Beverage Alcohol and the Bible

I have always, since I was legally able to, enjoyed having a few drinks from time to time. It's relaxing and it makes the pressures of the week melt away for the night. When I decided to not just be a Bible believing Christian, but a Bible living Christian, one of the first things I did was look to the Bible to justify my drinking. I found several restrictions but nothing that I considered a command from God for me to abstain. As long as I followed these restrictions I would be good to go. The problem with that is when your born again you are literally changed. It is almost impossible to ignore when your flesh is in opposition to your spirit. There is a tug of war and at some point you have got to decide what is going to win, your flesh or spirit. One of the great gifts of God in my life is when he nudges me. I had been in this inner tug of war for quite a while (and at the moment letting my flesh win over) when I got one of his loving nudges. I went back to my Bible and this time I said show me what is best. This is the result.

First of all the word wine in the Bible comes from a word meaning fruit of the vine. It is used to describe fermented wine and grape juice. I had been told before that wine just meant grape juice in the Bible but I brushed it off as preposterousus because there was no way Lot's daughters gave him grape juice. But if it means both, well that is another story. So I came to the conclusion that when reading about drinking alcohol in the Bible I must exclude verses condoning the use of wine as it may have been referring to juice. That left me with two verses that seem to condone drinking.
The first is Deuteronomy 14:26" And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth."
The second is Proverbs 31:6-7 "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more."
But the Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 6:12 "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient." As for the verse in proverbs, we are happy to say we are no longer under the law of the old testiment but isn't it just as likely that this also no longer applies now that we are to cast all our cares upon Jesus?
Secondly, when I first read Leviticus 10:9 I assumed it meant that priests weren't to drink in the temple but if I had continued to read verses 10-11 I would have seen that it was to show a difference between holy and unholy. It was not implying that they may drink outside the temple, it was saying that even though unclean outside the temple, it was punishable by death if they entered the temple under the influence. It also said that remaining sober made them better teachers.
When I considered 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people: that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." I am given this question of myself; Am I, as a part of this royal priesthood and holy nation, also expected to abstain from alcohol for the reasons stated in Leviticus 10:9-11?
This is also applied to Proverbs 31:4-5 "it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink: lest they forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. " Revelation 1:6 says that Jesus has made us kings. I know that we are not under Jewish law but these verses have given me this question of myself; If Jesus has made a king of me, is it not possible that alcohol may cause me to forget Gods word to others and cause the judgment of God to come down on them?
The third point I have come to in my Bible reading is the reason I have continued in my study on the subject. I have not been fully persuaded to the side that claims its innocence. I have tried to convince myself to settle the matter but I have found it impossible.
Romans 14:5, 23 tell me, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind......He that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."
That last section of verse 23 brings me to my fourth point, neutrality. The Bible is pretty clear that there is sin that is not necessarily named as sin clearly in the Bible. Romans 14:23 says anything that is not of faith is sin. James 4:17 says that if you know something is good and don't do it you commit sin.
Romans 14:6 says, "He that eateth, eateth to the Lord." 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." I have asked myself; Is my alcohol consumption, even in moderation, at all to the glory of God? My answer to that question is an obvious, big, fat, no. In fact I find that it is the exact opposite.
That brings me to my fifth and final point. Romans 14:21 says, "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor anything where by thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." Romans 15:1-2 says, "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves." Point being, my Christian liberty is to be sacrificed for the good of those around me.
Proverbs 20:1 says, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." It is plain to me that people all over this world are being deceived this way. Families suffer, lives are taken, and souls are lost everyday to this self-indulgence.

I have decided to take my place as a king and priest and teacher for Christ, to refrain from drinking alcohol or putting my money towards the sale of it to the masses of people being destroyed. And you know how freeing that is!!!! All this time I felt that it would be a burden on my back to have to give up something that I thought I enjoyed.
I heard an analogy somewhere once that fits here perfectly. A man and his daughter are at the park and she is playing happily in the sand box while he goes to get her an ice-cream cone. When he comes back he bends down to hand her this tasty treat and just as it is about to reach her lips she grabs a handful of sand and shoves it in her mouth. Looking down at his daughters smiling face he is saddened at the thought of how long it is going to take to get rid of all that sand and how much she doesn't even realize what she's missed out on.
I now know the meaning of Psalm 40:8 " I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." In a very short time after making this decision about alcohol I was given my ice-cream. I learned of the importance of the Lords day. I have been working more then I have in years these past few weeks and this Saturday I had one of the worst days I've had in a long time. The old me would have never been able to renew myself in one day but now what a blessing I have to look forward to each week. And no headach on Monday.