BEVERAGE ALCOHOL AND WOMEN

Have you ever wondered why lawmakers in Washington and in other places are so strongly opposed to tobacco and seldom, if ever, speak out against the use and abuse of beverage alcohol? I believe I know why that is the case. Those lawmakers are themselves drinkers - some are heavy drinkers - and so are many of their constituents. What politician has the courage to oppose the sale and consumption of beverage alcohol when it would almost certainly mean the loss of millions of dollars to his or her campaign? Am I saying that many of them are moral wimps and lack the courage to show just how dangerous beverage alcohol is? If I were to say that, would it be unfair to our lawmakers?

The Tennessean (Sunday, September 20, 2009) published an article entitled "Women's drinking problems go unseen" by Elizabeth Weise of USA TODAY. The author of the article estimates that there are 17.6 million adults who are either alcoholics or have serious problems with alcohol. Approximately one-third of alcoholics are women. Yet many of the family members and friends of those women who have drinking problems have no idea that such is the case. Women alcoholics have more problems than their male counterparts. But our culture is more likely to overlook a woman's drinking than it does a man's drinking (p. 7-A). But drinking is just as dangerous for women as it is for men.

You may have seen on television or read in the news media about a New York mother named Diane Schuler. The police said her blood alcohol leve1 was double the lega1 limit. In addition, she had a high level of the chief ingredient of marijuana in her blood. In July of this year, she was driving on the wrong side of the highway. Her car struck an SUV. The accident killed her daughter, three nieces and three men in the SUV. Everyone said that Diane Schuler was a good mother and good mothers do not drink and drive. What a tragedy that otherwise intelligent people drink and drive and endanger the lives of others! If this were an isolated incident, it would be tragic enough. But it happens many times somewhere every day in the United States.

All people - male and female, young and old - are irresponsible and dangerous when they drink and drive. Alcohol figures prominently in hundreds and hundreds of highway and industrial accidents. But some people who drink believe they are better drivers when they have been drinking. About thirty years ago, Molly and I owned some sporting stores in Georgia. Our store in downtown Dalton stayed open late at night for our fishermen and hunters. One night about midnight one of my customers who was also one of my closest neighbors came into the store so drunk he could hardly stand up. He stayed in the store for a short time and then drove home. On his way home, the police stopped him for driving under the influence of alcohol. A few days later that neighbor came back to our store. He was sober on that occasion. He asked me if I had reported him to the police a few days earlier. I told him I had not done so. He wondered why the police stopped him. He said he was driving very slowly and carefully. A few days later the policeman who stopped him came into our store. I told him that my neighbor had said he was driving very slowly and carefully. The policeman said that was right. He was driving slowly and carefully on the wrong side of the street. Tragically, that neighbor lost his good job, his wife and his children.

In 1973 Joel Fort, a medical doctor from Memphis wrote a very revealing book, Alcohol: Our Biggest Drug Problem (New York: McGraw-Hill). Dr. Fort was exceptionally well qualified to write the book. At one time, he was consultant to the World Health Organization on Drug Abuse problems, founder-leader of the National Center for Solving Special Social and Health Problems, leading critic of the Alcohol Lobby, lecturer in Criminology at the University of California in Berkeley and chief witness for the prosecution in the Charles Manson murder trial. The inside dust cover of his book says: "At last, common sense about our No.1 health problem; Dr. Fort treats alcohol as a drug in the same context as marijuana, heroin and cocaine." Dr. Fort strongly affirms: "Alcohol addiction is the most serious of any form of addiction and alcohol abuse is the most prevalent type of drug abuse" (p. 9).

How much alcohol does a pregnant woman have to drink before it affects her unborn child? The sad truth is nobody knows. Dr. Fort says that alcohol is carried across the placenta when a pregnant woman drinks. Does that mean that an unborn baby could be adversely affected by her mother's drinking? In some cases, the newborn babies of drinking mothers experience withdrawal symptoms. If those babies are not treated, they could die (p. 33). I wonder if a child born to a drinking mother is more likely to become a problem drinker or an alcoholic than those babies whose mothers are not drinkers. Dr. Fort says very little research has been done on the effects of alcoholism on the children of alcoholic mothers (pp. 33-34).

There is no debate over whether heavy drinking contributes to unhappiness in marriage and even to divorce. Dr. Fort has one brief section in his book on "Family Effects." It is estimated that one alcoholic in a family affects at least four other persons. He affirms: "Up to 70 percent or more of our 500,000 annual divorces involve the use and abuse of alcohol" (p. 115). You can tell that Dr. Fort's book was written a number of years ago. The annual number of divorces in the United States is closer to one million than to a half million. Incidentally, alcohol contributes to at least 50% of the serious crime in this nation.

