Thank you Josh. I apologise too for any tactlessness. Anything God says is right, IS right, of course, only your last sentence sums up the other side of the coin which must be just as important. being new I didn't really understand this was already much gone over by the natives!JennyG,
Please do notg feel piled on. I assure you, Ma'am, such was not my intent. My whole purpose in beginning this thread was to avoid the derailment of the other thread, which had a different scope, thrust, and intention altogether. I would not for a moment judge you in your abstaining. If it has came across as such, I sincerely offer my most humble of apologies. At the same token, I hope that you will not tell me what's better (to abstain) for me to do, if God Himself has not done so. That is not an objective fact. The particular believer struggling with such must take into account multiple circumstances that bear upon their station in life, as to whether they should or should not abstain, and even then if it will be permanent or temporary.
Every blessing!
I'm not even a total abstainer by the way, but around a young person
who might be influenced, I wouldn't consider touching it. Where I live, in Scotland the alcohol capital of the world, if a guy such as yourself was observed by the kids to be a non-drinker, it could do an incalculable amount of good.