Some questions on drinking

[Shana]

I’m 20 and I have a few questions on drinking.

1. I know it is a sin to get drunk or drink excessively but drinking in moderation is ok. Could someone clarify the difference between drinking in moderation and at what point it becomes excessive? For one with healthy drinking habits, one who drinks in moderation, what is the purpose of drinking? Is it to relax and get to the point where you are a little giggly? If you are getting a little giggly is that ok or are you letting yourself be too affected by the alcohol? Could you clarify how to justify to someone that getting drunk is wrong but letting yourself get a little buzzed is not?
2. Sometimes, rarely, I’ll have a drink with my family or a drink with my older friends who are pretty much like family. I’m not sure how I feel about this because lately I’ve been wondering if that would be sinning because I’m underage. I’m speaking of environments that are safe in the sense that they don’t encourage excessive drinking and noone gets drunk or pressures you to get drunk.
3. Last night I was at a get together with a few of my high school friends, half of them old enough to drink. I chose not to drink last night because a. I’m not sure how I feel about underage drinking and b. it wasn’t an environment that I felt encouraged moderation and sobriety (there were drinking games). I suppose I had more of a problem with the drinking games and such than I did with the fact that a few people were (less than a year) underage. My question would be would it be even OK to put myself in that environment, even if I didn’t drink, for fear that I would send a message that I approve of what they are doing? How do I express my concern or disapproval for drinking games and excessive drinking without estranging people or sounding unintelligent?

I just want to honor God in all things, including alcohol.

 

[1ke]

I’m 20 and I have a few questions on drinking.

1. I know it is a sin to get drunk or drink excessively but drinking in moderation is ok. Could someone clarify the difference between drinking in moderation and at what point it becomes excessive? For one with healthy drinking habits, one who drinks in moderation, what is the purpose of drinking? Is it to relax and get to the point where you are a little giggly? If you are getting a little giggly is that ok or are you letting yourself be too affected by the alcohol? Could you clarify how to justify to someone that getting drunk is wrong but letting yourself get a little buzzed is not?

Buzzed/“giggly” is drinking excessively (i.e., it is wrong), that is intoxication. Your inhibitions have already been lowered at that level.

What is **not **excessive? A glass or two of wine with dinner. A toast on New Year’s or at someone’s wedding. A beer or two as you watch a ballgame and eat pizza. A margarita at the Mexican restaurant. Depending on weight, body mass, and the type of beverage (alcohol content in wine is low compared to a margarita) a person may drink 1 or 2 drinks in the range of “enjoyment” versus “intoxication” while someone else may be able to drink one or two more before they begin to become intoxicated.

1. Sometimes, rarely, I’ll have a drink with my family or a drink with my older friends who are pretty much like family. I’m not sure how I feel about this because lately I’ve been wondering if that would be sinning because I’m underage. I’m speaking of environments that are safe in the sense that they don’t encourage excessive drinking and noone gets drunk or pressures you to get drunk.

In many states it is not illegal for a minor to drink alochol in their home if given to them by their parents (in Texas, for instance, it is this way). Many cultures share wine with children at dinner, for example, and there is nothing wrong with this. You should obey the laws in your own state. Drinking with older friends would not be legal in any state that I know of.

1. Last night I was at a get together with a few of my high school friends, half of them old enough to drink. I chose not to drink last night because a. I’m not sure how I feel about underage drinking and b. it wasn’t an environment that I felt encouraged moderation and sobriety (there were drinking games). I suppose I had more of a problem with the drinking games and such than I did with the fact that a few people were (less than a year) underage. My question would be would it be even OK to put myself in that environment, even if I didn’t drink, for fear that I would send a message that I approve of what they are doing? How do I express my concern or disapproval for drinking games and excessive drinking without estranging people or sounding unintelligent?

I just want to honor God in all things, including alcohol.

