Flood and Tower of BabelAnswered

Was getting drunk a sin before the Flood, and was intoxicating wine even produced then?

A viewer asks whether drunkenness was considered a sin, or even possible, before the Flood, given the change in climate and whether fermented wine was produced from grapes then.

Answer

I think something that we cannot dismiss for ambiguity is the fact that Noah knew he was intoxicated. That is, he wasn't thinking clearly like he was thinking without having any of this substance. Now, Scripture knows, when it says that someone got drunk, that they're intoxicated to the point where everyone recognizes their adverse behavior. You are told that you're drunk because you're acting like someone who's intoxicated and can't control his muscles or his thoughts or whatever. He was in a state that he was not himself. And that's a no-no. Why? Because when you're in that state, you can succumb to any sin that confronts you, because your normal ways of judging morality are out the door. That's when most people commit sexual sin, when they're drunk, because the inhibitions are taken away. And this is one world where you do not want your inhibitions taken away, because every 10 feet you run into some sin. And the question is, are you going to partake of it or not? And you need your wits about you so that you don't. And the fact that Noah just came out of a boat that went through a whole year of tossing and turning and watching every one of the millions of people screaming and crying and climbing the rocks to get away from the water, they watched that. So if that doesn't make an impression on you that sin is right around the corner... And I forget the verse that says that, something about sin being right around the corner from you. If you don't get that feeling after being on a boat for a year in which everyone else that you knew was killed because of sin, there's something wrong with you.

Answered by Dr. Robert Sungenis

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