I Doubt That - Q 6

So we've been in a series called I doubt that, talking about different topics, different questions that cause doubt among Christians and non-Christians alike. And throughout the course of this series, we've asked you to submit questions that you wrestle with personally. And one of the questions that you've asked is, what is the Bible say about alcohol?

Is drinking alcohol in moderation okay? And that is a great question. I think that's a question that a lot of us ask and should ask. And the short answer to that question is that, yes, the Bible does permit drinking in moderation. We see Jesus creating wine out of water. And John, chapter two, we see Paul telling Timothy to drink a little bit of wine to help his stomach.

And first, Timothy, chapter five. And we see Psalms 104 called Wine, a gift that gladdens the heart. But the Bible is also very clear that drunkenness is a sin, Paul says in Ephesians Chapter five, to not fill ourselves with wine, but to fill ourselves with the spirit and in all things, including alcohol. As Christians, we must let wisdom and love of neighbor neighbor be the primary drivers of our decisions.

So I believe that in light of Scripture, all of Scripture, there are three things that we should keep in mind as Christians, as we are letting wisdom and love of neighbor be our primary motivators. And the first thing is if you are are drinking alcohol to cope with stress instead of leaning on God, if you are using alcohol to distract away your problems instead of just trusting God, then you are actually replacing God with alcohol and that is a sin.

The second thing is, is if you have a addictive personality or if addiction runs in your family, you should use extreme caution when it comes to alcohol use wisdom and discernment and be careful. And then the third thing is to consider your influence. Consider those are who are around you and what they need from you and their concerns.

So if they wrestle with addiction, if they wrestle with alcoholism, or if they have a personal conviction against alcohol, you should let love of neighbor be your motivating factor. And I think that scripture would require love over liberty in those situations. So in summary, yes, scripture allows drinking alcohol in moderation and it forbids drunkenness.

But we should always use wisdom, discernment, self-control and love as our primary motivators, including whenever we consider drinking alcohol.