Chapter 14

Should You Drink Alcoholic Beverages?

1-4. (a) Do any of the young folks with whom you are acquainted use alcoholic beverages? (b) How do people in our area feel about the use of alcoholic drinks? Is the use of such drinks viewed the same everywhere?

MORE and more, young persons are facing this question today. Why? Because the use of alcohol has been growing among teen-agers, with many turning to it in place of drugs. In view of this, let’s examine some facts, and see if they can help us in looking at this matter sensibly, for our own lasting good.

² Alcoholic beverages​—that covers a wide range. Some drinks, such as beer, have quite a low alcohol content. Others are a bit stronger, as is true of most table wines. Then there are what are called “distilled spirits,” with high alcohol content. These include brandies, whiskeys, gin, vodka and others.

³ Regional attitudes and customs are also of wide variety. In some lands​—France, Italy, Spain, Greece and other countries—​wine is a common beverage at the family table. This may have developed because of a problem in obtaining good water supplies or may just be due to custom. But even in these lands the attitude toward the use of alcoholic beverages will vary. Not only this, but the results from using alcoholic beverages also vary from country to country and from person to person. You need to keep this in mind in developing a sensible viewpoint toward such beverages.

⁴ Well, then, in view of all this variety, is there any stable, consistent standard to guide you in this matter? Yes, the Bible provides this. In noting what it says, see if you don’t agree that it is wise and balanced advice.

A BALANCED VIEWPOINT

5-7. (a) What does the Bible say about the use of wine among God’s people in times past? (b) Could you give an illustration showing how a thing that is good can cause serious problems if misused or used too soon?

⁵ The Bible shows that from ancient times wine was a common beverage with meals, being used by such persons as Abraham, Isaac and many others. Jesus provided wine for a wedding feast, and the apostle Paul counseled Timothy to “use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent cases of sickness.”​—1 Timothy 5:23.

⁶ Rightfully, the Bible lists wine as among God’s provisions and blessings for the enjoyment of humans. A Bible psalm says: “He is making green grass sprout for the beasts, and vegetation for the service of mankind, . . . and wine that makes the heart of mortal man rejoice.” (Psalm 104:14, 15) The Bible also shows that God’s people sometimes used other alcoholic beverages, including beer and liquor.

⁷ Does this mean there is no need for caution on your part as to drinking alcoholic beverages? By no means. For God’s Word shows the ‘other side of the coin’ as well. There are many things in life that are not wrong in themselves but that can bring serious consequences if misused or used too soon. God gave humans procreative powers, but these are to be used only in honorable marriage and their use can bring the heavy responsibility of caring for a family. Fire, steam, electricity and various tools can be very helpful to men and women in their work, but, used carelessly, they can also be very harmful. The drinking of alcoholic beverages, too, can have serious effects if caution is not exercised.

EFFECT OF ALCOHOL

8-11. (a) When taken into the body, what effect does a small amount of alcohol have? What happens as the amounts become larger? (b) How does Proverbs 23:29-35 describe the effects of drunkenness? Have you ever seen anyone act like that?

⁸ Consider the effects of alcohol on the human system. Unlike other substances, it needs no digestion. It begins to be absorbed into your bloodstream as soon as it enters the stomach, though most absorption takes place in the small intestine. It is quickly carried to your brain, your liver and other parts of the body. Since alcohol contains calories, your body set about metabolizing it, that is, transforming the alcohol into a chemical form that your body can, in effect, burn up as fuel. Most of this work is done by the liver. Your lungs and kidneys lighten some of the load as they expel some of the alcohol through the breath and urine.

⁹ Once in the bloodstream, what effect does alcohol have on a person? In small amounts, the effect is that of mild sedation, relaxation or tranquillity. In larger amounts it depresses the brain’s ‘switchboard controls.’ So it may, at least in some people, cause a person to become very talkative, excessively active and even aggressive. Haven’t you seen that happen to people?

¹⁰ With still greater concentrations of alcohol, the brain becomes severely depressed. The central nervous system is affected. And the individual begins to have difficulty in coordinating his movements. That is why he has trouble in walking, seeing and speaking clearly. He also becomes confused in his thinking. The problem is made worse by the peculiar effect alcohol has in making the person imagine that his senses are really operating better than usual. So, he is generally the last one to realize that he has taken too much. And once he reaches the point of intoxication, only time can bring any relief.

