What's the big deal with drinking?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Alcohol is the most commonly used and abused drug among youth in the United States, more than tobacco and illicit drugs.
• Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12 to 20 years drink 11 percent of all alcohol consumed in the United States.
• Youth who drink alcohol are more likely to experience...
• School problems, such as higher absence and poor or failing grades.
• Unwanted, unplanned and unprotected sexual activity.
• Disruption of normal growth and sexual development.
• Memory problems.
• Changes in brain development that may have life-long effects.

Even with all of these "glowing reviews" that the federal government gives to teenagers drinking of alcohol, one question continually echoes across America: What's the BIG DEAL with drinking?

     For a teen, the first response is an easy one - it's illegal for you. We read in God's Word,  "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God" (Romans 13:1 ESV). With the law being set that 21 is the legal age of someone to consume alcohol anyone who's younger and drinks alcohol is breaking the law and thus sinning. However, that answer alone doesn't get to the bottom of what's the BIG DEAL.

     In the Bible, we read Peter giving instructions to Christians to, " Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8 ESV). We understand that Satan's anger towards God leads him to attack and hurt as many of those who would follow after God as possible. In his eyes, you and I are nothing but pawns to be used in an attempt to hurt God.

     With that being the case, why would we purposely choose to put anything in our bodies that would alter our thought process - even if just for a few hours? The Bible warns, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler..." (Proverbs 20:1 ESV) and tells those following God, "Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder" (Proverbs 23:31-32 ESV). With science proving that even a 100-pound man is affected by one glass of alcohol, why would we open ourselves up to Satan in such a way?

    Maybe there's a very good reason the apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:3, "For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry." As Christians are made different by the blood of Jesus Christ, our behavior must reflect this difference. Often this difference in behavior is designed to bring us more in line with out heavenly Father. In light of the effects cited by the CDC, it is highly likely that God is looking out for our physical well-being on this earth as well.