In this chapter we look at the Adventist teaching on abstinence from alcohol. We will particularly compare what the Bible says about “wine” with what The Clear Word says. Fundamental Belief number 22 contains a brief statement about alcoholic beverages.
Since alcoholic beverages … are harmful to our bodies, we are to abstain from them as well.
From the book Seventh-day Adventists Believe we read:
Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs on Planet Earth. …
Eden is the divine model to which the gospel would restore us. As is true of these other practices [divorce, polygamy, etc.], the use of alcohol was not a part of God’s original plan.
I agree that alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs on earth. It is also one of the most widely abused drugs, costing the culture the losses of finances, family instability, illness, and even death. For someone to abstain from using alcohol for personal—including religious—purposes is a noble choice. Abstinence, however, is not a biblical command, and a church has no biblical authority to demand members to abstain.
In order to try to provide biblical support for Adventism’s official teaching on abstinence, however, The Clear Word has tampered with the biblical text. In fact, The Clear Word has changed the term “wine”, used throughout the Bible, into “grape juice”.
Adventism’s common explanation for reading “wine” as “grape juice” is based on Ellen White’s teaching
Adventism’s common explanation for reading “wine” as “grape juice” is based on Ellen White’s teaching, as recorded in The Ministry of Healing, p. 333, 334, that Christ would never place “before men that which would be a temptation.”
She further said in The Signs of the Times, August 29, 1878, that “We appeal to the natural reason whether the blood of Christ is better represented by the pure juice of the grape in its natural state, or after it has been converted into a fermented and intoxicating wine…Christ never made intoxicating wine…The wine which Christ manufactured from water by a miracle of His power was the pure juice of the grape.”
Since the Bible provides no support for her bold statements but rather requires Adventists to argue away the plain meaning of Scripture, author Jack Blanco has resolved this problem for his fellow Adventists by simply changing the words in his Clear Word “paraphrase”.
Did the Bible Writers Know the Difference?
History and archaeology inform us that some of the earliest wine production dates back to six or seven thousand years BC. In the days preceding refrigeration, allowing grape juice to ferment was the way to preserve it for future use. Furthermore, we know that the people of Bible times did not drink only wine. Adventism, however, has led its members to believe that “wine” was simply the word the Bible writers used to refer to juice, either fresh or fermented. What many Adventists do not know, though, is that the term “juice” is used three times in Scripture.
In Numbers 6:3 part of the prohibitions for one partaking in a Nazirite vow is to avoid the “juice of the grape.” In Job 6:6 the juice of the mallow (a plant) is described as without taste. Thirdly, in Song of Solomon 8:2, pomegranate juice is mentioned.
At times, Blanco will change the term “wine” to “new wine” attempting to indicate that it is fresh-squeezed grape juice and not alcoholic.
Significantly, twelve verses of Scripture mention “new wine”—a term Adventism teaches its members to read as “unfermented juice”. In most of these twelve cases, however, the term is referring to fermented wine, not the unfermented juice. At times, Blanco will change the term “wine” to “new wine” attempting to indicate that it is fresh-squeezed grape juice and not alcoholic. This interpretation is in keeping with Adventist teaching.
One more point needs to be made about the quotation from Seventh-day Adventists Believe referenced at the beginning of this article. It is stated, “Eden is the divine model to which the gospel would restore us.” That is not a true statement. Eden is gone forever; believers are waiting for a city, the New Jerusalem from heaven. Granted that in the new Earth, there will be Eden-like situations, and during Christ’s millennial reign, there will be edenic scenes such as described in Isaiah 11:6-9:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
But the gospel is not to restore us to the divine model of Eden. The gospel is that Jesus Christ has died in our place, was buried, resurrected, and now offers himself as the living water and the bread of life to reconcile us to God the Father. The gospel should not be confused with an Edenic restoration of all things. In the New Jerusalem, there will be wonders beyond what we can even imagine at this time, and they will surpass Eden.
Comparing differences
Before we compare passages from The Clear Word with verses from the English Standard Version (ESV) of Scripture, we make one quick note: “wine” is mentioned 236 times in 216 verses of the ESV. We will only be looking at a very few of those. Let’s now take a look at some passages that Blanco has changed.
