Re: Is the Pope the Vicar of Christ? Can he change God's laws?

On 17/10/2010 10:17, 1st Century Apostolic Traditionalist wrote:

Besides 'old' grape juice would not taste better as it would have soon
gone off and so would taste fusty and awful.

Right, they didn't have fridges, preservatives and hermetic sealing in those days. Neither did they understand how to pasteurise.

Old wine is much better then new wine....whereas new or fresh
grape-juice tastes much better then new fermenting wine.
I know this, for many years ago I used to produce my own.

It strikes me that the people who say that 'new wine' was just unfermented grape juice know little about wine-making and its history. Before the coming of Islam, wine was an important part of Near-Eastern culture, and we know that vines were grown in Palestine. The sayings and actions of Jesus make it clear that he was very much at home with the product.

Everybody knows that alcoholic drinks bring problems as well as delights, and it may be true that some people are better off not touching them, but total abstinence is not part of the Gospel message.


Alwyn


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