Everyone this pastor Bruce me here here from first works Baptist Church a couple weeks ago
I uploaded a video entitled can Christians drink alcohol and I essentially showed from the Bible that drinking alcohol is a sin
It's an open and shut case and that there's no valid argument against it. Now. I uploaded a knowing full
Well that there's Christians out there who are advocates of alcohol who would be bothered by it and one of these individuals in particular is
The so called inspiring philosopher. So he made a video trying to refute my video
So this is my response to him now
let me just start off by saying that obviously this guy has a drinking problem and
the only reason I say that is because he's literally drinking as he's making this video and he's drinking quite a bit and
in fact in the video that he made he states I can drink about two to three beers within a
Two hour span and only be buzzed
But you know you kind of wonder how much alcohol does he drink off of camera to build up that type of tolerance
But nevertheless, let's go ahead and respond to his video
People failed to realize is that the word wine in the Bible is used interchangeably to describe both alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages
No, it does not because non-alcoholic wine did not exist
They did not have any modern technology that would have prevented the natural yeast from turning the sugars into alcohol
by the time the grapes would have been picked crushed and turned into wine and transferred to a wedding in Cana or a
Passover celebration the natural yeast on the warm climate would have turned it into alcoholic wine
So for someone who's a beer connoisseur like himself
He seems to know little to nothing about the fermentation process because anybody can tell you any winery can explain them
It takes about four to six weeks for wine to ferment to become alcoholic
And in fact the fermentation process doesn't even begin until a little over a week after you've extracted the juice from the grape
So he makes this hasty
Generalization that as soon as the grapes are picked or crushed or placed into vessels
Then they got to be put into a car then they got to be delivered
Then it has to go to this particular location
And by the time it reaches it it already becomes an alcoholic beverage and that's why people only drink alcohol in those days
But this is a hasty generalization that has no biblical basis to substantiate that claim and that's not to say that those instances didn't happen
But who's to say that no one literally just picked the grapes crush them into a vessel and drink it on the spot
You say well that never happened
Well, you know Genesis chapter 40 begs to differ because we have a story in Genesis 40 where Pharaoh's cup bearer
Takes grapes presses him into Pharaoh's cup and gives it to him
But of course
I'm sure we're expected to believe that Pharaoh waited about four to six weeks for it to become
Alcoholic so he can get a little buzzed right obviously, that's completely ridiculous
It's absurd out of 231 times that the Bible mentions wine that we're expected to believe that it's just never referring to juice
I mean, come on. Also, why would Paul prescribe grape juice to help with Timothy's stomach in 1st Timothy 5 23?
Well, I got a better question. Why would anybody prescribe alcohol that is a known toxin for any type of health benefit?
Anybody knows that alcohol is literally bad for your liver and in fact side note here
You should probably check out your liver
Anybody could tell you the juice is actually really good if you have digestive problems because of the fact that has proteins it has fats
It has electrolytes. It has sugars as fructose that helps with those issues
Drinking alcohol is never good for your body. It's never good for your liver
And in fact, there's something called cirrhosis of the liver, which I would encourage you to probably get checked out
This is obviously a delusional person who thinks that alcohol is good for you. Paul was not prescribing
alcohol to Timothy because of stomach issues
Would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. Oh, honey. Oh you sweet sweet innocent, man
Oh god, how do I explain this you see?
when a man and a woman love each other very much sometimes they use
Metaphors to describe things they do alone in the bedroom
Notice she says the juice of her pomegranate
What she's saying is I think you can fill in the details at this point
I hope this is not her literally saying she's gonna give him juice from a pomegranate, which was also thought of as wine
This is describing fun nighttime bedroom acts between married couples now
Here's what's interesting
I quote Song of Solomon a verse to where the Bible says I will give him of the spiced wine of the juice of my
pomegranate and
Instead of addressing the fact that it talks about juice
Something that he claims does not exist in the Bible and instead of addressing the fact that wine and juice in that verse are used
Interchangeably something that he claimed does not exist in Bible
He just proceeds to mock me make fun of me saying that I don't know the metaphorical meaning behind it and Oh, honey
And all these things but folks this is simply a red herring to distract the viewer from the fact that he cannot address the fact
That juice is used in the Bible and that juice and wine are used interchangeably now
Let me explain to you about something about metaphors in the Bible
You see a metaphor needs a literal thing in this world to expand the meaning of something that is spiritual
That's how metaphors are used in the Bible. For example in proper chapter 23 when talking about alcohol consumption and
When trying to communicate the consequences of drinking alcohol
It uses a serpent and an adder as an example. It says it bites like a serpent and stingeth like an adder
Ultimately insinuating that alcohol is detrimental to your health
Just like a bite from a serpent would be or just like the venom from an adder would be you know
Alcohol is poisonous to you
