• Drinking—Why Not?
    Awake!—1984 | June 22

    • When you drink, alcohol depresses your brain by diminishing, or putting down, your anxiety level. That means you feel relaxed, less anxious, less worried than before you drank. Suddenly your problems don’t seem so bad. Thus, the Bible says: “Give intoxicating liquor, you people, to the one about to perish.” Why? As the proverb says, that he may ‘forget his troubles.’a​—Proverbs 31:6, 7.

  • Drinking—Why Not?
    Awake!—1984 | June 22

    • a This is not to suggest that the Bible endorses the idea of drowning one’s problems in alcohol. The scripture is merely speaking of the appropriateness of giving intoxicating liquor to a person about to die, to help him to forget his trouble. Note also that in the previous verses kings were counseled not to drink wine or intoxicating liquor when officiating, lest they “forget what is decreed and pervert the cause of any of the sons of affliction.”​—Proverbs 31:4, 5.