Genesis 9:20–21
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
After Noah settled down, he planted gardens and vineyards. One day he drank some grape juice that had been sitting around for a while and had turned into wine. He got drunk and forgot to put his clothes on.
The Clear Word Bible, First edition
After Noah settled down he planted gardens and vineyards. One day he drank some grape juice that had been sitting for awhile, became drunk and was in his tent naked.
The Clear Word
After Noah settled down, he planted gardens and vineyards. One day he drank some wine that had been sitting for awhile, became drunk and was in his tent naked.
English Standard Version
Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.
Notice that In the original Clear Word Bible, only the term “grape juice” is used, while “wine” is not to be found in this passage. In TEECW and TCWfK Blanco changes the text to read that some grape juice had been lying around for “awhile” and had fermented and turned into alcoholic wine. Even in the current version of The Clear Word, although Blanco uses the word “wine”, he pairs it with the explanation that it had been “sitting for awhile”, implying that because it had been carelessly sitting out, it had become fermented. In the English Standard Version, however. we don’t need some grape juice, or wine, to lie around for awhile to turn into wine. Instead, we read that Noah had wine to drink and became drunk. The text of Scripture leaves no doubt: the word “wine” implies fermentation because that is what wine is – fermented grape juice. The Adventist explanation that the word can mean either fresh or fermented juice is simply not true.
Next we will look at Genesis 14:18 and compare Scripture with Blanco’s The Clear Word.
Genesis 14:18
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Melchizedek, the king of Salem, welcomed Abraham and his men and fed them. He was not only the king but also the high priest of that city. He always taught his people to worship the true God.
The Clear Word
And Melchizedek, king of nearby Salem which today is called Jerusalem, also came out to meet Abram and his men and brought bread and new wine to refresh them. In addition to being king of Salem, Melchizedek functioned as a priest of the Most High God, teaching his people to serve the Maker of heaven and earth.
English Standard Version
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)
Notice that Blanco removes “wine” completely from the Easy English/Kids version, and he attempts to suggest fresh juice by changing it to “new wine” in the current version of TCW.
Ellen White is the source for some of the extra information found in The Clear Word versions. Before we go on, this is a perfect time to take a short rabbit trail and look at Ellen White’s view of Melchizedek. First, in her classic book from her “Conflict of the Ages” series, she says this in Patriarchs and Prophets:
Another who came out to welcome the victorious patriarch was Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought forth bread and wine for the refreshment of his army. As “priest of the most high God,” he pronounced a blessing upon Abraham, and gave thanks to the Lord, who had wrought so great a deliverance by his servant.
This seemingly benign statement, however, is not all she wrote about Melchizedek. The next quotation is from a series of small booklets published in 1877 known as the Redemption series:
Adam will tell you, it is the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpent’s head. Ask Abraham, he will tell you, It is Melchizedek, King of Salem, King of Peace. … We, his disciples, declare, This is Jesus, the Messiah, the Prince of Life, the Redeemer of the world. And even the Prince of the powers of darkness acknowledges him, saying, “I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.”
Bible commentators will show you that Melchizedek was an actual man, a shadow of Jesus Christ, but not Christ Himself. Ellen White goes beyond the bounds of Scripture and makes the Melchizedek who met Abram into Jesus, the Messiah. The position is untenable.
Now, back to our look at wine in The Clear Word. This next passage is from the story of Jacob deceiving his father, Isaac, into believing that he is Esau in order to steal the blessing of the firstborn.
Genesis 27:25
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Isaac believed Jacob and said, “Now let’s eat together. Then I will bless you and put you in charge of everything.” So Jacob and his father ate together.
The Clear Word
Isaac then believed him and said, “Bring me the meat you prepared so I can enjoy your special recipe one last time, then I’ll give you the inheritance of the firstborn.” So Jacob brought him the dish of meat, poured out some freshly squeezed wine and watched his father eat and drink.
English Standard Version
Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.
