The Bible tells us that the human body is fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps.139:14). The body takes in food and drink that is good for the body, and (according God’s design) works hard at rejecting that which is harmful. Consider the following words from the Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders: “While the person is ingesting the alcohol, his or her body is simultaneously working hard to rid itself of the drug.” ^[i]Another source indicates that “alcohol is a toxin, or poison, to the body. The body tries to remove it quickly by increasing blood flow and blood pressure.”^[ii] If drinking continues, the body has another way of dealing with the toxin: vomiting. “This is the stomach’s way of keeping poisonous amounts of alcohol from moving to other body parts.”^[iii] Does the body created by God know something modern Christians don’t know?

Alcohol adversely affects the brain: “Alcohol impairs nearly every aspect of information processing, or cognitive skills by the brain.”^[iv] Alcohol also affects the liver: “Alcohol is the most important cause of liver disease and death in the United States.” ^[v]  Alcohol can cause three liver conditions, two of which are life threatening – fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Theresa Anne Booley (a secular freelance writer and student at Harvard Medical School) acknowledged that “alcohol is a drug, just like cocaine and marijuana. Because many people drink alcohol, and because alcohol is legal, it is easy to think that alcohol is less dangerous than others drugs. That’s not true.”^[vi]

Before choosing to drink alcohol (which is a toxin or poison to the body), the Christian should consider what the Bible says about his/her body. “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (I Cor. 6:19-20).”

^[i] The Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders, Drowning our Sorrows, Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, 2000, p. 35,

^[ii] Judy Monroe, Alcohol, Enslow Publishers, Inc, Springfield, 1994, p.22.

^[iii] Ibid., p.27.

^[iv] The Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders, Drowning our Sorrows, Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, 2000, p.42

^[v] Ibid., p. 43.

^[vi] Theresa Anne Booley, Alcohol and Your Liver, the Incredibly Disgusting Story, The Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2000, p.7.

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“What the Bible Says about Wine and Strong Drink” Index