¹¹ Note this very accurate picture of the dangers and the discomfort that come with overindulgence in alcoholic beverages. It is found in the Bible at Proverbs 23:29-35: “Who has woe? Who has uneasiness? Who has contentions? Who has concern? Who has wounds for no reason? Who has dullness of eyes? Those staying a long time with the wine, those coming in to search out mixed wine. . . . Your own eyes will see strange things, and your own heart will speak perverse things. And you will certainly become like one lying down in the heart of the sea [experiencing confusion and helplessness like that of a drowning person], even like one lying down at the top of a mast [where the rocking back and forth of a ship is most keenly felt]. ‘They have struck me, but I did not become sick; they have smitten me, but I did not know it [for a drunken person is insensible to what is going on and often is not aware of his wounds until he has become sober].’” That doesn’t sound very pleasant, does it? But that is what happens when someone gets drunk.

A GROWING PROBLEM

12-17. (a) How extensive is the problem of alcohol abuse among young folks? How do they get started? (b) If someone tries to pressure you to drink, what motive may he really have? (Habakkuk 2:15)

¹² But are young people in any real danger of getting drunk or even becoming alcoholics? Yes, they are. Donald G. Phelps, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Washington, D.C., said:

“The [ratio of] alcohol abusers among our adolescent population is about the same as among the adult population. Ten per cent of all the 13-year-old boys (interviewed in a national survey of teen-agers) get drunk at least once a week. That’s 52 times a year.”

¹³ France has for a long time faced a serious problem of alcoholism among children, some persons showing signs of cirrhosis of the liver at an early age. In Hungary (a country with one of the highest rates of suicide), medical centers in recent years have been treating thousands of children annually for intoxication.

¹⁴ Why do young people get into this situation? In many cases there is someone in their family who is already an excessive drinker. In many other cases, it is because other young people urge them to begin drinking. Sometimes a young boy is pressured by others of his age to ‘prove he is a man’ by drinking a lot of some alcoholic drink, or a young girl is made to feel she is socially backward if she does not drink.

¹⁵ But ask yourself, Does drinking an alcoholic beverage really prove anything as to the kind of person you are? Obviously not, since even animals can be induced to drink it and get drunk. Really, what do persons want who would pressure you to drink? Are they seeking your good, something that will benefit you? Or are they just trying to put you in the same class with themselves? Might they be hoping to have the “fun” of seeing you lose control and act, not like a grown man or woman, but like a small child who cannot walk, talk or see clearly and who does and says foolish things?

¹⁶ Note what one authority, Dr. Giorgio Lolli, said:

“The alcoholic is retreating from the adult world into infancy, physically and psychologically. His mental perceptions and bodily sensations become indistinguishable. Like the infant, he becomes helpless and requires a baby’s care.”

Furthermore, persons seeking sexual immorality may also encourage a companion to drink so that his or her self-control deteriorates.

¹⁷ Surely giving in to any of these pressures would show​—not that one has strength or is grown up—​but that one is weak and lacks moral courage. With good reason Proverbs 20:1 warns that wine can become “a ridiculer, intoxicating liquor is boisterous, and everyone going astray by it is not wise.” You do not need to experience drunkenness to know how undesirable it is​—any more than you need to break a leg to know how painful that can be.

18, 19. Even though a person may not be an alcoholic, what can result from just one bad experience with alcoholic drinks?

¹⁸ It is not merely the danger of becoming a “problem drinker” or an alcoholic that calls for caution. Just one bad experience with alcohol can bring lasting damage. It may be a serious auto accident, possibly with loss of life or limb​—your own or that of some innocent person. Or it may be an act of immorality that puts a stain on your whole life and that may bring thorny complications. Or it may be some violent conduct that you will long regret. Why take an unnecessary risk?

¹⁹ The possibility of such tragic results is clear from the fact that, of the some 50,000 persons dying each year on the highways of the United States, more than half the deaths are from accidents that have alcohol-related causes. And a New York Times report says that “more than 80 per cent of homicides and aggressive assaults are committed by intoxicated persons.”

WEIGHING THE MATTER WITH WISDOM

20, 21. (a) Why do some persons prefer not to use any alcoholic beverages at all? (Hosea 4:11) (b) Why is it unwise to use such drinks to try to escape from problems?

²⁰ In weighing the matter, remember that alcoholic beverages are not one of life’s essentials as are air, food and water. You can get along without them, and many prefer to do so. Remember, too, that the person who wants to have the approval of Jehovah God, the Life-Giver, must serve him with his ‘whole heart, soul, mind and strength.’ (Luke 10:27) Misuse of alcohol can, not only rob one of mental clarity and alertness and physical strength, but also affect one’s heart, leading to the development of bad motives.

