Is Drinking a sin?

[Truman]

Hi, my name is Truman and I'm an alcoholic. (Hi, Truman!)
If you can have the odd drink and it doesn't cause you any problems, then, in my opinion, no, having a drink is not a sin.
However, if you believe it is a sin and then you drink, you do sin. In this case, it's the intent.
Alcohol seems to turn off the common sense part of my brain, so I don't drink.
Nothing I put in my body can make me unclean, it's what comes out of my heart that defiles me. - Paul, the Apostle.

 

[amadeus]

There's nothing wrong with that, brother. Years ago, when I was so inclined, I would consume an excellent beer now and then. I stopped on account of the headache a glass of beer or wine would leave in its wake. Ugh. Clearly my body says "no" to alcoholic beverages and so I listen to it. Not for me.

When I was a lad of 19 in the military, I decided to drink as much as I possibly could to see what that was all about. Hah! What a perfectly horrible experience... I tossed up my guts. I was hurling and the world was spinning while my comrades passed out. Nope, never again!

I hear you my friend. I have many tales I could tell of my drinking experiences over years before I changed life styles to serve God in 1976 [age 32]. Some of them were friendly and fun. Others were pretty bad.

In addition to my once a years beer, my wife and I periodically will buy a small bottle of wine to drink with a nice dinner she prepares for us. With it being only the two of us for so long it doesn't happen often any more. She fixes me one good meal every day, but usually no wine.

I remember when she was pregnant with out first child, our son, she had an old Dutch obstetrician who recommended that she drink one can of beer a day during her pregnancy and while nursing to have good milk for the baby. I guess it worked because she drank the beer and the baby loved the milk. Our son will be 48 this month. [edited from 49 to 48. He was born in 1973]

 

[Shattered]

I hear you my friend. I have many tales I could tell of my drinking experiences over years before I changed life styles to serve God in 1976 [age 32]. Some of them were friendly and fun. Others were pretty bad.

In addition to my once a years beer, my wife and I periodically will buy a small bottle of wine to drink with a nice dinner she prepares for us. With it being only the two of us for so long it doesn't happen often any more. She fixes me one good meal every day, but usually no wine.

I remember when she was pregnant with out first child, our son, she had an old Dutch obstetrician who recommended that she drink one can of beer a day during her pregnancy and while nursing to have good milk for the baby. I guess it worked because she drank the beer and the baby loved the milk. Our son will be 49 this month.

In hindsight it was a blessing, @amadeus . Alcoholism was rampant on my father's side of the family; more than one of his relatives literally drank themselves to death. My father was a teetotaler on account of being abused by an alcoholic uncle while he was under his roof. In spite of his feelings on the matter, he didn't read me the riot act when he learned about my singular experience with inebriation. He just laughed and shook his head, confessing that he did the same thing in his youth. I didn't feel so bad because my father's experience matched my own. Never again!

 

[robert derrick]

There's nothing wrong with that, brother. Years ago, when I was so inclined, I would consume an excellent beer now and then. I stopped on account of the headache a glass of beer or wine would leave in its wake. Ugh. Clearly my body says "no" to alcoholic beverages and so I listen to it. Not for me.

When I was a lad of 19 in the military, I decided to drink as much as I possibly could to see what that was all about. Hah! What a perfectly horrible experience... I tossed up my guts. I was hurling and the world was spinning while my comrades passed out. Nope, never again!

I.e. drinking alcohol is not for you.

Drinking alcohol is for me.

None the better and none the worse.

So long as I don't compel others to do likewise and you don't forbid others to do likewise, then we learn to live and let live within the liberty of the law of Christ.

 

[GEN2REV]

Hey there, fellow CB'ers.

Just updating this thread to keep things fair and balanced. (as if that's possible)

SIX REASONS CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT DRINK ALCOHOL
by Pastor Steve Gaines

 

[Triumph1300]

Well, I guess this fellow in the video is a 100% super Christian......

 

[thelord's_pearl]

in my opinion, drinking alcohol is not healthy so it is a sin as your body is to be the Holy Temple of God

 

[Shattered]

I.e. drinking alcohol is not for you.

