Wine that maketh glad the heart of man.

TheHighPriest

Why is it that drinking is so widely accepted amongst JW's when the Bible has this to say about it?

*** Rbi8 Proverbs 20:1 ***
20 Wine is a ridiculer, intoxicating liquor is boisterous, and everyone going astray by it is not wise.

Here the Bible say's clearly it is not a good idea to get stuck in to the drinks but I guess the writers of proverbs, inspired as they were, did not fully agree on the drinking issue because later one of them wrote:
*** Rbi8 Proverbs 31:4-7 ***
4 It is not for kings, O Lem'u·el, it is not for kings to drink wine or for high officials [to say:] “Where is intoxicating liquor?” 5 that one may not drink and forget what is decreed and pervert the cause of any of the sons of affliction. 6 Give intoxicating liquor, YOU people, to the one about to perish and wine to those who are bitter of soul. 7 Let one drink and forget one’s poverty, and let one remember one’s own trouble no more

This piece of advice from the Bible is more than ridiculous, it is outright stupid. If you got problems, well- hey a drink will cure that! So long as you are rank & file that is. That is the good old news that the Bible brings. But I guess both these proverbs are functional and fully true so have another drink and you don't have to worry to much about your behaviour nor your troubles since you won't remember them anyway. And best of all you can claim there is no contradiction here, if you want a contradiction then here is one.

*** Rbi8 Proverbs 26:4-5 ***
4 Do not answer anyone stupid according to his foolishness, that you yourself also may not become equal to him.
5 Answer someone stupid according to his foolishness, that he may not become someone wise in his own eyes.

THP wondering if there will be answers to this post

Edited by - TheHighPriest on 1 March 2001 6:16:59

larc

Were you drinking when you wrote this?

Drinking wine was part of the Jewish culture. They were taught to drink in moderation. Jesus's first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding reception.

TheHighPriest

Hi larc,

I think the question should be were they drinking when they wrote this. You say drinking was part of jewish tradition, yes that is true but so was smoking and eating hashish, does that make all their written advice, no matter how luny, excusable? If you don't believe me I can certainly give some evidence for it straight from the bible.

THP Not in a drunken stupor.

larc

Well Mr. Priest,

Certain drugs are accepted in some cultures and some are not. So what's your point. So they did a little hash, so what. I don't really care if you prove it or not. Psychadelic mushrooms were popular among the indians of the southwest. I hope they had a good time, and felt spiritual when they did it.

TheHighPriest

Do you think the Jews felt spiritual when they did whatever they did in term of drugs?

The whole point is that their culture is riddle'd with substance abuse, even that of mushrooms and possibly anything else they could get their hands on. Then we, 2000 years later end up with their written history of it but because we think it to be holy we can't see the obvious in all of it namely that they were exactly the same as any Indian or any other aboriginal culture of the time. The point is some of these guys were, how shall I put it, off their trolley and we put faith in that.

THP

Englishman

THP,

It does seem a little odd that JW`s are so anti everything except booze, I have been in JW homes where there have been inverted whisky bottles fitted with optic dispensing measures fastened to the wall!

Re alcohol consumption generally, I read somewhere that drinking alcohol that contained a nutritional food element - like you would get in beer or wine - was far better for you than drinking spirits such as whisky or gin.

Englishman.

Frenchy

THP: It's not always a good idea to attack that which has persevered for milleniums without some respectful hesitation. There were many things being written at the time what is now contained in the Bible was being penned. Most has not survived, mushrooms or no.

-Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it-

larc

Well Frenchy,

My point was that wine was part of the Jewish culture and for the most part they drank in moderation. I do not believe, that they as a people were substance abusers. I have never seen any evidence of that. Today, the Jewish people have a very low rate of alcholism.

ozziepost

Greetings from the land downunder, O High Priest,

You might like to do further research on the meaning of Proverbs 31 (not in the limited WT publications).

Verses 4 and 5 seems to show a God who understands the poor. We in affluent lands may find it hard to understand the some of the poor in the world's urban slums spending their limited funds on alcohol. Here in Proverbs 31:7 God is showing us the reality for many people in these circumstances, namely "let them drink and forget their poverty".

Cheers,

Ozzie (of the moderation class)

TheHighPriest

Englishman you are right, there is nothing wrong with a pint of whatever the local publican serves and I think you see my point in all of this.
I am not attacking the use of alcohol I am attacking the hypocrazy that surronds it, Jw's are real good at saying all drugs are bad for you with a drink in their hand, my qustion is what gives? I am not one who say's no to a beer but more often than not I would, not because I don't like it but because I think there are friendlier drugs than that. Most of my relatives (JW's of course) hit the moonshine and I might add they are excellent producers of the same, however I don't think they have any watchtower recepies.lol
I've got a name for a drink though, The apostate slammer.

THP

Wine that maketh glad the heart of man.

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