You may have been told that you shouldn't drink alcohol, but have you ever asked why you shouldn't. We should always know the reasons why we don't do certain things, just as we should know the reasons why we do other things. It is coming up to 8 years since half way through my university course, I, with the help of God, decided to give up alcohol, and over the last month, I have had cause to consider again why I do not drink, and I would like to share with you some of the reasons, why I, as a young Christian, choose not to drink.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Ephesians 5v18
Lets start with the basics that most would agree on. The Bible is quite clear here and elsewhere, that it is wrong for a Christian to drink so much that they are drunk, that is that they lose control of what they are doing due to the amount of alcohol they have drunk. How much is too much? When does alcohol start to take control? The law of the land believes it is after 1 pint of beer for that is the maximum you are allowed to drink and still drive, in Europe it is half this. The truth is scientists know that any amount of alcohol can affect drivers’ reaction times, judgment and co-ordination. So even one drink can have an effect on us.
But surely one drink doesn't really affect me that much? Well maybe not but let us not forget that we are leaving ourselves open to the temptation to drink more. When I used to drink, I rarely set out to get drunk, often I was just going down the pub with a few friends and was just going to have one or two drinks. Sadly this one or two, so easily became three or four or even more. How could I be a good witness for God, if I wasn't in control of myself?
"But I never have more than one or two drinks", I hear you say.
Good, I'm pleased to hear it, consider with me another verse.
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Romans 14v21
One of the hardest things for me, was not the fact that all my non-Christian university friends drunk alcohol, but that my Christian friends drunk as well. After all if they can drink, why shouldn't I. We never know who is watching us, who is listening into our conversations. If a younger believer hears we go down the pub and drink, they may well look up to you and think well, if it is alright for them, it is alright for me. However, they may not keep it to one or two drinks, and it only takes one night to ruin a testimony. Do you really want to be guilty of your brother or sister stumbling, of their testimony before their friends being ruined?
But didn't the Lord Jesus drink "wine" (Luke 7)and even turn water into "wine" for the people to drink (John 2.
Well let's take this in its historic context and see what this "wine" that he actually drunk was. We can do this by looking at the Greek word being used. In Luke 1v15 we have two words, one is translated "wine" and the other is translated "strong drink". These two vastly differed in their alcoholic content. "wine" was actually purified water, its alcoholic content would never have been more than 2.5% and in reality was normally about 0.5%, a lot lower than any of the alcoholic drinks drunk today. "Strong drink" on the other hand was between 3% and 11% and above that didn't exist, as distillation wasn't invented until the 15th century, so the spirits and strong wine we have today, were never even heard of. We never read of the Lord of drinking anything other than "wine" which was basically just purified water, as the water in those days was not the lovely filtered tap water we get supplied with today.
At the end of the day, it is your choice as a young Christian whether you drink or not, just as it is your choice whether you go out with unbelievers, whether you steal. I hope and pray that these few words will help you in making your decision before God, whether to drink or not.
Please send any questions or comments you have on this article to a.wood@assemblyyouth.net
All quotes are from the King James version of the Bible unless otherwise specified. |
Christ in all the Scriptures