohol, you should either formally withdraw yourself from the vow or continue not to drink alcohol. You shouldn't be part of a church that requires you not to drink alcohol, while consuming alcohol hoping that the other people in your church won't find out.

In Jeremiah 35:5-9, we read of the Rechabites, who, out of duty to Jonadab the son of Rechab, abstained from drinking wine, building houses, sowing seed or planting or owning a vineyard.

Then I set before the men of the house of the Rechabites pitchers full of wine and cups; and I said to them, "Drink wine!" But they said, "We will not drink wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, 'You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, forever. 'You shall not build a house, and you shall not sow seed and you shall not plant a vineyard or own one; but in tents you shall dwell all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn.' "We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded us, not to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons or our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard or field or seed. (NASB)

God had a favorable response to the honor of the Rechabites. Jeremiah 35:18, 19 says, “Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands and done according to all that he commanded you; therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me always'”'” (NASB).

The Rechabite vow was honored, but not because it is wrong to drink wine. It is no more wrong to drink wine than it is to build a house or sow seed. God honored the vow because the Rechabites honored a commandment that was merely human, while the people of Judah failed to honor commandments from God. God said, “Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have observed the command of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to Me” (Jeremiah 35:16, NASB).

It pleases God when you keep to your word, even if the promise you have made is to do something “extra-biblical” like abstaining from alcohol. Another example is the “vow of a Nazirite” not to drink alcohol or cut his hair, found in Numbers 6:1-20. The Nazirite vow is not permanent; a Nazirite could go back to drinking wine when the vow was fulfilled (see Numbers 6:20).

Similarly, I would say that if you choose to leave a church that imposes a vow of abstinence from alcohol, you would be freed from that vow once your membership was terminated.

Besides the above three rules, it is preferable that a woman does not drink alcohol during pregnancy. Although the Bible mentions this, it mentions it only in relation to the mother of Samson so I do not want to misrepresent that as being a Biblical commandment for all pregnant women. In this case, God gives this command to Samson's mother because Samson is to be a Nazirite from his birth to his death (see Judges 13 for the whole story). Modern medical research seems to indicate this is good advice for all mothers, though, as even drinking moderately can afflict the baby with fetal alcohol syndrome.

The equation of Christianity with abstinence from alcohol is a doctrine of purely human invention. It is not to be found in the Bible. It seems furthermore to be a doctrine peculiar to the church in North America, perhaps the result of early puritanism. Whatever the case, unless you have vowed to your congregation that you will not drink alcohol, you are Biblically free to do so, given that you do not get drunk or cause others to stumble.

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