Recent news releases share new information that will surprise many. “A New Study Says Any Amount of Drinking Is Bad for You” wasn’t published in Conservative Preacher magazine or Pharisee Central but in TIME magazine. In fact, it’s made its way all around the mainstream news outlets. Here’s what they said:
A new study concludes there’s no amount of alcohol consumption that’s safe for overall health — a finding that’s likely to surprise moderate drinkers, and that has left some experts unconvinced.
“The evidence is adding up that no amount of drinking is safe,” says study co-author Emmanuela Gakidou, a professor of global health and health metrics sciences at the University of Washington. “I don’t think we’re going out on a limb to say anything that the data do not support.”
The new research was based on a review of nearly 700 existing studies on global drinking prevalence and nearly 600 studies on alcohol and health found that alcohol was the seventh leading risk factor for premature death in 2016, contributing to 2.8 million deaths worldwide. That number is equivalent to 2.2% of all female deaths and 6.8% of all male deaths that year…
The health risks likely only increase the more you drink… Compared to non-drinkers, people who had one alcoholic beverage per day had a 0.5% higher risk of developing one of 23 alcohol-related health problems, including cancer, road injuries and tuberculosis…
Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, agrees with that assessment. It’s clear, he says, that drinking comes with health risks, and far less clear that it comes with any benefits. So while some moderate drinkers might never experience health problems from drinking, “if you look at all the risks and all the benefits of alcohol, it’s probably net harmful, on average, for the whole population,” he says (time.com).
Some will respond, “all in moderation.” While the statement is a wise one, should we be teaching that moderation in connection to something so clearly addicting – and damaging?
God disapproves of drunkenness. “Woe to the drunkard! They also have erred through wine and through intoxicating drink (Isaiah 28:1-7). Again, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise” (Prov 20:1, RSV). Again, “Who has woe? …sorrow? …redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine” (23:29-34). Paul agrees, “Drunkards… will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1Cor 6:10). If you want to please God, drunkenness will clearly make you fail.
God shows the wise way. He promised that he who “listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil” (Prov 1:33). This wise way avoids “lingering” over wine in Proverbs. Who would believe it is okay with God for me to shoot off my mouth when God says “he who restrains his lips is wise” (10:19)? If God offers the wise way is , any other way is not. Therefore, lingering over wine is not wise.
There are several reasons why Christians struggle on how to apply these warnings and it is because wine is mentioned in Scripture in different ways.
The first reason is because in both Old and New Testaments, the words have different applications. The Hebrew word yayin and the Greek word oinas describe both the fresh juice from the vineyard (Isa 16:10; Jer 40:10,12) as well as fermented or intoxicating wine (Hos 4:11) – and just the fact the word is used alone does not condemn or justify it.
Ancient wine was different than today’s wine. “Ancient wine was the most intoxicating drink known in ancient times. But, the wine was light wine, i.e. not fortified with extra alcohol. Concentrated alcohol was only know in the Middle Ages when the Arabs invented distillation so what is now called liquor, strong drink and fortified wines were unknown in Bible times. Probably ancient wines were 7-10 percent” in their alcoholic content (R. Laird Harris, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, I, 376). Today, “most Port wine is in the 18 – 21% alcohol range, as compared to between 10 and 14% for the majority of still wines” (www.wine.com).
Ancient wine was both a social and table drink. It would have been used at weddings (John 2) and at common meals. Even though a social drink, “lingering over” it was still censured.
Table wine was always more water than wine. In fact, table wine was not pure juice but juice, whether fermented or not, mixed with water. Plutarch wrote in the 2nd century, “We call a mixture ‘wine’, although the larger of the components is water.” Drinking undiluted wine was regarded by Greeks as barbaric (quoted in Everett Ferguson, Restoration Quarterly, XIII, 145).
Homer ratioed 20 parts water to 1 part wine (Odyssey). Pliny of the first century made it 8/1. Athenaeus (AD 200) quoted mixtures of 3/1, 4/1, 2/1, 5/2 and even called 3/2 “strong” (The Learned Banquet). The Talmud said that Passover wine was to be 3/1. Describing Communion, Justin Martyr wrote, “when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought and there is a distribution to each” (Apology I, 67, 5, my emphasis). Clement of Alexandria said, “It is best for the wine to be mixed with as much water as possible” (Instructor II,ii,23.3-24.1).
So then, why should it come as a surprise that for the Christian today that the ideal for today’s alcohol is abstinence. Peter urged Christians to not walk in “drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties” (1Peter 4:3). If drunkenness alone was the only sin, then why use other words associated with wine-drinking? Solomon said we should avoid drunkenness and when the wine sparkles. Nor, should we cause others to stumble by our drink (Rom 14:21) so we can “save others” (1Cor 9:22), for “the glory of God” (10:31).
What better reason could there be?
-Don Hooton