wine, anyone?

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:

And whoever is deceived thereby is not wise”

“Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions?

Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause?

Who hath redness of eyes?

They that tarry long at the wine,

They that go to seek mixed wine,

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red,

When it giveth his color in the cup,

When it moveth itself aright

At the lost it biteth like a serpent,

And stingeth like an adder”. Proverbs 20:1, 23: 29-32

I remembered these verses when I saw this man fell from the sofa of our office’s second floor lobby. He is not an employee of our office, if that is what you think. Drunkenness is not tolerated in the office. He is one of those who visited our center for a field trip, who definitely had a drinking spree with his peers the previous night.

Drinking is not bad at all, as they say, as long as you control yourself. In fact, as some jokingly commented that government’s warning only said, “Drink Moderately”, which means social drinking, is good. I cannot think of a single country where drinking is not part of their culture. It is the afternoon scene where men in groups are talking, laughing, and drinking over a bottle of liquor whether it is processed or simply fermented fruit juice indigenous to the area. In our modern age, a gathering, a party, or ordinary acquaintances, won’t be complete without a talk over a bottle of intoxicating drink, the least is punch juices.

I believed drinking is a social norm. It infers an unwritten rule for acceptance to a group. Anyone can easily penetrate a group over a bottle of beer and stronger liquor to the most. I remembered when I gave a long one-shot to a bottle of beer, with the pushing of peers, they cheered as if I won an Olympics medal. Though, I was wasted four times, I am not looking for ordinary drinking sessions. I am a naturally born social drinker (whew).

But that was before. It’s been eight years since I had my last taste of beer and I intend not to do for the rest of my life. Whatever may be our reason for drinking, the Bible clearly says that “whoever is deceived by wine is not wise”. Be it for happy hearted or for brokenhearted, without the right reason of stopping, even when awakened to a sense of his misery after leaving the real world, he has no power to break from the snare; he “will seek it yet again” v. 35.