Drinking age

[HaleyGirl16]

Do you think the drinking age should be lowered, raised, or left alone? Why or why not?

[kala]

I think it should be raised the human brain does not stop developing at 18 or 21 it already cant function to full capacity why impair it more at a younger age when our bodies cant process it as well ... truthfully i am a fan of bringing back prohibition but sense that is unlikely 25 is a bit better the 21.

[Foofer]

Left alone, because it'd be unfair for my younger brother have to wait less than I.

[Christopherjr]

I believe we should lower it.

The drinking age is not even 18 in Europe, it's 16. Yet, they consistently have lower rates of irresponsible drinking among the youth. I personally think we should stop demonising alcohol and introduce it to children at younger ages, within the family environment, in order to redefine it as simply another substance which can be good in moderation, rather than the cardinal icon of rebellion and teen angst. Surely we realise by now that forbidding and labeling stuff as "grown-up things" merely drives children to want it more, if for only the rebellion of it. That isn't to say age-restrictions aren't at times necessary, just that if we put forth more effort into teaching children about these things rather than sweeping them under the rug (and as a result mystifying the very thing we so desperately wish to shield them from), we might see more responsibility and less reckless experimentation as these children come of age.

Just my opinion.

[HaleyGirl16]

I believe drinking at all is a sin, but seeing as alcohol is here to stay, I'm more a fan of a compromise, but there would be no way to enforce it really.

Lower the age to 18 if you're on your property or in private under sober adult supervision. That way, it takes the mystery out of alcohol but it's in a controlled environment. Keep it at 21 for drinking in public and purchasing alcohol, because if you give high school students the right to purchase it (which most 18 year olds are in high school) then it makes it all the more accessible to kids as young as 14 & 15 who are still prohibited from drinking it. I do agree though that if you're 18 & old enough to die for your country in battle, then you should be able to have a beer if you choose to do so.

[Kraken086]

Lowered, you can speed down the interstate at 70 mph in a giant piece of metal weighing in at average of 4,000 Pounds but you cant have a glass of liquor? Doesn't make sense to me.

[Christopherjr]

I believe drinking at all is a sin

In 1 Timothy it says to drink a little wine for the stomach's sake. Jesus also turned water to wine, so they could pour it out? And what about at the last supper, they drank wine to represent his blood? All the Bible forbids is getting drunk.

Lower the age to 18 if you're on your property or in private under sober adult supervision. That way, it takes the mystery out of alcohol but it's in a controlled environment. Keep it at 21 for drinking in public and purchasing alcohol, because if you give high school students the right to purchase it (which most 18 year olds are in high school) then it makes it all the more accessible to kids as young as 14 & 15 who are still prohibited from drinking it. I do agree though that if you're 18 & old enough to die for your country in battle, then you should be able to have a beer if you choose to do so.

Don't know about Tennessee, but in Georgia it's already legal for people under 21 to drink, provided they're in their own home and their parents gave it to them.

[T.O.W.R.]

I believe we should lower it.

The drinking age is not even 18 in Europe, it's 16. Yet, they consistently have lower rates of irresponsible drinking among the youth. I personally think we should stop demonising alcohol and introduce it to children at younger ages, within the family environment, in order to redefine it as simply another substance which can be good in moderation, rather than the cardinal icon of rebellion and teen angst. Surely we realise by now that forbidding and labeling stuff as "grown-up things" merely drives children to want it more, if for only the rebellion of it. That isn't to say age-restrictions aren't at times necessary, just that if we put forth more effort into teaching children about these things rather than sweeping them under the rug (and as a result mystifying the very thing we so desperately wish to shield them from), we might see more responsibility and less reckless experimentation as these children come of age.

Just my opinion.

This^ (Minus the lowering part)

I have actually had a wine before and tried some Kahlua Coffee (Which was very good btw), did I feel like I sinned after that? No. I know that alcohol in mass amounts is bad, but I was raised in a home that taught restraint.

I voted leave it alone, because I think that it should be allowed to younger people with adult supervision but legal purchasing age needs to be 21.

(I lived in Germany for 3 years, and just to clarify, there isn't drunk kids wondering the streets. Actually there really isn't drunk people at all compared to what we see here.)

[kb5462]

For the UK, I'd keep our laws as they are. To clarify, our laws state:

• At home, or in a private setting, your parents are allowed to let you drink alcohol from any age after 5.
  
