Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
Getting drunk is a sin as some know it. Yet getting drunk was easily a part of OT life . . . without comment. Being a drunkard was spoken against, but it was also not referred to as being a sin, but more like a serious character flaw.
Yeah, most of us are beyond that. But are we sure that being drunk is simply a sin? Not suggesting it as a regular thing. And surely not giving an "OK" to being a drunkard. But does the Bible actually say (prior to Paul, if you want to take his statement as defining a sin that was not previously defined) that being drunk, in private, on a particular occasion is a sin?
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The NT does say "be not drunk with wine, which is excess" (Eph 5:18). I think that is a principle which spans ages (Proverbs 20:1). I'm not against drinking (that would make me hypocrite), just excess in any form.
Now just what is excess, or being drunk, is a matter of judgment. But I think if you pass out naked and wake up so surly that you curse your grandson who did no wrong, then you probably got drunk by any reasonable measure.
To me, if you step back and consider human nature and your own human experiences it isn't hard to see what happened here. Noah screwed up, his screw-up became known, which embarrassed him, which made him angry, and he flew off the handle and took it all out on Canaan, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I don't see anywhere where the Bible says Noah's curse was proper or honorable. Just that he did it and it resulted in the rebellious Canaanites. Did God want to produce that? If so maybe I should get drunk and naked and go around cursing people who have a problem with it and when they turn against God I can pat myself on the back for a job well done.