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, 17:59, October 24, 2009
Devastating addictions, fueled by billion dollar industries, include:
*alcohol
*drugs
*smoking
*gambling
*pornography
Have [[liberal]] translations of the Bible downplayed condemnation of these addictions?
== Alcohol ==
Alcohol is an addiction that destroys the lives and health of about 10% of the population, and higher percentages among people with genetic predispositions, including some minority ethnic groups. Alcohol also kills tens of thousands of innocent people each year in the form of deadly auto accidents by drunk drivers.
Proverbs 23:31 prohibits the use of wine: "Do not look on the wine when it is red,/When it sparkles in the cup,/When it goes down smoothly." (NASB)
The Bible does not mention "alcohol" or alcoholic "beer", but the [[ESV]] has 236 references to "wine", about 80% in the [[Old Testament]].
The Greek term (γλευκος or gleukos) is ambiguous but suggests the sweet version (grape juice) rather than the sour version of wine. All the [[New Testament]] references could be translated as "grape juice," which was highly valued at the time (and even protected by watchtowers), rather than as "wine". Yet the ESV translates the term as "wine" every single time. Only once in the entire Bible does the ESV refer to grape juice, and that is in its translation of Numbers 6:3 where the original text spells things out as to foreclose any mistranslation: "... and shall not eat any juice of grapes or eat ...."
There is ambiguity, however, as to whether the biblical terms are properly translated as "wine" or "grape juice," as the fermentation (or lack thereof) is typically not clarified in the original text.
== Drugs ==
The biblical word for narcotics or bad drugs is φαρμακεια ("pharmakeia"), which was translated as "sorcery" in the [[KJV]] but would be better translated today to mean drug abuse.
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Conservative Bible Project]]