The Oxford Dictionary defines it as "a colourless volatile flammable liquid which is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other drinks, and is also used as an industrial solvent and as fuel". Intoxicate means to cause (someone) to lose control of their faculties or behaviour. The Latin word for intoxicate is 'intoxicare' which means 'to poison'. It is interesting to say that when we hear that word 'poison', the first thing that comes to mind is death. The next question to ask after these definitions is 'Is this the same thing we consume?'

Various surveys have been carried out in different nations as regards alcohol consumption. One of the surveys I found interesting was the one carried out by the Australian Government, which was based on Western Australia in 1994. An extract from their

Those days during the time of Jesus, it was said that the prevalent drink of the day was wine. They didn't have the variety of beverages that we now have in the 21st century. I believe that since they were exposed to mainly alcoholic beverage like wine, then one of the best way the Bible could help was to keep warning people about it's danger, when consumed in excess. Paul was trying to pass on to the people of Ephesians, that they should be careful not to consume these wine in excess but that they be filled with the Holy Spirit instead.

Various people have labeled alcohol with various names such as shacks, buzz and so on. But the one I found worthy of note is when a writer termed it as "liquid courage". It is true that you acquire some form of courage from consuming alcohol but what kind of courage is it? If you ask the people that consume alcohol, they would tell you that the courage they develop from alcohol consumption mainly turn them on to doing something they normally would not have done in their rightful mind. For example; the people who want to do something really bad would most of the time go and have a good drink before going to carry out their plans. The 'liquid courage' that they may have developed from alcohol soon fizzles out after the toxicating effect of the drink clears out of their eyes.

A Muslim scholar, Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, wrote an article titled "Alcohol is prohibited for Jews and Christians". In his article, he gave a summary of how the Muslim's Quran completely prohibits the consumption of alcohol. I quote "As one can see, initially Muslims were prohibited from praying while drunk, later the merits and demerits of alcohol are described by discouraging its consumption and finally completely prohibiting it's consumption". The Quran references he used were Surah, Nisaa 4:43; Surah Al-Baqara 2: 219 and Surah Ma'ida, 5:93. It is very interesting to see that quite a number of other religions prohibit the use of alcohol.

I believe that all those scriptures that were warning people about drunkenness are all about those fermented juice that eventually became alcoholic wine. One thing about the Bible is that God always gave people the right to choose, but he would always show you the right path to go. It is now left for you to go the path he encourages you to go to. I believe that the Bible at the time it was written, wine -whether fermented or unfermented, was the beverage of the day. People that were consuming the fermented ones were cautioned from being drunk. Jesus said in the book of Luke 21:34 "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unaware". In this 21st century, we have so many beverages that we could chose from, many of which are non-alcoholic beverages. Since we have more than enough choice to make, why don't we chose the drinks that would make us stay completely away from warnings and dangers. The truth is that

Some common words found in the essay are:
Spirit Bible, Christian Community, Holy Communion, Holy Spirit, Bible God, Syed PhD, Oxford Dictionary, Surah Ma'ida, International Inc, , drink alcohol, alcohol consumption, drinking alcohol, people drink, excess filled, people drink alcohol, grape juice, alcohol regularly 17%, 1 corinthians, 21st century, prohibited praying, completely prohibits, wine wherein excess, drink alcohol regularly, 18 34 people,
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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)