Thank you very much for your encouragement and support, Joii!
My recent post R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find Out What It Means To Me {Part 1}

Thank you so much for sharing your story, Rebecca! You are very right. Serving helps so much with contentment!

I'm happy to hear God has brought a special someone into your life!

I love how you said "The foundation of cultural dating is feelings while the foundation of counter cultural dating is Jesus!"

I agree, people must have been getting drunk but that was from the undiluted wine, I would guess. The diluted wine would have been the type that was typically used and from the research I’ve done the typical mixing of water to wine would have made it near impossible to get drunk because your body would not be able to contain all the fluid it would take to cause an effect.

I also agree getting drunk is a sin and as you say drinking it for medicinal purposes or purification purposes is something the Bible says is ok (I take a little Nyquil every so often for a cold).

Thank you so much for sharing this post and for letting me share my opinion (using the words of MacArthur). This has caused me to do much thinking today and compelled me to find some time to listen to some sermons on the topic which I might not have done otherwise. I do respect your opinion and I hope you have a wonderful week!

(Sorry the quote is so long)…. “So, that simply to point out to you that I don't think you can advocate wine drinking from the Bible unless you have diluted it sufficiently with water as they did in biblical times.”

Please don’t take this comment as attacking in anyway. I merely wish to share my view point and MacArthur words it much better than I could.

(Continued) …..Beyond that I am convinced after studying the Word of God and studying the backgrounds around the Word of God that that wine which was imbibed in the time of the New Testament, and even in the Old Testament, was highly diluted with water, five to one, six to one, seven to one, eight to one. And wine...and they really drank water if you want to see the true picture and they simply purified the water by putting a little bit of fermented wine in it because it...it killed whatever else would be in the wine that might cause them some physical problems. But it was not the normal drink of the time of our Lord for people to drink unmixed wine. You read in the Bible about two kinds of drink, wine and strong drink. Strong drink was unmixed and those who drank strong drink drank it for the purpose of drowning their problems. The wine that was consumed in the Bible was very definitely mixed with water extensively. Because you lived in a warm climate, the land of Palestine was hot, the very fact of thirst could contribute to a high consumption of wine. In order to prevent drunkenness they mixed it with water so that your body could not hold the amount that it would take to inebriate you.

You raised some interesting points. May I add to the discussion by giving this quote from John MacArthur? This is how I have come to fall on the issue of alcohol.

“ A wine cooler is an alcoholic beverage. It is my own personal conviction that I do not drink alcoholic beverages of any kind any time and there are several reasons why.

Reason, and they're not in a particularly spiritual order, but reason number one is the fact that I believe the Bible warns very, very strongly about drunkenness and very, very strongly about losing control in dissipation, Ephesians 5:18, "Be not drunk with wine in which is dissipation but be filled with the Spirit." If I'm going to be under the control of something I want it to be the Holy Spirit, not some substance….