In TEECW and TCWfK, Blanco takes away the troublesome “wine” by not mentioning it at all. It is completely eliminated for young people and those learning English as a second language. In TCW Blanco changes “wine” to “freshly squeezed wine” indicating fresh squeezed grape juice—juice that hasn’t had time to ferment.
In Genesis 27:28, however, just three verses later, part of the blessing that Isaac gives to Jacob includes “plenty of … wine” according to the ESV. Blanco, though, can’t have “plenty of wine” around as it would ferment and turn into an alcoholic drink. (Grape juice begins to ferment within three to seven days and can be completely fermented within two weeks.) Consequently, he edits the Bible again.
Genesis 27:28
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
May God give you all the rain you need to keep your fields green, and may He give you big harvests of grapes and wheat.
The Clear Word
May the Lord God of heaven give you the rains you need to keep your pastures green, and may He give you abundant harvests of grapes and wheat.
English Standard Version
May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine.
Blanco has simply changed the wine into “grapes.” He has solved his problem of having “plenty of wine” lying around developing alcohol by removing the word, thus redirecting people’s attention away from fermentation to grape clusters (This fix, however, ignores the obvious problem of how to preserve large harvests of grapes.)
After the exodus of Israel from Egypt, Moses received the Mosaic covenant at Sinai. Included in the law were instructions from God regarding what should be offered for the morning and evening sacrifices. Once again, Blanco alters the narrative. In TEECW and TCWfK Blanco has edited Exodus 29:38-42 into two sentences, so the following comparison shows this truncated version next to Exodus 29:40 from The Clear Word and from the English Standard Version.
Exodus 29:40
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Once the altar is dedicated, the priests should offer a lamb on it every morning and evening. Offer some bread and grape juice with each offering. This shows what I will do for you, so do this every day.
The Clear Word
With the first lamb, offer two pounds of finely ground wheat flour mixed with two pints of pure olive oil as a cereal offering, and two pints of unfermented wine as a drink offering.
English Standard Version
And with the first lamb a tenth seah of fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering.
Because of Ellen White’s strict prohibition of alcohol and Adventism’s doctrinal position of teetotalling, Blanco cannot have his paraphrases showing that fermented wine was offered to God. Consequently, he changes the passages that tell us God’s own commands. TEECW and TCWfK are simply changed to “grape juice” while TCW adds the word “unfermented” in front of “wine” so as to convey a non-alcoholic version of this offering.
Blanco further alters the law of the Mosaic covenant governing the release of a person from his completed Nazirite vow. Below we see how Blanco has altered the biblical instruction that after completing his vow, a person may again drink wine.
Numbers 6:20
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
…then the priest should take it and hold them up to Me. This part of the offering will then belong to the priest.
The Clear Word
Then the priest is to take each piece and hold it up before the Lord as a special offering. Such offerings are holy and belong to the priest, in addition to those parts of the offering that normally belong to him. After that, the one having taken the Nazarite [sic] vow may again drink from the grape.
English Standard Version
…and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
The Nazirite vow included a vow to not drink any form of juice from the grape, fermented or not. Once his vow is completed, he may again drink wine. TEECW and TCWfK eliminate any mention of wine or grape juice, eliminating the problems associated with wine in the Adventist mind. In TCW the Nazirite “may again drink from the grape” implying grape juice.
…most Adventists have no idea that God commanded that they celebrate with wine!
The next passage is especially interesting because it is God’s instruction to Israel about how to spend the tithe money they saved to attend the yearly festivals He required. Many of the Israelites lived too far away for them to travel to spend Passover, for example, at the site of the tabernacle, and God explained how to use their festival tithe moneys to celebrate together where they lived. Most Adventists have no idea that, first of all, Israelites’ tithes could finance their celebrating the required feasts. Second, most Adventists have no idea that God commanded that they celebrate with wine! Here is a comparison of Deuteronomy 14:26–27.
Deuteronomy 14:25–27
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
If you live too far away to do this, then sell these animals and this part of your crops and use the money to bring your whole family to these festivals. Then you can buy what you need and fellowship with God’s people from other parts of the country.