Drinking alcohol is for me.

None the better and none the worse.

So long as I don't compel others to do likewise and you don't forbid others to do likewise, then we learn to live and let live within the liberty of the law of Christ.

Agreed! I don't judge my brother nor will I ever claim to be blameless because of this or that. Hardly, because I walk in weakness by my brother's side.

 

[Triumph1300]

in my opinion, drinking alcohol is not healthy so it is a sin as your body is to be the Holy Temple of God

Have you checked the labels on the products you buy in the grocery store lately?
My gut feeling is that most of them show unhealthy ingredients for our bodies.

When talking "unhealthy" I think most of what we do daily is unhealthy.

Point of all of this is "getting drunk" is sinful.
And so is speeding, over eating, gossip, the list is endless, etc

Most of all these so called "sinful" regulations is borderline legalism.
And mostly within the United Pentecostal Churches I might add.

 

[robert derrick]

Hey there, fellow CB'ers.

Just updating this thread to keep things fair and balanced. (as if that's possible)

SIX REASONS CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT DRINK ALCOHOL
by Pastor Steve Gaines

All it takes is one: Scripture saying, Thou shalt not drink alcohol.

Everything else is opinion and judgment of men, not commandment of God, nor doctrine of Christ.

 

[robert derrick]

Have you checked the labels on the products you buy in the grocery store lately?
My gut feeling is that most of them show unhealthy ingredients for our bodies.

When talking "unhealthy" I think most of what we do daily is unhealthy.

Point of all of this is "getting drunk" is sinful.
And so is speeding, over eating, gossip, the list is endless, etc

Most of all these so called "sinful" regulations is borderline legalism.
And mostly within the United Pentecostal Churches I might add.

Is there Scripture saying: Thou shalt not do unhealthy things? Or Thou shalt not drink nor earth that which is unhealthy? Or Unhealthy living is a life of sin?

The operative words in all this is: "In my opinion."

Therefore by that opinion, that one does sin if he partakes, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Point of all of this is "getting drunk" is sinful.

How do we know this, and not just have an 'opinion' about it?

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6)

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. (Eph 5)

P.s. Speeding is not a sin against God, but a violation of man's traffic law. God's law has no 'exemptions', but man's law usually will.

If I determine to speed for my own reasons by faith, then I am not sinning against God, but rather risking traffic ticket of man.

 

[robert derrick]

in my opinion, drinking alcohol is not healthy so it is a sin as your body is to be the Holy Temple of God

Good opinion, lousy doctrine, if any try to make doctrine of Christ out of opinion of men.

Man's opinion is not God's rule.

 

[Heart2Soul]

Is there Scripture saying: Thou shalt not do unhealthy things? Or Thou shalt not drink nor earth that which is unhealthy? Or Unhealthy living is a life of sin?

The operative words in all this is: "In my opinion."

Therefore by that opinion, that one does sin if he partakes, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Point of all of this is "getting drunk" is sinful.

How do we know this, and not just have an 'opinion' about it?

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6)

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. (Eph 5)

P.s. Speeding is not a sin against God, but a violation of man's traffic law. God's law has no 'exemptions', but man's law usually will.

If I determine to speed for my own reasons by faith, then I am not sinning against God, but rather risking traffic ticket of man.

Scripture also says a little wine is good for the stomach's sake.
I heard it argued that wine didn't contain alcohol back then....
Well there is only one way to make wine (that I am aware of) and that is to let the fruit "ferment" changing the chemistry of the food into alcohol.
This process is thousands of years old...
There is a fruit that grows on trees in Africa and when the animals eat it they get very drunk!! This video below will bring a chuckle to your heart watching them stumble and fall....the elephant..oh my!

 

[Ronald Nolette]

Hint: the answer lies in the question itself...

didn't read all that went before. But no it is not a sin. non alcohol or even alcohol. the only thing that the bible says about drinking alcohol is be not drunk!

also we must care for those with weak consciences. If someone thinks drinking is a sin, let us not use out liberty to create a stumbling block for them. We don't need a beer or wine of spirits that bad to cause a brother to stumble with our liberty.

