I am only drinking one to help me relax and it doesnt impair my judgment.
The constant plea from the moderate drinker is I am not getting drunk. I wont get drunk. And what little I am having doesnt impair my judgment. This is basically the same type of argument used to deny
I Corinthians 15:33, Bad communications corrupt good morals. Though God has said bad communications corrupt good morals, many today want to claim bad communication doesnt affect them. In like manner, though God said wine is a mocker and it is not for us to drink lest we forget what is decreed, some believe they are an exception to Gods rule. Because for them, the small amount they drink doesnt affect them.
Have you ever heard anyone say, If you think you are crazy, you arent. Because crazy people never question their sanity. The fact that one believes his judgment is not impaired when under the influence of a mind-altering narcotic (classed by Canadas Addiction Research Foundation as a sedative/hypnotic drug) holds absolutely no weight. The man or woman who has imbibed this drug is the least qualified to determine his state of judgment.
I remind you that according to scientific study and testing, alcohol begins working on your brain the moment it is absorbed into the blood stream. Though different organizations might have slightly varying numbers, without one exception, all that I have read claims that even the lowest of BAC levels produces impaired judgment. I remind you of the sermon where I quote from the
Listen Magazine chart. At .01 BAC, after just half a can of beer for a man who is 220 lbs., alcohol begins to remove your inhibitions. That is, it affects your conscience, that part of you that says you shouldnt do something you know is wrong. At this same level you begin to lose your self-control. As Christians, we are supposed to be increasing our self-control (
II Peter 1:5-8). Our willpower begins to weaken. We can easily see the danger for our souls if our willpower to overcome sin is weakened even a little. We begin to have a sense of well-being. That, of course, is why we are so convinced what we drink doesnt affect us. The drug itself causes us to believe we are better off than we are. We begin to have a false confidence. In other words, due to the affects of this drug, even after one drink we begin to think more of ourselves than we ought to (
Romans 12:3). Our judgment is impaired. Of course, that again is why we think our judgment is not impaired. We are not able to assess our own abilities anymore, even after only one drink and even when we dont realize it.
Additionally, not only is alcohol a drug, it is an addictive drug, which, by the way, is more addictive to teenagers than adults. According to the Connecticut Clearinghouse, a program funded by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, an adult may take 5 to 15 years to become addicted while a teenager will only take six months to two years (
www.ctclearinghouse.org; reproducible fact sheet
Why Adolescents Should Not Use Alcohol At All). The fact that alcohol is an addictive drug, makes it increasingly difficult to support even in moderation. An addictive drug, by its very nature, causes us to become tolerant of the amount we are taking and crave more. Notice what the Addiction Research Foundation says, Psychological dependence on alcohol may occur with regular use of even relatively moderate daily amounts. It may also occur in people who consume alcohol under only certain conditions, such as before and during social occasions. This form of dependence refers to a craving for alcohols psychological effects, although not necessarily in amounts that produce serious intoxication. What psychological affects is the moderate drinker looking for? Isnt it obvious? The moderate drinker begins to crave the psychological affects that occur with moderate drinking, the loss of inhibitions, the relaxation, the destressing, the feeling of well-being and the self-confidence.
Considering all of this, can one seriously claim one drink doesnt hurt? Only if he lives by the worlds standards as represented in the pamphlet, What Every Teenager Should Know About Alcohol, quoted in the sermon. That worldly standard is we only have to stay relatively sober. If that is all we must do, then drinking a narcotic that immediately attacks our sobriety is justified as long as someone out there is more drunk than we are. However, that is not the standard. The standard is sobriety, period.