Ex-Church of Christ Support Board

Wine... Just passed on an old Bible that I used back in high school as a junior. Before I passed it on, I flipped through it and removed all the loose papers. One of my notes I had made in the front cover was something on the order of, "How do we know they were meant to drink it?" I can only imagine that the subject was that even though Jesus turned the water into wine, we sure weren't supposed to ever drink any of it! Just another example of twisting. Why would Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding if people weren't supposed to drink it?

Kitty wrote:Just another example of twisting.

You are so right, Kitty!!

Because that's just a translation error...the Bible is perfect but has translation errors. Obviously wine was translated incorrectly by them evil Catholics because they live to get drunk! Wine=juice Jesus turned the water into juice because everybody drinks juice at weddings, especially the goods juice first then they save the bad stuff for the last when everyone is all juiced up on the good stuff and can't taste the bad stuff

Ivy, and flawed, thank you! I'm sure I just sat there in class and nodded my head in agreement with that non-logic.

Haha, there are lots of Baptists and CoC that are never going to forgive Jesus for turning water into wine!

Opie, I know what you mean!

flawed wrote:Because that's just a translation error...the Bible is perfect but has translation errors. Obviously wine was translated incorrectly by them evil Catholics because they live to get drunk! Wine=juice Jesus turned the water into juice because everybody drinks juice at weddings, especially the goods juice first then they save the bad stuff for the last when everyone is all juiced up on the good stuff and can't taste the bad stuff

I heard they watered it waaaaaay down so that it was non-intoxicating. That's how it was ok for then-cofcers to drink.

Even when I was serving as an Elder my wife & I would have a glass of wine if we were having dinner at an upscale restaurant. The c of c position on alcohol wasn't scripturally defensible. I was never asked if we drank alcohol so the issue never came up.

We took a golf vacation with an Elder friend and his wife to the Gulf Coast. The grocery stores have wine for sale there. My wife jokingly said, as we passed the wine section, "Anyone for some wine tonight?" The other Elder's wife said, "Oh, do you drink wine too? Yes, we love some. Let's get a bottle of red & white. We consumed four bottles while we were there.

He was my best friend at the time & confessed during our stay that they made their own wine & beer, and told us they'd show us how to do it.

What is that old saying. "Everyone has a public life, a private life, & a secret life." So very true.

Oh yeah, he was the one that told me I needed to resign as a Elder because my beliefs were no longer compatible with traditional C of C teachings & beliefs. He was correct but I assume he didn't pick up on the irony.

Kitty wrote:Wine... Just passed on an old Bible that I used back in high school as a junior. Before I passed it on, I flipped through it and removed all the loose papers. One of my notes I had made in the front cover was something on the order of, "How do we know they were meant to drink it?" I can only imagine that the subject was that even though Jesus turned the water into wine, we sure weren't supposed to ever drink any of it! Just another example of twisting. Why would Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding if people weren't supposed to drink it?

Rumor has it that the alcohol content during ancient times was much lower . Last year, my minister did an arduous sermon on why drinking alcohol, regardless of the amount, is a sin. He used various scholars including Pliny the Elder to describe their preservations methods and what not. I felt that he was reaching a bit. Then you have the arguments about greek and hebrew words used for wine in the bible. Yawn. One would have to do alot of mental gymnastics to prove that drinking alcohol (in and of itself) is wrong. Drunkeness as sin was always clearer to me. However, I'm still not convinced that having glass of wine every once in a while is sinful.

After extensive study on this topic, I concluded that the position that 'any alcohol is a sin' is simply indefensible.

Let me guess, these "preservation methods" involved concentrating the grape juice for storage?

Can I let you in on a (not much of a) secret? The higher the sugar content of the starting material, the higher the alcohol content in the fermented product.

I've digressed...