Greg
Puritan Board Sophomore
She didn't say that it "may" be wise. She said that drinking alcohol is unwise and can be likened to Russian Roulette.
Furthermore, concerning the "things are just so bad in our culture that we should abstain" argument, when has the culture not been like it is today? Obviously alcohol has been an object of abuse since the time of the writing of scripture. The warnings of its misuse were written contemporaneously with the other passages of scripture which extol it as a wonderful gift from God. If bwsmith's "warnings" apply today then they should have applied throughout all of history and the praise for wine in scripture was misplaced as well as Jesus' miracle at Cana. We often act as if we live in some terrible phase of history, the likes of which the world has never seen, but a shallow survey of world history makes me think that it is not so. There is nothing new under the sun.
It's one thing to say that it is unwise for certain people to consume alcohol, namely those for whom it easily leads to debauchery. I have seen this very thing happen to someone in my own family, so I concur with the warnings for those who should not drink.
But it's quite another to say that it is wise for Christians to abstain from alcohol, the implication being that any Christian who takes a drink, even one who can genuinely drink in moderation and enjoy it as a gift from God that Scripture declares it is, is unwise. That is a biblically unwarranted statement.