Author Archives: Pedantic Dan
Twenty To One Revisited
Let’s revisit the claim that wine was diluted to a water-to-wine ratio of Twenty To One. This ratio comes up in support of the claim that the only use for wine in biblical times was for purifying water. Citing this … Continue reading
Levitical Priests
There seems to be some remaining confusion about what exactly the Levitical priests were forbidden to do, thanks to some prohibitionists’ poor handling of Leviticus 10:8-9. The passage is referenced in an attempt to show that God forbade all alcohol … Continue reading
Ignore Me No Longer!
I’m renaming my blog from Ignore Me to Pedantic Dan.
Eggs Per Hen-Day
There’s an old brain teaser that is posed as a word problem, something like this: If a hen and a half lays an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many days will it take three … Continue reading
Degrees of Separation
When I was in high school, I met my best friend’s father (not at all unusual, I hear). My best friend’s father was, and is, a cinematographer and worked on such films as Second Hand Lions, Space Cowboys, and Unforgiven. … Continue reading
Not Given To Wine
1 Timothy 3:3 and Titus 1:7 both include “not given to wine” (KJV) in the qualifications for a bishop. Some prohibitionists interpret these verses to say that church leaders must abstain from alcoholic beverages. Some even say that the Greek … Continue reading
The Feast of Unleavened Wine
One argument that is supposed to prove that the wine used by Jesus to institute the Lord’s Supper was just grape juice, is that leavening was forbidden to be used in the Passover, also called The Feast of Unleavened Bread. … Continue reading
Don’t Look!
Proverbs 23:31-33 says [NASB®]: Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes … Continue reading
Love Thy Neighbor
Since I was a boy, I’ve heard it said that when Jesus preached, “Love thy neighbor as thyself”, He meant that we must first learn to love ourselves before we can love others. Thus, many have taken the teaching to … Continue reading
Only Barbarians
Once again, I’d like to look at a quote from Robert Stein’s 1975 article. In my last posting, I quoted this: “The ratio of water might vary, but ony barbarians drank it unmixed, and a mixture of wine and water … Continue reading