Is It a Sin to Drink Wine?

Your wine guy has always viewed wine as a major component of a meal.  Like meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables I consider wine a major food group.  The many health benefits of wine, especially red wine, have been well documented. I may on occasion feel the effects of the wine I drink but I can’t recall (and not because of a blackout) the last time I was actually drunk.   For me and most other wine people it is about the experience not the alcohol.

I have many friends and relatives that don’t drink wine for health reasons.  I feel bad for them but obviously health comes first.  I also have friends that seem to equate drinking wine with lying, cheating and stealing and as a sure ticket on a pathway to hell.  When I am with them and I have a glass of wine they are either visibly uncomfortable or find ways to communicate their disapproval.  It may not be fair but many times I don’t bother ordering wine when I am because the stress diminishes the enjoyment I would get from the wine. 

You can probably make a case for drunkenness to be sinful.  Doing something to excess that impairs your judgment and can cause potential harm to yourself and others may not be the best way to live your life.  But you can make the same case for gluttony.   Eating too much food is also too much of a good thing.  It impacts your health and because of the burden it causes on the health system causes a financial hardship on society because everyone helps subsides the additional health costs.  But I doubt my friends that object to me having a glass of wine would think twice about me have 3 pieces of devil’s food cake a la mode at the same dinner.

My father, the most honorable and honest man I have ever met in my life made and drank wine.  I never once saw him drunk.  When he passed away I am quite confident he took the up elevator.   

What about the Wedding at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine?  Was it a test of morality or was his hope that people would enjoy the wine? There are other bible quotes that support wind drinking Ecclesiastes 9:7  states “Drink your wine with a merry heart.”Psalm 104:14-15 states that God gives wine “that makes glad the heart of men. 

Also if you look at the history of wine one of it's main purposes was to provide something to drink during meals.  The water supply was not safe to drink so people drank wine with their food instead.  Often times wines were developed to pair with the foods of the region.  Wine was considered essential to meals much like a loaf of bread.  People needed it to survive.  How can this be sinful?

So to answer the question, in my view,  it is probably sinful to try and deny others the enjoyment of wine then it is to drink wine in moderation.  Everyone has the right to decide for themselves what the right path for them is but they need to give others the same freedom.   Just because something can be abused is not a reason to punish/deny those that exercise good judgment.   

Thanks for reading I feel better now.

Agree?  Disagree?  Post a comment I’d like to hear what you think.