All Articles For Drunkenness

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Alcohol abuse in this country is appalling. Recently Ann Landers reported on some statistics put out by The National Council of Alcoholism. They make for disturbing reading. 1. Alcohol is America’s No. 1, drug problem among youth. (In 1985, an estimated 4.6 million adolescents, ages 14 through 17, experienced negative consequences of alcohol —arrest, involvement in an accident, impairment of health or job performance.)  2. Alcohol is twice as popular among college students as the next leading drug, marijuana, and more than five times...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. We have proved from Scripture that God’s Word considers drunkenness a sin and not a disease. Scripture pronounces woes upon those who follow strong drink (Isaiah 5:11). It warns against drunkenness and includes this sin in the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). It tells the saints not to have anything to do with those who are guilty of the sin of drunkenness (I Corinthians 5:11). It considers the sin so great that the drunkard cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21). It...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. But in connection with the sin of drunkenness there is a certain anomaly. On the one hand, experience proves that confession and repentance alone do not necessarily free one from the sin; and on the other hand, it is possible, through the work of Alcoholics Anonymous, e.g., to be freed from drinking without actually being saved. That is, one can be freed from his “drinking problem” without confessing his sin and seeking forgiveness in the cross. And in addition to this, it is also...