It’s probably best to avoid such parties completely if you know beforehand what will be going on. There are numerous reasons for this

Morally, of course you want to avoid near occasions of sin and scandal and set a good example for your friends and any younger siblings you have. The same would apply once you turn 21. It’s not merely that you are not old enough to drink legally, but rather the purpose of the party being to get drunk through drinking games. Find better ways to spend time with your friends.

Practically speaking, if the cops show up for some reason (neighbors calling them, etc), you might all go to jail or get a ticket (whether you were “actually” drinking or not… since everyone will likely claim that they were just standing there innocently) and that would be a most unpleasant thing to explain to mom and dad.

 

[Irish_Catholic_1]

…I know it is a sin to get drunk or drink excessively but drinking in moderation is ok. Could someone clarify the difference between drinking in moderation and at what point it becomes excessive?..

Only common sense can answer that question. There was a Judge who was once asked how to define pornography. He basically said: I don’t know, but I know it when I see it.

Same goes here. A person know when they are no longer drinking sociably and have crossed over into seeking the buzz. The person just needs to be honest with themselves.

 

[neophyte]

I’m 20 and I have a few questions on drinking.

1. I know it is a sin to get drunk or drink excessively but drinking in moderation is ok. Could someone clarify the difference between drinking in moderation and at what point it becomes excessive? For one with healthy drinking habits, one who drinks in moderation, what is the purpose of drinking? Is it to relax and get to the point where you are a little giggly? If you are getting a little giggly is that ok or are you letting yourself be too affected by the alcohol? Could you clarify how to justify to someone that getting drunk is wrong but letting yourself get a little buzzed is not?

Well, let’s look at the extremes.

Last month I was at a bar-mitzvah party, and the family was making merry with their finest home brew. Someone said “if you want one of these, better get it 'cause they’re going fast”, but 45 minutes everyone was still working on their first beers. By the end of the day there was definitely a buzz on, and the next day everyone woke up and went on with a normal life.

I’m a recovering addict, which no one at the party knew. Normally I’d have found a reason to not be there, but on this occasion I was unable to do so. Even though I’ve been clean over 22 years, I know that if I had had a beer it would have cascaded into something very ugly. 45 minutes? In 45 minutes I’d have knocked off a six and put a dent in the scotch, and before long I’d have gotten punched out by the host for making a pass at his wife. By the end of the night I’d have been blind drunk and cruising the ghettos of a city I’ve never been to before, looking for dope. By now I probably would have lost my job and my wife would be filing for divorce.

At some point, you get past giving yourself a morning-after headache and find yourself in a social pathology. The amount of booze that takes is different for different people. My limit is none. Just because your limit is more than none today doesn’t mean it won’t be none in the future. There are genetic vectors to alcoholism and addiction, the way we metabolize alchohol is different but it’s more than just chemistry. It’s a very insidious physical and spiritual disease that starts out seeming like fun and games but ends up with us driving away everyone who loves us and slowly kiling ourselves.

1. Sometimes, rarely, I’ll have a drink with my family or a drink with my older friends who are pretty much like family. I’m not sure how I feel about this because lately I’ve been wondering if that would be sinning because I’m underage. I’m speaking of environments that are safe in the sense that they don’t encourage excessive drinking and noone gets drunk or pressures you to get drunk.

I can see how if you’re with your folks and they offer you a bit at a special event, such as Christmas dinner or a wedding, you might not have to scruple about that…assuming you’re not an addict waiting for a trigger,

1. Last night I was at a get together with a few of my high school friends, half of them old enough to drink. I chose not to drink last night because a. I’m not sure how I feel about underage drinking and b. it wasn’t an environment that I felt encouraged moderation and sobriety (there were drinking games). I suppose I had more of a problem with the drinking games and such than I did with the fact that a few people were (less than a year) underage. My question would be would it be even OK to put myself in that environment, even if I didn’t drink, for fear that I would send a message that I approve of what they are doing?..

Bad scene, nothing but trouble, in many states a good way to get arrested for MIP. I’ll lay 10:1 that some of the folks there will be in full-blown alcoholism within a few years, and 3:1 that some already are.

