By Stan Cox, on February 27th, 2010
Last Tuesday Reuters reported that the head of the Lutheran Church in Germany, Margot Kaessmann, 51, the Lutheran Bishop of Hanover, was cited for running a red light while driving under the influence of alcohol. A state prosecutor told the German Newspaper Bild that Kaessmann had a blood alcohol level that was three times the legal limit. She is under investigation, and could lose her driver’s license for a year.
The Reuters article also noted that Kaessmann was a controversial choice to head the Lutheran church, because she had had a divorce.
(Protestant Leader Regrets Driving Drunk, 2/23/10, Christopher Lawton)
Continue reading » In the News: Lutheran Leader Drives Drunk
By Stan Cox, on February 6th, 2010
It’s Superbowl Sunday and for the first time in the history of the franchise, the New Orleans Saints will be playing for the NFL Championship. The game has been referred to time and again as a needed balm as the city of New Orleans continues its recovery from hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
New Orleans is a city of sin. It is a party city, with its famous Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, and the Mardi Gras celebration. It is a mixture of French decadence, Southern hospitality, voodoo, narcissism and Roman Catholicism. Mardi Gras is an interesting example of these influences. The word Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, referencing the common Catholic practice of eating rich and fatty foods in the days before the fasting of the Lenten Season, starting with Ash Wednesday.
Continue reading » In the News: New Orleans – Super City
By Stan Cox, on January 8th, 2007
Podcast Number 34
Social Drinking apologists sometimes point to the wedding feast at Cana (where Jesus turned the water into wine) as justification for social drinking. An examination of the context, as well as the greek word for wine show this argumentation to be without merit.
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By Stan Cox, on November 14th, 2006
(Gospel Meeting: Mark Mayberry) Fifth in a series of nine lessons based on 1 John 2:15-17. The lust of the flesh is examined, as gluttony, drunkenness and sexual immorality are cited as common examples of said lust.
Sermon Audio: Click Here .
By Stan Cox, on January 22nd, 2006
“Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise”
~ Proverbs 20:1
We live in a time where social drinking is considered acceptable by the worldly, and is even championed by some in the Lord’s church. There has been much said and written about the words used for wine in both the Hebrew and Greek language, but I have read little about the phrase “strong drink” found several times in the Old Testament, and once (with regard to John the Baptist) in the New Testament, in Luke (1:15).
The Hebrew word shekar, is found 24 times in the Old Testament (according to Strong’s Concordance), and is translated “strong drink” (22 times), “strong wine” (1 time), and “drunkards” (1 time). The word is defined by Genesius in his Hebrew Dictionary as “strong drink, intoxicating liquor, whether wine or intoxicating liquor like wine made from barley, or distilled from honey or dates.” Strong defines the term as “an intoxicant; i.e. intensely alcoholic liquor.
The root from which the term shekar derives, (shakar), means “to become tipsy; to be filled with drink abundantly; to become drunk” (Strong’s); and it shares it’s root with Hebrew terms shikkerown, the name of a town in Palestine which literally means drunkenness, and shikkarown, translated drunkenness.
Continue reading » Strong Drink
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