More than fifty years ago I bought a book with the title, The Christian Case for Abstinence (New York: Association Press, 1955). The book contains sermons by twenty well-known preachers from various religious groups. One of the sermons, "The Right to Belong," was written by Kenneth Prunty, a Church of God preacher from Smith Center, Kansas. I shall read one brief paragraph from his sermon. "The home is an important institution on the domestic scene in America. Has beverage alcohol contributed to the happiness and effectiveness of the home? Apparently not, for the authorities in Los Angeles County (California) say that in at least two out of three marriages that fail, the use of liquor is a major cause. 'Eighty-nine per cent of the divorces in Boston are caused by alcohol,' says Judge Joseph T. Zotolli, Judge in the Boston Municipal Court" (p. 54).

I have never known anyone with fetal alcohol syndrome. Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1986) defines fetal alcohol syndrome as follows: "A highly variable group of birth defects including mental retardation, deficient growth, and defects of the skull, face, and brain that tend to occur in women who consume large amounts of alcohol during pregnancy" (p. 240). Dr. Anderson Spickard served for many years as Professor of medicine and Director of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center. He was also the Director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Treatment of Alcoholism. In his book, Dying For a Drink: What You Should Know about Alcoholism (Waco: Word Books, 1985), Dr. Spickard has a brief section on fetal alcohol syndrome. He comments: Fetal alcohol syndrome "is the number three cause of birth defects associated with brain damage, and its occurrence increases every year. No one knows how many more unborn children suffer indirectly from maternal drinking because of falls, physical fights, and malnutrition" (p. 80).

For a number of years, I have preached, lectured and written on physical abuse in families. Dr. Spickard says that parents seriously injure about 50,000 children every year. He affirms: "It is believed that drinking parents account for nearly 80 percent of these cases of child abuse and that over half of all alcoholic parents physically abuse their children on a regular basis" (p. 83). Dr. Spickard refers to a book, Murphy's Boy, written by Dr. Torey Hayden, a child psychologist. Dr. Hayden tells of a drunken father who abused his 7-year-old daughter to death. The girl's brother was very angry with his mother. Dr. Hayden quotes the little girl's brother: 'I was crying and screaming at him, but my mom she just stood there. And I yell at her, I say to mom, 'Help her! Make him stop! And my mom just stood there. She says, 'Leave him alone. It isn't any of your business ... ' You know what. I seen [my sister's] brains come out.... And my mom seen. My momma seen the whole thing ... And she never once did a thing'" (p. 85-86).

How would a mother feel if she knew that her drinking had produced a child with fetal alcohol syndrome? How could she ever get over the damage she had done to her child? The child would not be able to earn a good living. He would likely not be able to marry and to have a family. She would probably realize that her child would eventually become a ward of the state. What a tremendous burden a mother would have to bear under those circumstances! But it is a burden she brought on herself by a few moments of pleasure.

I have kept up with the research which shows that some alcohol may make the heart stronger. If that is true, does it outweigh the dangers of drinking beverage alcohol? Is there not a safer way to improve the heart? Is a person likely to live longer and be more productive if he or she drinks beverage alcohol? If that were the case, why did the wise man Solomon write: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise" (Prov. 20:1)? Is Solomon actually teaching that alcohol is a deceiver? Graveyards around the world bear witness to the wisdom of King Solomon.

If you want to know how alcohol makes people behave, please listen to these words: "Who has woe? Who has contentions? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? They who tarry long at the wine; they who go to seek mixed wine. Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it gives his color in his cup, when it moves itself aright. At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. Your eyes shall behold strange women, and your heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, you shall be as one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies on the top of a mast. They have stricken me, you shall say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again" (Prov.23: 29-35).

Dennis Wholey, a professional writer, interviewed dozens of people for his book, The Courage to Change (New York: Warner Books, 1984). The book includes interviews with some well-known people who have had a battle with alcohol, including Sid and Florence Caesar, Billy and Sybil Carter, Gary Crosby, Doc Severinsen, and others. Sybil Carter, Billy Carter's wife, confesses: "I was harming him all the time by agreeing with him and helping him to drink, being a crutch for him. I felt as if I wanted to die" (p. 63). Billy Carter's story, as many Americans remember, was a sad one indeed. He literally drank himself to death. He said he would take two drinks and then vomit blood for thirty minutes. At one time he went for more than fifty days without eating any solid food. He was able to give up drinking. He says, "I have a normal life. I enjoy not drinking. As I said, it's all right for me not to drink" (pp. 167168).

