Christians are divided on the question of drinking.

In America, the majority of evangelical churches take at least a nominal stand against the use of alcohol. The move is on to water down this position. Social drinking is increasing, even among fundamentalists.

Some avoid hard liquor but look upon the use of beer and wine as permissible. Many churches use fermented wine for their Communion services.

In Europe, a great number of professing Christians use wine or beer regularly under the guise of necessity because of "bad water" or "culture acceptance." A surprising number of traveling American churchgoers who are abstainers at home feel free to drink while in Europe. Even some missionaries drink where that is the custom, saying their convictions allow them to "do as the Romans do."

The whole issue is discussed by Mark A. Noll in his article, "America's Battle Against the Bottle," which appeared in Christianity Today.

Some evangelicals have made opinions on liquor more important for fellowship and cooperation than attitudes toward the person of Christ or the nature of salvation. This is particularly unfortunate since the Bible speaks clearly about Christ and salvation, but not about the question of total abstinence.¹

But is Noll's conclusion correct? Is there no biblical absolute on the alcohol question? Has God left us without direction as to what our position should be on one of the most important social and moral issues?

The Bible certainly is not silent about beverage alcohol. The word "wine" appears more than two hundred times in the King James Version of the Old Testament. This word was translated from a number of different Hebrew words.

The first biblical record of intoxication has to do with Noah, whom the Bible calls a "preacher of righteousness."

Commenting on Noah's drunkenness, F. B. Meyer has written:

Noah's sin reminds us how weak are the best of men; liable to fall, even after the most marvelous deliverances. The love of drink will drag a preacher of righteousness into the dust. Let us see to it that we fall not into this temptation ourselves; and that we tempt not others.²

Some feel that Noah was unaware of the process of fermentation and that intoxicating wine was unknown before the Flood. Matthew Henry alludes to this, saying:

The drunkenness of Noah is recorded in the Bible, with that fairness which is found only in Scripture, as a case and proof of human weakness and imperfection, even though he may have been surprised into the sin; and to show that the best of men cannot stand upright, unless they depend upon Divine grace, and are upheld thereby.³

Commentators' efforts to excuse Noah might be wishful thinking. This man of faith was not the first nor the last to stumble after being greatly blessed by God. Interesting as it may be to speculate about conditions before and after the Flood, we simply do not know the facts. We do know, however, that the day after his intoxication, Noah cursed members of his family. That unpleasant result of drinking is still common today.

Fermented wine was used in Sodom. Lot's drunkenness after his deliverance from that city before its destruction testifies to the use of booze there (Genesis 19:30-38). Lot's drinking episode ended in immorality, a frequent companion of intoxication. How different the future for Lot's descendants might have been had he or his daughters not included wine among the provisions they hurriedly put together in their last minute escape from doomed Sodom.

The prophet Daniel, an abstainer, tells of Belshazzar's (the king of Babylon) last night on earth. He says that on that fateful night the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords. Wine flowed freely. As the drinking continued, Belshazzar called for the golden and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Jerusalem temple, so that he and his friends could drink wine out of them. (Alcohol often encourages irreverence.) When the party reached its peak of impiety, God called the drinking to a halt and warned the king of coming judgment. Before morning, Belshazzar had lost his position, his kingdom, and his life (See Daniel 5).

In the Old Testament priests were instructed not to drink wine or any kind of strong drink.

And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die : it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses (Leviticus 10:8-11) .

Upon skimming these verses one might conclude that this command to abstain from all alcoholic beverages had only to do with serving in the tabernacle. A more thorough reading, however, with special attention given to verse 10, makes it clear that abstaining from beverage alcohol was to be a way of life for the priests. This lifestyle was to demonstrate the difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean. In this context, the use of intoxicating beverages is seen as unholy and unclean, and the aim of the priest's lifestyle was to set an example before the people.

Joseph Seiss, an outstanding Lutheran theologian of the nineteenth century, gives the following commentary on this text.

