Inhibitions

People rationalize their sins through faulty reasoning. As such in their minds their sins are justified. They fail to see that they have compromised God's word to arrive at their false belief.

It is true that what goes into the mouth is of no consequence:

Matthew 15:11 "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."

If the food or drink were mere foods and drinks then drinking and eating great amounts would not be a sin. However, we do know that overeating is gluttony and is sinful!

Phillipians 3:18  "...they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly..."

The same applies to alcohol! The point is that eating and drinking are mere mechanical actions. It's like waving at a stranger. However, the problem lies in the motivation behind eating and drinking. It's living, not for Christ, but for self-satisfaction by pleasuring the flesh which is our idol. Overeaters and drunkards place "Self" over God because God says to remain sober!

Titus 2:12 "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world."

Drunkenness is listed along with ungodliness and lust as sins of those of us in the world! Being a drunkard is not only sinful, but neither is it pragmatic because the drunkard shall come to destruction (Proverbs 23:21). Only one in denial would argue with God! Drinking to excess is a sin! That leaves "drinking in moderation" to question. Many fine Christian people say "a glass of wine with my dinner" isn't wrong!

True! What goes into the mouth is no big issue, but what one places before God is. If God said "never drink alcohol for any reason" would you willingly give up that so-called "glass of wine before dinner?" Is it actually limited to "a glass of wine before dinner" or are you deluding yourself? How about the "margarita at a party" or the "martini as business wraps up" or "a beer with friends?" All these lead to multiple beers, glasses of wine or margaritas, but the social drinker clings on to admitting to only one drink!

I've written on the history of "adult beverages" before. See my blog The Bible and Booze. Today I write on the things of the heart!

1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour..."

The key word here is "vigilant". It's always being on watch for danger. For Christians it's being on watch guarding one's self from destruction by the devil. Sobriety is part of righteousness because, like Job, righteousness is the armor which protects Christians from the devil! In fact the reason people seek salvation is safety from the devil who will destroy you in this world and welcome you to hell! If anything takes the focus off God, it allows Satan to destroy. He will use whatever it is that you cling. For many Christians they cling to alcoholic beverages.

This "Thought" is on "inhibitions". It's the opposite of  "vigilance". The reason most people indulge is to relieve inhibitions. In essence they desire to put their "vigilance" on hold and by deception, allow Satan to have his way!

What I remember is that when I consumed alcohol I did things I normally would never do! As a Christian, the Holy Ghost would question me "Larry, is this what Jesus wants you to do?" My answer was "No!" However, when I even had one drink, I would rationalize my actions with God. "One little transgression won't matter. God will forgive me!". That's Satan stepping in as my inhibitions are lowered. One drink will lower inhibitions some. Many drinks will lower inhibitions much!

State laws have limits on how uninhibited you can be! (from Rich Stim, Attorney):

BLUE = Impaired Driver RED = Legally Drunk Driver

Weight	Number of Drinks
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
100	0.032	0.065	0.097	0.129	0.162	0.194	0.226	0.258	0.291
120	0.027	0.054	0.081	0.108	0.135	0.161	0.188	0.215	0.242
140	0.023	0.046	0.069	0.092	0.115	0.138	0.161	0.184	0.207
160	0.020	0.040	0.060	0.080	0.101	0.121	0.141	0.161	0.181
180	0.018	0.036	0.054	0.072	0.090	0.108	0.126	0.144	0.162
200	0.016	0.032	0.048	0.064	0.080	0.097	0.113	0.129	0.145
220	0.015	0.029	0.044	0.058	0.073	0.088	0.102	0.117	0.131
240	0.014	0.027	0.040	0.053	0.067	0.081	0.095	0.108	0.121

Ironically fat people (gluttons) can drink more than thin people without being legally drunk! This chart does not mean that people are not impaired at the limits in blue, but that their impairment still allows them to have reasonable reflexes. Any amount of alcohol makes reflexes less than with no alcohol in the bloodstream and even a tiny amount reduces the reflexes for sin! The "legally sinful" person is one whose consumption is enough to remove inhibitions. Their vigilance to sin goes down. I submit that any amount of alcohol in the bloodstream removes some inhibitions. Indeed that is the reason people even consume alcohol. It's to "relief stress". In essence the relief of stress is removing inhibitions! It's a time when a person settles down and quits being "uptight" about life.

Christians who live the life are said to have "repressed feelings'. Psycho-babblers strive to remove the repression from uptight people who are vigilant. They counsel drugs which remove inhibitions so the person is not so repressed. God's will is that our emotions are repressed. We should not, according to them,  deny ourselves sex because it's ungodly. Alcohol is a way of removing inhibitions to reduce repressed emotions. People have a few drinks to loosen up so they will do things from which God protects them by vigilance!

Alcohol consumption has always had a negative connotation to me because it removes inhibitions. My earliest childhood memories are of vulgar men and women acting ungodly when consuming alcohol. Even their language became more filthy and "GD's" became more forthright. Along with that, their behaviors became more sleazy and their dress more provocative. They were doing things which under normal conditions they would not do! Their inhibitions were reduced and the reduction of vigilance opens one to a life of sin!

There are many reasons NOT to drink! This is one of them. For those who build their cases for social drinking, I would ask "Are you merely rationalizing a behavior which you cling to in spite of God?" Only you can answer that, but the safe way is to wear the whole armor which God gives you!