I recently flew Southwest Airlines between Nashville and Austin, and as I was browsing through the magazine in the pocket in front of me, I noticed that on special occasions, they would give away a complimentary alcoholic beverage. I believe last Fourth of July, they “honored” all military that flew with a complimentary alcoholic beverage, and they often “reward” their frequent fliers with a coupon for a complimentary alcoholic beverage. This underscores a serious problem in our society—many people believe that drinking alcoholic is not only fun and exciting, but sadly, many depend upon the consumption of it to “have a good time.”
This certainly and especially underscores a great temptation to our young people. For example, it has not been too terribly long ago when the popular band Nickelback penned the words to their song:
Beer bottles laying on the kitchen floor
If we take them out back, we can buy some more…
Better hang on if you’re tagging along
‘Cause we’ll be doing this ‘til six in the morning
Nothing wrong with going all night long
Tough to put the brakes on, doesn’t matter when you gotta
Get up and go out, me and all my friends
Drink up, fall down, then we’ll do it all again
Just sitting around, hanging out this afternoon…
From the moment I wake up, I just love being with my friends
We barely get by, but have the best times and hope it never ends.
We drink all day until we fall down, so we can do it all again.
We already have far too many television commercials glamorizing the consumption of alcohol, but now, we have this musical portrait added to the long list of temptations to our youth—“There is nothing wrong with me (youth) and my friends sitting around on the weekend and drinking to the point of drunkenness. I really am not hurting anyone. In fact, it is fun! I cannot wait until the next time when we can do it all over again!” How sad that people waste away their lives with the beer bottle. We have enough problems, as it is, associated with a slothful society, and this only adds to its despair.
If one chooses to listen to true wisdom about the real meaning of life and the pursuit of happiness, then one ought to read the words from the Bible, which condemns such behavior. “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1). “Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine” (Proverbs 23:29-30). “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!” (Isaiah 5:11).
Parents, please talk about these things with your children! Warn them of the dangers of alcohol! Warn them of the dangers of music and friends that entice them with such! The negative influence of alcohol could cost their life, as well as their soul. In addition, if you want to honor the military, there are countless numbers of other ways to do so without resorting to buying them a drink. Our Lord in heaven above knows that this is the last thing we ought to be encouraging our military (and children) to do!