The Clear Word
When you get there, buy what you want to eat and drink, whether it’s beef, lamb, sweet wine, or anything else that the Lord approves. Take your family and sit down with them to eat and drink with your heart full of gratitude for what the Lord has done for you. Enjoy yourselves and fellowship with your brothers and sisters from other parts of the country and be happy in the presence of the Lord your God.
English Standard Version
…and spend the money for whatever you desire–oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.
In this passage, Israelites are told that they may eat and drink “whatever your appetite craves,” including wine and strong drink. But according to the Adventist worldview, that permission can’t be correct because some cravings are not in line with what “the Lord approves.” Thus TCW corrects Scripture, changing “wine or strong drink” to “sweet wine”, implying freshly squeezed grape juice. In TEECW and TCWfK the issue is totally eliminated from the passage so there are no problems dealing with “wine and strong drink.”
In Judges we read the parable told by Jotham. His parable personified the vine and described it celebrating with wine. The Clear Word, of course, cannot perpetuate this uncomfortable fact in the words of Scripture. Below we compare Judges 9:13.
Judges 9:13
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
7-13. During the celebration Jotham climbed a nearby hill, called to the people, and said, “Listen to me. One day the trees decided to choose a king for themselves. They asked the olive tree. But it refused. It would rather produce olives. The same thing happened when they asked the fig tree and grapevine.
The Clear Word
But the vine said, “Should I give up growing grapes used for offerings to God and for juice to cheer the hearts of men and do nothing but sway over other trees?”
English Standard Version
But the vine said to them, “Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?”
TEECW and TCWfK eliminate any reference to wine by condensing the story (parable of the trees, told by Jotham.) In TCW wine is changed to “grapes used for offerings to God” and “juice to cheer the hearts of men” thus eliminating the unfortunate reference to wine in this Biblical passage.
In Judges 13 we read about the parents of Samson who receive a visit from the angel of the Lord. He told them that the wife would conceive and that the child was to be a Nazirite from the womb. Blanco avoids using the term “wine”, replacing it with “alcohol or anything like it” in TEECW and TCWfK, as seen below. In TCW he uses the phrase “unfermented wine.”
Judges 13:4
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Don’t drink alcohol or anything like it and don’t eat unclean food, because it will affect your son before he is born.
The Clear Word
I don’t want you to drink any alcoholic beverages, not even unfermented wine. Nor do I want you to eat any unclean food because that will affect the development of your baby before he’s born.
English Standard Version
Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean…
The reason for the prohibition above does not have to do with the baby’s development “before he’s born.” This prohibition is the same as when one takes a Nazirite vow. Samson was to be a Nazirite from birth; his hair was never to be cut, and he was never to drink anything produced by the grapevine. Grapes do not negatively affect the developing child in the womb; that couldn’t be the reason for the prohibition. It was, rather, simply due to the Nazirite vow under which Samson was to be born. His mother had to observe Nazirite food laws while pregnant with Samson.
Grapes do not negatively affect the developing child in the womb; that couldn’t be the reason for the prohibition.
Another passage Blanco intentionally altered is 1 Chronicles 27:27. In the big picture, this verse is almost trivial, yet it names King David’s overseers of his vineyards and wineries. Notice the contrast between the two passages from versions of The Clear Word and the ESV:
1 Chronicles 27:27
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Shimei, the vineyards;
The Clear Word
Shimei, the Ramathite, of the vineyards; Zabdi, the Shiphmite, over the produce of the vineyards;
English Standard Version
…and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite; and over the produce of the vineyards for the wine cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite.
In an almost shocking deletion, Blanco omits the name of Zabdi entirely in TEECW and TCWfK, his “simplified paraphrase.” The argument that it is “simplified” no doubt allowed Blanco to rationalize simply deleting these words of Scripture. In TCW he includes Zabdi but alters the scope of his duties to cover the “produce” of the vineyards, a phrasing which would indicate “grapes” or “grape juice” in the Adventist worldview. In fact, Israel would not have wine cellars at all if Jack Blanco were in charge. Thank God for honest men who do not stumble over issues such as a wine cellar when making translations; they are not bringing their preconceived or personal notions to their work on translation committees.
