Wake Up, Look Up

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast or we connect

events happening in real time to the

Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wrock

and in today's episode we're asking the

question does drinking really kill you

that's because if you pay attention to

the recent headlines it sure sounds like

it does alcohol change UK for example a

British group uh driving abstinence from

alcohol is pushing something they're

calling dry January onethird of British

men are expected to participate going 31

days without drinking alcohol hey okay

that makes sense that's no big deal uh

but in the United States the Surgeon

General Vic Murphy is actually pushing

for alcohol that bottle of wine you

purchase at the grocery store to have us

similar warning label as cigarettes

saying that you're buying something that

will kill you in Canada they've reduced

the amount of alcohol recommended in a

week in terms of Max usage for men from

15 drinks a week to two two drinks a

week pretty St uh steep drop also uh

just in general you're hearing more and

more studies are showing air quotes for

those of you uh listening to this that

alcohol all is leading to liver disease

and obesity and cancer and heart disease

and the truth is it does in excessive

amounts the World Health Organization

estimates that about one in 12 deaths

globally are connected to alcohol

meaning alcohol was a factor in that

person's eventual demise over drinking

will kill you but over drinking is not

the same thing as alcohol in general

this is where the Bible's wisdom on this

topic is so helpful because for

thousands of years the Bible has been

pushing us to moderation telling us that

drunkenness is sinful it leads to being

controlled by something other than God

it it is damaging to our bodies the

Bible's been pushing us to moderation

enjoying alcohol when appropriate and

rejecting it when appropriate basically

teaching us personal responsibility the

same principle we would apply to a

variety of other topics but this is not

really a podcast on drinking here's my

concern in a culture where our view of

authority is rapidly diminishing our

trust in governmental institutions

rapidly declining who wins from this

kind of exaggeration in fact the article

I read in The Economist was making this

point when you tell people alcohol kills

you when you tell them they shouldn't

drink it at all everybody knows your

exaggerating and everybody knows that

you're basically lying and okay maybe we

let it slide the same way your mom tells

you if you don't wear a coat on a cold

day you're going to get pneumonia you

know that not wearing a coat doesn't

lead to pneumonia but she's being a mom

the problem is when the government

exaggerates when the government lies it

makes you less likely to listen to them

in the future I think most parents know

this temptation sometimes the easiest

thing to do with our kids is to OV

exaggerate the consequences of a

particular action to just get them to

not do it we don't have time to explain

we don't have time to Nuance but in

parenting and in governments that

weakens your credibility and it leads to

alienation people say I can't take you

seriously I'm not listening to you

because the truth is alcohol and

moderation not only is not harmful some

studies seem to indicate it actually can

be helpful please those in leaders

whether it's parents in the church or in

the government tell the truth Nuance

explain distinction this is why the

Bible puts such an emphasis on

truthfulness and transparency from

leaders because it builds credibility it

leads to trust so that when it really

matters for people to listen they will

stop exaggerating stop lying just tell

the truth and trust us to make

responsible decisions for ourselves hey

thanks so much for watching this episode

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