²¹ True, the Bible speaks of the moderate use of such beverages as wine. But what if one looks to such alcoholic drinks as an escape from the reality of life or from boredom? Or as a personality medicine to ‘brace one’s nerves’ in overcoming timidity or fear? He may well find that the cure is worse than the ailment. What good is money if it proves to be counterfeit? And what good is a feeling of happiness or courage if it proves to be only artificial?

22. According to one report, under what circumstances is it least likely that the use of alcoholic beverages will lead to problems?

²² An enlightening report by the National Institute of Mental Healtha shows that dangers of the misuse of alcohol were least likely to appear where the following circumstances prevailed: (1) Where the individual’s earliest contact with alcoholic beverages came within a strong family or religious group and where the beverages usually were of low alcohol content (such as table wines or beer) and usually taken at mealtimes as just part of the meal. (2) Where use of these beverages was viewed as neither a virtue nor a sin, drinking not being considered as any measure of adulthood or of one’s being a “real man.” (3) Where no one was pressured to drink and where turning down a drink was no more looked down upon than turning down a piece of bread. (4) Where drinking in excess was strongly disapproved, being considered neither “stylish” nor comical nor something to be tolerated. And, perhaps, most importantly, (5) where there was united and consistent agreement on what is right and what is wrong as regards the use of such beverages, parents presenting a good example of moderation.

23, 24. (a) What guidance does the Bible provide you on the use of alcoholic drinks? (Proverbs 23:20; 6:20; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10) (b) How would you apply the counsel on this matter that is given at Romans 14:13-17, 21?

²³ Your finest and safest guide, of course, is God’s Word. As we have seen, it provides examples of the proper use of alcoholic beverages and strong warnings against their misuse. It counsels young persons to respect their parents’ judgment. So be wise, listen to what they say as to whether you should drink alcoholic beverages or not, or under what circumstances you may do so. You are also wise if you avoid indulging in these beverages when those partaking are all young persons, and there are no parents or relatives present to provide a guiding influence.

²⁴ To get the best out of your youth, and to enjoy lasting happiness, you need to look to God’s Word for guidance. So, “whether you are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do all things for God’s glory.”​—1 Corinthians 10:31.

[Footnotes]

Chapter 15

Drugs​—Key to Real Living?

1, 2. (a) To what extent are drugs used among the folks that you know? (b) Why do young folks use drugs?

LIKELY you have drugs​—tranquilizers, “pep pills”—​of some kind in your home, for today many of us live in a drug-obsessed society. For example, in the United States sales of the drug industry have increased more than thirtyfold since World War II. Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal said that in a recent year enough mood-altering drugs were prescribed by doctors “to keep every man, woman and child in [the United States] either ‘up,’ ‘down’ or ‘out of it’ for a solid month.”

² Most drugs are prescribed for adults. But in some countries youths are consuming a big share of them ‘to enjoy themselves.’ They are also using other drugs that are not generally produced for medical use, including heroin, LSD and marijuana. Some youths may be inclined to reason: “If grown-ups take pills, use tobacco and get drunk, why shouldn’t I enjoy myself smoking marijuana or taking drugs?” What do you think? Do you feel that drugs are a key to enjoying life more fully?

DRUGS TO WHICH MANY TURN

3-9. (a) What are the drugs that are used for “kicks” or pleasure? What effects do they have on the ones who use them? (b) Do you know of any experiences that people have had with drugs that verify these effects?

³ There is a wide range of drugs that persons turn to for “kicks” or pleasure. You may already have heard much about them. But take a few moments to review what they are.

⁴ There are barbiturates, sometimes called “downers.” They are sedatives, which doctors may prescribe to induce sleep. There are more than two dozen types of them, and over 525 tons (476 metric tons) are produced each year in the United States alone. A large part of the supply is diverted into illegal channels.

⁵ There are also many stimulants used, commonly known as “pep pills” or “uppers.” Amphetamines are the principal ones. Some doctors prescribe them to suppress the appetite, reduce fatigue or relieve depression. However, it is estimated that half the legally manufactured amphetamines find their way into illegal channels.

⁶ LSDa is the most potent of the dozens of drugs that bring on hallucinations. In recent years many “underground” laboratories have begun making it. It produces weird effects in users. Vision is particularly altered. Illusions and hallucinations can occur even months after taking the last dose. On a “bad trip,” what a person sees in visions may be terrifying.

⁷ Marijuana, a product of the cannabis plant, is one of the most widely used drugs. Do you know of persons who have smoked it? Its effect is milder than that of LSD, although it, too, produces a distortion of the senses. When one is smoking marijuana, five minutes may seem like an hour. Sound and colors may seem intensified.

