Brad Whittington - What Would Jesus Drink?

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What they're saying aboutWhat Would Jesus Drink?

The expert of all experts, Brad Whittington, aconservative Christian oenophile has made an astoundinglyexhaustive study of every alcohol reference in Scripture. A.J.Jacobs, AJJacobs.com, author of The Know-It-All, TheYear of Living Biblically, and My Life as anExperiment

I cant give Brad enough credit for all his hard workon finding the truth within this touchy subject matter. Hisresearch has been painstaking, and Id encourage everyone toexplore his work. J. Wilson, Brewvana.WordPress.com,a uthor ofDiary of a Part-TimeMonk

This comprehensive survey of the biblical teaching onalcohol use is a must-have resource. Top notch. Distribute widelyplease. Michael Spencer, InternetMonk.com, author of MereChurchianity: Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-ShapedSpirituality

Thorough, balanced, and fair, this small book willserve as a reference for Christians who want to know exactly whatthe Bible says about wine and strong drink. By organizing andanalyzing every scriptural mention of the topic, Brad Whittingtonequips and encourages believers to go beyond contemporary culturalinfluences to draw biblically based conclusions. Highlyrecommended. Kathy Tyers, author of The AnnotatedFirebird, Shivering World, and other novels

It's amazing to me how often Christians form theirconvictions about alcohol based on culture, family history, or inreaction to someone else's position. Brad Whittington gets hisconviction from somewhere else: a staggeringly thorough study ofevery verse in the Bible that mentions alcohol. His book is amust-read for teetotalers and frat boys alike. Noel Heikkinen,JustNoel.com, pastor, Riverview Church

Very enlightening research with timely and balancedinformation concerning the way in which a Christian should handlethe issue of alcohol use. On-target concerning this issue. MattLayton, OnceInAGreatWhile.BlogSpot.com

This is an article that you and all of your Christianfriends should read. Theological Persiflage,PersiflageThis.BlogSpot.com

Copyright 2011 by Brad Whittington

All rights reserved

Wunderfool Press, Smashwords Edition 2011

978-1-937274-12-2

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIVCopyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used bypermission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.If you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre readingthis book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for youruse only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase yourown copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of thisauthor.

Cover design by Hillary Combs

For Daniel,

Who plied the needful to the not-so-bitter end

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eator drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Mooncelebration, or a Sabbath day. Colossians 2:16

The one who eats everything must not treat withcontempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eateverything must not judge the one who does, for God has acceptedthem. Who are you to judge someone elses servant? To their ownmaster, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lordis able to make them stand. Romans 14:3-4

What would Jesus drink?

In 1996, in the height of the What Would Jesus Do?movement, I found myself wondering about the answer to thisquestion in relation to drinking wine, beer, and liquor.

I was raised Southern Baptist, the son of aseminary-educated preacher who was one of maybe a half dozen peoplein the country who could read ancient Sumerian cuneiform. It wasnot a skill in great demand in the Big Thicket of East Texas, andbeing the son of a man with this distinction didnt gather me anyrespect among my classmates in Fred, Texas, where I grew up in the1970s.

Texas has this thing called the local optionelection, whereby each county decides locally whether to allow thesale of alcohol. As a teenager, I participated in successfulcampaigns to keep our county dry, another accomplishment thatfailed to garner respect from my peers. I was probably the only kidin my graduating class who had never tasted alcohol. Or smoked. Ordanced. These kinds of things were an occupational hazard for aSouthern Baptist preachers kid.

But the question of what Jesus would drink is not theexclusive domain of Southern Baptist PKs. A surprising number ofpeople have found themselves in an argument on this question.

Was Jesus really the miraculous bartender, as somehave said, by creating wine at a wedding? Did Jesus really drinkwine at the Last Supper? Was the wine in the Bible really grapejuice? Is drinking wine, beer, or liquor a sin, or is it just apersonal preference? Should a Christian abstain anyway, even ifits not a sin?

This topic has been ruffling feathers for over acentury in the United States and perhaps even longer. Back in 1874,women concerned about the destructive power of alcohol and theproblems it caused their families and society founded the WomansChristian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Cleveland, Ohio. WCTU memberschose total abstinence from alcohol as their lifestyle and adoptedthe Greek philosopher Xenophons definition of temperance:

Temperance may be defined as: moderation in allthings healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful. -Xenophon, c. 400 BCE

What would Jesus drink? Regardless of the answer,there is no question about the significant and frequently negativeeffect of alcohol on families and society.

This section gives some statistics on the damagingeffects of alcohol on society as of this writing. If youre notinto statistics, skip to Mixed Messages.

You dont have to try very hard to find all kinds ofnegative statistics associated with alcohol. Almost everyone hashad a friend or family member die due to drunk driving. The USDepartment of Transportation reports that in 2009, one-third oftraffic fatalities (10,839 out of 33,808) were due to drunkendriving, 1,077 of those being teenagers.

According to the 2007 report Deaths: Final Datafor 2007 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC):

• 14,406 people died from alcoholic liver disease

• 23,199 people died from alcohol-induced deaths,excluding accidents and homicides

Consider these statistics fromAbout-Alcohol-Abuse.com:

• In 2001, more than half a million people wereinjured in crashes where police reported that alcohol waspresent.

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationestimates that there were 17,000 alcohol-related traffic fatalitiesin each of the last three years.

• Fifty percent of US homicides are alcoholrelated.

• Forty percent of US assaults are alcoholrelated.

• More than 100,000 US deaths are caused by excessivealcohol consumption each year through drunk driving, cirrhosis ofthe liver, falls, cancer, stroke, and others.