You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis, and welcome back to the Clearview Today studio. We've got a great conversation on board for you guys today.
I want to welcome all of our viewers, welcome all of our listeners, and of course, welcome our host with the most, Dr. Abadan Shah, who's a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show, Dr. Shah. Welcome, my friend. It's so good to see you.
I'm loving this. You get host right on the right on the hill. I'm telling you, man. You just learned it. You learned to really become one with this little sound.
Sure, I love it. There's no words. The problem is, so Dr. Shah, a lot of listeners don't know this. Dr.
Shah actually used to have one too. It only had like two sound effects. It had this one and it had this one. Yeah, that's it. For the game show.
Yeah, for the game show. The secret word we used to do. I sometimes wonder if we ought to give Dr. Shaw a soundboard as well. Sure.
Do you think you'd use it throughout the show? Never. I'm so. You know, focused on the content and making sure things are right in what I am saying, that I won't have time to do that. If I did that, I would be all, you know, there's plenty on here.
The thing is, so Nicholas, when Nicholas was engineering for us, he actually loaded this thing down. I say we use like 20% of these things. There's stuff on here. There's ones on here that we never use. Oh, wow.
Like why? Why would we ever use it? Here's one. Oh, that's what I would use if you hear somebody just complaining about their life. The smallest violence.
So we were actually, yeah, that is true. We were actually complaining right before the show started. We were reminiscing about, and it's kind of appropriate because we've been talking about drinking. This is not drinking alcohol, but just a beverage that we had in Israel. Do you remember that tea?
Pomegranate. Oh, the pomegranate juice, yes. We got some pomegranate juice from a street vendor that was the strongest I have ever tasted in my entire life. To this day, it is one of the strongest things I've ever tasted. And I can't think of a close second, except for when we went to the Golan Heights and there was a gentleman there.
Yeah, he was. I think he was Druze. He was Druze? Druze. What is Druze?
Druze are people who live in Israel.
Okay. They're Israelis. People don't realize that, by the way, in all this rhetoric that has been going on against Israel. They don't realize there are Arabs. Israelis.
Yeah, true. Yeah. There are Druze Israelis. Right. They serve in the armed forces.
Okay. I mean, they're Muslims who work in the armed forces. I mean, people don't realize that. All they see is the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and they think this is it, this is how. But there are.
Thousands of people from Arab backgrounds and Druze backgrounds.
So, Druze are people who are Muslims, but Muslims don't like them because they claim. There was a prophet who came after Muhammad. That's a big no-no. Yeah, they don't like that. Yeah, they believe Muhammad was a last word from God, and that's it.
So, to answer your question, that person is a Druze. Got you, got you.
Well, he definitely created some division among us because, do you remember it was the coldest day I've ever experienced in my life? In my life, I've never been that cold. I mean, cold to your soul. And there was a gentleman there, and he was selling hot tea. On a cold day, that sounds like heaven.
Everybody was like pulling their money out, clawing to get to that tea. Yes. And I took one sip of the tea and I was like, This is not good. This tastes like bad. It wasn't even strong.
Like, the pomegranate juice was good, but strong. This was just bad. Oh. I hope this guy's not listening to the show somewhere in some corner of Israel. And I looked over at your son, Dr.
Ja Thomas, and he was listening to the tour guide, and he was like, I just very discreetly just dumped the tea out.
So then I was like, okay, I guess I have it. I looked at Ellie. I was like, Do you like this tea? And she was like, nobody was looking at me. We're all looking at the guide and she was like, So I dumped the tea out and I started seeing people like trying to drink it.
And then Dr. Shaw was like, Coming around, he was like passing us. He was like, Wow, he's like, Wow, think about that. Look at those Galan Heights. And he turned around where he couldn't see his lips, and he was like, That tea is nasty.
I tried to say without led, he's like, This tea is nasty. And it was because, um, I don't know, I don't know why that man was selling that tea because it was just muddy water. Yeah, he must have found some mud somewhere and put some water in that tea. These tourists will drink it, I won't see them again, they won't see me again. That's right, I might get away with it.
If I spin this well, they're really going to think it's some exotic brand of his. But he didn't have to spring it anything, spin anything, because he was just standing there on a cold day. I would have just took hot water in his Drew's outfit. I was like. It's got to be the real deal.
I don't know what that was. It was pretty bad. It was really disgusting. Yeah, we were just reminiscing. Yeah, we were just reminiscing about that.
