God talk

Last time we looked at the abuse of alcohol; and we learned that it causes a lot of harm in the world.  Today we will continue to Look at Bavincks ideas on alcohol and what he can teach us. We are still on sensual sins but now we start to look at strong drink.  In the same way as in the picture from the 19th century we start from a single drink of alcohol (page 121) and we start to go through the various steps.  At each step we start to lose something of ourselves.   The Israelites certainly knew how to drink. Bavincks evidence comes from;         11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink, Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! Isaiah 5:11         and    22  Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink, Isaiah 5:22 Strong drink  (shekar) שכר ) in Israel was usually made of 'roses, fruit, honey and thistles'(page 121).  Although this drink was not as strong as mod

  It is the 3 rd of January and I am fairly sure that many people celebrated the coming of the new year through drinking plenty of alcohol. As a social drink people do this to get over their inhibitions and have a good time.   I am also sure that many people the next day would have had a hangover.   I am not here to judge you, but I feel it is important to start to look at the facts about alcohol before we move onto looking at what Bavinck says about it.   Let us start in the 19 th century with the following picture; This is taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_abuse Let us look at the steps The Drunkard’s Progress Step 1. A glass with a friend. Step 2. A glass to keep the cold out. Step 3. A glass too much. Step 4. Drunk and riotous. Step 5. The summit attained. Jolly companions. A confirmed drunkard. Step 6. Poverty and disease. Step 7. Forsaken by Friends. Step 8. Desperation and crime. Step 9. Death by suicide. You might look at the image

  taken from;  https://pixabay.com/vectors/golden-rule-shiny-metallic-1321410/ Before I continue with Bavinck, I want to say something very simple. God is pure love and He wants us to love our neighbour.   We are in fact commanded to love our neighbour.   This is not something only found in the Christian religion. It is found in every major religion on planet earth and it is known as the Golden Rule;                 12  “In everything, therefore, [ a ] treat people the same way you want [ b ] them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7 12 NASB Sometimes you will hear it as ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ Here are two places I found on the internet! This Wiki looks at a lot of religions on the Golden rule; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule   Or if you want it just as a list of sayings try this from the Norman Rockwell Museum; https://www.nrm.org/2018/03/golden-rule-common-religions/   Having looked at the evidence we can see that thi