When planning to consider the problem which alcohol presents in the world today, we should first get a view of the whole subject and consider all of its multiple phases. We should discern which are the most important, and place our greatest emphasis upon these. Although every phase is of course important, it is easily possible that some have not received as much attention in proportion to their value as others have received.
For the purpose of analysis, the subject may be divided into seven sections:
I. Alcohol in the Bible
This is disputed ground. However, some very careful work has been done by devoted Bible students to reveal the harmony of the Bible concerning this matter, and to show that it teaches total abstinence from intoxicating drinks. But this does not prove anything to the general public.
II. Quotations From Noted People
These statements are helpful, but they settle nothing. We should go deeper into the subject than this.
III. Statistics on Crime and Accidents
We might easily devote all our space, time, and energy to the study and recital of statistics on accidents and sordid crimes resulting from the use of beverage alcohol. These happenings occur every day, and are ever increasing in number, so that a fresh article discussing them could be written every week. This is an easy phase of the subject to talk about, as it makes an appeal to the emotions, and thus is very popular with those who write and speak on the subject of alcohol. But we ought to go deeper into the problem than that.
Discussions that stir the emotions are very popular in religious circles. Some workers may overindulge in this feature of the work because it is so easy to stir the people. But the emotional appeals are highly objectionable to students and educators, and are almost obnoxious to the scientist.
IV. Methods of Control
Again, we could devote our attention largely to a discussion of methods of control, such as prohibition or license, government revenue, law enforcement, the relation to prosperity, bootlegging, the greed of the liquor interests, the relation to politics, and the matter of personal liberty. It is easy to gather material on these points. These phases are continually before the public eye, and are aired in the news prints.
However, some of these are disputed points, and some of them lead directly into the realm of politics, which is forbidden territory in educational institutions. Furthermore, the discussion of these disputed points often leads to dissension and disunion, and is therefore more or less unprofitable.
V. Alcohol as a Social Evil
We could easily devote all our time to the influence of alcohol upon the home, the parents and their posterity, upon society and the human race. This is both interesting and vital. But, once more, this phase is capable of furnishing intense emotional appeal, and care should be exercised not to overwork it.
VI. Physiology
Then, too, we could enter the realm of physiology, and study the effects of alcohol upon the human organism. To do this leads us directly to the following subdivisions of the subject:
(a) The food value of alcohol.
(b) Alcohol as a medicine.
(c) Moderation or total abstinence.
(d) The effects on posterity and on the race. This field of investigation involves a thorough study of the relation of alcohol to good health and the processes of regeneration.
(e) The temporary and permanent effects upon the various organs of the body. This leads into every nook and corner of the body and to the study of both the psychological and physiological effects.
This section on physiology is difficult to handle accurately and thoroughly. It requires scientific preparation. This may be the reason why it is so much neglected. However, I believe that this is the phase of the subject which deserves the most attention and the most thorough elucidation. Educators and students, ministers and church people, physicians and nurses, and the general laity are delighted when this phase of the subject is presented in a simple, straightforward, accurate manner. It arouses the least dissension of any part of the subject, and yet has the strongest influence and does the most good. I am glad to share with our workers some of the material gathered through years of work and study.
VII. Alcohol and Character
When the student of science is also a believer in God as the Creator, such belief will bring him face to face with the will of God as revealed in the scientific study of the natural laws of life, and with his accountability to God, and the consequences to be met in the judgment day. This conception, coupled with the psychological and physical effects of alcohol as revealed by science, constitutes the strongest and most effective presentation that can be made. This establishes total abstinence where all other lessons fail, because this enters the realm of loyalty to God, and the conscience is called into action and takes control of the life.
This is Christian temperance, which can be taught and practiced only by the Christian, and for this reason can be promoted only by the Christian church. This is a divine obligation which rests upon the church as squarely as any other part of the gospel of salvation which saves from sin, which is the violation of the will of God in any particular. This presentation deals with the formation of character, which is the only ultimate goal in all the activities of the advent movement. Therefore this aspect of the subject should always be kept in mind, and all that is done in teaching alcohol education should be made preparatory to this ultimate end.
A thorough, scientific presentation of the effects of alcohol upon mind and body constitutes the basis upon which the religious or spiritual study of the subject must rest. The usual presentation of the subject of alcohol is weak in its physiology. This is where it should be the strongest, because physiology shows where and how the will of God is violated. Therefore this series of studies will give more attention to physiology than to any other feature of the subject.
(To be continued)