A few days ago, I spoke on this program on the topic "Heroes." I mentioned the book, A World without Heroes: The Modern Tragedy (Hillsdale, MI: Hillsdale College Press, 1987), by Dr. George Roche, president of Hillsdale College. Dr. Roche quotes Andrea Sarti, as saying, "It is an unhappy country that has no heroes" (p. 1). There were heroes in the days of the great prophet Isaiah. Isaiah describes them. "Woe unto them who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: who justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him" (Isa. 5:22-23). The English Standard Version translates verse 22: "Woe unto those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant in mixing strong drink."

In the book I mentioned a few minutes ago, The Christian Case for Abstinence, Glenn G. Knight of the First Baptist Church in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, has a chapter with the title, "Heroes at Drinking Wine." He says, "Isaiah's 'men of distinction' stood condemned and exposed as 'men of distortion'" (p. 61). Knight argues: "Included in the who's who of the 'heroes at drinking wine' are those who make, advertise, sell, buy and use intoxicating or alcoholic beverages." He calls such people "enemies of God, nation, men and selves" (p. 72). Is that an exaggeration?

Solomon charged his readers: "Be not among winebibbers (or drunkards); among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags" (Prov. 23:20-21). The apostle Paul pled with the Ephesians: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5: 18). Would I be twisting the meaning of this verse if I paraphrase it as follows: "Be not drunk with spirits, but be filled with the Spirit?"

I have some questions with which I would like to challenge you. Are we stronger as a nation because beverage alcohol is legal in almost every community in the land? I have heard all the arguments politicians offer for legalizing strong drink. One of the main arguments is financial. Selling whiskey, beer, wine, vodka and other poisonous substances brings in a great amount of revenue. Does that revenue pay for the enormous damage strong drink does to the nation, to the community and to the family? I read an article years ago that Los Angeles County paid out four dollars in taking care of the victims of strong drink for every dollar it received in revenue. There is some doubt that such an arrangement will make a county or a state better off financially.

What influence does legal beverage alcohol have on our teenagers? What could be wrong with an item or an activity if it is legal? Dr. Robert North and Richard Orange, Jr. provide a great amount of information in their book, Teenage Drinking: The #1 Drug Threat to Young People Today (New York: Collier, 1980). Both men conduct teenage alcohol-abuse prevention programs in New York City schools and have received recognition from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. These authors asked teenagers if they drink. The teenagers often respond: "No, I don't drink. I just have some beer on the weekends" or "No, I don't drink liquor. I only drink wine." The parents sometimes responded: "Well, I don't mind too much if they're drinking; at least they are not using drugs" (p. 3). The sad fact is: alcohol is a drug. It is a narcotic and it is an addictive drug. These authors add: "Problem drinking increases from 5% in the seventh grade to 40% in the twelfth grade for boys, and from 4% in the seventh grade to 21% in the twelfth grade for girls" (p. 9). That is truly frightening. These statistics are almost thirty years old. What is the situation today?

Am I worse off than I would be if I had ever been a drinker? My father was one of the strongest opponents of beverage alcohol in the world. He despised drinking because of what he had seen in the lives of drinkers, including members of his own family. He taught us children to avoid drinking at all costs. There were eleven of us children who grew to adulthood. So far as I know, not one of the eleven ever took a drink. Have we missed out on something good in life because we did not and do not drink? Are we worse citizens of our nation because we do not drink and have worked against the legalization of alcohol? Would I have been a more effective college teacher or preacher if I had been a drinker? Would the highways on which I have traveled for almost sixty-six years been safer if I had been a hero at drinking wine?

I have one final question. Can you explain why churches do not get involved in opposing the legalization of beverage alcohol? When I was teaching at Freed-Hardeman University in West Tennessee, the political leaders in Jackson, Tennessee, were trying to legalize alcohol. Very few churches in Jackson spoke out against it. When my Molly and I moved to Fayetteville, the city was trying to legalize liquor by the drink. The West Fayetteville Church of Christ opposed it. What was wrong with the other churches in town? Were they afraid some of the drinking members would be offended? Were some of their members selling beer and wine and whiskey?

I close our study with this warning from the prophet Isaiah. "Woe unto them who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue unto night, till wine inflame them" (Isa. 5: 11).

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334