Sobering Thoughts

 The drinking of alcoholic beverages can be controversial. Many Traditionalists will be looked down upon by certain evangelical Protestants who claim any consumption of alcohol is sinful. Some Protestant sects use grape juice instead of wine at their "Lord's Supper" services, claiming that Christ changed the water into grape juice at Cana, and He used grape juice at the Last Supper. They base this false idea on the argument that the correct translation of the Biblical words mean "grape juice" and not alcoholic drink (wine). On the other hand, there are some Traditionalists who see nothing wrong with drinking at all. As long as you are not "falling down drunk," they opine that the use of intoxicating drinks is fine, and some will even look with suspicion upon those who do not drink as  "holier-than-thou" killjoys. 

I grew up in a very poor section of New York City. There was a disproportionately high number of alcoholics. Almost everyone I knew (except for my parents) drank heavily. By the time I was 19 years old, I had identified two bodies of my neighbors for the police. I'll never forget the day that an incredible stench came forth from the apartment next to us. The neighbors all congregated in the hallway with us because everybody smelled it. The man who lived in the apartment wouldn't answer and no one had seen him for days. The police were called. The building superintendent used his pass key to let them in and everybody started to vomit as soon as the door opened. 

The man who lived there drank all day, and he had died in the living room some days earlier with the bottle of gin still in his decaying hands. The police needed two identifying witnesses. For a reason I can't understand, the cops came out and asked me (as I was standing in the hallway with the others), if I would know the man if I saw him. When I replied that I would know him, they asked me if I could be the second witness along with the building super (lucky me!). My parents told me it was my duty to help the police and I went in with them. I was only 13 at the time. Six years later, the exact same thing happened with a lady on the other end of the hall. I will never forget what I saw either time. 

 The purpose of this post is to lay out the teaching of the Church on drinking alcohol, and to offer my reasons why I believe drinking should be avoided. Please note that Church teaching must be followed, not my opinions. I have no Magisterial authority, and I have never claimed to be a theologian or canonist. Follow what the Church teaches, but my opinion is just that--a layman's opinion, with which you may agree or not.

The Teaching of the Church on the Consumption of Alcoholic Drinks

According to theologian Prummer, "Sobriety is the virtue regulating man's desire for and his use of intoxicating drink. It is a distinct virtue since it has its own object which is most necessary for an upright moral life, viz. the moderate use of alcoholic drink." (See Handbook of Moral Theology, [1957], pg. 228). He describes the moral evil as follows:

The moral evil of drunkenness:

1. Complete drunkenness is a grave sin, which admits of slight matter. This is the most common opinion today. The reason given is that it is seriously contrary to right reason, (a) for a man to deprive himself knowingly and willingly of the use of his reason for the sake of gratifying his desire for intoxicants for no sufficient reasons of health; (b) for a man to expose himself to a grave danger of sin through his manner of acting; (3) for a man to expose himself to many other dangers as the result of drunkenness, such as ill-health, domestic troubles, damage to property. 

2. Any state short of complete drunkenness is of itself venially sinful.  

Note: A man is responsible for the sins committed in a state of complete intoxication to the extent that he could and ought to have seen them.  (Ibid, pg. 229). 

In the discussion on intoxicants, theologians McHugh and Callan have teachings that can be condensed as follows:

Drunkenness is sinful only if it involves the immoderate use of alcohol.  The state of intoxication may be divided into three cases:

1. If one drinks alcohol and is completely unaware that one is doing so to excess or that the drink is intoxicating, the consequential drunkenness is not culpable.  That is, the complete inadvertence excludes sin.

2.  If while drinking, one is conscious of an excessive intake of alcohol, but is sincerely unaware that drunkenness could follow, there is venial sin.

3. If one is perfectly aware of drinking in an excessive fashion and willingly accepts that drunkenness can follow, there is therefore a grave or mortal sin.  In this case the deliberation and consent are complete and entire.

Why is culpable drunkenness condemned? Because it robs a person of the use of reason. To deliberately lose the use of reason reduces humans to a level lower than that of animals because animals benefit from the instinct of self-preservation which the drunken person has lost. Moreover, it exposes people to the danger of committing a wide variety of evils, since reason no longer is there to control human actions. (See Moral Theology: A Complete Course  [1930] 2:495-502). 

Drinking in Moderation is Permissible

Drinking alcohol is not intrinsically wrong. Christ did not change water into grape juice, but into wine. This is the unanimous teaching of the Church Fathers, the theologians, and the proper understanding of Bible texts. According to the Greek text, the word used here is oinos, a wine derived from grapes; there is no evidence that wine is to be translated "grape juice." Christ changed water into wine at Cana, and He changed wine into His Precious Blood at the Last Supper. (See St. John 2:1-12, and St. Luke 22:7-39; respectively). 

In the  Old Testament, wine was a symbol of joy and blessing. Psalm 104:15 reads, "wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts." Wine was used as a part of the offering to God, "With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering." (Exodus 29:40). St. Paul recommended to Timothy that a little wine was good for the stomach and your frequent ailments, "Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." (1 Timothy 5:23; N.B., St. Paul uses the word "little" as to the amount). 

