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Social Drinking
We live in a world where
social drinking is accepted by over two-thirds of our entire population.
That segment also accepts just about any other kind of drinking. But
social drinking has been elevated a few steps above ordinary honky-tonk
or bar room drinking. No matter what name it is known by, drinking ethyl
alcoholic beverages is a potential danger. When it is given the
prestigious moniker "social" drinking it becomes more acceptable and as
it becomes more acceptable it becomes more dangerous. But just what is
social drinking? Social Drinking is described by Charles R. Carroll as
follows:
"By definition, drinking is the
consumption of beverages containing ethyl alcohol. From
a sociological viewpoint, drinking is
described as a particular group's customary way of
using beverage alcohol. Such a custom is
learned by other members of that group
and is continued by the group because
drinking serves to promote interpersonal
relations and to enhance feelings of
camaraderie and solidarity. The pleasure derived
from drinking is primarily reciprocal, that
is, drinking by one of the group brings
satisfaction to the other drinkers. Alcohol
is seen as the 'social lubricant' in which the
conscience is dissolved and rigid
inhibitions are lowered. For Americans, this social
drinking is the common way of using
alcoholic beverages."
---Carroll,
Charles R., Drugs in Modern Society, 2nd Edition, William C. Brown
Publisher, Dubuque, Iowa, 1989, page 106."
There are enough factors involved in the use and abuse of alcoholic
consumption to warrant intelligent people to strongly favor complete
prohibition again. (See the Eighteenth Amendment at the end. drs).
The apostle Paul wrote, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest
which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and such
like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God" (Gal. 5:19-21).
The words here should register deeply in the heart of those who
fear God -- for those who do not fear God, may God give you more time to
reflect on where you are headed. The expression "shall not inherit
the kingdom of God" means primarily the loss of one's immortal soul
in an eternal hell. The expression may also very well mean that those
blessings awarded to those in Christ can never be enjoyed by one whose
life is filled with the works of the flesh. In other words, there is no
place for the individual who engages in these works of the flesh either
in the church now or heaven after a while.
But someone is probably going to think, "That condemns drunkenness
-- not drinking." But read it again. Peter wrote, "For the time past
of [our] life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles,
when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelries,
banqueting, and abominable idolatries" (1 Pet. 4:3). Look carefully
at the wording.
First, note the expression "excess of wine." That means very
clearly that a danger exists in the very act of drinking wine. But it is
not only the excess of wine that is condemned, notice also "reveling."
Reveling is boisterous parties in which drinking of alcoholic beverages,
or other mind altering substances are ingested causing drunkenness. Then
there is the word "banqueting." Another word for it is drinking parties.
The late G.W. Blenkin, a "Fellow" of Trinity College in England,
wrote on the term potois, "carousing, drinking-parties," and
noted that this is the single instance of the use of this word in the
entire New Testament. When people get together to do what is called
"partying" hardly anyone is interested unless either drugs or alcohol is
available. This is clearly and forthrightly condemned in this passage.
But again, let me give a very simply test relative to any
consumption of alcohol at all. Is there any doubt that those who engage
in drunkenness, wine swilling, drug abuse, and the other works of the
flesh are endangering their immortal souls? Since that is a very real
and serious danger, what is the single best way to avoid ever being
drunk or inebriated? The answer I have is very simple -- never drink
alcohol, never use drugs of any kind for recreational purposes, and
never encourage others to do so. That is the best and sure fire way to
avoid any disastrous fall out from a sinful life.
Should one take the first drink of liquor? Jesus told of a
householder who employed a steward to look after his affairs (Luke
12:42ff). The steward was unfaithful and mean. Verse 45
reads, "But if that servant shall say in his heart, 'My lord is
delaying his coming'; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the
maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken." Notice that
the term for "drunken" is from the Greek methuo, which is
defined as inebriation or drunkenness. Question: When did the evil
steward begin beating the servants? Answer: with the first blow. When
did he begin eating? With the first bite. When did he begin to be
inebriated or drunk? Answer: With the first drink.
If this sounds like someone wanting to return to the "Prohibition
Era," that cannot be helped. One of the strangest inconsistencies any
society has ever generated is the one where we legalize the sale and
consumption of ethyl alcohol but make other drugs illegal. Prohibition
is a bad word in society, for it harks back to a so-called "Puritanical
Past." But have we improved things? Consider some rather startling
facts.
Alcoholic Consumption in America Supports a Huge Financial
Industry. Americans, today, spend an average of 31 billion dollars
annually on alcoholic beverages. That brings in around 13 billion
dollars in revenue and taxes. This makes it possible for our nation to
have better schools, roads, and public facilities -- among other things.
But the facts show clearly that this is the worst kind of business
procedure. The very same statistics show that between 117 and 120
billion dollars are required because of problems directly related to
alcohol consumption. These problems include deaths, loss of work
productivity, rehabilitation programs, the bureaucracy involved to
administrate it, the cost in property damage (including a huge amount of
automotive insurance costs in both premium increases, repair and/or
replacement of wrecked automobiles), law enforcement administration, and
prisons (already well over crowded). No business could remain in
operation with such figures on their books.
Look at those figures again. We have a homeless problem that is
escalating rapidly. If you subtract 13 billion dollars from 117 billion
(the conservative cost figure alcohol related problems cause) you come
up with 104 billion dollars. That might be appreciated by some homeless
people. And if alcoholic beverages were completely eliminated, banned,
prohibited, and made unavailable would that not reduce some of the
homeless problem by eliminating at least some of the "winos" and street
drunks?
It is argued that if liquor is made illegal and unavailable someone
will find a way to illegally produce it. In some instances there may be
some merit to that argument. But, in the case of alcoholic consumption,
with its related problems and expense, will someone just show how
legalizing it, making it available, and taxing it has helped our nation
as a whole? That would be interesting.
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THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT
(Proposed 18 December 1917; Declared ratified 29 January 1919).
After one year from the ratification of this article, the manufacture,
sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation
thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all
territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is
hereby prohibited. The Congress and the several States shall have
concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the
several States as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from
the date of submission hereof to the States by the Congress.
---Dudley Ross Spears
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