Essay/Term paper: Alcohol and the church

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

Alcohol And The Church


It seems to be that our main questions are, Should we use alcohol and what about
those that abuse it? How should the Church deal with those that do drink or
should we as a society deal with it? While there is nothing in the Bible that
says drinking is a sin, but drunkeness is. I believe as a society we do have a
problem with alcohol abuse. But in the same respect I do not feel that the
church should judge those who do drink socially, regularly, or abusively. When
the time comes everyone will be judged individually by God alone. I feel it is
his decision solely to do what is best for all. The church may teach not to use
alcohol, but to discriminate against those in the congregation (or even those
that are not) that do is not a solution to the problem. I feel in order to get
alcohol abuse under control we as a society need to teach our children the risks
of using alcohol, not only in the home but in the schools as well. To reach the
heart of the problem is to face the problem head on. As a social drinker
myself (I put my self in this classification) I don't feel I have an alcohol
problem just because I enjoy a drink now and then. I do not abuse it and would
never put myself behind the wheel of a car to take the risk of taking someone
else's life. You don't need to be drunk to cause an accident, it's been proven
in many cases only a few drinks can impair someone's stability. If more thought
of this there would be less tragedies on our highways. When it comes to food and
there are people starving in the world, when we could help by not converting
food grains into alcohol, this should be made more aware to our society. I'm
not sure most people are aware of this. It is supposedly our main concern to
feed the hungry and shelter the poor. If giving up something that only
contributes to loneliness and destruction than ever, because there are more that
abuse than those who don't, it seems to me to be a logical solution. I think the
best we can hope for in our future and our children's is that we have to
communicate with one another the risks of alcohol and the damage it does to
one's self, their families and all of those around who care about them. If
you're going to drink to abuse it, then its best that you don't drink at all.
There is not a better remedy than that. But how do we get people to the point
in their life to where they don't want to take a risk of killing someone else or
even themselves? What does it take for them to love their neighbor enough not
to put them in that situation?