Matthew 11:19

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My mom was influenced by my great grandmother who didn't believe in ever drinking alcohol because of Jesus and what's in the Bible, so she thinks all alcohol is bad because of this but I ask, where does this idea come from, because, according to Matthew 11:19 which says:

The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.


So why this idea that Jesus was this man who never drank and hated drinking???? I never got this vibe from him because his people would meet, eat bread, drink wine together. Could have been some clandestine affair, like Free Masons or Illuminati at first, and they would banquet and talk mysticism, in the tradition of King Solomon. One of Jesus's pass times, apparently, was casting out demons and he relied on the teachings of Solomon.

Matthew 11:19 isn't the only example of Jesus's devotion to food and drink. He turned water into wine, too. He fed a crowd with breads and fishes from his fishermen devotees, even though they claim it was a miracle, it was really, perhaps, an act of charity.

So why do old time religious Christian folks always assume to be Christian means they cannot have a nice, fun get together with booze and good food, and with "bad" people, too. I swear this "holier than art thou" attitude would have repelled the Jesus that's in the Bible so if that's your excuse to be a douche, Bible Jesus would rebuke you for it.

We had to hide the contents of the liquor cabinet when grandma (probably of your great grandma's generation) visited us as well.

Christ never touched the hard stuff.

The reason: hard liquor hadn't been invented yet. They only had beer, wine, and mead, back then. Or thats my understanding. Maybe they think that beer and wine are "gateway drugs" to hard liguor. So they figure that Christ wouldve been a tea totler if he were around today. Just a WILD guess.

Here's another little factoid that would probably upset your mom, too: Jesus also urinated and defecated.

And what is revealed by this passage in Matthew is something that some do not wish to do, obtain wisdom through understanding. I find this passage very revealing about the true nature of the Christos which is motivated by wisdom:

Well, first-of-all, it MIGHT just be that your great-grandmother believes that it's actually drunkenness that's against the Bible, and not drinking A glass of wine, for instance. She knows drinking can lead to drunkenness----so, to be on the safe side, she just doesn't drink, at all.

Secondly, people pick and choose what Bible "instructions" they want to follow. Ask your gg if she's ever eaten shell-fish!!

Thirdly, it's quite common, IMO, for people your gg's age to "preach" / follow the OLD Testament----when Jesus came-along, He gave us "The Bible Lite"----He wasn't as concerned with drinking as He was with our taking care of our "brother".

People drank wine in those times for a very practical reason: unless it came from a deep well, water wasn't safe to drink.

Never asked grandma about the theology of it.

I don't think there has to be a Biblical source for it. It could be that the thinking is: alcohol is obviously bad, and you need god to fend off bad stuff, so dont ever drink, and let god help you fend off drinking. It doesnt have to be forbidden in the Bible. In fact there was an autobiographical country hit by T. Graham Brown called "Wine into Water" ( takes the miracle in the NT, and turns it on its head) about the "miracle" of his own recovery from alcoholism with the help of Jesus.

On the other hand many Fundies, and Evangelicals, claim that the Bible has been mistranslated all along.

"Wine" is mentioned A LOT in both testaments. Often in a good way (its a gift from god to bring joy) and often in a bad way ( both Noah, and Lot, got ploughed, and appeared in the "Patriarchs Gone Wild" videos doing embarrassing stuff). Some folks say that all of the good references to "wine" in the Bible are really about "fruit juice", and only the bad references are about actual alcohol containing wine. This is known as the "two wine theory".

The Jews didnt have a god of wine like Dionysus, but they were no strangers to wine.

Prior to Islam wine was pretty much circum Mediterranean.

Modern Jews use wine in the passover seder. And in other rituals. They even have a blessing that translates as "blessed aren't thou Lord for bringing us the gift of the fruit of the vine".

Archeaologists have found stone wine presses in Israel dating from Biblical times.

And like I said wine is mentioned a lot all through of both testaments.

After the flood the first thing Noah did was plant a grape vine. Then he imbibed, and got crazy and naked (all that stress from the building and commanding ark I guess).

The Jews seemed to have had a love-hate relationship with wine in Bible.

But they didnt need the Greeks and Romans to introduce wine to them.