Friday, March 02, 2007

Drunk? That's a SIN??

Uh-huh.

A subset of my 22 regular readers includes a few who ought to know the actual rules (and who likely should ....ah....visit a priest as a result.)

So, what Aquinas is saying is that drunkenness can either be non-sinful, venially sinful, and mortally sinful depending on the circumstances.

1. It’s non-sinful if you don’t know that the Coke you are drinking is actually Coke and Jack Daniels (I can see how that’d be hard to miss, if you had no taste buds) and you get drunk.


2. It’s venially sinful if you are under the impression that Soju or Sake are light after dinner drinks, and have no idea that they’ll have you kneeling before the toilet later that evening.


3. It’s mortally sinful if you know that drinking a 12-pack of Coors Light will make you drunker than a door nail (That’s pretty drunk).


So that being said, if you are drinking to get drunk it’s a mortal sin; If you feel yourself getting tipsy, and still continue to drink, it’s a mortal sin; If you polish off a fifth of Jack, it’s definitely a mortal sin.

As usual, the source (Agnus Daily) provides a humorous context for this very serious reply.

3 comments:

James Wigderson said...

What about beer at a fish fry? If I'm doing my part, but I have a few too many beers, am I still okay?

Dad29 said...

I'm pretty sure (not being a certified Moral Theologian) that if you pop one beer/bite of fish that you are in trouble with the Church--not to mention an assortment of local LEOs, and most likely, your longsuffering wife.

Karen Marie said...

But is it a sin (or deception) if the rest of your party thinks you are being helpful by fetching every other round, but really you're fetching so they keep thinking you're drinking cuba libres when every round _you_ fetch is a coke with lime twist........

It's how I socialized in bars in college and always stayed sober enough to safely walk home at closing.........