Why Christians shouldn't drink alcohol (even if it's in moderation, it's a sin!)

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mark_a said:
All this reminds me of Baptists I grew up with who thought drinking a beer and committing adultery were on the same plain.
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And if drinking alcohol was a sin we would use grape juice instead of wine at Communion (as many Baptist churches do). We are Catholics and our Church does not deem that drinking alcohol is sinful. If people want to abstain then that’s their choice, and nothing wrong with that. But saying that drinking alcohol is sinful is just not correct.
 
Brendan_64 said:
And if drinking alcohol was a sin we would use grape juice instead of wine at Communion (as many Baptist churches do). We are Catholics and our Church does not deem that drinking alcohol is sinful. If people want to abstain then that’s their choice, and nothing wrong with that. But saying that drinking alcohol is sinful is just not correct.
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How could Jesus have consecrated wine into His Blood, if it were sinful?

:confused:

The theological implications are staggering.
 
abinjoy said:
I think it is a sin.I strongly feel there is no such thing like drinking in moderation not being a sin.
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I vote for left of centre parties, because I think that conservative political policies are wrong. Should I say “I think voting for conservative parties is a sin”? Will it make it a sin simply because I think it is the wrong thing to do? Of course not.

The same logic applies to your position on alcohol (and I too could provide scriptural passages to support my assertion if I needed to).

What is and what isn’t sinful is determined by our Church, not by us as individuals. The church interprets scripture in order that there is one Truth and not 1.2 billion individual versions of the truth.
 
St. John Chrysostom said to punch in the face the man who calls wine evil. So, he’s pretty much not okay with calling drinking in moderation sinful.
 
DKIN said:
Not only is he drinking a beer, but a rather large one at that 😉
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Yep that looks like a 1.5 litre stein, and he’s guzzled over half of it. I reckon he’s on a bit of a session.
 
I find the original poster’s position lacking, but it’s not all that different from the position of many “good” Catholics here who believe that sin begins after the 1st glass of wine or beer. It’s not that much more unfounded, either.

When Jesus created wine at the wedding feast at Cana, do you really think that the people weren’t already feeling the effects of the alcohol to some degree? People say, “well, the water at the time could be dangerous, and wine was consumed, in part, because it was safer,” stop and think about what you are suggesting. If the son of God could turn water into wine, then surely he could turn dirty water into purified water, yet he did not. Why would the son of God do something that would certainly lead others to sin? He wouldn’t.

(The whole story sounds more like a parable than an actual event anyway, but that’s for another thread. :p)
 
abinjoy said:
If drinking in moderation is not a sin can I resort to drugs(in very small quantities)?

PS:I dont drink or take drugs
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I often take drugs in small quantities - caffeine, paracetamol and aspirin are all drugs. I take it you use no painkillers or other natural or synthesised medications of any sort?

Illicit drugs are bad partly because there is no established safe level of consumption. Which is untrue of alcohol.
 
LilyM said:
I often take drugs in small quantities - caffeine, paracetamol and aspirin are all drugs. I take it you use no painkillers or other natural or synthesised medications of any sort?

Illicit drugs are bad partly because there is no established safe level of consumption. Which is untrue of alcohol.
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IMHO, there’s a big double standard right there. Marijuana, which is an illegal drug in most places, is just like alcohol, because it’s also a mild intoxicant, which can be used without getting stoned or intoxicated. A person can use marijuana without getting stoned, just like somebody can have a glass of wine or beer without getting drunk.

A person who has one glass of wine or beer is not drunk or intoxicated, they’re just buzzed and relaxed, just like somebody that has a couple of puffs of marijuana is not stoned or intoxicated, they’re just buzzed or relaxed. But that still doesn’t make it right for that person to smoke marijuana, they’re still losing their sobriety from a mind altering substance.

So why should Christians hold alcohol to different standards then they do with other mind altering substances (which means drugs)?

The answer is-they shouldn’t do that, but most Christians who defend the moderate consumption of this mind altering substance, do so out of cultural bias and some preconceived notions that drinking alcohol is cool, fun, or socially acceptable.

Those same lines of reasoning that some people use to justify drinking alcohol in moderation (which usually is, "well, i don’t drink wine or beer to get intoxicated, i just do it in moderation to relax or to unwind), could also be used to justify smoking marijuana in moderation, which is just plain ridiculous!
 
Sky_River said:
Those same lines of reasoning that some people use to justify drinking alcohol in moderation (which usually is, "well, i don’t drink wine or beer to get intoxicated, i just do it in moderation to relax or to unwind), could also be used to justify smoking marijuana in moderation, which is just plain ridiculous!
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Why is that ridiculous? You make an assumption that all Christians view illicit drugs as immoral. That is a false assumption. Illicit drugs are illegal, that’s all. They are not in themselves immoral.

Does the Church maintain that drinking is in itself sinful? No.
Does the Church maintain that smoking marijuana is in itself sinful? No.

Whether either of the above are wise things to do or not is another matter, but neither is viewed by the Church as being sinful.

It is the actions that may be caused under the influence of these substances (legal or illegal) that may be sinful.

