Wine or Whine?

We talked on the show over the past few days about is it acceptable for a Christian to drink alcohol? Not get drunk mind you, but partake in an adult beverage now and then.

Most people don't seem to have an issues with it so long as it does not become a stumbling block. Of course there are those that claim it's not biblical to touch even a drop. They would claim that the "wine" in the bible is really just grape juice.

Joseph sent this email:

Did you all know there was no product anywhere in the world known as grape juice before 1892? Wine meant the juice from the fruit of the vine: in all it's forms form pre-fermentation up to when it turns to vinegar(which originally meant rotten wine). So when Paul writes to Timothy he could just as well be talking about new wine as old wine. We cannot tell because the original Hebrew writing no longer exsists. So we do not know which Hebrew word was used for wine.

Here in the information on when the word grape juice came into usage:Thomas B. Welch, M.D., the founder of Welch Grape Juice Company, was born in England in 1825. A devout Christian and staunch prohibitionist, Dr. Thomas B. Welch did not like wine being used in his church's communion service. In 1869 he decided to try developing a non-alcoholic substitution. Dr. Welch had an ample supply of grapes on hand, because he lived in the town of Vineland, New Jersey (named for its many vineyards), and it was common for him to receive bushels of the fruit as payment for dental services. Experimenting at night, Welch tried to create a grape beverage that would not ferment and become alcoholic.

Thanks for the lesson Joe!

Fran wrote:

There is a really deeper issue here we lovers of the Lord are so quick to point out what we believe to be sin in our fellow Christians...ahhhhhh, how about we concentrate on ourselves and leave the judgments to the one who made us! How about loving the sinner be he saved or unsaved and moving from the LEGALISM....... ooh my sins not as bad as yours cause you have a beer but then again didn't I just polish off that ice cream in the freezer!

I'll drink to that!

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