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Because since a lot of people are incapable of using it responsibly it is often thought it is best to avoid it.Jesus didnt teach that drinking was a sin....but getting drunk was.Alcohol abuse has caused the world a lot of grief and heartache.I dont have a problem with people who drink moderately,but I dont drink at all as I dont find it to add anything positive to my life and I dont wish to be a bad influence on others.......Your ideas may vary.
It's not a universal trait among Christians. (Although maybe it is among Christens) The Mormons, the Salvation Army, some forms of Methodism, many to most Baptist denominations, and a few others prohibit alcohol. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, and Anglicans have no such prohibitions. Catholic and Orthodox Eucharist uses wine. Although I believe many of the denominations that allow alcohol discourage drunkenness or getting drunk.
Nor is this unique to Christian denominations. Islam prohibits alcohol and at least in principle Buddhism prohibits intoxicants. (In practice the forbidding of intoxicants in Buddhism is often limited to monks and I'm guessing it may not be entirely enforced even there)
The Christian denominations I know of "down home", in Arkansas, sometimes state that alcohol use was prohibited after the Last Supper. The following verses seem to be what they mean.
Luke 22:18 - For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.
Mark 14:25 - I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.
Denominations that allow alcohol say, or I think they would, that these Gospel verses do not imply a general prohibition on alcohol among members. Further that the rest of the New Testament makes it clear Christians did drink wine for medicinal reasons.
1 Timothy 5:23 - Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
Although as mentioned sometimes denominations that allow alcohol will discourage drunkenness or drinking more than small amounts.
Ephesians 5:18 - Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
1 Timothy 3:8 - Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
The temperance position was originally one of "drink little alcohol" rather than "drink no alcohol" and that form of temperance gained many supporters in the more Catholic counties of Ireland.
All that said I do not personally drink alcohol. This is not a religious issue so much as a personal choice. I do not enjoy the taste much and I see no need to start drinking it. However as mentioned it's more of a personal issue and not part of some larger social agenda. (To paraphrase Holling Vincoeur)
Certainly there is no good basis in the Bible for regarding Rum Baba as the work of the devil. Temperance is not the same as abstinence. I don't actually bother to have drink in the house as I prefer coffee and fruit jiuce but I'll sometimes have a wine or cider or beer - so I have no axe to grind except against those who fiddle the Bible make it say what they want it to say.
Those who argue that alcohol is a sin have to work hard to argue away the constant reference to wine in the NT. By 'wine' they say, Jesus meant grape juice. Well, in a way wine is grape juice, but it must have been standing around rather too long as it was potent stuff.
Luke 7 and Matthew 11 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." '
The drunkard reference would hardly have been used if the wine was not the sort one on which could get tanked.
Acts 2 14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!
If you want to see them pie - eyed, wait until after dinner.
Luke 1 you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the LORD. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink,
Implying that wine in the Bible is fermented.
Luke 5:39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "
John 2:10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
I have never heard of vintage grape - juice. Fermented drink improves with age.
Luke 10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The point about pouring on wine is that the alchohol sterilises. Grape - juice is not going to do anything.
Established that wine is alcoholic, what of the claim that Jesus swore off the stuff so we shouldn't ever touch it?
Mark 14:25 Also Matth 26 and Luke 22 (but not John, who never heard this saying) "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."
This is hardly a taking the little blue ribbon as Jesus fully intends to start swilling the stuff again when the kingdom of God comes.
Indeed, Matthew reckons it was already there,
Matthew 12:28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
As does Luke since, despite repeating the claims about it all coming about within the generation, it hadn't happened and Luke was already thinking of explaining that it was already there but no -one had noticed.
Luke (17.21) Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."
I believe no -one else uses this saying, so it must be Luke's own addition (1). Not his only one.
Can't help noticing that we never hear of 'The kingdom of God' until the New testament apart from a reference in Psalms 45 which is just about God's (Jewish) kindgom and Daniel, 6.26 which is just an absurd claim that Darius acclaimed the God of the Jews as the only true God, and 2.44 which is just the Maccabean rallying - cry that, in the days of the revolt against the Seleucids, God will make his (Jewish) kingdom rule over all the others - the first real statement of the Messianic aspiration. However, this isn't the place to pursue that matter.
The point is that Jesus wouldn't have to wait too long to fall off the wagon again. Indeed he never got on it if we can believe the crucifixion accounts.
John 19:29 NIV A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.
This isn't grape juice - this is the cheap army wine issued to Roman soldiers.
Luke is clever enough to suggest that wine was offered but Jesus refused it. but it is clear that John is right. The synoptics agree that the wine was refused at first but: Mark 15 36 One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. and Matthew 27.the same.
Of course Jesus drank it.
To focus more on the OP, rather than follow up on Thom's point, this take against booze surely arose out of the temperance movement which was probably socially needed and dragging the Bible into it was needed by authority, the character of reformers and the persitent link between religion and killjoy. The same happened in the prohibition where the cure turned out to be worse than the disease.
(1) compare Mark 17, Matthew 25 where we get 'lo here and 'There he is'. This is the discussion about the 'last days' that is on the mount of olives after leaving the temple which Luke has at 21.7 But he shifts it back to his expanded acount of the trip via Perea to Jerusalem to slip in this personal 'within/amongst you' addition amongst all his additional parables
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 08-01-2010 at 04:54 AM..
Reason: Ps. footnote to Luke 17
Yeah, what might be more defensible is the idea that taking a vow not to drink can be admirable. I think the Nazirite vow in the Old Testament had "no alcohol" and John the Baptist is said not to drink in the verse AREQUIPA mentions. However a blanket prohibition on all Christians, as opposed to a personal choice or sacrifice of the individual, does look hard to support.
I've heard the "they mean grape juice not wine" defense online, but I admit I've rarely heard it in life. To me it's pretty clear they don't mean grape juice. Although the statements of critics that the Apostles were drunk is not necessarily relevant to whether they drank alcohol. When someone is seen as behaving "oddly" it's fairly common, in many cultures, to go for the idea they're drunk or insane.
It is not necessary. It is not necessary. All know that they drank alcohol. Do not hang up a spaghetti on ear.
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It is not necessary. It is not necessary. All know that they drank alcohol. Do not hang up a spaghetti on ear. 