You seem to be mixing up sinfulness, illegality, and unwise actions. These 3 things are entirely different.

Drinking alcohol is not in itself a sin, smoking marijuana is not in itself a sin. That doesn’t necessarily mean that that makes either a wise thing (or a good thing) to do, it just means that taking these substances does not in itself lead to a separation from God (which is what sin is), although any sinful actions carried out under the influence are of course sins (just as they would be if carried out while not under the influence).
 
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Sky_River:
IMHO, there’s a big double standard right there. Marijuana, which is an illegal drug in most places, is just like alcohol, because it’s also a mild intoxicant, which can be used without getting stoned or intoxicated. A person can use marijuana without getting stoned, just like somebody can have a glass of wine or beer without getting drunk.

A person who has one glass of wine or beer is not drunk or intoxicated, they’re just buzzed and relaxed, just like somebody that has a couple of puffs of marijuana is not stoned or intoxicated, they’re just buzzed or relaxed. But that still doesn’t make it right for that person to smoke marijuana, they’re still losing their sobriety from a mind altering substance.

So why should Christians hold alcohol to different standards then they do with other mind altering substances (which means drugs)?

The answer is-they shouldn’t do that, but most Christians who defend the moderate consumption of this mind altering substance, do so out of cultural bias and some preconceived notions that drinking alcohol is cool, fun, or socially acceptable.

Those same lines of reasoning that some people use to justify drinking alcohol in moderation (which usually is, "well, i don’t drink wine or beer to get intoxicated, i just do it in moderation to relax or to unwind), could also be used to justify smoking marijuana in moderation, which is just plain ridiculous!

Marijuana is not just like alcohol. Alcohol is a depressant. Marijuana is a depressant, a stimulant and a hallucinogen. One smokes marijuana to get high, period.

Most people who drink one glass of wine do not get buzzed, and some don’t get any noticeable effect at all. It is a beverage that can be consumed with food, and in fact, goes very well with food. Marijuana is smoked in order to get high. The side effect of an increased appetite is part of the reason cancer patients are sometimes given THC, but it’s not as if you can enjoy a fine joint with your dinner.

Again, to make it clear, alcohol for most people is NOTHING like smoking pot, which is done only to get high (unless you are using it medicinally and then the best side effect is that you get high along with whatever else happens).
 
TheRealJuliane said:
One smokes marijuana to get high, period.
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Not necessarily. Like alcohol, people take it for a variety of reasons, to socialise, to unwind, to relax, and yes to get high. Let’s not try to say that alcohol is different in this regard, its not. If anything alcohol is a potentially more harmful substance.

But all this misses the point. The argument i snot about whether or not alcohol is potentially a very harmful substance. It clearly is. Its not about whether or not alcohol (or any other substance) is a good or bad thing, its about whether or not our Church deems the consumption of alcohol in itself to be a sin. It doesn’t, therefore it is not a sin, and that’s it. Individual opinions on this matter have no bearing as to whether or not it is a sin.
 
abinjoy said:
Why would one want to drink alcohol when there are good substitutes?
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Beer tastes good to some people. Me included. Why would anyone want to drink soda when there are healthier substitutes? All that sugar can also give you a rush. By your logic, nobody should drink coffee either, because it can get you a little wired. Would you accuse Our Lord himself of sin because he turned water into wine for people to drink? As pointed out already, Jesus was accused of being a drunk. That means he must have been seen drinking a alcoholic beverage at least once. Why would he transform a cup of wine into his blood if drinking it is a sin?
 
abinjoy said:
If drinking in moderation is not a sin can I resort to drugs(in very small quantities)?

PS:I dont drink or take drugs
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Taking drugs is a whole other level than drinking a glass of wine or beer. Drugs are hard core and should never be done. Period. I’ve never taken any kind of drugs and don’t want to. I never even wanted to try any when I was a teenager, drugs are definitely a big no-no.
 
abinjoy said:
lets assume that a person drinks “x” ml of alcohol and gets a “high” of 3 in a scale of 10.
Another person takes “y” grams of drugs and gets the same “high”

I assume y will be much less than x

Both get the same “high” taking different substances.

To be honest I dont understand if some one say that drinking is not a sin and taking drugs is

Doesn’t both(alcohol and drugs) harm our body though the quantity required for the same amount of harm is different?
Our body is the temple of God So I seriously wonder if alcohol is something which God wants to have in our bodies?And if its ok to drink what is the amount of alcohol that I can intake daily so that God is not offended?I think if God is ok with alcohol he is fine with tobacco and drug as well

PS:The whole post might sound a bit funny/silly.But it is a genuine question for me
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Drugs are more addictive than alcohol and like you said a small amount will give you the same high as a large amount of alcohol so it’s easy for people to pass the threshold of addiction by using too many drugs too often. Drugs harm the body more than and quicker than alcohol too. Drugs are much worse. You never see alcoholics looking as bad as someone addicted to drugs. People addicted to and high on drugs go out and rob and kill people to get their next high, no one robs or kill people to get some wine. Drugs make people do worse things than alcohol does. Drugs are nothing to play around with.
 
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