Time after time in TEECW and TCWfK, Blanco simply omits any reference to wine, and in TCW he does his best to alter the text to make it appear that fermented wine could not have been in view.
Wine, Blanco, and the New Testament
It is now time to take a look at some New Testament passages that deal with wine to see what The Clear Word says.
In Jesus’ famed statement about the New Covenant, He alludes to fermentation when He compares old wineskins to new, saying that putting new wine into old wineskins would ruin the wineskins and spill the wine. Jesus is referring to the new covenant reality of His finished work of atonement through His death, burial, and resurrection, and He is illustrating that it cannot be packaged in the terms of the old covenant with the shadows of the law. It is completely new.
Matthew 9:17
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
You don’t put fresh grape juice in old, cracked bottles. They would break. My teachings are like fresh grape juice. They need new bottles.
The Clear Word
It’s the same with leather wine bags. You don’t put fresh grape juice into dried-out leather bags, because they’re not flexible, and the continual pressure on the inside would split them wide open. That’s why you have to put fresh juice into flexible wine bags.
English Standard Version
Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.
Once again, Blanco replaces the reference even to “new wine” with “fresh grape juice.” TEECW and TCWfK are worse; they eliminate the problem with wineskins and refer to old bottles that are cracked. One might think these changes are minor details, yet in the context of Adventism, they are necessary in order to maintain the illusion that the Adventist health message, which includes abstinence from alcohol, is biblical.
Look now at how Blanco changes Luke’s statement that people prefer old wine to new:
Luke 5:39
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Some people like the old ways and don’t want to change, because they say, “The old ways are better.”
The Clear Word
It’s also true that people accustomed to drinking old wine don’t suddenly turn to new wine. At first they’re skeptical until they taste the new wine.
English Standard Version
And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’
In TCW the “new” wine is avoided because of skepticism. That’s simply an untrue statement. The old wine is good for its own reasons, and new is good for different reasons. Blanco has changed the meaning of the verse here. In TEECW and TCWfK, however, Blanco simply pulls a statement out of thin air and rewrites the verse in such a way so as to not refer to wine at all.
Of course Blanco would have trouble with Jesus’ first public miracle, at which we will now take a look.
John 2:10
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
At a wedding everyone serves the best first. When the people are happy, then they serve what’s less expensive. But this is the best drink I’ve ever tasted, and you’ve saved it till now.
The Clear Word
Everyone knows at a wedding you serve the best drink first, and when people are happy and enjoying themselves, then you start serving the less expensive drink. But just taste this! It’s the best unfermented wine I’ve ever tasted. It’s wonderful! You kept the best till last!
English Standard Version
…and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
TCW puts “unfermented” before “wine” to indicate fresh grape juice. According to Adventism, fresh grape juice is what Jesus created at the wedding in Cana. We already know from the passage above this one, Luke 5:39, that the best wine is the old wine. To say that it is unfermented is to change Jesus’ miracle into something that would have embarrassed the host. Jesus did not embarrass the host but provided, most likely, the best wine anyone had ever tasted
Blanco must expunge the evidence that people can become drunk on “new wine”, because he has taken the common Adventist position that “new wine” is merely “grape juice”…
Even the account of Pentecost must be changed in order that The Clear Word may be consistent with Adventism. In fact, the problem here is even more complicated than in the previous passages. Blanco must expunge the evidence that people can become drunk on “new wine”, because he has taken the common Adventist position that “new wine” is merely “grape juice”, unfermented and fresh-pressed. Notice how he has altered the wording:
Acts 2:13
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Some said, “What does all this mean? This is nothing but a miracle.” Others said, “No, these men are drunk.”
The Clear Word
Others started laughing, saying, “What’s really happening is that these men are drunk. We just think we’re hearing them speak in our language, but it’s not true at all!”
