When does drinking turn to sin

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I was wondering the chruch teaching on when does it come to a point when it becomes a mortal sin.
 
down_under said:
can we have ccc on that
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CCC 2290 touches on it.
CCC 2290:
**2290 **The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.
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But more than that, we have the Holy Bible that speaks of this:

Gal 5:19-21
1 Cor 6:9-10

There are more, however, you can look them up as easily as I. God bless.
 
I believe you are quoting drunkeness out of context. It was referring to driving under the influence. It was not referring to being drunk. In my opinion getting drunk is mortally sinful if it causes severe harm or influences one to committ other motal sins. Drunk driving definitely can be a mortal sin. However just getting drunk per se is probably venial at worst much in the same way perhaps smoking may or may not be a venial sin and I don’t think smoking is a venial sin. However one is probably going to commit venial sins while drunk so I would say getting drunk is a venial sin.
 
I believe its in the intent, if that is what you set out to do. Then it is probably mortal. If you just want to have a drink or two and do so, and not become drunk, then I think that isn’t sinful at all. But that is just my opinion. If you drink to excess frequently, you have a horse of a different color altogether (or perhaps a pink elephant or two), and may need help.
 
wjp984 said:
I believe you are quoting drunkeness out of context. It was referring to driving under the influence. It was not referring to being drunk. In my opinion getting drunk is mortally sinful if it causes severe harm or influences one to committ other motal sins. Drunk driving definitely can be a mortal sin. However just getting drunk per se is probably venial at worst much in the same way perhaps smoking may or may not be a venial sin and I don’t think smoking is a venial sin. However one is probably going to commit venial sins while drunk so I would say getting drunk is a venial sin.
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I don’t think it is safe to comfort yourself with the thought that you’ll confine yourself to venial sins while drunk. Also, “just getting drunk per se”, done often enough, will certainly cause grave damage to life and health, even if done while alone, “safely” confined to a recliner in front of EWTN. (Kind of hard to imagine doing that, isn’t it? What does that tell you?)
 
wjp984 said:
I believe you are quoting drunkeness out of context. It was referring to driving under the influence. It was not referring to being drunk. In my opinion getting drunk is mortally sinful if it causes severe harm or influences one to committ other motal sins. Drunk driving definitely can be a mortal sin. However just getting drunk per se is probably venial at worst much in the same way perhaps smoking may or may not be a venial sin and I don’t think smoking is a venial sin. However one is probably going to commit venial sins while drunk so I would say getting drunk is a venial sin.
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Well, the CCC may very well be speaking of driving drunk in #2290, which of course I too believe to be a serious sin. Setting that aside for a moment, what about Gal 5:19-21 and/or Col 6:9-10? Paul certainly appears to be lumping drunkenness in with other sins considered to be mortal. God bless.
 
  • When your natural boundaries become blurred. This you will notice only when it is already too late.
    A few indications that it has happend: you start saying things that you normally would not say: like bad jokes, immoderate comments or something else. Another example is you get overly happy or overly agressive. Quite many people easily become violent if they drink a bit too much. Some get too loving and start dancing immodestly with the other people in the gathering or telling them secrets or whatever…
    Some men on this forum have ended up squandering perfectly good relationships to significant others because they couldnt control their sexual tendencies or their sense of wrong and right after a night with the buddies… ETC.
The Bible says that getting drunk leads to all kinds of bad behaviour.
Don’t put your self in the position and no one gets hurt.
🤷
 
I asked this to my elderly Priest. What he said is that drinking becomes a sin if it was your intent to become drunk…i didnt feel comfortable with this response…

…however…how much is too much? suppose one time, you got drunk after 2 beers (and normally, it would take 4 beers)…at that point, you are not in the right state of mind and would keep on drinking. can that be a mortal sin if you didnt mean to get drunk (but you still did)?
 
From a recently stopped drinker, I’d say the starting point of sin in drinking is when one becomes drunk. The problem many have is that one’s judgement becomes disabled way before you can get drunk. The near occasion of sin happens to many well before drunkeness occurrs. The loss of inhibitions and possible scandal are all considerations that play a part in determining a sinfulness of an episode of drinking.
I used to drink a lot without getting drunk, probobly because of tolerance levels. I wouldn’t think it was sinful because I wasn’t technically drunk. What my disabled judgement couldn’t tell me was how easily I could give into bad language, improper or intemperate associations etc. Having a “buzz” on a regular basis often led me to sin through neglegence.giving scandal, lustful thoughts, etc. Most of these sins are committed through a reduced sense of right judgement.
I’m not condenming drink or drinkers, but there is more to sinful drinking than determining the exact point of inebriation and how willfull was that condition acheived.
 
I’ve been kind of wondering this one, too.

I mean, I’m in a situation where I LIKE the idea of having a drink in the evening. One, maybe two. Every evening.

I’m apprehensive of getting alcoholic, to tell you the truth.
 
I would not recomend waiting as long as I did to do something about it. It is not a necessarily healthy situation. I mean moral-wise. The only universal thing that can be said about overindulging, is that it can happen to us all.No exceptions. For many a couple drinks a nite is no big deal, for others its a sin. I’m glad to be in the condition I’m in ,it took several months of not drinking to even begin to realize some of the ways in which it was detrimental to me and others in my life. By not drinking at all, I don’t have to worry about where when and how I might sin while drinking. Thank-God!
 
