Alcohol
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DRINKING ALCOHOL
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Matthew 11:18
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'
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(Leviticus 10:9) "Drink no wine nor strong drink, you nor your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die; ..." "Some" might say that Christians cannot drink alcoholic beverages because of the preceding admonition.
If we take the whole bible, the scriptures would lead us to see that certain people might be called to abstain from wine and strong drink as a way of showing special dedication to the Lord! The passage below from the Book of Numbers shows that certain people might choose to fast from wine or strong drink and certain foods for the Lord! But this wasn't meant for everyone all of the time.
(Numbers 6:1-3) "And the Lord said to Moses," Say to the people of Israel, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, 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."
(Luke 1:15) "... 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 his mother's womb."
The above verse from Luke and the verse below from Matthew go together in this case. We see John as a man who didn't drink wine or strong drink, Jesus we see was accused of being a drunkard by the Pharisees. I don't believe that Jesus got drunk just because He was accused of it but I do think that in order to make the accusation Jesus would have to be drinking alcohol of some kind (Matthew 11:18-19) "For John came neither eating or drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold a glutton and a drunkard, ..."
(John 2:10) "... and said to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now."
Jesus' first miracle was turning water into wine! That doesn't mean He drank any but if it is wrong to drink wine then Jesus wouldn't have made the stuff in the first place. We can see from the reading that this was probably alcoholic wine because of the statement made by the head steward.
If the wine was nonalcoholic it wouldn't matter when the good wine was served. With alcoholic beverages as we consume the drink our taste buds are deadened, so if we serve the cheap wine last no one would know or care!
And if we shift back to the reading in the Book of Numbers Jesus would not even be able to make grape juice!
(Colossians 2:16) "Let no one, then, pass judgment on you in matters of food and drink ..."
Finally we see Paul a saintly and holy man advising his friend Timothy to use wine to settle his stomach!
(1 Timothy 5:23) "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments."
(Matthew 15:10-11) "And He called the people to Him and said to them, 'Hear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."
Jesus sums it all up! It isn't what you put into your mouth that makes you unclean but what we develop in our hearts!
WE MUST BE TEMPERATE IN THE USE OF CREATED GOODS!
(Titus 2:12) "We ought to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world."
For more information from "This Rock", Catholic magazine
V e r s e b y V e r s e - Wine