But speaking of disgusting drinks that people drink, Ryan, do you want to read our verse of the day? The verse of the day comes from Romans chapter 14, verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Too many times, Dr. Shel, we're focused on the wrong things in life.
You know, we're focused on having a good time. We only get this one life.
So rather than make it count, I think what we focus on is let's enjoy it. Let's make the most of it. But really, the focus is on me. It's going to be on eating and drinking and having a good time because I want to make sure I get the most out of my life. Rather than.
What you've always said is: if you make the most out of your life, others benefit for the kingdom of God. Very true. Very true. You know, Paul wrote this letter to the first century church in Rome, which was divided between Jewish background, Gentile background, believers. And we gained that insight by reading Paul's letter.
And you can just see their disagreement was over the law. Does the law still apply in the Christian's life? And later on, starting in chapters 13, 14, 15, Paul begins to address two groups in the church. the strong and the weak.
Now some people have made the claim that Gentile background believers were the strong and Jewish background believers were the weak. And that could be the case. Yeah. It could also be that there were people who were Jewish background And yet they also believed that the law was over. And they were more on the strong side of things.
Then there were Jewish background people who were. still considering themselves under the law with certain restrictions to vegetables or wine. Who may be the weak. There could also be some Gentiles who felt like we need to be keeping the Jewish law. They would also fall under the wig There would be Gentiles who believed that the law was over and they could be the strong.
So we need to be very careful when we say strong. Would have been Gentile background, weak would be Jewish background. I don't think it was that simple. Right. To separate well, that's exactly what I was about to say.
To separate them by people group, you'd say is an oversimplification. Oversimplification, because in the first century church, there were still issues uh regarding Judaizing, which is uh going back to the law, going back to the circumcision, going back to the purification laws. And this issue sort of falls under that topic of Old Testament traditions and laws. We have covered this before. The law still applies, but in principle form.
In principles.
So, Ten Commandments still apply. And if you would distill down the various laws. Very particular about you have to give this much of this animal and that for that offering. But if you distill them down, you can see there's a principle there. And the principle is love, right?
Paul says that. uh in other places.
So How do we handle this situation now between the strong and the weak? We find evidence for it. For example, Romans chapter 14, verse 1, it says, Receive one. who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things for one believes he may eat all things. But he who is weak eats only vegetables.
There you have the weak.
Okay. The one who is weak, would they be with the one falling to that Judaizer mentality of going back to the Old Testament law, being bound by that still? That's correct.
So, how do you see the alcohol? The alcohol issue working into this. Because if I follow that logic, then I would say that we are the weak ones because we're saying, hey, alcohol for us is off the table. No problem. And then the strong would say, that's okay.
You can not drink, and I won't drink so that I don't make you stumble. Is that what Paul is saying? Yeah, in a sense, that's what it's coming down to.
Okay. And so Paul has these two groups in mind. But again, we're not sure who all fall into those two groups, but definitely the strong and the weak. And strong would be saying, you know, you can drink. You can drink as long as nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving.
This is 1 Timothy 4, verse 4. And then you have the weak on the other side who would quote, say, 1 Corinthians 10.23, which is, nothing is I'm sorry, which which is all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
So, how does Paul resolve this conflict between these two groups? He tells them, and we read this early in Romans 14:21. He says it is good neither to eat meat, nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles Now, some translations stopped there because the critical text. does not have the rest of The Adjectives, I guess. It stops right there in like NIV, NASB, ESV, CSB.
Just real quick, like 10 seconds, what is the critical text? Critical text would be like the NA 2028.
Okay. Okay. And this is the text that is based on reason eclectic principles.
Okay. And Mostly it is Codex Vaticanus and Codex B. Gotcha.
So that's an Alexandrian text. Got you.
Okay. Very much.
So, critical text, Alexandrian. Mostly. Mostly. Okay. Mostly.
Gotcha.
And Byzantine text, majority text, would be more like the King James and the New King James. Gotcha.
The King James and the New King James have two other descriptions of the week.
So it is first one is by which your brother is. Offended? I'm sorry, stumbles? or is offended or is made weak. For stumbles the Greek word is proskopto, which means to strike or to beat against.
to stumble. Offended, scandalizo, means in a sense, turning away from God. And then weak, we already talked about it, weak or sick or failing or powerless. Right, right.
So Paul is saying to The Church in Rome. you who are stronger, just learn to get along with those who are weaker. Just like you would talk to your older son. If your younger one is fussing about something, Just give it to him. Let them have it.