• Under 16, you are allowed to enter a pub (or somewhere primarily used to sell alcohol) with adults.
  
• Age 16 and 17, you can drink, but not buy, alcohol with a meal when accompanied by an adult, but that alcohol is restricted to beer, wine or cider.
  
• Aged 18, you're allowed to be sold alcohol, to buy alcohol, and to drink alcohol in a licensed premises.
  
• Under 18, it's illegal for someone to sell you alcohol; for you to buy or to try to buy alcohol; for an adult to buy, or try to buy, alcohol on your behalf (obviously outside of the exemptions of at home/with a meal); for you to drink alcohol without food at a licensed premises.
  

I think this works. If I lived in the US, I'd want the laws lowered to something similar to the UK.

I don't consider drinking a sin, but I do consider getting drunk a sin. I can't find anything to support drinking any alcohol as sinful in the Bible.

I also think education is a major factor. My parents have always been happy to let my brother and I drink, because they know we do it sensibly. We've always been free to talk about it, try it, not try it - my parents don't care whether we drink or not, but they care about us doing things responsibly, and in moderation. That sort of attitude has always been the best, in my view.

[Christopherjr]

I voted leave it alone, because I think that it should be allowed to younger people with adult supervision but legal purchasing age needs to be 21.

I just can't justify this, personally. 18 is the age of adulthood for every single thing except drinking. Doesn't make any sense to me.

[Nicene Nerd]

I voted to leave it alone not because I really think our laws are perfect, but because I don't really care. I feel like I should, but I really don't.

[Zabby]

Having the drinking age so high, especially in a college setting, is horrible. People drink. Establishments in a college town don't care because they don't get in trouble when people drink. Everyone just lets it happen, and your average 21 year old is not more responsible than the average 18 year old, at least no in regards to alcohol.

[Wesker]

I believe drinking at all is a sin, but seeing as alcohol is here to stay, I'm more a fan of a compromise, but there would be no way to enforce it really.

In 1 Timothy it says to drink a little wine for the stomach's sake. Jesus also turned water to wine, so they could pour it out? And what about at the last supper, they drank wine to represent his blood? All the Bible forbids is getting drunk.

I was going to say, Hubby. Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of being a winebibber, but not consuming alcohol has never been a Christian tenet as far as I am aware.

[Sport Your Faith]

Drinking is a liberty that takes a lot of responsibility for those who choose to do it. Though 18 years old is the legal age for most things, I think 21 is still better for drinking. Though we all know, people mature at different rates. There are many 25 year old people I know who are not mature enough to drink.

[HaleyGirl16]

In 1 Timothy it says to drink a little wine for the stomach's sake. Jesus also turned water to wine, so they could pour it out? And what about at the last supper, they drank wine to represent his blood? All the Bible forbids is getting drunk.

I believe that the wine Jesus drunk was the equivalent to grape juice. The Bible talks about fermented & unfermented wine. Fermented wine was wine like we think of, with alcohol. Unfermented wine was the equivalent of high quality grape juice, also referred to as "new wine." Jesus did not disobey Leviticus 10:9-10 by “creating” alcoholic wine to be consumed against His Father’s will. He created unfermented “wine” or high quality grape juice.

Also Paul knew the difference between fermented and unfermented “wine” and obeyed the Bible, too. It was common in his day to put grape juice in water to kill water-borne bacteria, which caused stomach ailments such as Timothy’s. This is what Paul told Timothy to do. He was not telling Timothy that it was acceptable to “catch a holy buzz in the Name of the Lord.”

Don't know about Tennessee, but in Georgia it's already legal for people under 21 to drink, provided they're in their own home and their parents gave it to them.

Tennessee is not one of the 29 states that has that law. Here we have strict laws about supplying alcohol to a minor, parent or not, private property or not. The only exemption that minors get from the law about alcohol is for religious purposes, like drinking it a communion at a Catholic church.

[Selah]

Edit: I went off topic.

[Paper Towels]

In theory you can be legally drafted by the US government to kill and be killed at age 18, but you can't buy alcohol, this is absolutely ridiculous. The age to purchase alcohol ought to be lowered to 18, the drinking age isn't an inflexible 21 as many think, certain states have exceptions to the law such as if you are consuming alcohol with parental consent in their presence, this is legal to do so under 21 at least in New York.

