Drinking Intoxicating Beverages - Part 2
By Allan E. McNabb

Last week we began our study on intoxicating beverages.  Since teenagers originally asked me about drinking alcohol, I’ve tried to make these points in ways they can understand.

Review
In Part I, we learned it’s a sin to be intoxicated, concluding we shouldn’t participate in drinking to any degree.

  • “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness” (2 Cor. 6:14)?
  • “Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Eph. 5:11).
  • “Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Th. 5:22).

We also learned that intoxication and drunkenness begins with one drink.  A person is impaired with one beer (twelve ounces), or four ounces of table wine, or a mild mixed drink.  The only way to avoid impairment is not drink (Blood Alcohol Calculator, The Police Notebook, Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm).

Lastly, we noticed the sins associated with drinking and drunkenness,  bringing  sadness and despair into the lives of people.

Drinking Parties Are Sinful
It’s a sin to go to a drinking party, whether or not you drink.

  • “For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries” (1 Pet. 4:3).

The word “carousing” in 1 Peter 4:3, also translated revellings, is the wild parties where there is drinking.  A frat party is an example of this type of party, where people drink massive quantities of alcohol.

The phrase “drinking parties” in 1 Peter 4:3, also translated banqueting, denotes the milder parties where people assemble to drink.  A cocktail party is an example of this type of party, which is usually calm compared to a frat party.

It’s A Sin To Go To The Party
Sometimes I’m asked a question like, “Is it okay to go to the party, if I don’t drink?”

The answer is no.  Peter tells us it’s a sin to go to drinking parties, whether we drink or not.

Christians don’t participate in the deeds of darkness, exposing them as sinful (2 Cor. 6:14; Eph. 5:11).  Therefore, we must stay away from drinking parties, and all the sin associated with them (1 Pet. 4:3).

Drinking Alcohol Is Harmful
As Christians, we must take care of our bodies.

  • “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

From a common sense perspective, we know drinking alcohol is harmful by observing that doctors order pregnant women and nursing mothers not to drink, because it harms their babies.

From a technical perspective, we also see that drinking is harmful  to  our bodies.

  • “When an alcoholic beverage is consumed, ethanol is absorbed in the bloodstream, depressing the central nervous system and altering the function of cells and organs throughout the body” (Canadian Health Network, article prepared by the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.).
  • “Approximately 20% of ethanol is absorbed into the bloodstream directly from the stomach, and 80% from the small intestine” (Alcoholic Intoxication, eMedicineHealth, http://www.emedicinehealth.com/alcohol_intoxication/article_em.htm).

Drinking Ethanol
After reading the above quotes, you may wonder if the ethanol in an alcoholic beverage is the same ethanol in gasoline.  The answer is yes.

One way of producing ethanol is through fermentation.

  • “Ethanol fermentation is the biological process by which sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose, are converted into ethanol and carbon dioxide.  Yeasts carry out ethanol fermentation on sugars in the absence of oxygen. . . .  Ethanol fermentation is responsible for the rising of bread dough, the production of ethanol in alcoholic beverages, and for much of the production of ethanol for use as fuel” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fermentation).

“A standard ‘drink’ of ethanol consists of 10 grams.  This amount is equal to 10 ounces (300 cc) of regular beer (5% alcohol content); 3-4 ounces of wine (12% alcohol content); or 1 ounce of hard liquor (40% alcohol content, 80 ‘proof’) (Alcoholic Intoxication, eMedicineHealth, http://www.emedicinehealth.com/alcohol_intoxication/article_em.htm).

Summary
When a person drinks a modern alcoholic beverage, he is harming his body with the same chemical in gasoline — ethanol.

As Christians, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, we are responsible for glorifying God in our bodies.  Harming our bodies with alcohol is a sin.  And going to drinking parties where people are assembled for that purpose is a sin.

To be continued.