What Is Required? by N. W. T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jul 1, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 25.

What Is Required?

By N. W. T.

No. 594. What Is Required?

WHAT is the creed of Seventh-day Adventists as regards the use of intoxicants? Is it abstinence or temperance?

The only "creed" of Seventh-day Adventists is the Word of God. As regards temperance all Christians would doubtless agree on this definition, "Moderation in the use of that which is good, and total abstinence from all things hurtful." Chemistry clearly shows that the nutritious qualities of spirituous and malt liquors of all kinds are practically nil. Common every-day observation shows that their use, "temperate" or otherwise, does not in any way make the user superior to the total abstainer, while, on the other hand, their use is the cause of untold misery. The Bible clearly sets before us two kinds of wine. Against one we are faithfully warned (Prov. 23:21, 29-32; Isa. 5:11, 12; Hab. 2:5, 15; Luke 21:34; Eph. 5:18), while of another wine the Lord permits us to drink (John 2:1-11; 1 Tim. 5:23, et al.). We can not believe that in the above and kindred passages the Lord meant in all cases the same kind of wine. Certainly both fermented and unfermented wine was known to the Jews. Further, the use of spirituous liquors intoxicates and stupefies all the finer sensibilities of the mind and soul. At what limit is their use innocuous? The crucial question of the converted heart is not, How much may I indulge, and still be saved, but, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" See 1 Cor. 10:31; Rom. 14:21.