Booze Stooge

Part of my job as news director for KOXE is to go to the Law Enforcement Center every morning and check the police reports for any possible incident that might make a good news story. While there is an occasional robbery, or string of vehicle burglaries, most of the incident reports have to deal with DUI violations, possession of small amounts of marijuana, or disorderly conduct often caused by excessive drinking. To be quite honest, if not for the alcohol-related offenses in the stack of police reports, there probably wouldn't be much news at all come out of the Brown County Law Enforcement Center.

To be quite honest, consuming alcohol is quite popular in America. When Jacksonville, Texas, voted to allow alcohol to be sold in stores, sales tax revenues jumped. At the store my father manages, the increased sales revenues allowed him to hire an assistant manager, thus making it posssible for him to take a day off. While many people drink socially without much problem, many others have their lives destroyed by their actions while under the influence of alcohol. Given the problems and social stigma that often accompany the consumption of alcoholic beverages, my practice is to counsel people to avoid consuming alcoholic beverages.

The Bible is very clear in regard to recreational drinking. Isaiah 5:11 says, "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, till wine inflame them." Isaiah 5:22 reiterates this by saying, "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink."

People who engage in recreational drinking for the purpose of getting intoxicated are setting themselves up for disaster. Drunkeness is a sin, and it also creates situations that will not be easily resolved when the buzz wears off.

For that reason, and given the strength of alcoholic beverages today, I counsel people not to drink alcohol. (1) Despite it's popularity, recreational drinking does carry a social stigma. (2) Given the potential for recreational drinking to go too far, resulting in a drunken incident, I advise people to abstain from drinking alcoholic beverages. Why flirt with disaster? (3) Drinking alcoholic beverages does not help your relationship with Christ. You are not going to grow closer to the Lord by drinking.

Now, some will counter with the statement, "But the Bible doesn't forbid drinking." This is true, but if you are going through life trying to figure out what the Bible allows you to do, then you are approaching your relationship with God the wrong way. The question is not, "What can I do, and what can't I do?" but rather, "What should I be doing?" That's a topic for another day.

So, to sum up. Drinking is not expressly prohibited in scripture, but for a variety of reasons, I strongly advise against it.