Board index ‹ Assorted Bible Questions

[Betty Davis]

Just wanting to hear everyone’s views on it. Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding and approved of it I would say since he performed the act. So why is this a forbidden thing? Is it because of the amount or overdoing it?? All thoughts and perspectives are appreciated.

[jimwalton]

Drinking wine is not a sin. It is not a forbidden thing.

Getting drunk is a sin, presumably because you lose control of your mind and actions. The Bible always advocates for self-control under the control of the Holy Spirit. Drunkenness takes both of those away.

Drinking alcohol came under great condemnation at the end of the 19th c. and the beginning of the 20th c. because drunkenness, along with the money spent in taverns, was ruining society. The Church rose up against all the problems to try to curb the sale of alcohol, and Prohibition was born. From then on, abstinence from alcohol became culturally aligned with Christianity. Of course, Prohibition was a total failure, so later alcohol was made legal again.

But the association has stuck. Many conservative Christian groups still refuse to drink any form of liquor, and there's nothing wrong with that. But the Bible never demands or commands total abstinence from drink. Wine and beer were very common in the ancient world and were drunk by just about everyone, as far as we can tell. Certain people in the Bible would take a vow to abstain from alcohol for a certain time (Nazirite vow), and some even for life, but that was a rare position.