The Welch's/Wine Controversy in the Church of Christ

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Texasmoneyman300
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13 Jan 2025, 11:52 am

Hi yall,
As some of you know I am a member of the church of Christ. We typically use non-alcoholic grape juice for our communion. I have always wondered why we do that with Welch's when it was real alcoholic wine during Bible times. Well a while back my old reverend said that the Church of Christ switched to Grape juice from real red wine due to Prohibition. I know some Catholic Churches back then made use of a loophole involving sacramental wine. For some reason I never heard of Churches of Christ using that loophole.

We in the Church of Christ take communion every week. I am a bit surprised that my church changed or stopped or altered a religious practice because it was suddenly made illegal at one point. Grape Juice was chosen partially because there was no need for any special permits and/or licenses.....Ironically, using real wine for communion is and was thought to be too worldly for the Church of Christ.....Its highly ironic to me because the early church drank real wine during communion. Apparently, grape juice for communion may have started in the church of Christ in the 1800's but became widespread during Prohibition and became standard after World War Two.



TwilightPrincess
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13 Jan 2025, 12:01 pm

I was thinking that one good thing about having grape juice instead of wine is that it might not be so triggering for some recovering alcoholics who’d find it triggering, not that I know much about that or anything. Overall, I find the concept of communion very strange.



Texasmoneyman300
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13 Jan 2025, 12:09 pm

TwilightPrincess wrote:
I was thinking that one good thing about having grape juice instead of wine is that it might not be so triggering for some recovering alcoholics who’d find it triggering, not that I know much about that or anything. Overall, I find the concept of communion very strange.


Ya I guess its good that the recovering alcoholics have a better time with the Welch's.



lostonearth35
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Today, 3:01 am

Around the time the Bible was written most people were drunk on alcohol most of the time because drinking ordinary water could kill you.

It's pretty freaky knowing that if humans didn't learn how to treat water to make it drinkable we would have all gotten cholera or some other deadly water-born illness a very long time ago. :skull:



funeralxempire
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Today, 6:38 am

lostonearth35 wrote:
Around the time the Bible was written most people were drunk on alcohol most of the time because drinking ordinary water could kill you.


It'd be a bit of an overstatement to say they were drunk, mostly because their typical drinks were too weak to get one drunk. Watered down wine or very weak beer were typical, but a drink with ~2% alcohol isn't getting a regular drinker drunk.


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Sweetleaf
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Today, 6:49 am

Texasmoneyman300 wrote:
Hi yall,
As some of you know I am a member of the church of Christ. We typically use non-alcoholic grape juice for our communion. I have always wondered why we do that with Welch's when it was real alcoholic wine during Bible times. Well a while back my old reverend said that the Church of Christ switched to Grape juice from real red wine due to Prohibition. I know some Catholic Churches back then made use of a loophole involving sacramental wine. For some reason I never heard of Churches of Christ using that loophole.

We in the Church of Christ take communion every week. I am a bit surprised that my church changed or stopped or altered a religious practice because it was suddenly made illegal at one point. Grape Juice was chosen partially because there was no need for any special permits and/or licenses.....Ironically, using real wine for communion is and was thought to be too worldly for the Church of Christ.....Its highly ironic to me because the early church drank real wine during communion. Apparently, grape juice for communion may have started in the church of Christ in the 1800's but became widespread during Prohibition and became standard after World War Two.


I admit I prefer when the communion has actual wine.


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Sweetleaf
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Today, 6:52 am

funeralxempire wrote:
lostonearth35 wrote:
Around the time the Bible was written most people were drunk on alcohol most of the time because drinking ordinary water could kill you.


It'd be a bit of an overstatement to say they were drunk, mostly because their typical drinks were too weak to get one drunk. Watered down wine or very weak beer were typical, but a drink with ~2% alcohol isn't getting a regular drinker drunk.


People used to drink beer over water, cause at least the beer was sanatized...it was weaker beer than some of what wse have now, but yeah beer used to be a way to get water that wasnt contaminated. So yeah it was not always enough to get drunk


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Tim_Tex
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Today, 7:51 am

Sweetleaf wrote:
Texasmoneyman300 wrote:
Hi yall,
As some of you know I am a member of the church of Christ. We typically use non-alcoholic grape juice for our communion. I have always wondered why we do that with Welch's when it was real alcoholic wine during Bible times. Well a while back my old reverend said that the Church of Christ switched to Grape juice from real red wine due to Prohibition. I know some Catholic Churches back then made use of a loophole involving sacramental wine. For some reason I never heard of Churches of Christ using that loophole.

We in the Church of Christ take communion every week. I am a bit surprised that my church changed or stopped or altered a religious practice because it was suddenly made illegal at one point. Grape Juice was chosen partially because there was no need for any special permits and/or licenses.....Ironically, using real wine for communion is and was thought to be too worldly for the Church of Christ.....Its highly ironic to me because the early church drank real wine during communion. Apparently, grape juice for communion may have started in the church of Christ in the 1800's but became widespread during Prohibition and became standard after World War Two.


I admit I prefer when the communion has actual wine.


Either is ok, though because of the meds I'm on, I can't have alcohol.


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