For many, tonight will be a night of considerable imbibing, of drinking unusually high quantities of alcohol. It has always seemed to me an odd way to ring in a new year. Commencing the year in a booze-induced stupor and/or with a hangover is arguably not quite consistent with a time of new resolutions for self-improvement and achievement.
I realize that very many in my audience don’t drink at all. But there’s a curious subset of my audience who read this blog seeking ammunition to use against me, evidence of my viciousness and depravity and laughable foolishness, and additional justifications for their rejection of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And at least some of those, I happen to be aware, use their new freedom to consume alcoholic beverages, sometimes in notable amounts, as a symbol and an expression of their freedom from Church teachings.
So my first item here is directed to them:
“Give Yourself a ‘Dry January’—You’ll Sleep Better, Save Money, and Lose Weight”
However, for those who intend to get themselves thoroughly plastered, here’s something to ponder during those inebriated hours. It should make for some very interesting ruminations and some quite vivid dreams:
“Spiders could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year”
If, though, anybody out there is considering his or her relationship to alcohol or contemplating whether Church teachings on this matter convey any tangible or practical benefit, here’s something worth watching. It’s only about six minutes long:
Over the years, I’ve wondered about seeming evidence that moderate consumption of wine is actually beneficial to human health. In that event, I reasoned, perhaps the chief function of the Word of Wisdom’s bar to alcohol consumption would be to serve as a token or a marker of commitment to obeying the will of God, even without evidence of temporal benefit.
However, things have changed a bit over the past year. I’ve already mentioned this study here on my blog, but it bears repeating because some may have missed the news and because that news is really quite important:
“No amount of alcohol is good for your overall health, global study says”
And, now, this even more recent story should probably be, as it were, added to the mix:
“1 in 20 deaths globally are a result of alcohol use”
And then there are results such as these:
“2016 Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per 100,000 Population by State”
All in all, the Latter-day Saint practice of abstention from alcoholic beverages is looking very good these days, scientifically speaking.
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