THE TRUTH IN
PRINT
June 2004, Vol. 10: Issue 5
A Publication of the Valley
LIGHT BEER IS NOT SO LIGHT!
By Bob W.
Lovelace
I heard a comment about “light beer” that
made me wonder just how much alcohol it actually contains. Coincidental to this
article, upon leaving the house this morning I saw a semi advertising this very
thing. The entire side of the trailer it was pulling was an advertisement for
light beer.
Proverbs 23:29-35
(KJV):
“Who hath woe? who
hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who
hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? [30] They that tarry long at the
wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. [31] Look not thou upon the wine when it
is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
[32] At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. [33]
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse
things. [34] Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,
or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. [35] They have stricken me, shalt
thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when
shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”
By the way, the point above about one’s
desire (addiction) to “seek it yet again” can, dear reader, apply to light
beer. But that’s part of the danger of alcohol, and other drugs, that being the
deception involved. Hear Solomon again,
Proverbs 20:1 (KJV):
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging:
and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
Here wine or
alcohol is personified as themselves doing what they make the drinker do. Yes!
Wine is a mocker—it deceives one by its fragrance, it intoxicates by its
alcoholic strength, and it makes one a fool when intoxicated. One thing that
mockers do, Solomon said, is they mock at sin (Pr. 14:9). Moreover the very
verse preceding this strong warning says so. It says, “Judgments are prepared
for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools” (Proverbs
Alcohol does have the potential to present
an angry person (see “raging,” Pr. 20:1) when drunk, one who is yelling and
boisterous, and often one who is mean and cruel. Moreover the word deceived” is lit. the word "intoxication.” Inherent in alcohol is the
ability to deceive the mind as one can become drunk!
I asked a fellow at the Chevron station who
was buying a six pack what the alcohol content was. He said that light beer was
what he drank and he was sure it was over four percent. Was he right I wondered
because the al. content isn’t printed on the containers or package? I asked him
if one could get drunk on light beer and he politely laughed out loud. This
particular individual stated that it only took one more than a regular beer
(alcoholic content being 5%) to make him drunk. In fact, he said if he drank
three of his drink, the light beers, that he’d best not be caught driving a car
as he’d be in trouble! In turn I asked another man what the content in light beer
was. He also told me that’s what he drinks, and he thought it was 3.2% or
something like that. I asked him if he was sure. He recalled that when he was
in the military they used to serve alcohol at the PX that was less alcohol
content than a regular beer. Still another individual told me that lesser in alcohol content beer
that he remembered being served at the PX was 2.3% alcohol. And he said that he
used to be a bar tender at the NCO Club for many years while in the Marines
(he’s retired) and he’d seen many get drunk on the 2.3% alcohol beer! I have no
reason to disbelieve one who used to be a bar tender. He also said that he does
not drink now and that recently he was asked to speak at the base and when he
and his wife were asked what they’d like to drink he said she’d like a sprite
and he’d have a glass of water. When things began to get out of hand because of
the drinking he said they dismissed themselves and left. He’s not a member of
the
Among the admonitions given in the scriptures
is Peter’s. Hear Peter, “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the
flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin; [2] That he no longer should live the rest of
his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. [3] For the
time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles,
when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries: [4] Wherein they think it strange that
ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: [5] Who
shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. [6]
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that
they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God
in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:1-6 (KJV)
Yes! Peter’s right of course and Christians
should have no part of “banquetings” which is nothing more than drinking parties.
Drunkenness is a sin, a work of the flesh (Gal.
Still wanting to know the alcoholic content
of light beer, and having talked to a couple of individuals, I called the 800
number listed on the side of a six pack in order to get the correct information
(1-800-342-5283). The following was given to me by their representative:
Bud Light 4.2
Bush Light 4.2
Natural Light 4.2
Michelob Light Ultra 4.2
Bud Ice Light 4.1
Michelob Light 4.3
I asked why the alcoholic content was not
listed on the light beers, but it was on the others, and I was told that it was
a marketing decision not to put the al. content on the lights, since the law
does not require it. He stated that
certain states require contents of 5% and greater to be shown on the
containers.
Concerning the “non-alcoholic” beverages he
gave the following information. First, so called nonalcoholic labels are less
than 1/2 of 1%:
O'Doul's 0.4
O'Doul's Amer 0.4
Michelob Amber 0.4
The manufacturing representative also said
that it takes, for example,
8 1/2 cans of O'Doul's to
equal 1 can of light beer above.