The Bible tell me so.

Eating and booze
do not a devil’s
smorgasbord make


As rumors go, it was a dandy.

Kopan, one of Cabot’s (Arkansas) newest – and certainly one of the finest – restaurants opened several months ago to rave reviews.

A sushi restaurant in Cabot? That question was an initial thought. Yeah, right. What are they going to serve: Fish sticks, popcorn shrimp and Minute Rice?

For those who have eaten there, a review is not necessary; for those who have not partaken of their fare, go! Go now! Go often!

The food is superb with nothing better in the Little Rock area. The portions are generous, the service is snappy and the owners and staff will do whatever it takes to create a pleasant eating environment.

So why is Kopan’s in hot water with some local pastors … and Cabot Mayor Eddie Joe Williams? The restaurant has applied for a private club permit to allow guests to partake of beer or wine with their meal.

It’s legal, you know, this private club permit dealie. Most counties in the state already have private clubs. Lonoke County has four: Two in Greystone Country Club, and one each at Rolling Hills Country Club and Mallard Point in Lonoke.

I don’t remember a hellfire-and-damnation uproar about those permits. But, then again, the golfing facilities are already private so that, somehow, makes it okay. I guess.

What is it about legally obtained booze that sets the nose-hairs of some preachers and some politicians ablaze?

In the case of preachers, it’s usually described as a moral issue. The Bible is full of verses containing the words “wine” or “beer.” By its lonesome, Genesis has more “wine” in it that a package store.

The Bible is firm on the subject of alcohol. Abstinence is good; partaking of a little wine is not only acceptable, but can be prescribed for health reasons; consuming too much wine/beer is bad.

Not much has changed in the past 2,000 years, give or take a few centuries.

Proverbs 20 sums up the negative theme nicely: Wine is a mocker and
beer is a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

My personal favorite is Proverbs 31: Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish. Few preachers spend time working up a sermon on that particular chapter.

Nor on a specific chapter in Deuteronomy: He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless…your grain, new wine and oil….

We can skip over the fact that Jesus turned water into wine and go straight to Ephesians: Do not get drunk on wine…. Yeppers, there’s laws that cover that point.

Revelations talks about drinking “the wine of God’s fury.” But, heck, that’s Revelations -- the Bible’s Scary Clown chapter.

Mayor Williams said he did not want Kopan’s to have a beer and wine permit, calling it a “crack in the dam.” The crack is already there, Mayor: Four private clubs, a permit-restaurant coming to the Ward community, and Ace and Busy Bee liquor stores hovering on the county line.

Free advice, Mr. Mayor: Stick to trying to get businesses to come to Cabot instead of working to run them off.

Free advice to preachers: Preach a sermon now and again on all parts of the Bible, even those chapters with which you personally disagree. It would increase your credibility for those times you have some hot topic in which you want to get the majority of congregation pulling in the same direction.

There’s nothing wrong with drinking in moderation. ‘Cause the Bible tells me so.