Drinking: how much is too much?

[Mtdobbs]

Jesus turned water into wine. Scripture says to drink wine for your ailments. Clearly, alcohol as an object is not grave matter in itself. Getting drunk can be mortally sinful and St Paul says in scripture pretty clearly that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom.

Has to do with excessiveness, not drinking moderately.

It’s not that drinking 1 beer is grave matter

Drinking 20 would be grave matter as you would, most likely, lose your free will.

Getting drunk “could” be a mortal sin for some.

 

[veritatisstella]

That’s a very good point. A person can still abuse alcohol without ever getting drunk. I am sorry you have been impacted in that way.

 

[Calliope]

Because I know I am an alcoholic, even one is too many. Depends on the person and the effect alcohol has on them (and therefore) those around them.

 

[MrZoom]

I rarely drink, and when I do, I limit myself to one serving. By the grace of God, I’ve never gotten really drunk, and I hope I never do. I’ve gotten “buzzed” on a couple of occasions and didn’t like how that felt.

 

[Cruciferi]

Simply feeling the effects of an intoxicating substance doesn’t rise to the level of abusing that substance.

Exactly!

Having three glasses of wine on a night in with my friends will definitely get me drunk, but if I know full well that all we’re going to do is watch chick flicks and Youtube videos involving cats, then that’s really not abusive.

The Wedding at Cana, you know more than a few people sauntered home inebriated What can I say, it was good wine!

 

[Bluebright]

Getting drunk isn’t the only problem, in itself, it is what happens when you actually drink… No one can say how much is too much it would differ for each of us…tolerance etc…though some amounts are obviously too much. But even say the second glass of wine is going to make you less likely to be able to control yourself as your inhibitions are loosened to some degree… That’s just how alcohol works, how much, again that’ll differ, person to person. It may be small things, like it’s harder not to share gossip, or tell a small lie or act in prideful ways such as boasting or insisting you are right etc. then the more you drink the more the sins can get out of control as your control over them is less. I am not saying you can’t or even shouldn’t drink… just that moderation is key, for the very reason of what you do, say and think whilst having alcohol.

 

[PennyinCanada]

I grew up living with an alcoholic parent. The smartest thing I ever did was to make the decision not to drink, even while I was a teenager. If there was a glass of wine offered to me at a meal, I drank it, but didn’t help myself with seconds. As a female, I never went to a party and couldn’t remember what happened. Being sober was a gift to myself. I am made of the same brokeness as my parent so I don’t want to go down that road that they did. They didn’t dream that one day I’m going to be an alcoholic. One might say ‘it just happened’. No. It didn’t just happen. So in my mind, if you are asking how much is too much, you are not in a good place. Just make the decision to have one beer and one beer only, for the night, and see how that goes. Having trouble with putting the brakes on with one beer? Maybe then, having one beer it too much.
Being sober is a gift to myself, to my husband, to my family. It is also proclaiming the gospel of Christ, not following what everybody is doing. Bringing a light to those who just drink and do it because they can. The freedom to do good and to say no to handing over my ability to make good decisions. There is a freedom there, and a bondage there. Make a good decision today.