Name: Anonymous 2007-12-03 11:40
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." - Proverb 20:1,17
Some people are so in love with alcoholic and intoxicating beverages that they refuse to see that the word "wine" can refer to anything else then what gets them drunk. There are many who justify the consumption of alcoholic beverages by falsely saying that Jesus drank it. They point to Jesus turning water into "wine" at Cana, the good Samaritan using "wine" in the parable, the Pharisee's accusation towards Jesus of being a gluttonous man and a "winebibber" and a friend of publicans and sinners, and the "fruit of the vine" at the Last Supper.
The word "wine" in olden times was used indiscriminately to mean either fresh grape juice or fermented (alcoholic) grape juice. The context in which the word is used tells the reader which meaning is appropriate. If it speaks negatively about it, it is referring to alcoholic wine. If it speaks positively about it, it is referring to unfermented grape juice. Don't believe me about the word wine? Look in any English dictionary over 200 years old and you'll see the word wine used to mean any grape juice.
In the Old Testament there are 2 Hebrew words that are most commonly translated as "wine". Yayin which is alcoholic wine and Tirosh which is fresh unfermented grape juice. The Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as "wine" are oinos and gleukos which can refer to either unfermented grape juice (tirosh in Hebrew) or alcoholic wine (yayin in Hebrew). There are many other words which can mean different things all translated as the word "wine".
Many have said grape juice was fermented to preserve it. There were many methods in the Biblical times besides fermentation to preserve grape juice and even when it was fermented the alcohol content was MUCH less than the wines of today. The high alcohol content in today's wines comes from added sugar and yeast. The indispensable conditions for vinous fermentation are exact proportions of sugar, yeast or gluten and water with air temperature between 50 and 75 degrees. It's not as natural as some would like you to think.
Also, I'm sick of hearing that "(alcoholic) wine consumption is a part of Christian and Jewish tradition and was done on a regular basis". Back then, unless you lived by a vineyard, only the rich could afford "wine", and even then that "wine" could have been non-alcoholic.
Some people are so in love with alcoholic and intoxicating beverages that they refuse to see that the word "wine" can refer to anything else then what gets them drunk. There are many who justify the consumption of alcoholic beverages by falsely saying that Jesus drank it. They point to Jesus turning water into "wine" at Cana, the good Samaritan using "wine" in the parable, the Pharisee's accusation towards Jesus of being a gluttonous man and a "winebibber" and a friend of publicans and sinners, and the "fruit of the vine" at the Last Supper.
The word "wine" in olden times was used indiscriminately to mean either fresh grape juice or fermented (alcoholic) grape juice. The context in which the word is used tells the reader which meaning is appropriate. If it speaks negatively about it, it is referring to alcoholic wine. If it speaks positively about it, it is referring to unfermented grape juice. Don't believe me about the word wine? Look in any English dictionary over 200 years old and you'll see the word wine used to mean any grape juice.
In the Old Testament there are 2 Hebrew words that are most commonly translated as "wine". Yayin which is alcoholic wine and Tirosh which is fresh unfermented grape juice. The Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as "wine" are oinos and gleukos which can refer to either unfermented grape juice (tirosh in Hebrew) or alcoholic wine (yayin in Hebrew). There are many other words which can mean different things all translated as the word "wine".
Many have said grape juice was fermented to preserve it. There were many methods in the Biblical times besides fermentation to preserve grape juice and even when it was fermented the alcohol content was MUCH less than the wines of today. The high alcohol content in today's wines comes from added sugar and yeast. The indispensable conditions for vinous fermentation are exact proportions of sugar, yeast or gluten and water with air temperature between 50 and 75 degrees. It's not as natural as some would like you to think.
Also, I'm sick of hearing that "(alcoholic) wine consumption is a part of Christian and Jewish tradition and was done on a regular basis". Back then, unless you lived by a vineyard, only the rich could afford "wine", and even then that "wine" could have been non-alcoholic.