A lot of Christians believe it is sinful to drink alcohol. Some have good reasons for this belief, including scripture. Others simply take what their parents told them and parrot it back to everyone else with no rational thought of their own. But I think it is clear from scripture that it is not alcohol, but drunkenness that is the sin.
Nevertheless, I also believe it is important to create a list of reasons why you do not drink alcohol.
There are many times when people in the world ask Christians about their lifestyle choices.
“Why don’t you curse?”
“Why don’t you go to parties to meet people and have sex?”
Or “Why don’t you drink alcohol?“
And most Christians give poor answers for a number of reasons.
Number 1, they do not know why they do anything. They are living lives on autopilot.
Number 2, they give only Bible answers. For other Christians, a bible definition, a bible defense, and a bible answer is all we need in order to be on the same page. But when we are talking to people in the world, we need more than that because they may not agree with us that the bible represents authority by which one should live their life. In this case, it is critical to have secular, rational reasons that explain why you live the way you live.
In this article, I want to give you practical reasons to avoid drunkenness.
It’s not the alcohol molecule itself that is a problem, otherwise taking most forms of medicine would be sinful. Any compound with -ol or -phen- has alcohol. Acetomino-‘phen’ which is Tylen-‘ol‘.
When it comes to alcohol, it’s not drinking that is the problem, it is drunkenness. You better hope that a carbon attached to an oxygen attached to a hydrogen isn’t sinful, because you take them into your body all the time.
It’s not the alcohol itself that is the problem. Otherwise, Paul would have been recommending sin to Timothy when he tells him to have wine with his water for his stomach. That’s something we know Paul would never do.
It’s not Alcohol, it is drunkenness that is the problem. Almost anything taken to excess is sinful.
Generosity toward the homeless guy becomes enabling his drug addiction.
Eating Turns to Gluttony.
Being a good steward in excess turns to stinginess.
Being still and knowing that He is God can turn into lethargy.
Evangelizing to your neighbor becomes making yourself a nuisance.
Even good, righteous behaviors become poor strategic maneuvers if they are taken to excess.
If I haven’t said it enough – Alcohol itself is not the problem, Drunkenness is the problem.
It’s what drunkenness does to the character of the individual. I could give you the typical spiritual reasons covered in every other emotional article for why you should not be getting wasted, but only stupid people think that secular people actually listen to reasons like that.
You need strong internal motivating factors that go beyond spirituality. Because as sad as it is to say it, people don’t care about the spiritual anymore, even people who wear the name of God.
Here are some solid secular reasons why you should not get utterly plastered.
1 – Alcohol is a waste of time while drinking and also makes us waste time later while we nurse our hangover.
Every moment spent drinking could be spent improving yourself and making moves in your life. And it does not just waste time while we drink, but it also wastes our time the next day. Did you ever know a man to create a great invention, advance in his career, develop his thinking system, or hit a personal record on a squat while he had a hangover? Me either.
2 – Drinking makes us stupid and lazy.
Alcohol kills neurons. And you most likely are not going to grow those back. If you want to be as sharp and powerful as possible, you have to be sober. There is no way around this.
Here are some scientific studies demonstrating this reality:
Long-term alcohol exposure impairs neurogenesis, leading to cognitive dysfunction and memory deficits commonly observed in individuals with alcohol use disorder.
Source: Nixon, K., & Crews, F. T. (2002). Alcohol and the adolescent brain: Hippocampal neurogenesis and related issues. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 14(3), 185-195.
Alcohol’s metabolic byproducts generate reactive oxygen species, leading to cellular damage, inflammation, and neuronal death.
Source: Rahman, I., Kode, A., & Biswas, S. K. (2006). Assay for quantitative determination of glutathione and glutathione disulfide levels using enzymatic recycling method. Nature Protocols, 1(6), 3159-3165.
Alcohol alters the release and reuptake mechanisms of neurotransmitters such as glutamate, GABA, and dopamine, disrupting normal brain communication and contributing to the cognitive and behavioral impairments observed during alcohol intoxication.
Source: Lovinger, D. M. (1999). Serotonin’s role in alcohol’s effects on the brain. Alcohol Health and Research World, 23(3), 200-206.
Alcohol disrupts normal brain development, resulting in structural abnormalities in brain regions critical for learning, memory, and executive functions, which may have long-term cognitive and behavioral consequences.
Source: Goodlett, C. R., & Johnson, T. B. (1997). Neonatal binge ethanol exposure using intubation: Timing and dose effects on place learning. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 19(6), 435-446.
3 – Alcohol stops us from burning fat, possibly by overproducing acetate, a chemical byproduct of alcohol metabolism.
Acetate is a cheap fuel that the body can break down very quickly but leaves you feeling terrible, this is where the hangover effect comes from.
Here are some studies demonstrating this reality:
Alcohol impairs the liver’s ability to synthesize new fatty acids and reesterify plasma non-esterified fatty acids, leading to an imbalance in triglyceride synthesis. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying alcohol-related fatty liver disease.
