THE PROBLEM WITH ALCOHOL

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Galatians 5:13).

Christians are a free people, so free that we are subject to no one, but we are servants so we are subject to every one.  Most of that first sentence is attributed to a statement that Martin Luther is alleged to have said.  In any case, I believe it to be true.  The law of the Spirit is love, the kind of love that seeks the best for everyone, just as we seek it for ourselves.  In is in a spirit of love that I write, and in a spirit of love that each one should consider everything they do.

I was motivated to write this because I know that there is a pretty high percentage of Christians who drink and I wonder if they consider what they do in a spirit of love.  It was a letter in a recent "Dear Abby" column that moved me to interrupt my series on mental illness to write this.  Here is what the letter said: . . . "I am the president of a construction company, and it was standard practice for us to give alcohol at Christmas to a number of our customers.  Then one day, I received a call from a tearful woman who asked if we had given alcohol to her husband.  When I answered yes, she said that in the future, she would appreciate it if we wouldn't do that anymore.  Her husband, an alcoholic, had consumed the entire bottle, gone home and beaten her up.  We discontinued the practice immediately.  I would not advise people to gift alcohol unless they know the recipient very well and know it will not cause harm to him or her, or those around them. --SAFER IN TENNESSEE."

How can one ever know that alcohol will not cause harm?  Here are a few facts gleaned from a brief Internet search.  For the year 2005, alcohol dependence cost the U.S. economy $220 billion.  Half of U.S. adults have a relative who is presently or was an alcoholic.  There are 14,000,000 alcoholics in the U.S..  More than half a million alcoholics are age 9 to 12.  Four in ten of those who begin drinking before age 15 become alcoholics.  Thirty seven percent of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related.  The last one is really interesting: married drinkers have a 9% chance of becoming alcoholics, living-together drinkers have a 30% chance of becoming alcoholics. 

In terms of marriage and family, I'm sure I could have come up with more alcohol related statistics with a more detailed search, but I think there is enough here to make one think about how alcohol use effects those whom we love.  People do not drink alcohol because it tastes good, they drink it because it makes them feel good; it is a self medication.  Alcohol is a depressant to the central nervous system so it deadens the pain of depression and anxiety.  Every person who drinks, drinks for this reason--yes, even social drinkers.

Does this mean that I think every one who drinks alcohol is going to hell?  No, but I do believe that if we would fulfill the law of love we must carefully weigh the consequences of its use.  God gave the Rechabites (Jeremiah 35:14ff)* a special blessing because they did not use it; evidently, God appreciated their abstinence.

Our Father's Blessings,
Tom

*Wikipedia has an interesting entry about them.