by Beth Livingston
Certified Recovery Specialist
What is the big deal? You’ve studied the scriptures and know that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine (John 2:3-11). Jesus told us to drink wine in remembrance of His blood that was shed on the cross for our sins (Luke 22:14-20). The Pharisees and experts in religious law accused Jesus of being “a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners” (Luke 7:34). What Christian alcoholic hasn’t pulled out one of these arguments to justify their behavior?
Yes, Jesus drank wine. However, NOWHERE in the scriptures is there any indication that he ever got drunk. Drunkenness is repeatedly pointed out throughout the scriptures as a sin.
In Matthew 24, Jesus tells a parable that compares a sensible servant to an evil servant. Here is a paraphrased version: the boss is headed out of town and leaves an employee to manage the other employees and business in his absence. The sensible employee responsibly manages things and takes proper care of the other employees. The evil employee gets drunk, sets his sights on partying, and physically abuses other people. The boss comes back unexpectedly. The sensible employee is rewarded. The evil employee is cut to pieces and assigned “a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:45-51)
Gee whiz – seems like a harsh reaction? It’s a parable depicting heaven and hell, so it’s harsh all right. However, the message is not that all drunks are going to hell. The message is that getting drunk brings out the worst in people – an invitation for evil.
The first drunk experience told in the Bible is that of Noah. After the family had survived the flood, he planted some crops and a vineyard. Evidently, Noah’s vineyard turned out some fine grapes. He made wine from the grapes, drank too much, got drunk, and then passed out naked in his tent. His son, Ham, discovered him laying there drunk and naked, told his brothers about it, and out of respect for their father, the brothers “took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they would not see him naked.” (Genesis 9: 20-23) When Noah woke up and heard how things had gone, he was enraged – not at himself, but at Ham. He was so enraged that he cursed Ham’s son, Noah’s grandson named Canaan, and asked that Canaan be the lowest of servants to his relatives.
This first story fits almost every family story with an alcoholic parent since then. The parent gets drunk. The family begins the cycle of covering up the actions of the drunk. The drunk is told what happened when he/she was passed out. The drunk gets angry at someone in the family and makes a harsh dysfunctional comment or decision that rocks the family boat (or ark in that case).
The next biblical account of drunken encounter is the story of Lot and his daughters. This story is prefaced with the fact that Lot had raised his family in Sodom, one of two cities God purposely destroyed because of the sinfulness of its inhabitants (Genesis 19:13). Lot and his two daughters had escaped destruction because of Uncle Abraham’s pleading to the Lord (Genesis 19:29). They were living in a cave in the mountains. The daughters were worried that they would never have children, so they plotted to get their father drunk and have sex with him. They got him drunk with wine two different nights and carried out their plan without him ever knowing he had slept with them. Both times, scripture says, “He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again.” (Genesis 19: 33-35)
This story may creep us out because of the daughters plotting to have sex with their father, but the truth about drunkenness cannot be ignored. They knew he’d be easy to manipulate if they got him drunk – vulnerable! They obviously had seen him drunk before and were familiar with the effects of alcohol. Drunk people can be taken advantage of and usually are. In this case (and in many cases today), it was sexual sin.
During one night of drunkenness, a person’s life can be changed forever. For Lot, it was fathering children. That still happens a lot (pun unintended). For someone we know, it may have been their last night on planet earth as they got behind the wheel of their car drunk. They may have killed someone else and now live with horrible guilt. Some drunks are violent; others are promiscuous. Every person close to an alcoholic can tell you right away what unwanted behaviors surface with the drunkenness.
So if you’re a Christian who has been minimizing the negative effects your alcohol abuse brings to your family, stop kidding yourself. Stop justifying your actions with silly arguments about how it’s not a sin. Read your Bible with a new perspective; you cannot serve two masters. It’s true with the love of money and it’s true with alcohol as well as any other addiction. We must seek to serve the Lord, our God, with all our hearts, our souls and our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5). There is no room there to be a slave to anything else.
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