Letter to the Editor

Posted August 17, 2016 at 1:44 pm

Concerned Pastors against alcohol

We are writing as concerned citizens of Clinton County. We love the people here and the community where we live. We consider it a great place to live and raise a family. We are not perfect and have our problems, so why should we add to them by making alcohol more accessible? Our young people have a lot of temptations that they face each day, so why make it harder on them. We are for progress and bringing in jobs but we don’t consider alcohol sales to be the answer.

Have you considered what alcohol actually costs a community or our nation? According to the Center of Disease Control (cdc.gov) in a report that came out in October of last year, excessive alcohol use cost the nation 249 billion dollars in 2014. That is $2.05 per drink which adds up to over $800 per person in the U.S. It breaks down like this, 28 billion in healthcare, 13 billion in auto collisions, 25 billion in criminal justice and 179 billion in lost workplace production. Those are not numbers that shout jobs. Most believe these numbers to be very conservative and are actually much higher.

Consider how alcohol affects our families. Alcohol, according to the National Council on Alcohol and Drugs Dependence (ncadd.org), is involved in 55 percent of all domestic violent cases and 65 percent of all spousal violence that is reported. It helps to end marriages, ruin families, and hurts children. Did you know that alcohol or drugs are involved in 80 percent of all offenses leading to incarceration including four out of five teen arrests in the state juvenile system? It is not good for our young people, our families or our community. Did you know that the CDC also reports that about a third of all traffic deaths are related to alcohol? The more alcohol, the more unsafe our roadways are and the more unsafe for teens to be out late at night.

That is a lot of statistics and it may not mean much to you now, but we have personally been with families that were affected by alcohol related tragedy, and we don’t want that to be you or your family. Tragedy is going to happen but we can certainly do our best to help prevent some of it. We don’t write this letter trying to hurt someone but out of concern for people being hurt in the future. Look at the numbers, no matter where you stand on the issue of alcohol sales, do you want these stats to become Clinton County’s stats? The easier it is to obtain alcohol, the more likely these numbers become our reality.

Let’s make it a matter of prayer and then do what is right, what is best for the community, our teens, and families and what is most pleasing to the Lord. The Bible teaches us that “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” It would seem to us that if we want our community to grow and prosper, that we would seek things that would build up and not tear it down. Let us not be a part of that which would be detrimental to the lives of people and bring a reproach.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

“Yayin.” This is the most common Hebrew word used in the Old Testament to denote wine, as it appears 141 times. According to several authorities, including Jewish and ancient Christian authors, “yayin” is a generic word for wine that can refer to grape juice in either its fermented or unfermented state (just like the original meaning of the English word “wine”).(8).

“Oinos.” This is the most common Greek word used in the New Testament to denote wine, appearing 32 times. According to several authorities, “oinos” is also a generic word for wine that can refer to grape juice in either its fermented or unfermented state. Since “oinos is the word used when Jesus turned the water to wine, we believe that it was the unfermented state. Jesus never sinned nor did He lead others to sin, instead He came to save people from their sin. Think about it.

May God Help and Bless,

Pastor Bob Sawyer

Pastor Jim England