Is it wrong to consume alcohol? Possible Duplicate:
  How far is too far when it comes to drinking alcohol?  




Most Christians agree that getting drunk is wrong, and there's even a question about getting tipsy.  But is it okay for Christians to consume alcohol at all?  I realize there are many views, and different (Christian) traditions and cultures have different takes on this question, so please provide Biblical (or other authoritative) evidence for your view.
No, it's drinking to excess that is wrong - Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:17-19).  

Then, one needs to define "excess".  Which is likely to more personal and will vary from believer to believer; one might draw the line at the legal limit for driving as a useful guideline.  It's widely recognized that a glass of red wine a day is healthful and beneficial.

Then there's the case of the wedding feast an Cana where Jesus made 120-180 gallons (455-680 liters) of wine - and not just any wine, but wine of superlative quality. I find the argument that Jesus created non-alcoholic wine to be tortuous, at best. Then, too, there's the comment about the normal practice of serving the best wine first and the worst last - because after drinking the better wine people are too inebriated to notice the poorer quality of the latter wine; that's a clear indication the that what they were referring to as the "best wine" contained alcohol.

There was wine at the Last Supper, and every Passover Jesus celebrated in his life.

And Paul instructs Timothy to "Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses" (1 Timothy 5:22-24), probably because the alcohol in wine and the process of fermentation kills germs, where clean drinking water was harder to obtain.