English Standard Version
But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Since Blanco believes “new wine” is freshly-squeezed grape juice, he cannot use the phrase in TCW or the passage wouldn’t make sense. In the ESV, however, it is stated that they are filled with “new wine” indicating newly fermented wine (from the current year’s crop.) Since Blanco cannot have people getting drunk with new wine, he simply uses the phrase that “these men are drunk”. He cannot break the Adventist narrative to let the text reveal one may become drunk on new wine. Consequently, he omits or alters the text so that a casual reader, unfamiliar with the passage, would have no idea what it really says.
Blanco’s crimes against Scripture don’t end with rewriting the Pentecost narrative. He must also alter Paul’s contrast between being filled with the Holy Spirit and being drunk, and he has to change Paul’s advice to Timothy to drink “a little wine” for his stomach problems. Let’s look first at the passage in Ephesians 5:18 where Paul speaks of being filed with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Don’t get drunk. If you’re looking for excitement, get excited about what God is doing.
The Clear Word
Don’t drink wine, because it’s too easy to get drunk. If you want excitement let your spirit get excited about what God has done and is doing.
English Standard Version
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
These Clear Word passages are completely misleading. In TEECW and TCWfK Blanco doesn’t even mention being filled with the Spirit but advises his readers first, not to get drunk if they want to have fun, but second, he recommends that if one wants some excitement, they should “get excited about what God is doing”. This comparison between drunkenness and observing God at work is illogical and also utterly missing from the text. Similarly TCW first advises readers not to drink wine at all, and then again attempts to contrast the excitement of drunkenness with that of contemplating God at work.
Blanco has to remove Paul’s clear words about believers being filled with the Spirit in order to retain the Adventist narrative.
Adventism teaches its members not to seek spiritual manifestations and cautions them against being “filled with the Spirit” in a charismatic sense. Blanco has to remove Paul’s clear words about believers being filled with the Spirit in order to retain the Adventist narrative. He warns against wine, and he eliminates the biblical command to be filled with the Spirit—and in a couple of seemingly innocent sentences, Blanco has changed the meaning of the passage.
Now let’s compare Blanco’s paraphrase of 1 Timothy 5:23 with the text of the ESV.
1 Timothy 5:23
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Take care of your digestive problems, which have been made worse by the stress you’re under. Don’t drink polluted water, but buy yourself some unfermented wine.
The Clear Word
And take care of your digestive problems, no doubt made worse by the stress you’ve been under. Rather than taking the risk of drinking polluted water, buy yourself some unfermented wine to drink.
English Standard Version
(No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)
In the Bible, Paul tells Timothy that he should use a “little wine” for the sake of his stomach. He also tells him not to drink “only water”. Clearly Paul is NOT telling Timothy to avoid the water as TCW, TEECW and TCWfK do. The biblical passage reveals that Paul is suggesting that Timothy’s frequent stomach ailments could be helped by adding a little wine to his daily diet. He is not suggesting that the water is polluted or to be avoided for any reason but is assuming he will drink water.
Blanco, however, cannot allow the Bible to recommend wine for any reason, not even medicinally, so once again he changes the meaning of the text entirely. In fact, Blanco adds the word “unfermented” to suggest to the reader that Paul is recommending grape juice, and he further creates the impression that Timothy’s problems are the result of the lack of sanitation in his first-century world.
Rewriting Scripture Not Necessary for Truth
Time after time in the versions of The Clear Word, Blanco has changed the clear meaning of the word “wine” to “grape juice,” “new wine,” “unfermented wine,” and “freshly-squeezed grape juice” in attempts to make the Bible clearer. He has failed, however, and has made the Bible harder to understand. His paraphrasing is working at cross-purposes with God’s inerrant word and the work of careful Bible translators.
When a Christian denomination wants to hold to a strict stance on the use of alcoholic beverages with its members, it does not need to change the Scriptures to do so. Blanco, however, needs to make it appear that Scripture supports the strict position of abstinence that is part of the Seventh-day Adventist organization’s health message.
The Adventist organization has traditionally maintained that all of its doctrines come straight from the Bible; Ellen White, they claim, is not needed for any of their doctrines to exist. Yet abstinence from alcohol cannot be supported with Scripture—although Ellen White emphasized it. In fact, Scripture allows for drinking alcohol if one does not drink to the point of drunkenness. Blanco, however, could not let that permission remain in his paraphrase because it would contradict Adventist belief and practice.
