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Alcoholic beverages have
become America’s number one public health problem, costing over
$117 billion a year and claiming at least 100,000 lives per year, 25
times as many as all illegal drugs combined.
Christian churches
are partly responsible for the alcohol epidemic raging in America
today, because since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, most of them
have abandoned their stand for total abstinence, encouraging instead
moderation in drinking. Moderation has led millions to become
immoderate drinkers.
The gradual
abandonment of total abstinence by many well-meaning Christians has
been encouraged by the belief that the Bible sanctions a moderate
use of alcoholic beverages. This belief has provided millions of
Christians with an alleged biblical justification for drinking
alcohol.
In Wine in the
Bible Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi boldly challenges prevailing
thinking and scholarship. His painstaking research compellingly
shows that the Bible consistently teaches total abstinence as a
divine imperative. This teaching has been obscured by many modern
Bible versions which mistranslate as "temperance" or "sobriety" some
of the clearest biblical admonitions to "abstinence." A thoughtful
reading of this book may well provoke a revolution in the attitude
of many Christians toward alcoholic beverages. |
