Robatoy wrote:

On Feb 24, 3:40Â*pm, Mark & Juanita wrote:
Robatoy wrote:
On Feb 24, 10:42Â*am, "Leon" wrote:
.... snip
At the wedding in Canaan (Luke 3) water was changed into grape juice,
according to the Greek text.
Not wine.
That makes a big difference to those who take that as a nod from Jesus
that you can catch a buzz if you feel like it.

Not sure where you got that information, but coming from a denomination
that diligently researches and uses the original languages (all of our
ministers must be able to read the scriptures from the original Greek,
Hebrew, or Aramaic in the proper historical meanings those words had at
the time they were written), I can tell you that is the first I have ever
heard of that interpretation. Â*It further does not fit with the rest of
the context of the account where the master of the wedding makes the
comment about how the best wine was usually served first, then after the
guests had drunk too much, the lower quality wine brought out. Â*Try
substituting "grape juice" in that sentence and you don't get the same
effect. Â*Also doesn't work for the account of "new wine in new wineskins,
and old wine in old wineskins" comment that occurs elsewhere in the
gospels. Â*Further, it doesn't work in the historical context; there was
no way at that time for grape juice to have been kept unfermented for any
period of time.

On the flip side, this was not an approval of drunkenness as the
admonitions against that are found throughout scripture.

There is a whole lot of creative interpretation of things written in
the Bible.

That there is.



The 'word' is oinos and can mean wine or grape juice. Fact.


"fruit of the vine"

The context, however, makes it clear that it probably was, in fact,
wine.... the fermented stuff that made the guests, after having drunk
freely, intoxicated.

My point was that some people wag their fingers and proclaim, NO NO NO
that wasn't booze, it was grape juice. Therefore NO amount of alcohol
is allowed.

Kind of hard to make that argument based upon other passages, both Old and
New Testament.

And others use it as an excuse to get intoxicated, because it is
acceptable.


Again, same thing, there are numerous admonitions, both Old and New
Testament against drunkenness.


I wonder how peyote, pot, opium (all natural) rank on the 'cannot-do'
scale.

They would easily fit into the admonition regarding drunkenness, has
nothing to do with the "naturalness" of the substance but the use to which
it is put. After all, hemlock is natural as well, it's still not good for
one.



--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough