Why I Don't Drink Alcoholic Beverages

I'm a minister. I wasn't always a minister. I wasn't always a Christian, either. That's the number one reason why I don't drink alcoholic beverages. You see, I clearly remember the life I lived before accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. That life included the use of alcohol beverages.

I started drinking when I was 13, partially because of peer pressure, partially because of the problems I was facing at that age, and partially because I just wanted to. After all, drinking has been a socially accepted pastime since civilization began.

DRINKING CREATES STINKING THINKING

I was never an alcoholic. There were times when I didn't touch a drop of alcohol for long periods of time. But I did notice that when I did drink, my brain chemistry changed. That is, whenever I drank beer or hard liquor I thought and acted differently than when I was sober.

I never drank to get drunk. Even though I usually didn't get drunk, I did notice that I began to say things and do things that normally I wouldn't say or do. Whenever I drank I felt it was okay to do things that really weren't okay to do, such as start a fight with a complete stranger or take advantage of a female companion, especially if she was drinking too.

When I drank I didn't care about anyone else but me. Whenever I drank I did things that I would normally never had done--stinky things that I wouldn't tell my parents, immoral things I wouldn't tell my wife, and humiliating things I would never ever tell anyone.

DRINKING CREATES AN ATTITUDE OF "BAD-ITUDE"

Everyone agrees that alcohol lowers our inhibitions, or ability to suppress stupid, absurd or evil actions, emotions and thoughts. Whenever I drank I believed I was one bad dude. Whenever I drank I didn't care that my crude language offended anyone. Whenever I drank I didn't care that my behavior was offensive or embarrassing to those around me.

In short, drinking was my excuse to do what I wanted to do without regard for anyone else's feelings or thoughts. I knew that I could always blame my stupid, mindless, indecent and perverse behavior on alcohol.

DRINKING CREATES A LIFETIME OF REGRETS

I realize there are many people, including Christians, who believe it's okay to drink alcoholic beverages. I've had long conversations with believers and nonbelievers about this issue, from Jesus' turning water into wine at a wedding (John 2:10), to what happened to Noah when he got drunk (Genesis 9:20-29), to Lot when he got drunk (Genesis 19:30-38), and to kings when they drink (Proverbs 31:4-5). Endless debates occur when two opposing mindsets strive to outdo the other.

My question to Christians especially is, Do you think that there is one event or action in Jesus' entire life that He ever regretted doing? Do you think Jesus ever got drunk or ever lusted for someone's wife or do a stupid thing that He later absolutely regretted or was totally embarrassed or completely shocked about after drinking wine?

Now answer this question: Is there one event in your life that you absolutely regret because of being under the influence of alcohol? If you're honest with yourself, you can probably think of several times when drinking alcoholic beverages resulted in stinking thinking or even resulted in nonChristian actions or indecent behavior that you truly wish you had never done.

IS THERE ANY BIBLICAL JUSTIFICATION TO DRINK ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES?

If we look long and hard enough we can justify just about anything, including drinking. While you're thinking hard on the subject of justifiable drinking, consider what the Bible has to say about those individuals who are candidates for alcoholic beverages:

It s not for kings, O Lemuel  [Solomon], to drink wine, nor for princes [to drink] intoxicating drink; lest they forget the law and pervert the justice of the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitter at heart. Let him drink an forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. --Proverbs 31:4-7 (see also Proverbs 20:1 and especially Proverbs 23:29-35).

Who does the Bible say are justified in drinking alcoholic beverages? Those who are perishing and dying. Those who are hopelessly embittered, chronically resentful, or venomously indignant. Those who are impoverished, destitute, miserable or pathetically wretched.

If any of the above fits your situation in life, maybe you have just cause for drinking alcoholic beverages. However, if you're a growing and maturing Christian, perhaps a better drink to consume is what Jesus' apostles described in the book of Acts -- the new wine of Holy Spirit living (Acts 2:4,12-13,14,15).

The truth is, if you are constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit, alcoholic beverages will seem as old wine in new wine skins. In other words, you'll want the new life in Christ, and not your old life in the world. You'll want the spiritual "high" of the spirit and not the psychoactive "high" that intoxicating (literally, "to smear with poison") products give their users.

STILL NOT CONVINCED THAT ALCOHOL IS BAD FOR YOU?

Consider these truths and facts:

* Seventy percent (70%) of all murders are alcohol-related.
* Fifty percent (50%) of all rapes are alcohol-related.
*Fifty-five percent (55%) of all arrests are alcohol-related.
* Sixty percent (60%) of all sex crimes against children are alcohol-related.
* Sixty percent (60%) of all problems brought to family courts, including divorce, wife abuse, child abuse, and incest, are alcohol-related.
* Seventy percent (70%) of all abused women say they drink to drown their sorrow and to cope with an alcoholic mate.
* Seventy percent (70%) of all drownings, fifty percent (50%) of those who die in falling accidents, and fifty-five percent (55%) of those who die in fires are under the influence of an alcoholic beverage.

WHAT ABOUT UNBORN CHILDREN, BABIES AND ALCOHOL?

If you're a young lady or woman and thinking about having a child one day by your alcohol-using mate or you yourself drink, you need to know what smearing an unborn child's brain and body with "liquid marijuana" can do to him or her. For starters, the children of alcoholic and problem drinkers stand a fifty percent (50%) chance of becoming alcoholics or problem drinkers themselves. If both parents drink, there is an  eighty percent (80%) chance that a child will become an alcoholic or problem drinker.

Fetal alcohol exposure (FAE) occurs when an unborn baby is exposed to alcohol by a drinking mom. Such exposure can result in fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which is alcohol's toxic, poisoning effects on an unborn baby, characterized by mental retardation, poor motor skills development and growth deficiency, both before birth and throughout childhood.

Alcohol is directly toxic to a developing fetus, and is very capable of producing mental and physical abnormalities. FAS also results in central nervous disorders, small heads, small eyes, thin lips and short noses. FAE and FAS newborns exhibit signs of painful alcoholic withdrawal, just like adults.