Most people have heard of Prohibition. This was a time when the Constitution was amended to make it illegal to sell alcoholic beverages. The time gets a lot of bad press. A lot is made of the rise of organized crime that came as a result. What you don’t hear about is the way in which the non-front page news got better. Physical abuse of wives and children decreased in that time. I would imagine if there were statistics they would show that traffic deaths declined. The many ways in which alcohol undermines civil society were curtailed. But people want their booze so all you heard was what the press wanted you to hear. Some things never change.
The basis for all this was Biblical teaching. For example,
(Proverbs 23:20 KJV) Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:That is just one example in Proverbs. Much more is found at the end of the chapter and other places in scripture. While having a glass of wine at dinner did not seem to be a problem, getting drunk was a clear sin.
(Proverbs 23:21 KJV) For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.Another interesting part of this that I find in Proverbs is the insight that alcohol is a drug to dull the pain of the lower classes.
(Proverbs 31:6-7 KJV) Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.So if you are hopeless and have given up, drink up. If you believe in the future and the power of God to change and redeem then abstain.
Viva la middle class morality.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.