Had to do it last night. Yeah, I had to do it last night coming home from VBS. And that's exactly what Paul is saying to the church: the strong. If you think you can eat and drink whatever you want to, but for the sake of the weaker brethren, just let them have it. Let them have it.
So, the argument still goes back to love for one another. Right. Care, compassion, operate out of love.
Now, you could also, in a sense, make a case that Paul could have told the Uyghur: let them have it. Let the weak, the stronger eat whatever they want or drink whatever they want. But usually it's the strong who have to bear with the weak. It's usually the older who have to bear with the younger. Yeah, that's true.
Usually the mature who have to bear with the immature. I think that's exactly the words to use because we don't really ever say to the immature people, just wait for the mature people to come back down to your level. No, it's almost always the case that you tell the mature, hey, they will mature one day. They will get to where you are.
So be patient.
Now, let's not forget what we talked about already in the past several shows, which is ancient wine was diluted. Not that every time people drank, whether it's in ancient Greece or ancient Rome. Or in biblical times that people spend time diluting the wine? No, many times, several times it didn't. And their people had to call them out.
In fact, even in the Bibles, there's a distinction between wine, which is yain, and strong wine, which is shakar.
Some people, as I've mentioned, say that shakar was really beer. And it was drunk by men, women, and children. And if that's the case, again, it proves my point. It was not as alcoholic as. As wine is today, as beer is today, as definitely whiskey or distilled alcohol is today.
There's no comparison. Yeah, we took a look at those numbers yesterday, and they are. Monstrous. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
They're really distilled alcohol like whiskey, gin, rum, brandy, all these things. The level is like 40, 45%. Yeah, it's pretty insane. Yeah. Which, compared to biblical numbers, I mean, that puts it at like, what, 1330%.
1,330%. If you're going to try to drink on the same level, I mean, you have to raise the bar to like 13%, 30%. That's crazy. And maybe that comes into what Paul is talking about, where the strong realize, like, yeah, I could do this. I'm perfectly allowed to do it, but it's not good for me.
This is not helpful. This doesn't help. Me, certainly, and it definitely doesn't help my fellow Christians for me to be able to do that. That's right. It's a stumbling block to others.
And, you know, we also read from Proverbs 23 where it talks about the wine looks. Beautiful, it's red and sparkly, and just kind of swirls around in the cup, inviting you to come and drink. But at the last, it bites like a serpent, it stings like a viper, it has nothing good to offer. And as much as you are bruised and battered and destroyed by it, the next morning you get up and go. When can I get another drink?
Yeah. It calls you to come and destroy yourself some more. It's one of the things that, like, It will just destroy you. And people, I mean, we haven't really talked about, we've been talking about the science and the figures, but we definitely acknowledge that it will destroy lives. Alcohol destroys lives.
It destroys the lives of the person who consumes the alcohol, but then the lives of those who are around them. I mean, you look at drunk driving incidents, there are people involved in those accidents who were not drinking. But because somebody decided to drink and they get behind the wheel of a car, people end up losing their health or worse, losing their lives. That's right. I mean, like, do you, can you name.
Genuinely, I'm genuinely asking, I'm not making a point. Is there any benefit other than it's fun and it makes me feel good? Is there any benefit to drinking alcohol at all? Even casually. Modern alcoholic beverages, whether it is hardcore.
like the distill alcohol or wine, which is lesser, but not really less, beer, which is less than wine and like wine coolers or whatever, which you know, comes down very, very low. Even By any of those standards, even the co the wine cooler standard, they cannot compare with the diluted wine that is often mentioned in biblical times. There is no comparison.
So when we read something like Paul telling Timothy take a little bit for your stomach. If we think that he is saying, hey, that get your shot glass out. Don't drink a whole mug of whiskey. Just a shot glass is okay. Or when it comes to wine, don't drink a whole.
A flask of it, but just a little bit. It's okay for each night. It helps your heart, or it does this for whatever. No, what recent research has been showing is that the results are inconclusive. The American Heart Association did some research and they said maybe it does help, maybe it's it doesn't like say no, it doesn't, but it says it's sort of We just don't know.
The jury is still out. We're not quite sure if drinking alcohol is very beneficial. In fact, It's sort of the other way around because it's causing a lot of trouble. Right. You know, you you instead end up having problems, problems with your liver, problems with your esophagus.
you know, esophageal cancer. These are things that are happening, not Longevity. Yeah, isn't it interesting that we can't confirm any health benefits? They're not going to rule anything out, but we can't confirm any health benefits. But we can absolutely confirm health concerns related to alcohol.
