WHAT IS WRONG WITH TAKING A DRINK?

White Ribbon, Volume 22, Issue 11, 1 February 1951, Page 5

WHAT IS WRONG WITH TAKING A DRINK?

By Dr. Aaron N. Meclic!

“What * wrong with taking a drink? It was a fine young couple that had come to my study a>k this question. They made it clear that they did not mean excessive drinking. Also, that they had to li\e and move among groups of younger married people, whose moderate consumption oi alcoholic beverages was the ‘‘tiling to do." Said this young husband, “Tell us what you really think. Is there anything wrong with taking a drink?’ Now suppose you had been in my place with the trusting eyes of that young man and woman upon you, or better yet, suppose it had been your son or your daughter, who bad come ,o ask their pastor that question. YV hat reply would you honestly want him to make ?

You see, friend, we are not dillydallying in the ream* of the speculative or imaginary. The problem we are discussing is as real and contemporary as the unhappy wife and wretched children of the excessive drinker, living around the corner; as real as that home, where a •ivorce is pending liecause of a partner who is rapidly drinking himself into incompetence; as actual as that other home, in which there is an empty high chair, because a drunken driver ran down and killed an only child. Now then, take another look at those two young people in my study with i heir question. Think carefully. What is your reply ? \\ hat’s wrong with taking a urink? \ 1. A FLIGHT FROM REALITY Our reply will lie three-fold, hirst it is best to let spirituous liquors alone, because the drink habit, look at it however you will, represents a flight from reality. At best, it is an escapism for those who refuse to face up to life’s problems with clear and unclouded minds. \\ hen a Britisher was asked tbe reason for his excessive indulgence, lie made reply, “Drink is the shortest ro; d out of Manchester.” But actually, i» it? Rathei the opposite is true. ' he drink habit ne\er sittDs any problem lastingly, but only postpones and at gra rates it. Ask the 730,000 aJdu: s—drunkards, the Bible calls them.' Many <>f them are in hospital wards at ti : ** expenre of the public purse, and ibr will tell you, “W e never drank our problem through to a solution. Dr. E Stanley Jones tells the story .f iiie mouse, who found herself in the cellar i eside a keg of fermented ci<Dr, which was dripping. She took one, sip and felt her muscles stiffening into resistance, After a second sip, she sat back on her haunches to say, Now let the cat come on!” If only “mice men” were adequate to settling their own pei'onal problems, to say nothing ■>f the problems of their age! And sc, Vet it be said to old and young alike: 1 It yon have that tired feeling, and :» you feel inwardly depressed or repressed, and arc fed up

with life, remember —the liquor flask is not the shortest, hut the longest road out of Manchester.” 2. MODERATE DRINKING A FICTION It is high time also, that the fiction of “moderate drinking ’ be revealed for what it really is—a wholesale deception. They that are wise will not he taken in by it. Have you ever observed the one-sidedness of the clever advertisements of the liquor interests? Look carefully next time you see an attractive young woman with a flask in her hand, or a fine-looking lad, dressed in the uniform of his country, extolling some brand of Whisky. Remember, the vendors of drink willingly debase even the motive of patriotism and the beauty of youth in their greed. The ultimate victim of the d/ink habit is never shown the boy or girl, the man or woman, who were deceived by talk of “moderate drinking,’’ and who thought they could stop at “one glass’’ Their distorted figures and pitiful faces are not placarded abroad. In a church of which I was pastor, we ir.vited representatives of ‘‘Alcoholics Anonymous” to address a youth convention. In a most winsome and forthright manner the facts were placed before the audience. At the close, one of the young people put thi;> question to the speaker, “In your estimation, is there anything wrong with taking an occasional drink, say at a social gathering, or at a college football game?” Idle reply ot the veteran alcoholic deserves to be long remembered by all who want to walk the road of. life with a firm step. ‘That’a just where I bej,an to »kiu, >on, at the point of the first drink. If I had avoided the first or secoqd drink, twenty of the best years of my life would never have been wasted. My advice i> to leave the stuff alone. Stay away from the edge of the ditch. 3. MY BROTHER’S KEEPER \>ui when if is viewed within the specifically Christian structure of life and thought, t e problem assumes most urgent focus. Look carefully bow you wall *'.'m Imy brother’s keeper?” mil the e ivpha n i iv is “Yes!" There *s. for thr Tv 1 lower of Jesus the fact » f fcocui r* ‘-’.onsiL'd y. 1 hav e personally knovv iw a fwv men and women who could i silv ni V r developed fondness for vrD k. They bavi resisted ternjtatirn. iV-y ha t heard he patter «»f other?’ f or f :>s be lend th_»m. Th« v know ’hem. lives »o benheir brothers ki -per. And so the drink lahit represents a fi.gkt from reality. I »«e fiction of mode ate or social diinkiiq is jest that —a fiction. And there is he fact of social responsibility. 1 am rrv brother's keeper, whether or not I admit it. A ques'ion remains: What hope, if any, is there fo r the man or woman who is in the vicious grip of the drink habit ?

The physician who deals with the body, and the psychiatrist yvho deals with symptoms of the mind are frankly pessimistic in their reply. In the end.

then, only the Gospel of Jests Christ answers with a ringing “\es!” The defeated man or woman cfm be delivered from failure and sin, providing they will turn with earnestness and faith to the Great Physician, Jesus Christ.

Sergeant Alvin York, hero of World War 1, gave this testimony: “I used to drink liquor; drank it for ten years; drank it until I broke the hearts of those who loved me and prayed for me. And then one nigh* in 1914 1 knelt at the altar of a little mountain church in East Tennessee and confessed and repented of my sms. I arose from that altar a new man in Christ Jesus and 1 broke with liquor forever. Notice that last word “FOREVER.” Tell that incident —otilv—-f»nc out of thousands —to those whom perhaps you know, who are slaves to drink. Tell them that there is a Love that forgives, even from the Cross, a Rower that win >et them newly on their feet, a Spirit that can make them new creatures in Christ Jesus! Abridged from “The Union Signal.”