How do I express my concern or disapproval for drinking games and excessive drinking without estranging people or sounding unintelligent?

Unfortunately, the people that most need to hear it are the ones least likely to listen to your wise counsel. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that people choose to take diverging paths; the only thing to do is to choose your path wisely and know that in twenty years people like me will be wishing we’d have been wiser when we were in high school.

 

[ljubim]

I’m also slightly underage… and in a big Polish family, not one of drunks but of many holiday family dinners, of course we drink. Not excessively. And there is nothing wrong, or even illegal about this(in most states, and in the entire world, save Saudi Arabia and the like).

(Don’t worry about me… I’m responisible and bear the warning that almost all of my great-grandfathers were alcoholics.) And drinking with friends, when underage, is a HUGE mistake, because of responisibility issues. Maybe you should hold off on this for another year, and stick to drinking with family.

An interesting thought: the drinking age is held at 21 because of a federal “blackmail” to the states, of withholding highway funds. Just a thought.

[BIBLEDRB]Eccl 9:7[/BIBLEDRB]

 

[Mintaka]

If you tend to think of wine as “part of dinner”, or “part of a relaxing evening kicking back”, that’s a moderation mindset. If you think of it as “the only way I can relax enough to enjoy a party” or “what I have to ingest to get a buzz”, that’s not.

If wine makes you feel out of it, or if you don’t feel fully in control of yourself, you’ve probably had too much. Getting giggly on wine is a lack of control.

I still remember that age; and if you’re under 21, I seriously doubt that you need wine to make you giggly. So why waste wine on that?

Seriously – if you don’t drink much, you can afford much better stuff to drink. So there’s a definite upside to prudent drinking.

 

[LilyM]

Yes, people drink for reasons other than to get a buzz. For example, yesterday was a stinking hot day here in Sydney Australia. So when I got home from work I had a drink (maybe 1.5 standard drinks’ worth of alcohol). It contained gin (flavoured with juniper berries, so it has a nice taste of its own, which married well with the lemonade I used as a mixer). It was all ice-cold and mighty refreshing.

Did I drink it to feel a ‘buzz’? No, I didn’t really feel a buzz. I was perfectly able to use a computer competently and coherently, enjoy my dinner and TV show and so on. I almost certainly would’ve been OK to drive if driving had been required, although I didn’t have a breathalyser on me so I couldn’t swear that I wasn’t above the limit.

Did I feel a little different to what I would’ve felt without the alcohol? I’d lie if I said no, but then if I’d had an extra-strong coffee I also would’ve felt ‘different’, and to about the same extent, and a coffee certainly isn’t sinful.

Is my drinking out of control? I don’t think so. I don’t drink every day, or even every week. I had a bit too much on a girls’ night out a few months ago, but that wasn’t really intentional - I hadn’t eaten and didn’t anticipate how hard the alcohol would hit my system on an empty stomach. Nonetheless, because I wasn’t quite easy in my mind about it, I went to confession afterwards, because I certainly don’t go easy on myself in such matters.

Remember we’re talking about Jesus here, who provided 120 GALLONS of wine to a wedding where the guests had already drunk the place dry, and thus presumably had plenty already. Jesus who was personally accused of being a drunkard (which he certainly wouldn’t have been accused of unless he quite enjoyed His alcohol, in a moderate way of course).

 

[puzzleannie]

I’m 20 and I have a few questions on drinking.

1. I know it is a sin to get drunk or drink excessively but drinking in moderation is ok. Could someone clarify the difference between drinking in moderation and at what point it becomes excessive? .

if the legal drinking age is 21 where you live, then any drink for you is excessive. the law also has a definition of excessive, as in, your judgment and reactions are impaired to the point where it is unsafe to drive.

the purpose of drinking alcohol is the same as for consuming any other food or drink, for the good it contains, and there are some benefits. Whether they are outweighed by detrimental aspects is a judgement call.

 

[joshuab]

Hello Shana…

It’s better you stay away from it…
some times having drink occasionally may lead them to addiction.

Drug Rehab