YOUTH AND ALCOHOL
by Dr. W. Robert Smith
W hile conducting a C h r i s t i a n conference I was confronted by a teenager who honestly asked, “Really ‘Doc,’ while I don’t drink, it's been a great temptation at school be cause the crowd does. I’ve been taught one shouldn’t and so I haven’t. But actually, what’s wrong with a friend ly glass of beer?” I made it a point to spend a little time with this young man starting with some of the basics, such as the science of alcohol. It is one thing to tell our youth, “No,” and it is quite another to forti fy them with some positive guide lines to help them in times of tempta tion. Children do need to know “why.” In the Lord’s service, as good fathers and mothers, we should become con versant, having knowledge in these areas, so that we might properly in struct our children. I pointed out to this young man that there are many things accom plished in our world today because alcohol is an excellent chemical. The problem comes in as alcohol is mis used. Alcohol dehydrates, taking the moisture out, and it dissolves. Planning for a continuing increase in the student body are leaders of the Arizona Bible College, Biota's Phoenix affiliate. Pictured below are Mr. Merv Fishback (left), executive administrator, and Mr. Theodore Fischbacher, dean.
In the human body the nerves are coated in a fatty substance called lipoid. When alcohol enters the body the first thing that happens is that it dissolves the nerve coatings affecting the brain. The protoplasm at the heart of the nerves is much like the white of an egg. Alcohol acts like a stove, cooking or dehydrating this sub stance. This is what accounts for all the physiological limitations and weaknesses that result. Some scientists believe that any amount of alcohol heightens one’s sex ual desires, frequently taking away inhibitions. Many an act of unchastity, fornication, and adultery is committed by people who are under the influence of alcohol. Many criminals in penal institutions will admit that they com mitted these terrible deeds following consumption of alcohol. Liquor exerts its most serious prob lem on the nervous system affecting the function of seeing, feeling, mov ing, thinking, and self control. We have sadly observed an individual “liquored up” and how loud and ob noxious he becomes. He starts to shout at the top of his voice. The rea son is because he doesn’t hear so well and as a result he talks louder to compensate for it. No wonder there are so many accidents on our high ways when the eyesight as well as other nerves are so affected. Such in formation is conclusively shown from repeated scientific tests and is factual. Actions and reactions begin to slow down to a very noticeable extent. This is why drivers with beer or liquor in them find it more difficult to move their foot from the accelerator to the brake. Despite all the warnings by law enforcement officials, hundreds of people are killed every year as a re sult of alcoholism. Alcoholism disturbs all the impor tant normal body functions, slowing down actions of important organs, 7
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