Drinking alcohol can increase the risk of cancer, car accident, traffic unsafely, stress, liver cirrhosis and violence. Also, drinking alcohol is risky for pregnant women.
The first religious drinking law was passed in New York in 1697, and it ordered all public drinking areas be closed on Sunday.
By the late 1820's, complete restraint from all alcoholic drinks was a key rule of nearly all of the evangelical churches. During this time, people disputed that alcohol was an implement of Satan, and the drink soon named as “demon rum” and “Lucifer Liquids”. The churches had a larger effect when they tried to affect behavior to reduce demand for alcohol rather than trying to limit supply of alcohol. Some people thought that no one should drink. Command was revolving into Prohibition and this got the churches into politics.
Throughout the history of mankind, there are many victims of drinking alcohol.
The First Glass of Wine in the Bible:
According to the Bible, the first victim of drinking alcohol was Noah and his grandson, Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah.
The Bible declares that Noah was "Perfect"
Genesis 6:9
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Genesis 7:1
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
In seven different versions as Perfect while in the other versions it is translated as: Blameless, Good man, without blame and "lived right and obeyed God."
The "Perfect, just and righteous" Noah as the Bible said plants a vineyard, gets drunk, and lies around naked in his tent. His son, Ham, happens to see his father in this condition. When Noah awoke and heard "what his young son had done unto him" (what did he do besides look at him?), he curses not Ham, who "saw the nakedness of his father," but Ham's son, Canaan. "A servant of servants shall he (Canaan) be unto his brethren." This is a typical case of biblical injustice, and is one of many Bible passages that have been used to justify slavery.
Now have a look at Genesis 9:
1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
7And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
8And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
18And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
28And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.
Traditionally, it is held that Ham was one of the sons of Noah who moved into Africa and parts of the Middle East, and was the forefather of the nations there. The Bible presents Egypt as "the land of Ham" (in Psalms 78:51; 105:23, 27; 106:22).
According to Genesis 9:20–25, Noah began to raise grapes after the flood, and became drunk one day. While drunk, he lay naked in his tent. Ham saw his father naked, and told his brothers Shem and Japheth about it. Shem and Japheth went into the tent with their faces away from him, and covered him. When Noah awoke, he realized what had had been done to him, and cursed Canaan, son of Ham, to be the "servant of servants" of Shem and Japheth.
Nevertheless, Genesis 9 denies the basic Human Rights because:
1- slavery is immoral and wicked.
2- cursing all of an individual's descendents into perpetual slavery because of an inappropriate act by an ancestor is immoral.
3- laying a curse on the son of the person who committed the act is immoral and dishonest.
The extent of the outcome of this passage is horrible.
This passage:
1- Religiously justify the shameful phenomenon of Racism; and the creation of the "Hamitic" ethno-linguistic group during the European exploration of Africa.
2- Religiously justify the shameful phenomenon of color discrimination
3- Religiously justify the shameful phenomenon of slavery of the Africans and emphasizes Biblical justification for slavery.
4- Religiously justify the shameful phenomenon of Israel-Palestinian conflicts, because Canaan is the father of the Palestinians.
Christians traditionally believed that Canaan had settled in Africa. The dark skin of Africans became associated with this "curse of Ham." Thus slavery of Africans became religiously justifiable.
But in ancient times, cursing a whole race into slavery was considered acceptable because it was in the Bible. The American slave owner felt that he was carrying out God's plan by buying and using slaves.
Unfortunately, many millions of innocent people had been killed, slaved and abused because of the Biblical passage of Genesis 9.
The First Glass of Wine in the Quran:
What the Quran says about the First Glass of Wine?
The Quran absolutely denies this story of Genesis 9.
This topic has many important aspects that are important to mankind e.g. Human Rights, Racism, Color discrimination, Humanity, Politics etc., that is why, it deserves a separate article.
Back to the main topic of my series of articles (1- 55); this is my question to you smart readers: "Is the Quran quoted from the Bible "? In respect to the topic of the First Glass of Wine; I recommend reading my next article about Noah.