The Influence of Alcohol in American Life
by Dr. Phil Stringer (Florida)
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is
deceived thereby is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1).
* * *
It is almost impossible to over-estimate the influence of alcohol in
American life. The alcohol industry is a $30 billion-a-year industry in
the United States. There is one outlet serving beverage alcohol for
every 80 homes in America. Thirty-three percent of Americans are regular
drinkers, ten million Americans are labeled as problem drinkers, and
another ten million are labeled as alcoholics.
Five percent of our teenagers are daily drinkers, and 37% drink in
the course of the average month.
Every year in the United States there are 200,000 deaths directly
related to alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse in involved in:
66% of fatal accidents
70% of all murders
41% of assaults
53% of fire deaths
50% of rapes
60% of sex crimes against children
60% of child abuse
56% of fights and assaults in homes
37% of suicides
55% of all arrests
36% of pedestrian accidents
22% of home accidents
45% of drownings
50% of skiing accidents
More admissions to mental hospitals than any other cause.
There are more than 24,000 deaths in alcohol-related traffic
accidents every year. This is more deaths yearly than those caused by
AIDS or homicide. A fully loaded 747 jet would have to crash every week
to create a similar figure for air disasters.
Thirty billion dollars is lost to American economic production every
year because of the influence of alcohol upon employees. Over $20
billion worth of medical payments every year are generated by alcohol
abuse. Fetal alcohol syndrome, cirrhosis of the liver, and other
alcohol-generated diseases have become major American medical problems.
WHY AMERICANS DRINK ALCOHOL
Human nature has a desire to escape from reality and live in an
unreal world (where actions have no consequences). Alcohol is heavily
promoted and advertised in our country. It is connected with fun,
recreation, being athletic, sexy, successful, and wealthy. Former
athletes are never shown being killed in car wrecks on the way home from
the bar, living in the gutter, in the hospital dying from cirrhosis of
the liver, or unable to remember their own name. The alcohol industry
spends billions of dollars a year in "false advertising."
Human weakness, encouraged by the false image of liquor created in
our society has made alcohol abuse a major factor in our society.
The Bible is full of warnings about alcohol:
Proverbs 31:4-5: "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not
for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they
drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the
afflicted.
Solomon gave a blanket command, setting forth the Biblical principle
that all fermented wine is to be avoided.
Proverbs 23:31, "Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,
when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself
aright.
The word look as Solomon used it means "to lust for" or
"to desire." He is simply saying that we are to have nothing
to do with wine after it has fermented.
There are many Old Testament warnings about the effects of
intoxicating wine.
Wine is a mocker.
Proverbs 20:1, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Heavy drinking brings poverty.
Proverbs 23:21, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall
come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with
rags.
The use of intoxicating wine brings trouble physically and
socially.
Proverbs 23:29-30, "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath
contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause?
who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they
that go to seek mixed wine.
Intoxicating wine ultimately harms the user.
Proverbs 23:32, "at the last it biteth like a serpent, and
stingeth like an adder.
Beverage alcohol is the companion of immorality and untruthfulness.
Proverbs 23:33, "Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and
thine heart shall utter perverse things.
The urge to drink can be so strong that it overcomes good judgment,
making one forget the misery of his last binge.
Proverbs 23:35, "They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and
I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall
I awake? I will seek it yet again.
When religious leaders indulge in strong drink, they deceive their
followers as to the realities of life and the importance of getting
right with God while there is time.
Isaiah 56:12, "Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we
will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as
this day, and much more abundant."
Drinking makes a proud and selfish person.
Habakkuk 2:5, "Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine,
he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his
desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but
gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all
people.
There are dozens of other Biblical warnings about alcohol.