It's essentially what's trying to tell you but see that would make no sense if serpents didn't bite and adders had no venom
it's a literal example used to explain something that's spiritual one like manner the
Metaphor in Song of Solomon 8 verse 2 when talking about marriage would make no sense if there was no juice in the pomegranate
simple as that
Isaiah 65 verse 8 talks about the new wine that is found in the cluster of a grape referring to juice
Yeah
This seems to be ignoring the context the passage is talking about how God is gonna do great things with Israel just like someone can
Take the juice from a cluster of grapes and turn it into wine
There's a blessing in it that will come forth similar to what God is going to do with Israel the Bible
So he claims that I'm ignoring the context
But it seems that he's just ignoring the fact that I gave an example in the Bible
Where the Bible refers to wine as juice being found in the cluster of a grape you don't find
12 to 14 percent alcohol content in a cluster of a grape you find juice in the cluster of a grape
So he just completely ignores that and still states that there's juice in the cluster of a grape
But doesn't want to address the fact that wine in the Bible is used interchangeably with juice
Which is why this verse is being used and the consumption of alcohol in large or small doses
For example in Proverbs 23 verse 31
The Bible says look not thou upon the wine when it is red when it giveth its color in the cup when it moveth
Itself a right referring to the fermentation process you cannot take this literally because by your own logic
It would be sinful to even look at wine, which is absurd. Yeah, it's absurd to wino
It's absurd to a Christian who is probably an alcoholic who likes to drink on a daily basis
For someone to actually give them the Word of God and tell them the truth of what the Bible says about alcohol and tells them
That they need to stop drinking. Yeah, that would probably be absurd to them
But I don't think the Bible is absurd
So alcohol will often say it's okay to drink just not to become drunk because when you become drunk then you're sinning
Well based upon that standard they're stating that Jesus Christ was causing men to sin since he put out the new wine
After men had well drunk
This is referring to the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned water into wine and you're reading way too much into this
We don't know how much wine they had before they ran out
We don't know how many people were there the wine would have been distributed among
If I were to have three beers over the course of two hours
I would be buzzed but not drunk and you cannot blame Jesus if they were not morally responsible
Just like God provides and allows us to drink alcohol now, but it's not his fault if we're not responsible with it
So what I was addressing here is the fact that people will say well
it's okay to drink a little bit just not to get drunk because once you become drunk then it becomes sinful and
Then I give the example in John chapter 2 where the Bible literally says after men had well drunk that Jesus Christ
Gave them the six pots. They were filled with water that was turned into wine now
I obviously believe that that's referring to
Juice not referring to alcohol and people often mock me for that and say are you trying to say?
What kind of what kind of wedding only serves juice, you know instead of alcohol?
Well, I'll tell you what kind of people do people who don't need alcohol to have fun
And in fact in our church
We've had a total of nine weddings since the existence of our church and not a single one of them had alcohol
We all had sparkling cider and juice and we all had a great time and guess what?
None of us woke up with the hangover the next day either
So but he tries to make this appeal to ignorance and say well
We don't really know how much they drink and you know
We don't really know how much alcohol they had before he brought out the the six water pots
And and so we can't really say because you know
I can drink like three beers and still be only be buzzed within two hours or so
But I want you to notice what he says right after that
Also the word here used in John always refers to the drinking of alcohol or being intoxicated
So right after he says well, we don't know how much they drank
Because you know, it would look really bad if they were already drunk and then Jesus Christ brings out more alcohol for them to drink
So he says well, we don't know exactly how much they're drinking or if they're even drunk
But then he immediately follows up with saying oh by the way here that word means
Intoxicated. So what he's insinuating is that when the people had well drunk, that means that they were well intoxicated
Meaning that Jesus Christ gave him six more water pots filled with alcohol to become even more drunk
So their argument completely falls apart now think about this folks
What other sin in the Bible does God permit for you to do just a little bit?
Right, because isn't that what they say you can just have a little bit of alcohol a little bit of wine
Just don't do it excessively. Well, let's try to apply that to other sins in the Bible
You know this guy is God okay with you committing a little fornication
Just as long as you don't do it a whole lot
Is he okay with you committing a little adultery just as long as you don't do it a whole lot
You know, how about a little lying? How about a little stealing? How about a little murder?
Or is he okay with you doing just a little bit of it?
Just as long as you don't do it excessively. The answer is obviously no, you know, this is a stupid argument
Made by people who are simply trying to justify their own sin, you know, and I find it ironic that you know
He calls himself the inspiring philosopher
And so I got a verse for everyone who listens to this guy Colossians 2 verse 8 says this
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain to see after the tradition of men
After the rudiments of this world and not after Christ someone get this guy to an AA meeting. Well said brother Cheers