He knew that Adventists would be less confused and more anchored to their Adventist doctrines if they had a version of the Bible in which their unique beliefs were embedded in the text.
He knew that Adventists would be less confused and more anchored to their Adventist doctrines if they had a version of the Bible in which their unique beliefs were embedded in the text. Thus even in this seemingly small issue, Blanco does violence to the eternal word of God by making it appear that God commanded people not to drink wine.
Wine and strong drink are not prohibited by Scripture, whereas being drunk is prohibited. Christians who drink wine or strong drink in moderation and without becoming drunk are in conformity with the Bible. They do not need to be told to only drink fresh grape juice.
It is interesting to note that in the book of Revelation where the “wine of God’s wrath” is mentioned, Blanco has not changed “wine” to “unfermented” or “grape juice.” A couple of examples are given below. (Note in the first reference that “tormented with fire and sulfur” is eliminated in TCW, taking care of yet another problem in Adventist theology, the belief that the lost are simply consumed in the lake of fire, but not tormented there. In addition, God’s wrath is eliminated in Blanco’s versions.)
Revelation 14:10
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
Those who honor the beast from the ocean and worship it, and have its identifying mark, will have to suffer the consequences.
The Clear Word
…will have to drink the wine of God’s judgment, which will be poured out unmixed with mercy from the cup of His indignation. This will take place in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
English Standard Version
…he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Revelation 16:19
The Easy English Clear Word and The Clear Word for Kids
It became very hot, and made people feel as if their bodies were on fire. But the people still didn’t change. They even cursed God for letting this happen to them.
The Clear Word
The efforts of the dragon, the sea beast and the land animal – that wicked trinity – came to an end. The global city they had built lost its cohesion and split up into its three separate parts. God remembered what spiritual Babylon had done and gave her the cup filled with the wine of His judgment.
English Standard Version
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Wine in reference to the wrath of God is a concept Adventism attempts to deny. They often teach that God does not have wrath, that “wrath” is a concept which the humans who wrote Scripture introduced from their own limited perspectives. This premise, however, reveals their disbelief in an inerrant Scripture.
Wine in the context of God’s wrath alludes to the wine of the poisoned cup, the drink put into wine that criminals were sometimes given to cause a speedy death. Wine in this context also suggests the idea of the blood of those killed by God’s judgment, their life pressed out of them like juice is pressed out of grapes.
Significantly, in both passages from Revelation compared above, Blanco has eliminated the concept of God’s wrath, of torment in hell by God’s decree, and he has weakened or eliminated the use of “wine” to picture the deadly effect of God’s wrath on the unrepentant.
Conclusion
Alcohol can be a sensitive subject, particularly for anyone who has dealt with the problems of alcoholism and its related issues. Paradoxically, some have used the Bible to justify drinking wine or other liquor—sometimes with sad results—while some have used the Bible to justify abstaining from anything with alcohol in it. Scripture, however, endorses neither self-indulgence nor asceticism in this matter.
Our concern, however, is not primarily what the Bible teaches about using alcohol—it is how Jack Blanco has changed the wording of Scripture to present a biased interpretation of the biblical facts. Quite simply, Blanco has changed the Bible to agree with Adventist theology and practice, and he makes no apology for doing so.
ENDNOTES
- Ministerial Association, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-day Adventists Believe, 2nd Ed., 2005, p. 311.
2. Ibid., p. 315.
3. From Scientific American website on-line at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-origin-of-wine. On-line as of 10/29/13.
4. Easton, M. G. “Wine”, Easton’s Bible Dictionary. Blue Letter Bible. 1897. 24 June, 1996, 3 Jul 2012. See the following website: http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/
5. White, Ellen G., Patriarchs and Prophets, 1890, p. 136.
6. White, Ellen G., Redemption Vol. 4: or the Teachings of Christ, the Anointed One, 1877, p. 128, (emphases mine).
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