Genesis 9:20-26; 19:30; 27:25
Leviticus 10:9
Numbers 6:3
Deuteronomy 21:30; 29:2-6
Judges 13
I Samuel 11:3; 13:28-29
Esther 1
Amos 6:6
Proverbs 4:17; 21:17
Ecclesiastes 2:3
Isaiah 5:11-12; 22-13; 24:9; 28:1,3,7
Jeremiah 35
Habakkuk 2
Romans 13; 14
Galatians 5:1
Someone has presented the following version of Psalms 23 for the
drunkard:
King Liquor is my shepherd, I shall always want. He maketh me to
lie down in the gutters. He leadeth me beside the troubled waters.
He destroyeth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of wickedness
for the efforts sake. Yea, I shall walk through the valley of
poverty and will fear all evil for thou, alcohol, art with me. Thy
bottle and can try to comfort me. Thou strippest the table of
groceries in the presence of my family. Thou robbest my head of
reason. My cup of sorrow runneth over. Surely alcoholism shall
stalk me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of
the damned forever.
Avoiding alcohol abuse is simple: practice total abstinence from
alcohol. There are several reasons this is such very wise advice:
The abstainer will never develop emotional dependence on alcohol.
The abstainer does not have to worry about whether or not he has a
genetic pre-disposition to alcohol.
Abstinence is healthier.
The abstainer never has to worry that his example will lead
someone else into a pattern of alcohol abuse.
Abstinence is the clearest Christian witness and the best
encouragement to recovering drunkards.
ALCOHOLISM: A SIN OR A DISEASE?
It has become common to refer to alcoholism as a disease unrelated to
will-power or morality. In fact, this view of alcoholism as a disease is
often contrasted with the concept of drinking and drunkenness as a sin.
A promotion by KOALA dated October 4, 1989 says, "Everyone should
remember that alcoholism and drug abuse are diseases, not a matter of
will power or good or bad."
The following is from a United States Department of Health and Human
Services pamphlet from 1981:
Nevertheless, it is often difficult to make the decision to seek
help. Most of us have grown up with the notion that an alcoholic
person is somehow "weak" or "immoral," and,
although these false stereotypes are gradually fading, many people
still think there is something shameful about acknowledging a drinking
problem. In dealing with these feelings, it is important to recognize
that you are suffering from an illness, as defined by the American
Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and other major
health organizations. Alcoholism is no more a sign of weakness than is
diabetes or heart disease.
In fact, it is something asserted that a religious concept of
alcoholism somehow contributes to the problem of alcoholism and hinders
effective treatment:
To the degree that we call a disease by the name of a sin or social
problem and to the degree myth, misconception, and misunderstanding
surround an illness, recovery is blocked. The myth of alcoholism is
that its victims are weak-willed, sinful, and selfish. As if they
sought and reveled in their illness. As if they felt no pain. As if
they ought to control themselves. It is easier to control diarrhea
than to assert ones will over alcoholism.
George Wendel, M.D., prologue to Alcoholism: The
Genetic Inheritance.
Others, however, question how alcoholism can fit any realistic
definition of disease. Medical doctor Helen Calvin challenges the
"disease concept" of alcoholism with these statements:
Alcoholism a disease? If so:
It is the only disease contracted by an act of will.
It is the only disease that is habit forming.
It is the only disease that comes in a bottle.
It is the only disease causing hundreds of thousands of family
disruptions.
It is the only disease promoting crime and brutality.
It is the only disease contributing to hundreds of thousands of
automobile accidents.
It is the only disease playing a major part in over 50% of the
more than 50,000 annual highway deaths.
It is the only disease which is sold by license.
It is the only disease that is bought in grocery stores, drug
stores, and well-marked retail outlets.
It is the only disease that is taxed by the government.
It is the only disease that is necessary for medical doctors to
fellowship one with another.
It is the only disease in which medical support for the disease
outweighs any effort to prevent it.
It is the only disease given as Christmas gifts.
It is the only disease that has been "legalized" for
[sale] on Sunday by our legislators.
Dr. Phil Stringer is Executive Vice President at
Landmark Baptist College, Haines City, Florida.
