I live in one of only two dry counties in all of the great state of Florida. Several people in the community have gotten together an initiative to obtain enough signatures to get the issue of allowing the citizens to vote on whether or not they want to allow sales of alcohol or not. I along with my wife quietly support the issue and recently signed a petition to allow it to get on the ballot.
Yesterday I received the following e-mail message from someone I don’t know: “After being an alcoholic yourself and knowing all of the pain and trouble it causes, why are you for Madison County being wet?”
Hmmm…. I have no idea how this person knows how I stand, because I haven’t gone public on my support of it, but I’ve never been one to shy away from my beliefs, so I answered as best I know how.
From a spiritual perspective, I am a student of the Bible and after studying it for over four decades now I’m convinced that the Bible does not prohibit drinking alcohol. It commands that if we drink, that we do so in moderation. Indeed the first miracle that Jesus performed was turning water into wine at a wedding. While I don’t personally drink anymore, I don’t believe, (based on my Bible study), that it is a sin to drink alcohol unless it is to excess, (which is what I did).
Some folks try to say wine was merely grape juice. Genesis 9:21 is the first scripture in which wine is mentioned. My study indicates that the Hebrew word used there is yayin. It always means “fermented wine, primarily from grapes.” Notice: “And he [Noah] drank of the wine [yayin], and was drunken.” If Noah became drunk, then he could not have been drinking grape juice. This could not have been anything other than an alcoholic beverage. Other verses indicate similar incidences, particularly in Proverbs.
The Bible indicates that wine can also be used to help you relax and enjoy life. King Solomon wrote, Ecc. 10:19 “A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry”. There are several places in the Bible where God emphasizes the importance of having a merry heart and enjoying hearty laughter. Modest amounts of wine or other kinds of alcohol can no doubt help promote this.
Many additional Scriptures could be cited to show God’s servants using wine in a responsible way, and with God’s approval, and I could list them, but most readers get the picture. And yes I would hasten to add that there are tons of Scripture that warn of the perils of drinking to excess too.
From a practical perspective if one takes an objective look at the empirical facts, surprisingly driving accidents that are alcohol related are less frequent in wet counties than dry. Additionally the ability to serve drinks brings badly needed jobs into counties that go wet. Santa Rosa County Florida is a good example. Several nice restaurants and other businesses invested and created local jobs after the county went wet.
Their initiative not only created employment opportunites, but generated badly needed tax revenue. My feeling is that our poverty stricken community should benefit from that tax revenue and those badly needed jobs instead of all of our neighboring counties.Some might say that we will have to spend that money on treating alcoholics; and my reply is that we have to spend that money treating alcoholics anyway. There are only two counties in Florida that remain dry and ours is one of them. Unfortunatlely that is not to say that since ours is currently dry that no one in Madison drinks, or is an alcoholic. They just go to neighboring communities or buy from local bootleggers.
From a common sense perspective, the reality of the situation is that anyone who wants to drink is going to drink; prohibition proved that laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol don’t work. Even the harsh Sharia law in Muslim countries cannot stop the consumption of alcohol.
To me, banning alcohol sales in an attempt to prevent alcohol abuse is no different than banning computers or television set sales to try and eliminate pornography, or to ban sales of condoms in order to prevent premarital sex or pregnancies. Morals cannot be legislated.
I realize that others have different points of view and they are entitled to them. It is true that I have seen the devastating toll that alcoholism takes on individuals and families including my own. I don’t recommend to young people or anyone that they should give drinking a try because of the dangers of alcohol, but most will bend to peer pressure and try it anyway.
Fortunately statistics tell us that more people will drink in moderation and go on to enjoy their occasional drink in moderation than will become alcoholics. Those that do become alcoholics however, will suffer and bring pain to themselves and their families.
I love freedom and I just don’t think removing EVERYONE’S right to have a glass of wine with their dinner, or a glass of champagne at their wedding, will solve the problem of alcoholism. The same goes for making it illegal to sell computers or TV’s merely because some individuals will get hooked on pornography. Some want to ban sky diving because the occasional parachute will not open, but in this country people want the right to make that decision for themselves.
I believe that the solution to the problem of alcoholism is for our churches and parents to teach and deeply instill the word of God and the mercy of Jesus Christ throughout our community and not remove more of our freedoms; our government and Obama in particular does too much of that now.
If it makes it to the ballot I will cast my vote in favor of going wet. Many of you who are reading this would never vote for it. I don’t have a problem with you and I hope you don’t have a problem with me. That is the way a democratic free society should work.
I cannot tell you how many people have told me that they will not sign the petition because that document is open to public inspection, but if it makes it to the secret ballot where no one can tell how they stand on the issue, they will vote for it. These are the people driving 30 miles to our neighboring communities to eat their steak and have their glass of wine. It seems hypocritical to me.
I say stand up for what you believe in. Someone has rightly said that drinking alcoholic beverages is not wrong or sinful! The misuse of alcoholic beverages is sinful! It is not the bottle that is the problem—it is the person holding the bottle! I hear the same arugument over guns. Guns don’t rob and murder people; criminals do. Don’t ban my right to own a gun because criminals exist in this society.
As with food, money, gambling, or anything that has the potential for misuse, moderation is the Bible standard for all true Christians. Paul wrote, “Everyone that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things” 1 Cor. 9:25. I’m sorry if you disagree or feel that I’ve let you down on this issue, but this is how I see it.
Have a great day today and go to church this Sunday!
Phil. 4:5
“Let your moderation be known unto all men.”