 

[farouk]

Scripture also says a little wine is good for the stomach's sake.
I heard it argued that wine didn't contain alcohol back then....
Well there is only one way to make wine (that I am aware of) and that is to let the fruit "ferment" changing the chemistry of the food into alcohol.
This process is thousands of years old...
There is a fruit that grows on trees in Africa and when the animals eat it they get very drunk!! This video below will bring a chuckle to your heart watching them stumble and fall....the elephant..oh my!

@Heart2Soul While any excess is bad, yet legalism is also deadening and destructive.

 

[Heart2Soul]

@Heart2Soul While any excess is bad, yet legalism is also deadening and destructive.

Yes it is....and it puts a yoke/heavy burden on people that God did not intend for them to bear...which causes them to struggle with condemnation because their pastor is too hard of a taskmaker.

 

[farouk]

Yes it is....and it puts a yoke/heavy burden on people that God did not intend for them to bear...which causes them to struggle with condemnation because their pastor is too hard of a taskmaker.

@Heart2Soul It's a bit like when someone is liberated from cigarette smoking by using vapes, and yet then legalists come along and give him or her a hard time for vaping...

 

[Brakelite]

Scripture also says a little wine is good for the stomach's sake.
I heard it argued that wine didn't contain alcohol back then....
Well there is only one way to make wine (that I am aware of) and that is to let the fruit "ferment" changing the chemistry of the food into alcohol.
This process is thousands of years old...
There is a fruit that grows on trees in Africa and when the animals eat it they get very drunk!! This video below will bring a chuckle to your heart watching them stumble and fall....the elephant..oh my!

Back in new Zealand a couple of dozen Tuis (local native bird) were feasting on very ripe berries on a tree behind our house. The result was hilarious... Their aim when attempting to land on branches was haywire, their flying was all over the place, and when they landed on the ground, or crashed, they struggled to get up again.
And there's a native pigeon, the Kereru, that will feast on Miro berries until it can't eat any more and then sit on a branch, and sit, and sit,... It can't move. You can walk right up to it, push it off with a stick and catch it. If it dropped to the ground it would split open and die. Waiting for those opportunities was the old Maori way of getting dinner. They were great eating.
But can we use those examples in nature to justify drinking and eating to excess for ourselves? I think that would be foolish. I personally have never been amused or entertained by drunk people leaving the local pub and fumbling for their car keys and throwing up in the car park.

My family has a long history of alcoholism. I don't drink. And for all the reasons the pastor gave. And I think the same reasons to a degree apply to smoking.

 

[Heart2Soul]

Back in new Zealand a couple of dozen Tuis (local native bird) were feasting on very ripe berries on a tree behind our house. The result was hilarious... Their aim when attempting to land on branches was haywire, their flying was all over the place, and when they landed on the ground, or crashed, they struggled to get up again.
And there's a native pigeon, the Kereru, that will feast on Miro berries until it can't eat any more and then sit on a branch, and sit, and sit,... It can't move. You can walk right up to it, push it off with a stick and catch it. If it dropped to the ground it would split open and die. Waiting for those opportunities was the old Maori way of getting dinner. They were great eating.
But can we use those examples in nature to justify drinking and eating to excess for ourselves? I think that would be foolish. I personally have never been amused or entertained by drunk people leaving the local pub and fumbling for their car keys and throwing up in the car park.

My family has a long history of alcoholism. I don't drink. And for all the reasons the pastor gave. And I think the same reasons to a degree apply to smoking.

Yes, my family as well...I think the day after was what made me chuckle the most...they all had hangovers....they suffered the consequences of their over indulgence.
I don't drink now, but I used to be a heavy drinker...then I got delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit....praise God!

 

[farouk]

Yes, my family as well...I think the day after was what made me chuckle the most...they all had hangovers....they suffered the consequences of their over indulgence.
I don't drink now, but I used to be a heavy drinker...then I got delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit....praise God!

@Heart2Soul Paul enjoined Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach's sake.

Some legalists even try to claim that the Lord Jesus did not actually turn the water into wine in John 2, so that it fits in more with their Fundamentalist preferences. To which theological liberals will reply, Well, now you guys agree with us after all with our doubts about the miracles...