A pretty cool article from Susiemag.com

Movies and television feature your favorite stars sipping champagne elegantly from long-stemmed glasses. And most sitcoms show the entire cast guzzling beer, wine-coolers or liquor.

Call me weird, but I’m not joining them. (Actually, don’t call me at all if you’re going to drink. I won’t be joining you.)

But Jesus . . .
I know. I know.

I can hear you thinking through the page of this magazine: But Susie! Even Jesus drank. His first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding.

If you’re seriously using that as your excuse to drink, you’re showing your ignorance. Do your research!

OK, because you haven’t, I’ll do the research for you. Here it is: In the Greek language—the language in which the New Testament was written—there are two words for wine: oinos and sikera. Sikera means strong drink. Oinos was about one in 20 (at the most a half percent) of alcohol.

We need to understand that Jesus didn’t create some kind of drunken orgy at the wedding when He transformed water into wine.

Jesus didn’t make sikera at the wedding.
He didn’t make American beer.
He didn’t make American 12 percent wine-coolers.
He didn’t make 30 percent Jack Daniels.
What did He make? Jesus made Biblical oinos. It was actually grape juice with a tiny bit of fermentation for purification. When Jesus turned water into wine, we need to understand that it was not the wine people are dinking today.

The Bible always condemns strong drink—sikera. Jesus didn’t make sikera.

Just One Drink
Well . . . I don’t think one drink will hurt me. What a copout! Each person’s body reacts differently to alcohol. Why put yourself at risk? First of all, if you’re reading this magazine, you’re not even old enough to drink. And when you are old enough, why put something into your body that you could become easily addicted to?

Get this: Two million deaths occurred worldwide last year because of alcohol. (I got that statistic from America.gov.) Two million! And guess what started it all? One drink.

But, Susie, people in the Bible drank.

Yes, they did. And the Old Testament gives several examples of people engaging in sinful behavior because
of drinking. Check out something else the Old Testament says: “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led
astray by them is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1).

Remember the prophet Daniel? “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. . . ” (Daniel 1:8). He knew that drinking would defile himself before God. There’s a lot of wisdom in that!

Look at the warning Isaiah gives: “Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks” (Isaiah 5:22).

But didn’t the apostle Paul tell Timothy to drink wine?
Yes . . . FOR HIS COUGH. Paul was instructing Timothy to use it as medicine. It was the closest thing they had to cough medicine in those days. And Paul wasn’t talking about sikera—strong wine. He was encouraging Timothy to drink oinos—grape juice with a tiny bit of fermentation for purification. Timothy wasn’t drinking to escape, to fit in at a party or to dull his senses. He drank a small bit of wine as medicine. The Bible is filled with warnings of the dangers of drinking intoxicating wine.

My Personal Choice
I never want to hear, “Woe to you!” from my heavenly Father. Neither do I want to defile myself. I belong to Jesus Christ.

I don’t want to become dependent on anything besides God. My heart cry is, “Jesus, I love You! I’m in love with You. And I truly want to become ALL You dream for me to be!”

So I’m not going to risk messing up His best plan for my life with alcohol. That’s why I’ve never tasted beer, and that’s why I never will. I refuse to drink. I’m too in love with Christ.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know your thoughts: susie@susiemag.com and label your e-mail DRINKING.