Source: Diraison, F., Moulin, P., Beylot, M. (1997). Contribution of hepatic de novo lipogenesis and reesterification of plasma nonesterified fatty acids to plasma triglyceride synthesis during non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Diabetes & Metabolism, 23(4), 293-300.
Alcohol disrupts the function of sterol-regulatory element-binding proteins, key regulators of lipid synthesis and storage in adipocytes. This impairment leads to abnormal lipid accumulation in the liver and contributes to the development of alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Source: You, M., & Crabb, D. W. (2004). Molecular mechanisms of alcoholic fatty liver: Role of sterol regulatory element-binding proteins. Alcohol, 34(1), 39-43.
Alcohol affects lipid oxidation and storage, contributing to the dysregulation of fat metabolism. These changes have implications for the development of alcohol-related metabolic disorders.
Source: Eckardt, M. J., File, S. E., Gessa, G. L., Grant, K. A., Guerri, C., Hoffman, P. L., Kalant, H., Koob, G. F., Li, T. K., Tabakoff, B., et al. (1998). Effects of moderate alcohol consumption on the central nervous system. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 22(5), 998-1040.
This systematic review by Sayon-Orea, Martinez-Gonzalez, and Bes-Rastrollo examines the relationship between alcohol consumption and body weight. It highlights the impairment of fat oxidation during alcohol metabolism, which leads to increased fat storage and weight gain. The review consolidates evidence from various studies, shedding light on the mechanisms underlying alcohol-related weight-related issues.
Source: Sayon-Orea, C., Martinez-Gonzalez, M. A., & Bes-Rastrollo, M. (2011). Alcohol consumption and body weight: A systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 69(8), 419-431.
4 – Beer/wine is empty calories, a gateway into having your temple look like garbage.
Because the body is so busy breaking down alcohol byproducts, it will just store all the sugar. Not good for anyone.
5 – The brain isn’t the only organ that gets drunk, the entire body gets drunk.
The cells get drunk, and the liver and kidneys have to pull double shifts to filter that nonsense out of you. This is great if you want to die ten years earlier than you need to.
6 – Alcohol prevents you from having good character and integrity in your actions.
A great way to lose business or miss out on getting a raise is to act like a primate during a drunken stupor. People are watching you and recording you. Opportunities for success are going to pass you by while you are busy being a drunken idiot.
Have you ever seen someone act like a fool while drunk and thought, “I bet this guy is a great employee; I bet he is a great father and husband; This is a gentleman of character, one I would want to manage my assets; I think I’ll approach him with the business deal of a lifetime”?
7 – Alcohol makes us lose our mental edge and focus which allows us to dominate in the workplace.
Again, a hangover is a great way to have poor job performance. It’s a great way to miss out on that raise or on landing those new clients. No one ever drank their way to success.
Don’t drink your life away then wonder why you aren’t ahead in life. You aren’t ahead because you are an intoxicated loser.
8 – Alcohol drops natural testosterone production.
That is going to damage your sex life whether you are a man or a woman. No one in their right mind wants that. This reduction in testosterone is going to be another factor keeping you from burning fat, losing that weight, and getting in shape.
Here are some scientific studies demonstrating this:
This study demonstrates that ethanol intoxication suppresses the release of LH and impairs testosterone production. These findings contribute to our understanding of alcohol-induced disruptions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.
Source: Välimäki, M., Tuominen, J. A., Huhtaniemi, I., & Ylikahri, R. (1984). The pulsatile secretion of gonadotropins and growth hormone, and the biological activity of luteinizing hormone in men acutely intoxicated with ethanol. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 19(1), 19-23.
This study shows that while acute alcohol intake may initially elevate testosterone levels, chronic alcohol consumption leads to a subsequent decrease in testosterone production. These findings emphasize the negative effects of long-term alcohol use on endocrine function.
Source: Sarkola, T., & Eriksson, C. J. P. (2003). Testosterone increases in men after a low dose of alcohol. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 38(4), 369-373.
This study demonstrates alterations in testosterone metabolism, leading to testosterone deficiency and the development of alcohol-related hypogonadism. These findings highlight the negative impact of alcohol on hormonal balance and reproductive health in men.
Source: Pandey, G. N., Janicak, P. G., & Davis, J. M. (1987). Altered testosterone metabolism in male alcoholic patients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44(3), 259-264.
This study reveals that chronic alcohol consumption is associated with reduced semen quality and changes in reproductive hormones, including decreased testosterone levels. These findings provide evidence for the negative impact of alcohol on male reproductive function.
Source: Jensen, T. K., Gottschau, M., Madsen, J. O. B., Andersson, A. M., Lassen, T. H., Skakkebæk, N. E., Swan, S. H., Priskorn, L., Grandjean, P., Weihe, P., et al. (2013). Habitual alcohol consumption associated with reduced semen quality and changes in reproductive hormones; a cross-sectional study among 1221 young Danish men. BMJ Open, 3(3), e002964.
