by Ronald Holmes

Created on: December 03, 2009   Last Updated: December 06, 2009

Is drinking a sin for Christians? At one time in my Christian life I would have said yes, but after many years of studying my Bible, I would have to say that the answer is no. There are some exceptions to this answer and I will address them later in the article.

When I was a young Christian I simply accepted what my church taught me about a Christian drinking. As I grew in my Christian life, I started to study the Bible on this topic on my own. What I discovered was a surprise to me. After Twenty years of being indoctrinated about the sin of consuming alcohol, I began to discover that some of the information I had been given was tainted by opinions. In this article I will discuss some of the verses and reasons that changed my mind about the consumption of alcohol.

One of the reasons that I believe that it is not wrong for a Christian to consume alcohol is because there is evidence of drinking being acceptable in the Bible. In the book of Leviticus chapter 10, there is a long list of things that the priests are to do and not to do when they go into the sanctuary to do the service of the Lord. One of the things that they are told not to do is to drink wine or strong drink (verses 8-11) when they go in to serve the Lord. If it was wrong for them to consume alcohol period, why would they have to be specifically told not to drink when they go in to do the service of the Lord. Wine was also included as a required accompaniment to some sacrifices Exodus chapter 29 verses 38-41. Also we find that Nazirites were instructed not to drink wine or strong drink Numbers chapter 6 verses 2 and 3. Once again if it was wrong to drink alcohol period, why would it be necessary for Nazirites to be specifically instructed not to drink.

In the book of Proverbs we find King Solomon giving instruction to give people alcohol. He says to give wine to those who are low in spirit and strong drink to those who are dying (Proverbs 31:6&7). He even goes so far as to say that those low in spirit should be given wine so that they can forget their troubles.

The last thing I would like to mention in this area is the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. In the church that I grew up in they tried to say that there are several Greek words that are translated as wine and that some of those words indicate a nonalcoholic drink. They went on to say that since it is wrong to drink obviously Christ turned the water into a nonalcoholic wine. The story does not seem to make sense if the wine

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