Finally, Our Lord Jesus Christ drank wine at the Last Supper prior to Transubstantiation, and He turned the water at the wedding in Cana to "good wine" (St. John 2:10). Therefore, it cannot possibly be wrong to drink in moderation, because if it were evil per se to drink intoxicants, Jesus Christ would not (indeed could not) do so for He is God Incarnate. Hence, because voluntary drunkenness is condemned, it does not follow that the drinking of alcohol is absolutely forbidden. However, moderation is necessary in drinking if we want to avoid sin.  Such is the object of the virtue of sobriety.  The word sobriety comes in fact from a Latin word, "bria," which means moderation, and one is called sober who maintains moderation. Ecclesiasticus 31:37-38, states, "Sober drinking is health to soul and body.  Wine drunken with excess raiseth quarrels and wrath and many ruins."

The Evils Drinking Can Cause

The Church teaches that drunkenness is sinful, and Sacred Scripture supports this most vividly.

"Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Emphasis mine). 

As a matter of fact, the Bible specifically recognizes several evils that can come from excessive drinking (drunkenness):

1. It leads to poverty. "Whoever loves pleasure will suffer want; whoever loves wine and oil will not be rich." (Proverbs 21:17)

2. It results in depression. "Therefore I will lament with the weeping of Jazer the vineyard of Sabama: I will water thee with my tears, O Hesebon, and Eleale: for the voice of the treaders hath rushed in upon thy vintage, and upon thy harvest. And gladness and joy shall be taken away from Carmel, and there shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards. He shall not tread out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the treaders I have taken away." (Isaiah 16:9-10).

3. It leads to immorality. "And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might drink" (Joel 3:3). 

4. It encourages sexual perversion. "Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness." (Habakkuk 2:15)

5.  It causes injuries. "And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake, and find wine again?" (Proverbs 23:35)

6.  It causes sickness. "And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and vomit: and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword, which I shall send among you." (Jeremiah 25:27).

7. It is associated with selfishness. "And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be honored..."(Habakkuk 2:5). 

The Statistics on Alcohol and The Misery It Brings

Alcohol Use Disorder (aka "AUD" or alcoholism):

• 14.4 million adults ages 18 and older (5.8 percent of this age group) had AUD. This includes 9.2 million men (7.6 percent of men in this age group) and 5.3 million women (4.1 percent of women in this age group).

• An estimated 88,0005 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

• In 2010, alcohol misuse cost the United States $249.0 billion dollars

• In 2012, 3.3 million deaths, or 5.9 percent of all global deaths (7.6 percent for men and 4.0 percent for women), were attributable to alcohol consumption

• Globally, alcohol misuse was the fifth leading risk factor for premature death and disability in 2010. Among people between the ages of 15 and 49, it is the first. In the age group 20–39 years, approximately 25 percent of the total deaths are alcohol attributable.

• More than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent with alcohol problems, according to a 2012 study

• In 2018, of the 83,517 liver disease deaths among individuals ages 12 and older, 47.8 percent involved alcohol

• Drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pharynx, larynx, liver, and breast

(See https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-facts-and-statistics#:~:text=Prevalence%20of%20Drinking%3A%20According%20to,drank%20in%20the%20past%20month.). 

Conclusion

The moderate use of alcohol is permissible. Certain Protestants and other sects are wrong that complete abstinence is required and/or make the claim that Christ didn't use and make wine. Nevertheless, why would anyone choose to use alcohol? Yes, it can calm the nerves, etc, but so can drinking certain teas. Keep in mind that the Vatican II sect didn't develop overnight. Similarly, a notorious mortal sinner doesn't start out that way. No one leading a decent life suddenly wakes up one day and decides to become an alcoholic or rob a bank. Semi-deliberate venial sins, if not checked, can lead to deliberate ones. As you get desensitized to venial sin, you fall into mortal sin. Mortal sins can become habitual and lead to worse and worse deadly sins. Suddenly, that good Traditionalist Catholic is gone, replaced by a life of sin and soon will find himself a practical atheist---if not an actual one. Morals and faith go hand in glove; lose the one and the other leaves with it.

Begin drinking and you might find yourself going down that sinful, wide road that leads to perdition. Most of the people who drank in my neighborhood growing up moved on to drugs. Many who did not progress to narcotics still lost their jobs, broke up their marriages, inflicted abuse upon their children, and even turned to crime leading to prison. Alcoholics are made over time. Just as the journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step, so too does an alcoholic begin with the first drink. After seeing so much destruction caused by drinking, I pledged on my twenty-first birthday never to drink except for a very special occasion. Since that time (34 years ago), I have taken exactly two drinks; a glass of Champagne when I toasted my best friend at his wedding, and several years later when he toasted me at my wedding. I never regretted my decision. I'm sure alcoholics can't say the same about their decision to drink. Don't let alcohol become your cup of tea.