9 – Alcohol is an absolute waste of money.
Of all the different things you could spend money on, don’t waste it on a chemical designed to relieve you from the burden of existence that also kills you, reduces your testosterone, and impairs your fat metabolism. Use your money to serve God, take care of your family, and make yourself better through books and training.
Christians love pointing fingers at the alcohol molecule as “evil”. But it’s all the subsidiaries that come with drunkenness that make alcohol dangerous.
Probably only one in a thousand Christians can even tell you what the alcohol molecule looks like chemically. If people don’t even know what it is, how can they be trusted when they tell you it’s bad? It’s only bad for them because they are fearful of what they do not know.
The alcohol that most people drink is a two-carbon compound called ethanol, and it’s poisonous. But in truth, everything is a poison, it is just a question of dosage. All alcohol molecules are poisonous [such as methanol, propanol, butanol, etc.], ethanol just kills us the slowest and provides the intoxicating effect that people crave.
The problem with the majority of arguments against alcohol is the fact that most of them can be applied elsewhere.
And once they are applied elsewhere, they become illogical. This transference test is a good way to determine if you are thinking on a logical basis or not.
Every argument against alcohol can be turned against lack of sleep, for example, and now in the 21st century, there is scientific evidence to back it up.
Most of these examples below comes from Mathew Walker, one of the foremost sleep science experts today, and the rest is common sense. Get his book “Why We Sleep” here.
1 – Lack of sleep is not treating the body as the temple.
It is poor stewardship as it leads to deterioration in every part of your function and it damages your body’s physiology if done chronically.
2 – Lack of sleep causes the same reduction in cognitive function as drunkenness.
For every hour you go sleep deprived, you have the same loss of function as if your blood alcohol level increased by 0.05%
3 – Lack of sleep causes anger and stupidity, the same as alcohol.
4 – Lack of sleep causes us to be poor stewards of our time by making wake time less efficient. It also reduces our lifespan, the same as alcohol.
The real problem with alcohol is it causes us to not be sober and vigilant, as does lack of sleep. Alcohol is not the only molecule with that effect.
Therefore, applying the transference effect, is depriving yourself of sleep, willingly or unwillingly, not also sin? If it has similar physiological and psychological effects as alcohol, is it not a sin? And if drunkenness is a sin, would not something that causes you to be in a similar state of drunkenness not also be a sin? If you are going to be intellectually honest and consistent with your attacks on the alcohol molecule, you would have to say it is certainly a sin.
But truly, who is going to sit around and say someone committed a sin because they rolled around all night?
You can make similar arguments against caffeine due to its psychoactive effects. But of course, that molecule is not sinful because all the Christians got together and voted and no one can give up their coffee. Right?
Caffeine is a stimulating mind-altering [because it is known to induce anxiety] and sobriety-canceling [There is such thing as caffeine intoxication] drug as anything else.
Here’s a quick study for this:
This study by Childs and de Wit examines the acute effects of caffeine on anxiety levels in healthy volunteers. It demonstrates that caffeine administration leads to an increase in subjective anxiety levels and alterations in physiological measures associated with anxiety. These findings provide evidence for the anxiogenic effects of caffeine.
Source: Childs, E., & de Wit, H. (2008). Effects of acute caffeine administration on subjective anxiety and physiological measures in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 197(4), 595-604.
But of course, we can’t argue against it just because it’s not at intense of a high as cocaine, or because society says it’s legal. Maybe that’s a weak argument, but it is something to consider and is no weaker than 95% of the arguments that Christians make.
Where do we draw the line? At what point does a drug become a sin? Who is the person who gets to decide which chemical structures are sinful and which ones are not?
Did some random Ph. D decide that wherever two or more carbon hydroxyl groups are gathered that there will be a sin?
When Christians get together and vote, does that change the law of God? No. Judge among yourselves to determine which molecules are sinful. But you better look in the mirror as well at your own actions, because you may be ingesting some sinful molecules yourself.
Know that you’ve been told your whole life that the alcohol molecule is a sin, but do you have any logic for believing that? Why is an alcohol molecule a sin but a caffeine molecule is not?
Caffeine is in the same chemical family as methamphetamine.
And meth is sinful if it’s made on the street, but not sinful if you give it to your ADHD kids [who really need outdoor play and discipline]. Who decided that?
Try a mirror out for size and make sure you aren’t being a hypocrite in the things you say. And your kid is probably just a poorly behaved, snot-nosed brat as well, not ADHD. Meth won’t make him better, a paddle applied to his posterior will.
We need to logically consider what we believe so that we don’t end up looking like fools when it comes to what is right and to what the Bible teaches. Drunkenness is the problem. The alcohol molecule is fine.
Be extremely intense with yourself, and extremely kind to other people. This is a chance to be extreme on yourself.
Here are some related articles on rational, practical reasons why we should be avoiding the sins outlined in scripture.
The Practical Consequences of Adultery