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The first man to become intoxicated in the Biblical record was Noah. In his drunkenness, he disrobed and exposed himself to his son, Ham (Gen. 9:21 ff). Ever since that time, a trail of misery and mischief can be traced in the steps of those who have become intoxicant imbibers. The words of Solomon have not lost their wisdom:
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine….At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder (Pro. 23:29–30, 32).
The human sorrow and suffering caused by those who drink liquor is incalculable, even if one generation is considered. When all the murders, accidental deaths, suicides, assaults, wrecked families, property damage and other completely avoidable tragedies attributable to liquor consumption are considered for the innumerable generations since man first discovered the stuff, it staggers the wildest imagination. Yet human beings foolishly keep on drinking the rotten poison that they would not dream of giving to their cats or dogs (and if they offered it to them, they wouldn’t touch it).
As strange as it seems, the liquor ads will sometimes appear adjacent to predictions on the number of highway deaths during holiday seasons. Yet it is a well-publicized fact that over fifty percent of highway fatalities are alcohol related. Liquor producers have been given free rein in the advertising media. (It is a weird inconsistency that forbids cigarette advertising on TV but permits alcohol ads.) Not only are millions spent advertising liquor on TV each year, but the liquor industry also receives additional millions worth of free publicity by being the most publicized drink in TV scenes. This is despite the TV Code of the National Association of Broadcasters which says that the use of liquor should be de-emphasized. A study by the Christian Science Monitor found that “…alcoholic drinks—from wine to whiskey—are featured on more than eight of ten prime-time TV shows on U.S. networks.” The message viewers (young and old) receive is that drinking is an “all-American,” normal lifestyle. Drunkenness is often depicted as a funny but harmless condition, hiding the tragic effects of liquor consumption to the individual, the family and society in general (we all pay for the problems they cause).
Our children desperately need the influence of forceful guidance and strong influence to spare them liquor’s curses.
[Note: I wrote this article for, and it was published in the June 2, 1977, edition of the Granbury Gospel, weekly bulletin of the Granbury Church of Christ, Granbury, Texas, of which I was editor.
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner, curator, and administrator.