⁸ Heroin is made from morphine, which comes from the opium poppy. It is a particularly dangerous drug. Persons may become addicted after injecting it only a few times, going through terrible withdrawal pains unless they get more. When people are addicted to heroin, it can destroy their will and capacity to learn. They become slaves to a habit that slowly destroys them. A New York congressman wrote: “Heroin has destroyed the functioning of our school system.”

⁹ There are, of course, other drugs that many people think give them more out of life. Cocaine is one of these. Nicotine in tobacco is another. Should you use these drugs? As we have seen in the previous chapter, the Bible does not condemn moderate use of alcoholic beverages, which can relax a person and make his heart rejoice. Is it, then, proper or wise to use any of these many different drugs in an effort to make life more satisfying?

A PLACE FOR THEM?

10-12. (a) How might a doctor use a drug to help a person? (b) But how does abuse of drugs do terrible harm to people?

¹⁰ Drugs evidently have their place, and a doctor may sometimes prescribe one for you because of a health problem. If you are in excruciating pain, a doctor might give you a shot of morphine to provide relief. Barbiturates and amphetamines have undoubtedly helped some patients with medical problems. Also, heroin is used in some places to relieve the suffering of terminally ill cancer patients.

¹¹ But, on the other hand, drugs are doing terrible harm to millions. About one million persons in the United States are reportedly barbiturate addicts, with over 3,000 dying each year from overdoses. Addiction to heroin not only results in many deaths a day due to overdoses but has turned tens of thousands into dangerous criminals. To support their expensive habits, addicts steal more than $3,000,000 in property in New York city, on the average, every day!

¹² What does this mean? Should drugs be abolished? Not necessarily, since many drugs can serve a good purpose. But the problem is the widespread misuse or abuse of them. Millions of persons use them where no treatment for illness is involved, and in large doses never intended in medical use. Often the user simply desires to get a dreamy feeling, or even to go into some sort of trance. Is such use justified?

EFFECT ON THE BODY

13-17. (a) As shown in medical literature, what actually are all drugs? (b) So, why is their use even for medical purposes a calculated risk? (c) Analyze how the following scriptures indicate God’s view of any use of drugs simply for pleasure or to “get high”: 2 Corinthians 7:1; Romans 13:13; 12:1.

¹³ You probably are aware that many drugs are available only on a doctor’s prescription, and that some are even illegal in many countries. Ask yourself: Why? It is for the protection of all of us. Yes, drugs can be dangerous, even death-dealing. They are, in effect, a two-edged sword, capable, in some instances, of healing, but, in others, of hurting or even killing. Drugs, a book coauthored by a professor of pharmacology, explains:

¹⁴ “All drugs are poisons, and all poisons are drugs. It is no accident that the words ‘poison’ and ‘potion’ come from the same root, or that the Greek word pharmakon, which we find rooted in our words ‘pharmacy’ and ‘pharmacology,’ originally meant both a healing draught and a deadly one.”

¹⁵ So, even when you are sick, taking a drug is a calculated risk. But because you value your life you may accept the risk and take a drug to relieve pain or to improve a poor condition of health. But would it be right for you to swallow, inject, smoke or sniff a drug in order to produce a so-called “high,” to make you forget reality and go off into some dream world? Is this use of your marvelous, God-given body in harmony with what our Creator purposed?

¹⁶ Think about this. If you were able to give somebody an exquisite gift, say a brand-new automobile, how would you feel if he deliberately misused it? Say that he tried to operate it without ever putting oil into it or changing the oil, and he used it to deliver manure? You would probably be angry or disgusted with him for such stupid misuse of your gift, wouldn’t you? How do you think, then, Jehovah God feels if we misuse our wonderful body, needlessly filling it with some poison in the quest of “kicks” or “thrills”? His Word lets us know by encouraging us: “Let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God’s fear.” (2 Corinthians 7:1) So, we cannot be living in harmony with God’s will if, in a quest for “kicks” or “thrills,” we take into our bodies a drug that defiles them.

¹⁷ Consider too this point. We have previously discussed what the Creator has advised about drunkenness. He plainly has shown in his Word that the person who loses control because of drinking too much debases himself, often becoming unclean and foolish, a source of embarrassment to persons around him. There is no question about it, our Maker rightly condemns drunkenness. So would God’s view be different if a person lost self-control on heroin, marijuana or some other drug? Even though the reaction from drugs is not exactly the same as from alcohol, one may lose control as much or even more so than do those who get drunk on alcohol. So from the wise and reasonable counsel found in the Bible, we can see the value of not turning to drugs for intoxicating thrills.