Keeping the law at 21 helps no one in my opinion, kids still drink, and the taboo of drinking perpetuated by the law only adds to America's problem of binge drinking. America has a horrendous cultural problem when it comes to binge drinking, other countries like Italy which have no drinking age have far less of an alcohol problem than America, and I think this is because the "forbidden fruit" syndrome takes hold in America because of what the law forbids, and it makes people, young people especially to want to break the law and binge drink rather than drink in moderation which is what would be going on if alcohol wasn't given this distinction as a notorious substance; if we just had a culture that didn't celebrate drunkenness and carousing then we'd see America's alcohol problem greatly diminished.

[HaleyGirl16]

There was no such thing as "grape juice" at that period in time. It was wine.

I disagree. There are two types of wine in the Bible. Fermented & unfermented. Both were called wine, one was the equivalent of grape juice because it didn't have alcohol. Wine is grape juice that has alcohol in it, the Bible said Jesus drunk wine, however Jesus didn't drink alcohol, therefore Jesus drank the equivalent of grape juice.

[Jakob]

Humphrey Bogart once said,

"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind"

I think it could use a few notches down maybe.

[Paper Towels]

I disagree. There are two types of wine in the Bible. Fermented & unfermented. Both were called wine, one was the equivalent of grape juice because it didn't have alcohol. Wine is grape juice that has alcohol in it, the Bible said Jesus drunk wine, however Jesus didn't drink alcohol, therefore Jesus drank the equivalent of grape juice.

But where are you getting that the wine was non-alcoholic? Jews who celebrate passover even today use alcoholic wine in their passover observance, and it certainly is not grape juice, it is slightly different from the wine people normally drink in that it is Kosher wine which involves certain peculiarities in the process of making it and under the supervision of a Rabbi, but at the end of the day it is still wine with alcohol.

[D.Sharick]

I personally believe that we should not drink unless it is just a small amount, like a glass of wine. Drinking is very risky and can lead to sin very easily. I personally chose to never drink, because I don't think we should put ourselves in positions like that.

[Foofer]

Let's not get off topic about drinking itself, and stick with the question of the legal drinking age for the US. Besides, the bible makes it pretty clear on the topic of alcohol.

[Christopherjr]

Besides, the bible makes it pretty clear on the topic of alcohol.

Please elaborate.

[MoonAndStars]

I believe we should lower it.

The drinking age is not even 18 in Europe, it's 16. Yet, they consistently have lower rates of irresponsible drinking among the youth. I personally think we should stop demonising alcohol and introduce it to children at younger ages, within the family environment, in order to redefine it as simply another substance which can be good in moderation, rather than the cardinal icon of rebellion and teen angst. Surely we realise by now that forbidding and labeling stuff as "grown-up things" merely drives children to want it more, if for only the rebellion of it. That isn't to say age-restrictions aren't at times necessary, just that if we put forth more effort into teaching children about these things rather than sweeping them under the rug (and as a result mystifying the very thing we so desperately wish to shield them from), we might see more responsibility and less reckless experimentation as these children come of age.

Just my opinion.

You beat me too it.

While teenage drinking DOES happen in Europe (one of my best friends is an exchange student from France, and has been to his fair share of parties), its not as rampant or crazy as here. Because they are introduced to alcohol at a younger age and are taught how to "drink responsibly" at a young age, it removes the "mystery" and "cool" of it when they actually reach legal age. (Maybe a bad analogy butttt) It's like how in the U.S. these days, white children arent' as prejudiced against African Americans because they are growing up at a time when they are taught that people are all equal, regardless of skin color, so they don't see black people in the same way that their grandparents did.

As far as the Bible, I think it's pretty well implied that God is okay with alcohol (oh, the classic parable of Jesus turning water into wine), but there are verses (one for sure in Galatians, i forget where the rest are found) that forbid getting drunk.

---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 PM ----------

Lower the age to 18 if you're on your property or in private under sober adult supervision.

...aren't 18 year olds legally adults? True, most of them (at least the ones in high school yet) still live with their parents, but they're still considered adults.

[Zabby]

Also, about the teenage drinking thing, I hope people realize that the reason kids drive drunk is because they're too afraid to call home to get someone to come pick them up. If we didn't have the drinking age so high, kids could get drunk and their parents could come pick them up and drive them home without having to worry about legal or other repercussions instead of taking a stupid risk of driving home and hoping to not get caught.