What makes so many Christians think that people in the old testament only had low alcohol wine and beer?

Question

Wine was just as strong then, grapes ferment and make alcohol until it kills the yeast. The same thing with beers. The yeast has not changed, niether has the grape juice. The bible describes people getting pass out drunk quite a few times. That is the story with Lot and his daughters, and about why Noah cursed Ham.
So where does this fantasy that all they ever drank was soda pop weak come from?

Yes, I have seen this statement about the old testament wines being low alcohol fairly often in here. It seems so bizarre of a statement to make that I am curious about where it comes from. It seems to be mostly a baptist thing.

I don;t think they had peyote or mecaline, those are New World plants, and the Mushrooms were likely Amanita Muscaria not pscilocybes, same reason. But yes they likely had a full collection of vision inducing herbs. They certainly had enough wierd visions.

Answer 1

I wish I knew--
My hubby and I joke that at the wedding in Cana, Jesus was the guy who kept the party rolling when He turned water into wine.

Answer 2

Natural fermentation kills off the yeast at, iirc, about 13%, or about 26 proof. I would consider that low alcohol, although I'll grant you it's stronger than soda pop. (Well, except for Dr. Pepper, which I believe is made with concentrated nitric acid and Everclear, but that's not important right now.) The only way to get a higher alcohol content is through distillation of one sort or another, and I believe that particular development is fairly recent.

Answer 3

Where did you hear that they only made "low alcohol" wine? And who assumed the role of expert about something they would have no way of knowing? Does someone have an old family recipe? No Christians I know would claim that was the case.

And... why does it matter? Does this have anything to do with living for God in the modern world under the New Testament dispensation of grace?

Just curious...

Answer 4

I do not know of any Christian, including myself, who thinks that. They sure did not get drunk on grape juice. During the Old Testament time, I would think that any strong drinks would have been pretty strong.

For at least 40 years in the wilderness, they did not drink liquor, and that might help, but they forget the first part I think:
De 29:6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.

I have heard some people say that in the New Testament, that certain wines were not very alcoholic, and that may or may not be true. The reason they say this is because Jesus turned water into wine. My mother is one who wants to believe that. "Wine" can mean "grape juice" because it means "from the (grape) vine." But even new wine was said to be able to make people intoxicated (see Acts 2:13)

Intoxication was something that was allowed, but frowned upon and strongly warned against. Lot and Noah are good examples of why.
Pr 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

It was also forbidden under certain circumstances, like being a priest and going into the tabernacle or temple for instance.
Le 10:9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
Or being a Nazarite (having taken the Nazarite vow).
Nu 6:3 He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.

At the same time, sometimes it is even expressly allowed...
De 14:26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
1Ti 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

The Bible teaches control, diligence, responsibility, and soberness (sane, rational). One can be those things and drink wine, or even get drunk, but as anyone can clearly see, being drunk can cause a great deal of trouble and work against any of those things. Can you blame Lot or Noah for getting drunk? I can't, for heaven's sake, if there was a time where it was okay to get drunk, surely this was one of them. But at the same time, look what happened.

Personally I think Satan waits around, waiting for us to lose control, or just looking for an occasion when he can step in and cause trouble. When we drink heavily or get drunk, we help him out considerably. While it is not sin per se, it can be sin (if you are overdoing it and harming yourself), and it can lead quickly to sin and irresponsible behavior which in turn can have horrible consequences.

Answer 5

I don't, I believe that they also had shrooms, peyote, perhaps even mescaline, I also believe the writers of the bible were quite familiar with them.

Answer 6

do they really say that?

Naturally their were a lot of low alcohol wines and beers because the alcohol removed bacteria and was often safer than water, but not all drinks were like that. Of course their were strong drinks.

Answer 7

that's news to me, and the Bible, lots of stories there about folks being blitzed out of their skulls!