Winford Claiborne and Freed-Hardeman University (#2)
It is interesting that liquor manufacturers here in middle Tennessee produce enough whiskey to make thousands and thousands drunk, but object to their employees drinking. I do not blame them for not wanting their workers to drink. They probably know better than anyone else that drinking employees are not very efficient… (329).
So wrote Brother Winford Claiborne in Volume 1 of Silence Can be Sinful. The reason that we are looking at his comments on the subject is that he seems to be of a more conservative mind than Earl Edwards, who (at the 2018 Freed-Hardeman lectures) said that he "would not tell a Christian who decides to go against" his "advice and drink small amounts of alcohol, maybe in his home, that he has sinned with the first drink." [See article in last week's Spiritual Perspectives (6-10-18) for the full quote and context.]
Brother Claiborne also taught at Freed-Hardeman at one time and was a favorite lectureship speaker for many years. What he wrote in his books is consistently anti-alcohol; this article quotes more of his thinking in that regard. The opening citation is from the chapter on "Destructive Businesses." He posed a question regarding that information: "Can you imagine an automobile manufacturer who asks its employees not to buy its cars because of the danger of driving its own products?" (329). Hmm. How telling is it, therefore, for liquor companies to forbid their employees from consuming their products!
It may be the fault of religious leaders, Claiborne suggests, that so many are killed by drunk drivers because "there are too many religious leaders who drink and who lack the courage to take a stand against beverage alcohol" (329).
To tell someone that it might not be a sin to have one drink in his house seems to this writer to be indefensible. First, are there children in the home? Even if alcohol is hidden, it is likely they will find it. Second, how often does someone take one drink and then say, "I can handle another one"? A potato chip company had an entire campaign based on the idea, "Betcha can't eat just one."
Third, what if a husband or wife has had one drink (or two) and then receives a phone call and has to drive somewhere immediately? Fourth, what is the purpose for drinking? People in the world do it oftentimes for the buzz it gives. Should Christians be consuming alcoholic beverages for the same reason? Do Christians need a buzz in addition to being a child of God? Is it that difficult to see the contrast of holiness and worldliness? In light of all the harm alcohol has done (including the lives lost), why would anyone wander near it? What is the justification for using it?
Another comment in this same chapter rightly points out: "There are very few evils in our world which are not in some way connected to alcohol" (330), and he specifically mentions spousal abuse. A later chapter is titled, "Who Is Responsible?" What should be obvious to everyone is pointed out by Brother Claiborne:
Alcohol and spirituality do not mix. They are natural enemies. And anyone who has taken the time to do any reading knows what alcohol does eventually to the human body. It particularly affects the brain, which every physician and physiologist knows (348).
These are just some of the comments that were made in Volume 1. The goal here is to cover the main reasons for not even taking one drink of alcohol, but an abundance of information exists for other problems associated with the drug. But did Claiborne have anything to say on the subject in Volume 2? In the third chapter, "Absolutely Wrong," he highlights the case of an NFL football player who, while drunk and traveling 78 in a 55 mph zone, killed a woman. He spent a total of 90 days in jail, which is outrageous (47). Did he have that as a goal when he took the first drink that night?
"Beverage Alcohol's Destructive Power"
This is the chapter devoted entirely to the subject (201-13). It begins with three passages of Scripture, the first of which is: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise" (Pr. 20:1, KJV). The second one is Proverbs 23:19-21, a warning about drunkenness. And the third is the lengthy section of Proverbs 23:29-35, which includes the command, "Look not on the wine…" (201)
These verses are sufficient, but to establish the point that it is not just "narrow-minded and ignorant preachers" who condemn the use of alcohol, Claiborne calls the reader's attention to others who have expressed similar sentiments. Benjamin Franklin, whose religious views would not likely mirror ours, nevertheless, wrote the following:
No man ever drank lard into his tub, or flour into his sack, nor meal into his barrel, nor happiness into his home, nor God into his heart (202).
Reginald Smythe shrewdly observed: "There's nothing like a hangover to occupy a head that wasn't used the night before" (203). John Neale discerned: "Drinking water neither makes a man sick, nor in debt, nor his wife a widow" (203). Surprisingly, even an Italian military hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi, rightly comments: "Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune" (204) [a little mythological humor there]. Most boating accidents today involve alcohol (204).
