|
The CommentaryBinge cringeAccording to Government statistics, in 2003/04 some 4,647 children were admitted to hospital suffering from mental and behavioural disorders caused by the effects of alcohol, liver disease and the toxic effects of bingeing. The figures were up by around 11% from 1996/7. During the same period, adult hospital admissions resulting from the effects of alcohol rose 15% from 35,740 to 41,122. Yet, against this background, the Government recently pushed through legislation relaxing the licensing hours. This will mean that many bars will stay open later at weekends and some outlets are now able to sell alcohol around the clock. As we enter a new year, we wait to see the consequences. However, there is every indication that many people, especially young people, are not good at handling such freedom responsibly. The anecdotes of town centres becoming drunken battlegrounds on Saturday nights are well known. There was a report that in Plymouth victims of weekend drunken violence are to be treated in a permanent ‘field hospital’ to relieve congestion in the local hospital casualty unit. Secular gospelWhat is behind binge culture? Surely it is related to the secularism which dominates our nation. The ‘tacit atheism’ by which we are surrounded tells people that there is no one to whom they are ultimately accountable but themselves. The laws of the land are at best just a reflection of the opinions of the majority. ‘But why should my life be ruled by the majority outlook?’ people think, ‘I will choose how I want to live.’ And what informs their choosing? The propaganda of godless evolution, which is fired at people from every side, has a clear message: ‘You only have this life. You are simply a complex animal. There is no higher purpose in life than living for your own pleasure.’ And, for many, that pleasure is getting legless as often as possible. We can only weep for the many young people whose lives are being wrecked and trashed under the influence of this false gospel. Meanwhile, we seem to have a Government which gives a double message. It says it intends to promote respect and self-restraint in society and deplores anti-social behaviour. But at the same time, when did large quantities of alcohol promote anything other than anti-social behaviour? And presumably the only reason the bars want to stay open longer is because they believe it will enable them to sell more alcohol. George BestIt was with tragic irony that the first weekend which saw the liberalising of the drinking laws coincided with the death of the footballing legend George Best from the effects of alcoholism. As the TV paid tribute by playing old match footage, one could only marvel at the man’s genius and lament a largely wasted talent. It was just before his death that someone told me a joke in rather bad taste. The doctor goes in to see George Best. ‘I have some good news and some bad news’, he says. ‘What’s the bad news?’ he is asked. ‘You only have an hour to live’, says the doctor. ‘So what’s the good news?’ ‘It’s happy hour’, is the reply. I thought it a sick joke and cringed inwardly. But actually it is the sick joke of secularism’s message. ‘You only have a short time to live. So you might as well binge’ (see 1 Corinthians 15.32). John Benton© Evangelicals Now - January 2006 |