Is getting drunk a sin?

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I understand that different priests have different rules in this area. They might be easy on getting drunk, but hard on drink driving etc. What are your understandings of getting drunk? And drink driving? When do they become mortal sins?

Yours in Jesus, Mary & Joseph,

John
Saints are just sinners who keep trying.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
 
John Russell Jr:
I understand that different priests have different rules in this area. They might be easy on getting drunk, but hard on drink driving etc. What are your understandings of getting drunk? And drink driving? When do they become mortal sins?

Yours in Jesus, Mary & Joseph,

John
Saints are just sinners who keep trying.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
this is a trick question isn’t it?.. it’s the abuse my fellow poster, not the use… 👍
 
Are you next going to say that “different priests” interpret the 10 Commandments differently?

Drinking in moderation is not a sin. The Benedictines make a cognac and the Blue Nuns make a wine called Blue Nun (Ha Ha). So the presence of alcolic beverages is not a sin.

But to indulge, and become “drunk” is a sin for that will open the door for other serious sin to come in. It is much like,“Avoid the occasion of sin”. Drunkeness is the occasion of sin. I don’t know if I can tell you it is a mortal or a venial sin, that depends on each case.
 
Scripture (St. Paul) tells us not to get drunk but to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Drinking can be a strong temptation. I don’t know when too much becomes a mortal sin or if even getting a bit drunk very rarely is a mortal sin, e.g. New Years. However, it is not the Christian direction so it is not the path to be on. Again, this is difficult for those who enjoy drinking but there is a conflict between excessive drinking and the spiritual life. There is no way around it. Those who avoid excessive drinking will be happier and find other things to enjoy such as going to a movie.

Personally, I stopped drinking altogether because (especially on weekends) if I had a few drinks I just wanted to make a party out of it and keep drinking. Also, by not drinking at all, I don’t have to worry about driving drunk.

Definitely do not drink and drive.

A few drinks to relax can be OK but beyond that, it can become sinful including harmful to your health.

Greg
 
John Russell Jr:
I understand that different priests have different rules in this area. They might be easy on getting drunk, but hard on drink driving etc. What are your understandings of getting drunk? And drink driving? When do they become mortal sins?

Yours in Jesus, Mary & Joseph,

John
Saints are just sinners who keep trying.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
Yes, drunkeness is a sin. In the Bible, St. Paul gives us a list of grave sins. He states that anyone who commits these sins shall not enter the kingdom of God. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-20).

Any grave sin committed with full advertence and perfect consent of the will is a mortal sin.
 
Getting drunk is a sin. Getting drunk intentionally is a mortal sin. Overeating is also a sin. Both Drunkenness and gluttony violate the cardinal virtue of temperance.
 
the sinfulness of drink is only that your free will is forfeit once you are drunk. so drinking okay, drunk not okay.
 
John Russell Jr:
I understand that different priests have different rules in this area. They might be easy on getting drunk, but hard on drink driving etc. What are your understandings of getting drunk? And drink driving? When do they become mortal sins?

Yours in Jesus, Mary & Joseph,

John
Saints are just sinners who keep trying.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
Getting drunk is a sin if that is your intent.
 
Besides the warnings against drunkenness in the Bible, from a purely scientific point of view the sensation of being drunk is caused by the presence of a toxic condition in the blood that impairs the brain cells’ ability to process oxygen. You can get the same feeling by taking your oxygen mask off at high altitude in an unpressurized airplane (or in an altitude chamber, like I did once, as a controlled demonstration).

In one case it’s hypoxia because of lack of sufficient O2 partial pressure, and in the other case it’s chemical hypoxia. In my case it lasted for 15 seconds, but in the case of being drunk it can last for hours. During this time brain cells are dying for lack of oxygen. Repeatedly getting drunk kills off more and more brain cells.

This sort of intentionally harming one’s body is certainly a sin, as it shows major disrespect for the God who gave the body in the first place and expects us to take care of it.

DaveBj
 
It is grave matter IF you are drunk to the point where you lose the use of reason or if you endanger lives by driving drunk. All the moral theology textbooks in my library agree on that.
 
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DaveBj:
Repeatedly getting drunk kills off more and more brain cells.

This sort of intentionally harming one’s body is certainly a sin, as it shows major disrespect for the God who gave the body in the first place and expects us to take care of it.

DaveBj
I agree. Just take your head and beat it a few times off of a brick wall. You are doing the same thing morally (and physically).

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Take care of it.

When people abuse their bodies it is an offense to God. It is like he handed you a great expensive car as a gift and you intentionally pushed it off of a cliff. It shows ungratefullness and quite frankly a lack of intelligence by the person getting drunk.
 
When drinking, you KNOW when the buzz cometh! I limit myself to 2 drinks only, of anything alcoholic (I love wine) because I am very aware (from past experience) of “tongue flappitis” that sets in afterwards to my own detriment and the embarrassment of those around me. Know your limit and stop.
 
I could see the confusion already. Why is drinking so prevalent in the Bible? But… I don’t have time to search through my Bible, and I wouldn’t even try to quote. It does talk about drunkeness in an unfavorable light. Truley, getting drunk is a self indulgent practice that brings on a temporary euphoria. Euphoria, followed by what?(Nothing good.) Alcohol is also a tool used widely by satan. It’s biblical and social acceptability tells everyone it is ok to imbibe. There is a reason to drink for any occasion, even at church. Now go to an alcoholic or their family and ask if they beleive that alcoholisim walks hand in hand with the devil. Is having a few drinks and getting tipsy on occasion a sin? I think not. But be careful satan lurks around every coroner. I’ve been there. Bill Sweeney
 
Billy Sweeney:
But be careful satan lurks around every coroner.
I know this was a typo, but this has got to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever read.
:rotfl:
 
**When a mother has her Son bring six thirty gallon gars of wine to a celibration, I am thinking that she and her Son do not consider it a sin to have a few. **

**Putting others lives in danger by operating a motor vehical while under the infuence is a sin. **

NAB JOHN 2:1

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."
Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com
**
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Whether drunkenness is a sin?

Objection 1.
It would seem that drunkenness is not a sin. For every sin has a corresponding contrary sin, thus timidity is opposed to daring, and presumption to pusillanimity. But no sin is opposed to drunkenness. Therefore drunkenness is not a sin.

Objection 2. Further, every sin is voluntary [Augustine, De Vera Relig. xiv]. But no man wishes to be drunk, since no man wishes to be deprived of the use of reason. Therefore drunkenness is not a sin.

Objection 3. Further, whoever causes another to sin, sins himself. Therefore, if drunkenness were a sin, it would follow that it is a sin to ask a man to drink that which makes him drunk, which would seem very hard.

Objection 4. Further, every sin calls for correction. But correction is not applied to drunkards: for Gregory [Cf. Canon Denique, dist. 4 where Gratian refers to a letter of http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06780a.htm”]St. Gregory to St. Augustine of Canterbury] says that “we must forbear with their ways, lest they become worse if they be compelled to give up the habit.” Therefore drunkenness is not a sin.

On the contrary, The Apostle says (Rm. 13:13): “Not in rioting and drunkenness.” From St Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. For the answer to this question and more info on this subject. Click on the link below.
newadvent.org/summa/315000.htm
I found this yesterday.
 
the sin lies in the actions of the drunkard.
Jesus drank wine, did this make Him drunk?
who is to say.
I come from an alcoholic family, riddled with sin. The sin always fell on the sinner.
My Mom got drunk, not much sin occured.
My Dad was an alcoholic, he was a sickening drunkard.
 
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