Claiborne appropriately declares that the only ones benefiting from alcoholic beverages are those manufacturing and distributing it (202). Although Shakespeare portrayed some characters who imbibe freely as humorous, the lines of the sober Cassio in Othello are of interest (205):
O God, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! That we should with joy, pleasance, revel, and applause transform ourselves into beasts! (Act 2; Scene 3, lines 308-10).
Dr. L. C. Goffin served many years on the Board of Education in Los Angeles; he called alcohol a narcotic drug that 10% of moderate drinkers become addicted to. Notice that he said: "When dealing with narcotics, moderation is a dangerous doctrine" (206). This is the reason that it is risky to tell someone that it is not a sin to have one drink; it could have deadly consequences.
A former Miss America (1958) not only doesn't drink; she says she "felt that it was not necessary to drink in order to be accepted" (206). Imagine how many times she was put in a position to compromise her principles in the wake of all her popularity, but she held firm.
Toby Keith wrote and recorded the song, "Should've Been a Cowboy." The closing lines of the chorus are:
Stealing the young girl's hearts
Just like Gene and Roy,
Singing those campfire songs,
I should've been a cowboy.
"Gene and Roy," referring to Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, famous cowboys of the past, do not really fit the Mr. Keith's image of the west. In a live version of the song, he states: "California's full of whiskey, women and beer and gold," which may have been true, but Roy Rogers is no salesman for hard drinking. He said:
If I were asked the question, "Roy, why don't you drink?"…I think the most honest answer I could give would be, "I don't think it is necessary." And I don't. My wife, Dale Evans, and I feel we have about as happy a life as we can hope for; and we have not found that happiness in cocktail parlors, but rather in everyday activities (206).
This is a wonderful observation which others have also discovered, although it runs counter to the Hollywood version of life.
For years it has been known that many who serve in Congress have an alcohol problem. How refreshing, therefore to hear these words from the first Congresswoman, Elizabeth Kee (Dem.), elected to serve (1951-65) from the State of West Virginia say: "One of the great tragedies of our time is that too many young men and women think they must drink to be accepted socially today" (207). Unfortunately, many still do.
Some prominent athletes have drawn the same conclusion. Dick Button, two-time Olympic champion (1948, 1952) and five-time World champion (1948–1952) figure skater, said:
Alcohol and tobacco are not compatible to anyone attempting perfection in sports. That is the reason no athlete striving to reach the top should indulge in either of these habits (which are) harmful to health and success in athletic competition (207).
Bob Richards was the second man to clear 15 feet in the pole vault, and in 1958 many would have recognized his face on a box of Wheaties. This champion had a few pertinent words to say about alcohol:
From any point of view, religiously, athletically, scientifically, and socially, drinking is utter nonsense. I strongly advise any young person who desires to excel in any realm of life to abstain completely from the use of a substance that mars and ruins human life (207).
Not only have successful sports figures protested the damage of alcohol, but playwright George Bernard Shaw also had an observation: "Alcohol knocks off the last inch of efficiency which in all really fine works makes the difference between first-rate and second-rate work" (211). He did not make this observation as a champion of morality—just practicality.
Senator Richard Neuberger (Dem.) from Oregon in the late 1950s said: "I have never understood how a brain befogged by alcohol could endure the tensions and strains of government decisions" (208). Most people will recognize the name of Thomas Alva Edison. The words of such a great inventor may carry some weight with some: "I have better use for my brain than to poison it with alcohol. To put alcohol in the human brain is like putting sand in the bearing of an engine" (212).
Brother Claiborne provided so much material that a large portion of it must be omitted. For example, he shared a poem of nine stanzas written by a young woman accused of being a fanatic against alcohol. The verses ask a person to consider what it is like to live with an alcoholic. She wrote:
Go, kneel as I have knelt; implore, beseech and pray,
Strive the besotted heart to melt,
The downward course to stay;
Be cast with bitter curses aside—
Thy prayers burlesqued, thy tears defied.
The point is this: The people cited were not in favor of a person taking even one alcoholic drink. Winford Claiborne, whose material this is, would not have advised a person to swallow even one alcoholic beverage. He cited Scriptures against drunkenness and one that stressed not even looking at the wine. Can anyone think he would in any way echo Brother Edwards, who said he would not tell someone that taking just one drink, perhaps in his home, was a sin? It would undo all he wrote.