Kim Mitchel: "Go For a Soda"

This eighties song is one of my favourites. Its message is clear as well. Nobody hurts and nobody dies when you're drinking soft drinks.

Listen to Kim's song here.

The Bible has much to say about drinking to excess. Proverbs 20:1 (Bible in Basic English) reminds us that, "Wine makes men foolish, and strong drink makes men come to blows; and whoever comes into error through these is not wise."

My family life was ruined by my father who was an alcoholic. Isaiah 5:11 (BBE) is a rebuke to all those drunkards. "Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine!"

Even religious drinkers can be snared by booze. Isaiah 28:7 (BBE) warns, "And further, these are uncertain through wine, and have gone out of the right way through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are uncertain through strong drink, they are overcome by wine, they have gone out of the way through strong drink; their vision is false, they go wrong in their decisions."

Now the scriptures do say we should drink in moderation. Paul understood the medicinal use of alcohol well, as he wrote in 1 Timothy 5:23 (BBE). "Do not take only water as your drink, but take a little wine for the good of your stomach, and because you are frequently ill."

And though the verses in 1 Peter 2:18 and 19 (BBE) refer to false spiritual leaders, they do show how losing our senses through over indulgence in drink can entrap us. "For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error; Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him."

Moderate imbibing of liquor is no sin but we dare not mislead weak siblings with our liberty. That's why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:23 and 24 (BBE) that, "We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good. Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour's good."

If our Master hasn't come back by Thursday, I hope to post about the perils of intoxication.