Maxply said:
I’ve been kind of wondering this one, too.

I mean, I’m in a situation where I LIKE the idea of having a drink in the evening. One, maybe two. Every evening.

I’m apprehensive of getting alcoholic, to tell you the truth.
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My parents have a beer and a shot of whiskey nearly every day…but not every day. In spite of having been at many weddings and such where most of the other adults were at least drinking a bit too much, I never saw either of my parents drunk or lacking in self-control, due to their drinking.

I like my dad’s advice: besides making it a rule that you never allow yourself to drink to the point of drunkenness, let there be regular times you refrain from drinking, as a penance.

First of all, the drinking is much less likely to come to own you. Secondly, if it does come to own you, you will be forced to admit it and to seek help. Thirdly, every pleasure is dulled by repetition and enhanced by periodic abstinence. If there are times in which you choose not to drink, even though you want to, you will enjoy the times you do drink much more.

Dad used to say that anybody who couldn’t give up alcohol entirely during Advent and Lent had a problem, and needed to face that. I think he was right.

One other rule: never, ever use alcohol or even food as a medication for sadness or disappointment. Instead, make it a point to use food and alcohol less during these times than at the times in which you are in a celebratory mood. Resist simply numbing your pain. Reach out to other people and to God when you are suffering, instead.
 
Maxply said:
I’ve been kind of wondering this one, too.

I mean, I’m in a situation where I LIKE the idea of having a drink in the evening. One, maybe two. Every evening.

I’m apprehensive of getting alcoholic, to tell you the truth.
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Then stop doing it.

The best way to stop doing it is to figure out what it is that you are trying to achieve, and then figure out a way to acheive that without drinking alcohol.

For example, meditative prayer can put you into an altered state of consciousness and slow down your racing thoughts. Drinking juice or water can assuage your thirst. Sitting down with a book can be relaxing. Etc.
 
I find the times I drink too much is actually with Catholics because when I’m with heathens I’m careful as I know that if I drink 5 they’ll push me to have 10 so I stick to 2 or 3, likewise if I’m with protestants I won’t have more than 2 or 3 as A. they often don’t like drinking much and B. I’ll end up getting into an argumnent but not be in a state to debate well.
 
The four cardinal virtues are Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.

Drinking alcohol to excess is a sin against Temperance. “To excess” varies from person to person. If you’re a recovering alcoholic, one drink is drinking to excess. If you have a glass of wine with dinner with no ill effects, that’s probably not to excess. Drinking to get drunk is to excess. And once you’re drunk, you’re a lot more likely to commit other sins as well.

Also, I don’t believe for most people today that smoking is a venial sin. I believe that it is a mortal sin against the 5th Commandment, Thou shalt not kill. People today know that smoking kills. 30 years ago they didn’t know that with the same certainty so it wasn’t as serious a sin. (Mortal sin requires grave matter, knowledge, and lack of extenuating circumstances.)
 
Mea_Culpa said:
Also, I don’t believe for most people today that smoking is a venial sin. I believe that it is a mortal sin against the 5th Commandment, Thou shalt not kill. People today know that smoking kills. 30 years ago they didn’t know that with the same certainty so it wasn’t as serious a sin. (Mortal sin requires grave matter, knowledge, and lack of extenuating circumstances.)
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I think that an individual instance is a venial sin–choosing to smoke one cigarette, or these guys who have a cigar once every six months or a year. To freely choose to take on the habit, though, that is more serious. At that point, though, how free the choice is or how much unconscious denial operates could become mitigating. With regards to gravity, though, I think you might have it pegged.
 
Dear Easterjoy and Mea Culpa,

As a former smoker and the grateful recipient of God’s miraculous healing, I agree that smoking is a much more serious matter than it was 30years ago. I started in 1972 at the age of twenty, even then I knew ciggarettes were not good for you. Idiocy of youth I think qualifies as a mitigating circumstance, as well as the addictive nature of nicotine and the habitual aspect of smoking. Becoming aware of the increasing seriousness of smoking’s bad effects did nothing to help me quit. I desired to quit for years before God’s miracle. I prayed for God to take smoking away from me because I was helpless to quit myself.

I’ve been delivered from slavery for 9 months and 25 days and 5 hours. There are things that are virtualy impossible to escape from on our own. Drinking is another one of those things as well. I was freed from that at the same time as well.

Anyway, I’m sorry to go on like this when I simply wanted to say that you both seem to come off a little too harsh with the Mortal sin business. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive.
Love and Peace in Christ,
Tom
 
“I think that an individual instance is a venial sin–choosing to smoke one cigarette, or these guys who have a cigar once every six months or a year.”

I think that smoking a cheap cigar is a sin. (Just kidding.) One cigar once or twice a year is fairly harmless. And unless it presents a health threat I do not see how it could be a sin. Smoking on a regular basis is bad for health just as any excess is sinful. However any sin regardless of frequency is still a sin. These are my thoughts on the subject.
 
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