Sadness

Proverbs regarding depression, despair, despondency, discouragement, downheartedness, fretting, gloom, heaviness of heart, hopelessness, melancholia, sadness, sorrow, unhappiness, worry.

When these proverbs were written, perhaps 3,000 years ago, alcohol was a commonly accepted elixir. (Potions from herbs would have been associated with Pagan magic but wine was manmade and therefore devoid of evil forces.)

Today we are more enlightened. If chemical assistance is needed we use much safer remedies from manmade pharmaceuticals, instead of drowning sorrows with drink. And thank God we have such alternatives. Even though modern medicine is far from perfect, without it there would be much more suffering in the world than the current 2.5 million deaths annually attributed to alcohol..

Even so, people cling to Proverbs 31:6-7 (see below) as biblical sanction to go out and get sloshed. "...let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more" may subdue their misery but can only make things worse in the longer term.

Yes folks, we at seiyaku.com are against the evils of drink!

(See also Alcohol Criticised)

All the days of the afflicted are bad, but one with a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Prov. 15:15 (read whole chapter)
A person's folly subverts his way, and his heart rages against the LORD.
Prov. 19:3 (read whole chapter)
As Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so the eyes of a person are never satisfied.
Prov. 27:20 (read whole chapter)
The leech has two daughters: "Give! Give!" There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, "Enough" -
the grave, the barren womb, land that is not satisfied with water, and fire that never says, "Enough!"
Prov. 30:15-16 (read whole chapter)
Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those who are bitterly distressed;
let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more.
Prov. 31:6-7 (read whole chapter)

Source: World Health Organization