Getting Blitzed with CCG

Here's a recent conversation I had with CCG, and as opposed to deleting it (23rd October 2006), I'm leaving it as a demonstration of my thoughts about alcohol and the Christian faith.

CCG: Guess what I did for the first time last night.
The Fly: What?
CCG: tried wine
The Fly: Wow.
The Fly: What'd you think?
CCG: It was gross. I took a tiny sip, said "bleah", and immediately late a bite of bread to get the taste out of my mouth.
The Fly: LOL
The Fly: What kind of wine was it?
CCG: I don't remember. Jeremy said it was a good wine though.
The Fly: What color was it?
CCG: white wine
The Fly: Yeah, I prefer red myself.
CCG: It had a weird, rotten aftertaste. I was expecting it to taste at least somewhat like grape juice.
The Fly: Red wine would be closer to that, grape juice is made from red grapes.
CCG: Oh well. I tried it, I didn't like it, I'm done.
CCG: at least I can say I tried it
The Fly: Hmmm. Okay.
CCG: :-) what?
The Fly: Well, I'm just remembering that I didn't really care for alcohol at first, I had to develop a taste for it.
The Fly: And people have very different tastes in alcohol. Two people with very similar backgrounds could like entirely different alcohol.
The Fly: For example, my brother drinks domestic piss water that they call beer, but my favorite kind of beer is Guinness, just about the darkest stuff out there.
CCG: But why would I bother to develop a taste in it?
The Fly: Because if you developed a taste, you might really like it.
The Fly: Most people don't like alcohol the first couple of times they try it, so it's sort of short-sighted to say "I tried a tiny sip and hated it, so I'll never try it again."
CCG: I really have no desire to begin drinking. Jeremy just had a glass of wine at dinner and I decided to try it.
The Fly: Okay.
The Fly: Well, it wouldn't hurt you to try it again a couple of times and see if you develop a bit of a taste for it, but that's probably not your style anyway. I'm glad you at least made the effort.
CCG: My parents would already be furious if they even knew I took the tiniest sip. They don't know he drinks at all.
CCG: I'm a bad girl, Fly
The Fly: I've never really understood the whole "alcohol = evil" mindset. To me, saying "I don't want to start drinking" is like saying "I don't want to start eating vegetables" or "I'm not going to become omnivorous".
CCG: Some people think the Bible is very clear that alcohol is something to be avoided.
The Fly: Such people completely avoid the references to Jesus making alcohol, as well as Pauls admonition to Timothy to drink wine.
CCG: These people would say Jesus made fresh wine, or "grape juice". . And they would say Paul told Timothy to drink wine only for its medicinal value. That's why he made a comment about it all, otherwise, wouldn't Timothy just be drinking it regularly anyway?
The Fly: I see no reference to "fresh wine" in the Bible.
The Fly: I've never seen any information (and I'm an ancient historian) that led me to believe that the wine described in the Bible was really grape juice. I've seen plenty of evidence that people that make that claim are removing scripture from its historical context.
The Fly: And if wine has medicinal value, then it shouldn't be avoided.
CCG: What about "wine is a mocker"?
The Fly: What about it? It's got its context, as do the other verses. You can't negate two or three or eight verses with a single reference taken out of context.
The Fly: Think about it this way. Where did Jesus turn water into wine? At a wedding. In the first century, in Judea, do you honestly think that it would even be noteworthy for someone to bring grape juice? He would have been ridiculed, because in that time and culture, they didn't have ridiculous cultural taboos about alcohol.

I could sure go for a Guinness about now.