“Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). That is a far-reaching exhortation. Alcoholic beverages are a great evil and curse in modern society. Consider the automobile wrecks, the ruined health and early graves, the suicides, the adulteries, the lewdness, the divorces, the neglected children, the abused wives, the sexual abuse, the waste of money, the gambling, the blasphemy, the pure foolishness. Look at the beer and liquor ads, how they invariably flaunt sensuality and irresponsibility. In January 2005, the Royal College of Physicians in England warned that Britain is suffering from an epidemic of alcohol-related problems that is fueling violence and illness throughout the country (The Telegraph, Jan. 3, 2005). The same epidemic is raging throughout the world. According to an April 2010 report, vodka consumption in Russia is an epidemic. The average Russian drinks from 15 to 18 liters of hard liquor annually, which reduces the average life expectancy by a decade. For Russian men, the life expectancy is just 61.8 years. In 2014, the World Health Organization reported that 3.3 million people die each year because of alcohol. That’s more than die of AIDS, tuberculosis, and violence combined. “Including drunk driving, alcohol-induced violence and abuse, and a multitude of diseases and disorders, alcohol causes one in 20 deaths globally every year.” That’s one death every 10 seconds. Another study found that alcohol use is responsible for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults. That adds up to 88,000 deaths between 2006 and 2010, and the lives of those who died were shortened by about 30 years (“Drinking behind 1 in 10 deaths of working-age adults,” USA Today, June 26, 2014). If anything has the appearance of evil today, it is alcoholic beverages, and the Bible does not suggest that we abstain from all appearance of evil, it commands us to do so! For more about this subject, see “Christian Drinking Is a Bellwether Issue,”
(Friday Church News Notes, February 24, 2023, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
