To drink or not to drink?

Yes, Jesus turned water into wine but what does the Bible say about consuming alcohol? Joseph Oindo asks. “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do,” reads Ecclesiastes 9:7. One of the big questions that have occupied the minds of believers is: Is it a sin for a Christian to drink beer, wine or hard liquor? What does the Bible say about consuming alcohol? Drinking alcohol has for many years proved divisive as long as Christianity has been around. A number of denominations forbid any consumption of alcohol in any measure and one can be expelled from some churches when found out to be partakers of alcohol. Some churches are even divided over whether Christians are allowed to drink medicines that have alcoholic contents or not. Proponents of drinking often say that Jesus’s first miracle was to turn water into wine, as found in the Gospel of John. They also say that the problem of drinking alcohol is not alcohol itself because Paul advises Timothy to stop drinking only water, “and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” Many argue that they have liberty to drink because the Bible does not forbid it. But Mr Gabriel Mikabo of Christian Life Ministry in Kicukiro says that those who advocate for alcohol drinking are misquoting the Bible, stressing that in the book of 1Corinthians 6:9-10, the Bible is clear that drunkards will not inherit the Kingdom of God. “What the Bible advocates in some verses is for people to drink wine in moderation. It clearly rejects fermented alcohol that makes one lose his or her senses.” He adds that wine was also very dangerous – thus the numerous warnings against drunkenness. “From the time of Noah, the Bible cautioned of alcohol’s power to wrest control of the individual and cause him to do some very sinful things.” But James Karanja, who says he is a Christian but a social drinker, says that there are many Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments about alcohol, but he cannot find any that completely prohibits drinking of alcohol. “There are many Christians that stagger from the bar to Church without any guilty conscience hanging in their heads that they have sinned against biblical teachings and thus ask for forgiveness.” Karanja adds that what the Bible clearly eschews is taking excessive amount of alcohol that could lead one into immoral behaviours such as fornication, theft, adultery, homosexuality, covetousness and lust among other errors in judgments, but this does not mean that God forbids wine and strong drink altogether. On the other hand, Karanja says that other Christians who do not believe in drinking alcohol should be given the same respect for their abstinence. Pastor James Kalinda of Redeemed Gospel Church, also in Kicukiro, says that according to the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, priests and prophets were not allowed to drink at all, though there are a number of modern day priests that partake of wine and even strong alcoholic drinks. “Religious leaders should be at the forefront of preaching against immoral behaviour like alcoholism though there are some among us who literally preach water and drink wine, in hiding. But once you have donned the religious garb and become a shepherd, then you should leave intoxicating earthly things like wine and alcohol,” he says.