WHAT ABOUT USING TOBACCO?

18-21. (a) Why do so many people smoke tobacco, even though it is well known that doing so is dangerous to one’s health? (b) Give at least two reasons why it would be wrong for a Christian to smoke.

¹⁸ You may ask: “What, then, about the use of tobacco, which contains the harmful drug nicotine? Tens of millions of adults smoke, as they say, ‘for pleasure.’ Is this proper?” No, it is not, as evidenced by the warning that appears on cigarette packages sold in the United States: SMOKING IS DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH. That fact is true no matter what country you live in. Why, then, do so many adults deliberately set a bad example for young people and, at the same time, ruin their own health by smoking? Mainly it is because they are addicted. A report in Science World explains:

¹⁹ “The drug . . . that causes the addiction is nicotine. . . . When there is no nicotine, the body ‘hungers’ for it. So much so that the body sometimes becomes ‘sick’ without it. Withdrawal symptoms​—a sick feeling—​begin. . . . Some of these symptoms are drowsiness, headaches, stomach upsets, sweating, and irregular heart beats.”

²⁰ Clearly, smoking abuses one’s body; it is one of the ‘defilements of the flesh’ of which Christians are urged by our Creator to cleanse themselves. So you may feel that adults who smoke are in a poor position to criticize young people who are abusing themselves with drugs. And it’s true. If parents continue to abuse themselves by inhaling nicotine, how can they expect their children to take seriously what they say about the importance of avoiding drugs? Yet regardless of what others do or say, each of us individually is held accountable to God for his actions. And God’s Word the Bible has something else to say that makes smoking wrong for a Christian.

²¹ The Bible commands: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) But how can you smoke in the presence of others and still love your neighbor? We ask this in view of what the Medical Tribune explains: “Cigarette smoking is injurious not only to the smoker’s health​—it can be harmful to the innocent bystander as well.” A prominent medical journal also noted: “Where the air circulation is typically poor, the non-smoker will be subjected to a significant health hazard from a smoker.” Since smoking also harms those around a smoker, isn’t it clear that you cannot smoke and truly love your neighbor?

IS MARIJUANA DIFFERENT?

22-25. (a) How is the effect of even moderate use of marijuana different from that of alcohol? (b) In warning us against harmful practices, how is God really helping us to get the best out of life? (Isaiah 48:17; Psalm 16:11; Proverbs 3:1-7)

²² Some young people are inclined to compare smoking marijuana with drinking alcoholic beverages. They may see their parents or other adults “get high” on alcohol, and conclude that smoking marijuana to produce similar effects is no different. Is it?

²³ Recall that, whereas the Bible approves moderate use of alcoholic beverages, it condemns overindulgence, saying that “drunkards . . . will [not] inherit God’s kingdom.” (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10) However, many youths may say they use marijuana in moderation, and never to the extent to produce an effect similar to drunkenness. Yet marijuana is different from alcohol. Your body can convert alcohol into “fuel” that you can “burn” in your tissues. It is a food. But your body cannot use marijuana. Furthermore, alcohol is not retained for long periods of time in body or brain cells. It is dispersed from the body in a matter of hours. Marijuana’s toxic substance, however, is not quickly passed off, and produces harmful effects on the body. Six doctors from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times, explained:

“Marijuana contains toxic substances . . . which are only soluble in fat and stored in body tissues, including brain, for weeks and months, like DDT. The storage capacity of tissues for these substances is enormous​—which explains their slow deleterious effects in habitual smokers. Anyone using these substances more than once a week cannot be drug free.”

²⁴ Thus Tulane University’s Dr. Robert Heath brands the comparison between alcohol and marijuana as “ridiculous.” He states that alcohol has “a temporary effect. Marijuana is complex with a persisting effect.” Evidently even the moderate, regular use of marijuana can have bad effects, as the Detroit Free Press notes: “Medical researchers are reporting new discoveries which indicate that marijuana​—and its big brother [hashish]—​are indeed dangerous to physical and mental health when used regularly, even once or twice a week.”

²⁵ Truly, we can be thankful for the guiding principles our Creator has given us. He loves us, and for that reason urges us to avoid what will defile our bodies and thereby hurt us, rather than contribute to our lasting happiness and welfare. Certain drugs may be able to benefit a person who is sick, but they can only harm those who turn to them in the quest for pleasure. They are not the key to real living.

[Footnotes]