We can confirm that you have all these issues with your liver. You have all these issues with esophageal cancer. You have all these issues with just inebriation and drunkenness. And that's just the health of the individual, let alone societal impacts, social impacts. What was I trying to say?
Spiritual impacts that people don't even really talk about. Like, how do you measure that? I mean, you've counseled people, Dr. Shah. I'm sure you've counseled people who are addicted to alcohol, who have lost their families, lost their jobs, people even who've lost the lives of family members.
I mean, I'm sure you've talked to people who have been impacted by alcohol. Oh, 100%. I mean, liver disease, you know, the list goes on and on when it comes to physical ailments, but also problems in life. Problems in life. I mean, it is unbelievable some of the things that go on because of alcohol.
We only see the commercials where people are having a great time. It's great fellowship around a campfire or in someone's living room or at a bar at some sports-themed restaurant. People are enjoying this, the whatever it is, Super Bowl, or baseball, or basketball. They're just having a great time, and we're just all friends, just. You know, put your glass together.
And it's not the complete true picture. There's another side to it, which is very destructive.
So I'm convinced, Dr. Shah, that we could sit here for the next hour, two hours, three hours, and list out every single. destructive element of alcohol. Um And we would come up very short. With a list of benefits.
And yet, a Christian will still listen to this and say, okay, I hear you. Yes or no, can I drink it? And I'm not even asking you to answer that question. I'm just asking, I guess my question is: why do you think we always arrive back at that question? Like all the data that we collect, all of the facts and figures, people don't care about it.
They just want to know. Is it a sin to drink? Yeah, because they go, the Bible is not explicitly saying do not drink.
So, well, it does say that, by the way, it does not, but there's no command from God saying that. I guess you have to always distinguish between just Babel saying don't and God says thou shalt not. I would say the reason people fall back into this is because it's been part of our. Right from the beginning. And I'm talking about the post-flood world.
Pre-flood, maybe it was there. I won't doubt it that it was there, but definitely the post-flood world. That was the first thing Noah did, wasn't it? Was Plan of V. Yeah.
So maybe let's talk about that for a moment. We read from Proverbs 23, which is a very important passage that tells you: don't drink wine or even get around. a mixing bowl. But I don't believe That is the first time that wine is talked down about. In the Bible.
The first time is in the first book of the Bible, which is the book of beginnings. Job was the first one written. But Genesis is the first one. in the sense of describing the history of the world. Good point.
Yeah. And That's why it's placed right in the beginning. It's known as Bereshit, which is book of beginnings, in the beginning. That's what Bereshit really means. Wow.
And Genesis is unlike any other book in the Bible because it tells us. How the world came to be, what are the systems that God established, what went wrong with the world, who was the culprit behind it? I mean, Satan is mentioned there. Think about that. Of course, the Holy Spirit is mentioned because He is the Spirit of God.
hovering over the face of the deep, Jesus is mentioned, even though we don't know that until we bring in the New Testament, but people knew, people knew that. we were made in someone's image and that someone had to be somebody Very unique.
So The book of Genesis tells us all these things. It tells us about the coming of Jesus. It tells us about what makes societies function. It also tells us what destroys cultures, what destroys families. And there are two incidents explicitly that are mentioned To put enough fear in us that we would not turn to wine.
The first one is in Genesis 9, and this is Regarding Noah.
So The flood is over? Noah and his three sons and their wives have come out of the Big ark. The animals are now roaming into the world. He offers sacrifices to God. There is a rainbow that God will not again destroy this world by flood.
It's all wonderful. Go fruitful, be fruitful, and multiply, fill the earth. And if you're in children's church, the story ends right there. That's the end. That's the end.
Because what follows is very, very, very, very, very disturbing, uncomfortable. To read and discuss in civilized settings. We don't send coloring pages home about that. No, no. Should we say viewer discretion advised going forward?
Yeah, I will say that. Like, probably do not listen with your kids from this point on. I 100% agree. Please don't. If you would, just change it if your kids are there, or you can put your headphones on.
So. What is the story?
Well, Noah.
Sort of becomes a farmer and he plants a vineyard and uh he drinks. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 9, verse 20. one, that he drank of the wine and was drunk. The word is shakar. and became uncovered in his tent.
People think he just kind of threw off the covers. Before, I'll tell you this, before you preached this sermon, this is what I thought. I thought he got uh spoiler alert, I thought he got nude in his tent. His son came in, saw him, walked. Went outside, mocked him.
