|
The harmfulness of consuming
Alcohol
There are quite a number of instances in the
Bible where consuming wine and strong drink are condemned in
strongest terms. An unambiguous prohibition, however, is given
for those who dedicated themselves to religious service.
Similarly to the Qur’anic order in Sura 4, An-Nisa, aya
43:
“O you
who believe, do not come near prayer, when you are
intoxicated, til you know what you
utter…”
Deuteronomy (5th book of Moses) 29.5
says:
"you
have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong
drink; that you may know that I am the LORD your
God.”
In Leviticus (3rd book of Moses)
10.9 the priests who dedicated themselves for service, are
explicitly prohibited from drinking
wine:
“Drink no wine
nor strong drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into
the tent of meeting, lest you die; it shall be a statute for
ever throughout your
generations.”
This statue forever thus still is valid for all who
want to follow the law given in the Bible. In Numbers
(4th Book of Moses) 6. 2-3 is
stated:
"Say to the
people of Israel, When either a man or a woman makes a special
vow, the vow of a Nazirite (according to a footnote in the
Bible cited from, that is one consecrated), to separate
himself to the LORD, he shall separate himself from wine and
strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar made from wine or
strong drink, and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat
grapes, fresh or dried.”
Likewise Ezekiel
44.21:
“No priest shall
drink wine, when he enters the inner
court.”
Now to those statements concerning all of mankind
without making any differences. First of all we like to quote
the aya of the Qur’an which forbids consuming alcohol to the
believers and gives them reasons for it. Sura 5, Al-Ma’ida,
aya 90-91:
“O you who
believe, wine, games of chance, idols and divining arrows are
an abomination from the work of Satan, so shun him that you
may have success. The Satan wants to place enmity and hatred
amongst you by wine and game of chance and keep you away from
remembering Allah and from prayer; will you then
stop?!”
Now lets listen to the proverbs of Salomo
(Proverbs 23.29-35)
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who
has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness
of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine, those who go to try
mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it
sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. At the last it
bites like a serpent, and stings like an
adder.
Your eyes will
see strange things, and your mind utter perverse things. You
will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like
one who lies on the top of a
mast.
"They struck me," you will say, "but I was not
hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake?
I will seek another drink."
Here we are given just the same message, and on
top a brilliant description of what is going on around us. We
like to add a few more quotations from the proverbs Salomo.
Proverbs 20.1:
‘Wine is a mocker, strong drink a
brawler; and whoever is led astray by it is not
wise’
The sentence loved and celebrated in the West “in
vino veritas” (wine contains truth) is of pagan origin and has
nothing much to do with Biblical point of view. Anyway, a
thorough Biblical survey will bring about that nowadays’
Christianity contains as much or even more from Latin and
Greek paganism as from the biblical teaching. Proverbs
23.20-21 warn:
‘Be not
among winebibbers, or among gluttonous eaters of
meat;
for the drunkard and the glutton will
come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with
rags.’
Proverbs
31.4-7:
“It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is
not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong
drink ; Lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,
and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong
drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter
distress; let them drink and forget their poverty, and
remember their misery no
more.”
So alcohol is something looked down upon,
something despised that is not fit for educated people. Only
those fall for it that lost their life’s fortune, who do not
understand, the godless and useless. Psalm 75.8 tells us:
‘For
in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, with foaming wine,
well mixed; and he will pour a draught from it, and all the
wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the
dregs.’
Isaiah is
full of warnings against consuming alcohol. Thus Isaiah 5.
11-2:
“Woe to those who rise early in the
morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry
late into the evening till wine inflames them! They have
lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts;
but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the
work of his hands.”
Isaiah
5.22:
“Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,who acquit the guilty for a
bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”
And
Isaiah 28. 7-8:
"These also reel with wine
and stagger with strong drink; the priest and the prophet
reel with strong drink, they are confused with wine, they
stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble
in giving judgment .For all tables are full of vomit, no
place is without filthiness.”
The
prophets mentioned here are of course soothsayers and false
prophets. In Luke 1.15 on the other hand we are told
how the case should be with god’s righteous servants. About
John we read:
“For he will be great before the Lord, and
he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be
filled with the Holy Spirit, even from the mothers
wombs.”
Isaiah 56. 10-12 again gives us a
characterization of the mentality of those mad for enjoyment
and toxication:
“His watchmen are blind,
they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they
cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. The
dogs have no understanding; they have all turned to their
own way, each to his own gain, one and all. ‘Come’, they
say, ‘let us get wine, let us fill ourselves with strong
drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond
measure,”
What
is mentioned in Hosea 4.10-11 would quite well fit into
our days:
“They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they
shall play ‘the harlot, but not multiply; because they have
forsaken the Lord to cherish harlotry. Wine and new wine
take away the
understanding.”
Mica 2.11 goes as
well:
“If a man should go about and utter wind
and lies, saying, ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong
drink’, he would be the preacher for this
people!”
We
know that consuming wine has by now become part of Christian
ceremony. But even the early Christians disliked wine. Paul
writes in his letter to the Ephesians
(5.18)
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that
is debauchery; but be filled with the
Spirit,”
He
explicitly forbids to his community to associate with anyone
being guilty of crimes nowadays not even considered
blameworthy. In his first letter to the Corinthians (5.11)
he states:
“But rather I wrote to you
not to associate with any one who bears the name of a
brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an
idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber not even to eat with
such a one”
Somewhat later he says in the same letter (6.
9-10):
“Do not be deceived;
neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor
revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of
God.”
[Next: Polygamy]
[return to
top]
|