智慧人生篇章 第17期:酒乃穿腸毒藥

In the past, religion's contribution to this debatehas been from a moral standpoint about thequestions of poor behaviour that are encouraged bythe loss of our inhibitions. But the truth is thatChristianity has a complex relationship withalcohol, from the beautiful story in John's Gospel ofJesus turning water into rich and special wine, to thebrewing of beer by monks and the centralsacramental act of billions of Christians around theworld when we drink fortified wine from the samecup at the Eucharist. It is perhaps a sign of our timesthat this debate has been highlighted not so much by a moral anxiety as a medical one. It'sthe strain on the NHS that's the issue. We are it seems, a society less at ease with ourselvesthan we could be, for example, taking the edge off social interactions with a drink to alleviateour fear. Moralising judgements don't help here, but recognising that we medicate our miseryby taking alcohol will raise deeper questions about who we are and who we want to be."

過(guò)去，教會(huì)一直從道德層面來(lái)解釋說(shuō)行為弱智是自我失控所致。但事實(shí)卻是，基督教跟酒有一種復(fù)雜的聯(lián)系，《約翰福音》中耶穌將水變成美酒的美談，到僧侶釀造啤酒，再到全世界的基督教徒舉行圣餐的時(shí)的中心活動(dòng)就是從圣杯中啜飲美酒。這也許標(biāo)志著，在我們這個(gè)時(shí)代，有關(guān)飲酒的辯論已不再是道德問(wèn)題，而是健康問(wèn)題，被NHS解釋為壓力問(wèn)題?？磥?lái)，我們總是對(duì)自己不夠放松，譬如，用喝酒來(lái)緩解在社交場(chǎng)合的緊張情緒。道德評(píng)判在這里毫無(wú)幫助，但必須意識(shí)到，用酒精來(lái)緩解痛苦只會(huì)讓我們更迷失自己，更找不著方向。