Researchers have concluded, “Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity…”
May 11, 2022
It’s not wise to provoke a pit bull. It’s just a matter of time until you get bitten.
If you haven’t heard by now, Mike Tyson, while on a plane, recently beat someone up for annoying him. I don’t know if Mike Tyson is going to be charged for punching this person in the face, and I’m not sure if any jury would sympathize with the so-called victim. He provoked an angry man, and he got an angry response. The pit bull bit. The drunkard was fortunate that Tyson didn’t open the door and toss him out of the plane.
“As Christians, while the Bible doesn’t prohibit us from drinking alcohol (it actually encourages small amounts of wine consumption; see 1 Timothy 5:23), we shouldn’t get drunk.”
However, there’s something deeper here than an annoying man provoking a passenger on a plane. There’s the question as to why the airlines continue to supply alcohol on flights. It seems that in almost every incident on planes, the demon of alcohol is involved. And we know that no airline is going to prohibit booze on flights—because those who need a drink in the morning to get through the day no doubt need a drink on a flight to get them to their destination. For many, flying is more than stressful. It’s frightening—especially when the image of a Chinese plane heading vertically toward the earth is still fresh in our minds.
So, we know that there are always going to be drunks on planes. History showed us that prohibition doesn’t work because of human nature. It’s been rightly said that alcohol is the only enemy that man continues to love.
As Christians, while the Bible doesn’t prohibit us from drinking alcohol (it actually encourages small amounts of wine consumption; see 1 Timothy 5:23), we shouldn’t get drunk, and we have a game plan if someone provokes us. We don’t take the law into our own fists and punch annoying people in the face. We do what Jesus did when He was provoked. We turn the other cheek, and then we commit ourselves to Him who judges righteously.
“The only real answer to the continual problem of alcohol is the new birth. The gospel takes a man with an insatiable thirst and satisfies him at the soul level.”
There was a time before I came to Christ when I consumed alcohol every Saturday night with my friends. When we became intoxicated, we would drive from party to party looking for girls. That’s just what we did as teenagers.
I was like a lost sheep following other lost sheep, and sheep are really dumb creatures. If one jumps for no reason, those that follow will jump for no reason. They will even follow each other to the slaughter. That’s probably why the Bible likens us to lost sheep:
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
The only real answer to the continual problem of alcohol is the new birth. The gospel takes a man with an insatiable thirst and satisfies him at the soul level. He no longer wants to poison his body, dull his conscience, and do things that are only going to get him a sometimes-justified punch in the mouth.
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