Restoring the Divine Image: Ellen White on Alcohol and Temperance

It is a sobering truth that the very grains and fruits provided by a liberal Creator for our health are often perverted by human agency into intoxicating poisons that destroy the divine likeness in the soulMH 337.3+1. While God designed these natural bounties to sustain and cheer us, the manufacture of liquor from them perverts the senses and maddens the brain, effectively obliterating the image of God in those for whom Christ diedTe 31.2+1.

The Perversion of God's Gifts

• A Perverted Purpose: The nutritive grains and delicious fruits given for sustenance are converted by the enemy's influence into beverages that debase man below the level of the bruteTe 31.2+1.

• The Loss of the Divine Image: When the appetite for spirituous liquor is indulged, the reasoning faculties are paralyzed, and the moral sensibilities are so benumbed that the image of God is temporarily spoiled or entirely obliterated2SAT 236.1+1.

• A Counter-Work to Christ: While Jesus came to our world to restore the lost image of God in the soul, those who produce and use intoxicating liquors are working in the opposite direction, following the prince of darknessPH141 3.2+1.

The Result of Intemperance

• Degradation of Faculties: The use of alcohol and tobacco pollutes the blood and destroys the sensitive nerves of the brain, leading to a loss of self-control and the commission of debasing crimesTe 59.3+1.

• Destruction of the Soul Temple: Those who defile their own persons through these indulgences cannot appreciate the sacred obligation of God's law or the value of the atonement, as their higher powers are brought into subjection to animal passionsEP 324.1+1.

• Impact on Society: The greed for gain in the liquor traffic deprives families of necessaries and robes children of their education and home comfortsTe 31.2+1.

Restoration Through Temperance

• Returning to the Original Plan: To preserve health and reflect the divine similitude, we are encouraged to subsist on a simple diet of fruits, grains, and vegetables as God originally appointedSUFF 1.2+1.

• The Power of the Holy Spirit: It is through the molding influence of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ that the marred character can be reshaped after the divine pattern11MR 193.3+1.

• A Call to Stewardship: We are exhorted to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, refusing to defile the image of God through any poisonous or intoxicating substance Romans 12:15LtMs, Ms 26, 1887, par. 20.

... than are those who employ the products of the soil in the manufacture of intoxicating liquors. The nutritive grains, the healthful, delicious fruits, are converted into beverages that pervert the senses and madden the brain. As a result of the use of these poisons, thousands of families are deprived of the comforts and ev...— Te 31.2 (1949)

...no class guilty of greater perversion and abuse of his precious gifts than are those who employ the products of the soil in the manufacture of intoxicating liquors. The nutritive grains, the healthful, delicious fruits, are converted into beverages that pervert the senses and madden the brain. As a result of the use of these poisons, thousands of families are deprived of the comforts and ev...— RH November 8, 1881, par. 1 (1851)

... the power of darkness, is working in exactly opposite lines, counter to the work of Christ, and is obliterating every trace of the image which Christ would restore. Look at the drunkard. See what liquor has done for him. His eyes are bleared and bloodshot. His countenance is bloated and besotted. His gait is staggering. The sign of Satan's working upon him is written all over him. Nature herself protests that she knows him not; for he has perverted his God-given powers, and prostituted his manhood by indulgence in drink— PH141 3.2

... appetite for spirituous liquor is indulged, the man voluntarily places to his lips the draft which debases below the level of the brute him who was made in the image of God. Reason is paralyzed, the intellect is benumbed, the animal passions are excited, and then follow c...— 3T 561.2 (1885)

...with God, seeking to obliterate all trace of the divine likeness in man. He has led human beings to indulge an appetite for liquor and tobacco. He knows that those who give themselves up to indulgence of appetite can not stand in their God-gi...— ST April 12, 1905, par. 7 (1874)