The myth of the ‘good person’

The useful part

'Good person' is not a diagnosis, a legal defense, or a Christian understanding of the human heart. The phrase is linked to Pliny the Elder, who wrote that drunkenness brings out "the secrets of the mind." His examples included lust, anger, reckless words, violence, and lost memory. We do not get drunk before driving, watching children, or making important decisions.

How it works

• Still, nobody says, "He got drunk and spent the evening showing patience, wisdom, and self-control." Take away the guardrails, and something besides goodness often comes out.
• Pelagius was a fifth-century monk who taught that people could obey God without first being changed by His grace.

Details worth keeping

Alcohol clouds judgment and weakens self-control. Impaired judgment rarely produces better choices. We often talk as though the will sits above our desires.