The history of strong drink is the history of ruin, of tears, of blood. It is, perhaps, the greatest curse that has ever scourged the earth. It is one of depravity's worst fruits-a giant demon of destruction. Men talk of earthquakes, storms, floods, conflagrations, famine, pestilence, despotism, and war; but intemperance in the use of intoxicating drinks has sent a volume of misery and woe into the stream of this world's history, more fearful and terrific than either of them. It is the Amazon and Mississippi among the rivers of wretchedness. It is the Alexander and Napoleon among the warriors upon the peace and good of man. It is like the pale horse of the Apocalypse whose rider is Death, and at whose heels follow hell and destruction. It is an evil which is limited to no age, no continent, no nation, no party, no sex, no period of life. It has taken the poor man at his toil and the rich man at his desk, the senator in the halls of state and the drayman on the street, the young man in his festivities and the old man in his repose, the priest at the altar and the layman in the pew, and plunged them together into a common ruin. It has raged equally in times of war and in times of peace, in periods of depression and in periods of prosperity, in republics and in monarchies, among the civilized and among the savage. Since the time that Noah came out of the ark, and planted vineyards, and drank of their wines, we read in all the histories of its terrible doings, and never once lose sight of its black and bloody tracks.⁴

No wonder the priests-the Lord's representatives- were commanded to refrain from drinking intoxicating wine. It is a destroyer of people, an enemy of those they were to lead in the way of life.

Samson's mother was commanded not to drink wine or strong drink while awaiting the birth of her child, because Samson was to be dedicated to God in a special way.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing (Judges 13:3,4).

Rulers were forbidden to use intoxicating wine.

It is not for kings, 0 Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted (Proverbs. 31:4,5).

Solomon gave a blanket command, setting forth the biblical principle that all fermented wine is to be avoided.

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright (Proverbs 23:31).

The word look as Solomon used it means "to lust for" or "to desire." He is simply saying that we are to have nothing to do with wine after it has fermented.

There are many Old Testament warnings about the effects of intoxicating wine.

Wine is a mocker.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise (Proverbs. 20:1).

Heavy drinking brings poverty.

For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags (Proverbs. 23:21).

The use of intoxicating wine brings trouble physically and socially.

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine (Proverbs. 23:29, 30).

Intoxicating wine ultimately harms the user.

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder (Proverbs. 23:32).

Beverage alcohol is the companion of immorality and untruthfulness.

Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things (Proverbs. 23:33).

The urge to drink can be so strong that it overcomes good judgment, making one forget the misery of his last binge.

They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again (Proverbs. 23:35).

When religious leaders indulge in strong drink, they deceive their followers as to the realities of life and the importance of getting right with God while there is time.

Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant (Isaiah 56:12).

Drinking makes a proud and selfish person.

Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people (Habakkuk 2:5).

The description, then, of beverage alcohol as Set forth in the Bible is that of an enemy attacking its users and robbing them of everything that is good in life.

Human experience bears this out. To quote the eloquent Seiss again on the evils of strong drink:

Egypt, the source of science-Babylon, the wonder and glory of the world-Greece, the home of learning and of liberty-Rome with her Caesars, the mistress of the earth-each in its turn had its heart lacerated by this dreadful canker-worm, and thus became an easy prey to the destroyer. It has drained tears enough to make a sea, expended treasure enough to exhaust Golconda, shed blood enough to redden the waves of every ocean, and rung out wailing enough to make a chorus to the lamentations of the underworld. Some of the mightiest intellects, some of the most generous natures, some of the happiest homes, some of the noblest specimens of man, it has blighted and crushed, and buried in squalid wretchedness.⁵

In the Old Testament, as well as in the New, wine is often a symbol of God's judgment and wrath. In writing of God's chastening of His people, the psalmist says they have been made to drink the "wine of astonishment" (Ps. 60:3).

The wrath of God prepared for the wicked is pictured as a cup full of fermented wine.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them (Psalm 75:8).

The prophet Jeremiah saw God's fury symbolized in a cup of wine.

For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me (Jeremiah 25:15-17).

In summary, then, the Old Testament records specific tragedies resulting from the use of beverage alcohol. It singles out special people and groups whose lives were to be examples ' to others, and they are commanded not to drink intoxicating beverages. Clear Old Testament commands declare that we are not to look upon fermented wine with longing nor desire.

Intoxicating wine mocks, impoverishes, affects health, injures its users, and contributes to immorality and dishonesty. It warps character, encouraging selfishness and greed. It is seen as a symbol of God's wrath and judgment.

But there is another side to the question. Some Old Testament verses speak of wine as a blessing, a symbol of prosperity, a source of cheer and gladness.

The Christian Counter