There should be no hesitancy whatever about allowing individuals and groups to follow the very practices that were followed in Akron Number One. There should be no banning of Bibles, no bashing of Christians, and no ridiculing of religion — anyone’s religion. There should be no hesitancy about encouraging attendance at churches, Bible fellowships, religious retreats, and religious convocations — just as early AA. There should be no hesitancy about putting an end to the observable attempts in word and deed to reform AA. — to transform it into a fellowship which attempts to attract by down-grading the importance of God and religion and applauds beliefs in idols or anything or nothing at all.
Short-term effects of alcohol include distorted vision, hearing, coordination, altered perceptions and emotions, impaired judgment, bad breath and hangovers. Such problems can occur after drinking over a relatively short period of time. Those claiming that all drinking is a sin don’t have support from the Bible.
Just as drinking can be a stumbling block, based on the scenario, it could also damage your testimony for Jesus. Sitting in a bar taking tequila shots is probably not good for your testimony. Whenever you are in a social situation, you must consider first how your actions will affect your witness for Jesus. Any negative action that affects your testimony is not worth taking. You may be free to do it, but that does not mean you should.
But that was not the picture the founders first painted. As with other issues not specifically spelled out in Scripture, the decision whether to drink alcohol is something each person must wrestle with on their own, consulting the Bible and taking the matter to God in prayer. In the Jewish tradition, Jesus and his disciples drank wine at the Last Supper, which was a Passover Seder. Some denominations argue that Jesus cannot be used as an example since Passover and the Cana wedding were special celebrations, in which drinking wine was part of the ceremony.
We are talking about the person who likes what they are doing, has no desire to change, and wants to continue their current lifestyle. I did my ministry for thirty years at Bethlehem, just a few blocks away from Teen Challenge. Every Saturday 9 myths about alcohol night (virtually), some of those guys — who were in there to be set free from their addiction to alcohol — would show up, and they would come forward for prayer. Their stories were simply tragic, and I was thrilled for them to get free.
For at all hours, let them keep their “reason unwavering, their memory active, and their body unmoved and unshaken by wine.” He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy.
