Is drinking alcohol a Sin?

Can a Christian drink alcohol?

Well, it doesn't really matter what I believe, it doesn't really matter what other people believe - it matters what the Bible says about it.

The Bible is very clear about alcohol, drinking alcohol and getting drunk. There's a lot of verses about this and the Bible is very clear that it is wrong to get drunk.

Ephesians 5:18 "And do not be drunk with wine which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit."

Proverbs 20:1 "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise."

This verse explains one of my friend before. He was not wise, he was dumb.. Before he became a Christian, he used to drink a lot. But then, when he became a Christian he told me that God is gentle and He works within you, all those things that is not right, that is not in line with His will for your life.

And so, he stopped drinking because:

1. It is a sin

2. It was part of his old sinful lifestyle

1 Peter 4:3 "For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lewdness."

So he stopped drinking. But still he enjoy a wine here and there with his wife when eating dinner. It's not wrong to drink alcohol, but it is wrong to get drunk.

Ecclesiastes 9:7 "Go eat your bread with joy, and drink your winr with a merry heart."

Remember that they even used wine for medicine

1 Timothy 5:23 "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities."

And do you remember the first miracle that Jesus did? He turned water into wine at the wedding in John 2

Psalm 104:14-15 "He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the service of man, that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine that makes glad the heart of man."

We need to know that even though you can enjoy wine, the Bible is very clear in the dangers that lies behind it.

Proverbs 23:29 "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds wothout cause? Who has redness of eyes?

Proverbs 23:30 "Those who linger long at wine, those who go in search of mixed wine."

Proverbs 23:31 "Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly."

Proverbs 23:32 "At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a Viper."

Proverbs 23:33 "Your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things."

God knows the devastating effect that alcohol has on people. Especially if we look at the family - when a parent is addicted to alcohol. I personally witnessed how families are destroyed because of alcohol. This is one of the reasons why I will never drink in fornt of someone who I know lobes drinking. Because I don't wanna to cause them to stumble and to keep on sinning.

Romans 14:13 "...not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way."

A lot of people who are alcoholics, who drink, they go to the bottle for a reson; they go there to forget about all the problems in their lives. So they do that, instead of choosing God, who actually has the power to help them - they choose the bottle, they drink, they get drunk, and after a few hours, they wake up and their problems are still there.

The cycle just continues, and it gets worse. If you're a Christian, if you say that you are a true Christian, but you make a decision to continually drink, so you make a decision to continually sin; you nerd to know, that you might not enter into the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19 "Now the works of the flesh are ebident which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and alike of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will of God.

This is very clear, if you continue to drink and get drunk, and feel that it is okay, it's fine and you want to keep on doing it. Then you're probably not a real Christian; because a real Christian wouldn't want to do anything on this list, because the Holy Spirit will convict you of a sin.

But if you are a Christian, remember, we are not perfect, and we will fall at times, but then we need to God, we need to ask forgiveness - we need to make it right. And then you need to stop because God says you cannot continue to live in sin.