Tuesday; January 2

The other day I was watching a documentary on the gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s where they described what they called the failure of Prohibition.  According to these folks, the Volstead Act was directly responsible for the rise in crime and the violence of the criminals during this time in our nation’s history.  At some point it might be interesting to debate that philosophy, but that isn’t my point today.  The thing that got my attention was the rationale they cited for the beginning of the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcohol.  According to the show’s producers, the late 19th and early 20th Centuries were times of western expansion fueled in part by cattle drives and mining discoveries.  These industries often employed young men who were away from their families.  They worked hard, so when they had a break from their labor, they had a lot of money and little self-control.  Many Midwestern and West Coast towns sprang up to provide these miners and cowboys with places (and vices) designed to separate them from their paychecks.  Some well-meaning people reasoned that the best way to  clean up these towns was to limit the flow of alcohol.  Without alcohol people would make better choices about how (and where) they spent their time and money. 
Again, this concept is a debate for the social sciences, but it does highlight a problem with over-indulging in alcohol – it can create physical, mental and emotional problems.  No, not everyone who takes a drink will end up living a life of sin and debauchery, but the use of any intoxicant must be regulated by self-discipline.  One wise man of the Bible warned, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining?  Who has wounds without cause?  Who has redness of eyes?  Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine.  Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly;  at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.”. (Proverbs 23:29-32)  Let’s be wise in the choices we make especially when those choices can wrestle away our control of a sober spirit and good sense.
Think About It!

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