The other brothers covered him and he got cursed. I thought that was the story. Yeah, and that's really not the case. No, it's not. Because what happens next is when he wakes up the next morning, It says very clearly.
He saw what his son did to him. Means there is an action. Again, want to be cautioning our listeners. Ham sodomized his own father. Wow.
I mean, if people wonder why did God destroy Because these are the kind of things that were happening. In that Antediluvian age. These are the things that were happening. If that instant sounds horrific, imagine that. On a societal scale.
Yeah, like globally, that's what's happening. Yeah, when God says, I'm sorry, I made man, which means not that God was like changing his mind or doubting himself. No, those are words put so we can understand the anger of God, the holiness of God. Yeah, you can only imagine if that's what's mentioned, imagine what's not mentioned. Imagine the things that were going on.
See, there should be respect. Towards your parents, there should be respect. People think this idea of respect just came about, you know, maybe two thousand years ago when Paul tells fathers, don't provoke your children to wrath, but raise them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. No. Ever since olden times it was understood.
Parents are special. Honor your father and your mother is put right there in the middle of the Ten Commandments.
So even if do not drink is not there. Honor your father and your mother is. That's right. Right? It's in there for a reason.
It's the only commandment given with a promise.
So that the days will be long on the face of the earth. I mean, there's so much there. I could preach on that for like A couple of hours.
So when Ham did what he did to his father, sodomized him, He was saying, I don't give a rip about God's commandment. Wow. I don't care one bit. What God is saying to honour this man. I'm going to dishonor him.
Yeah. and the whole idea of living l long and all that stuff, I don't want it. I don't want it because you destroyed the world I loved. Wow. I didn't even think about that.
I mean, you see, that commandment that is given, 10 commandments, are very, very important for us to understand because they were not just. Out of the blue, God just gave them to Moses, and Moses, like, that all sounds good to me. Never heard of them before. No, those were all accepted. Values God simply distilled them and gave them to the people of Israel, and they don't go away just because you are now Christians.
Ham Ham took his anger. At God out on his father. Of course. Because Noah was the represent. He was, in a sense, he wasn't doing that to his father.
He was trying to do that to God. Of course. I mean, there's there's a lot more involved there. Wow. And the culprit there was wine.
Yeah. You know, of course, Ham's heart, but also wine, because if Noah hadn't done what he did, it was not that Noah was passed out. That's what often people think. That he was just passed out. No, he got uncovered.
It's a euphemism for ready for sex. He was participating. He was participating. I mean, it was pretty. horrible.
Albeit he did not know what was truly happening. But he was in a sexual mode. Yeah. His eyes were seeing strange things. Yes, that's exactly.
Wow. His judgment was compromised.
So, what happens when you drink? You know, when you drink, the wine goes, or whatever drinking. alcohol you're drinking goes to the stomach and the small intestines. Here it is absorbed in the bloodstream and then pumped to the brain and to the nervous system, other parts of the body. One of the effects of alcohol is that it slows down the brain.
And the nervous system. That's why people drink. It kind of calms me down. It takes away my anxieties and my stress and all my, you know, all the things that make me unlovable.
Now I am I'm cool and and I'm I have rounded edges. And uh your vision gets distorted. And of course your Balance is off, and your judgment is off, and this happens.
Now, there's another story, we don't have time to cover that today. But I would like to cover that next week. Yes, absolutely. I was going to say, I really am getting into this conversation. I hate we have to stop.
I know, I know.
So good. And it's so helpful for us to think rightly about what the Bible says about alcohol and how we as believers should approach it. That's right. That's right. Guys, make sure you tune in next week.
Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clear Vee Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. Don't forget, you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes. And you can also support us by giving financially at Abadanshaw.com forward slash give.
John, what do you want to leave us with? Definitely want you guys to join us for our live stream. That's August the 15th. It's 7 to 9 p.m. I've been giving you guys a phone number: 252-582-5028.
We were not able to make that phone number work, so I'm going to give you guys a separate phone number for you guys to call. It's going to be on the screen, but you can still save that number because we want you to text into the show. Thank you to all of you guys who are texting, especially your financial support as well. We very much appreciate it. I want you to follow Dr.
Shah on Pray.com and make sure to download our new show, The Lighthouse, every single Saturday. We post a new episode. You can get that. That's the Lighthouse with Dr. Abadan Shah.
Weekly devotionals. You can find that on Apple, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are distributed. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you Monday on Clear Education.
