ALCOHOL
The alcoholic
commits suicide on the installment plan.
I’m tired of
hearing sin called sickness and alcoholism a disease. It’s the only disease I
know of that we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to spread.
Let us not be
deceived by outward appearances. Satan "disguises himself as an angel of
light" (2 Cor. 11:14). He keeps his deadliest diseases most sanitary. He
clothes his captains in religious garments and houses his weapons in temples.
Legalism is a more dangerous disease than alcoholism because it doesn't look
like one. Alcoholism makes men fail; legalism helps them succeed in the world.
Alcoholism makes men depend on the bottle; legalism makes them self-sufficient,
depending on no one. Alcoholism destroys moral resolve; legalism gives it strength.
Alcoholics don't feel welcome in the church; legalists love to hear their
morality extolled in church.
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, p.
155, Used by Permission, www.DesiringGod.org.
I had rather
be a sober heathen than a drunken Christian.
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 82.
Drunkenness
is the devil’s back door to hell and everything that is hellish. For he that
once gives away his brains to drink is ready to be caught by Satan for
anything.
46.64.
In respect to
the consumption of wine, both the Old and New Testaments nowhere prescribe
total abstinence. Only those bound by the Nazirite
vow (Num. 6:3-4) and a few others are told to abstain (Lev. 10:9; Jer. 35:6, 8,
14; Eze. 44:21). The Scriptures, however, denounce
the drunkard and warn him about the spiritual consequences of his intemperance.
1 Corinthians, Baker, 1993, p. 170.
Alcoholism…has
only gone from sin to disease. Because of the horrible consequences of heavy
drinking on both the drinker and the family, no one is willing to say it is
normal. Yet there are very few who would say that the abuse of alcohol is sin
or, at least, solely sin.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 183.
The
[unbiblical] language of alcoholism captures this [“disease”] experience.
1.
“Treatment
is best done in the hospital by professional medical personnel.”
2.
“Once
an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. There is no true cure.”
3.
“One
drink, one drunk.”
4.
“That’s
the disease talking.”
5.
“Medical
treatments might soon be available.”
6.
“You
didn’t choose this, so how could it be anything but a disease?”
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 186.
If you have
ever been to an AA meeting, you know that while the cause is always spoken of
in disease terms, the cure is decidedly moral. There are no medications
dispensed or surgeries to be had. You arrest the course of the disease by
saying no. You both give up your will to a higher power and determine, with the
help of others, to live and abstinent life. According to the AA tradition and
the disease model, you are not
responsible for the cause but you are
responsible for the cure.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 190.
The Bible has
a different view of how we first get involved in addictions. Instead of
explaining the overpowering urge for alcohol as a disease, the Bible talks
about our motivations and desires, forces so powerful that they can take over
our lives. The Bible says that we first choose our addictions, and only then do
our addictions choose us.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 191.
AA has been
helpful for many people. It provides accountability, mutual understanding in an
environment that doesn’t judge and wonderful support for many people. It does
not, however, strive to find distinctively biblical answers to the problems of
life. As a result, it is bound to have some problems:
1.
Its
disease model doesn’t really let anyone get to the heart of the matter… When we
examine our hearts, we find is that the greatest danger is that we are hooked
on ourselves… This means that even if I give up alcohol, unless I deal head on
with my biggest problem, I will never truly find freedom. I will just find
something else to serve my desires.
2.
Its
theory of change does not reveal the against-God nature of the addictive behavior.
Even though we are not always consciously aware that our addictions are
disobedient before God, the reality is that they are.
3.
Jesus
is optional. If it is true that addictive behavior is rebellion against divine
authority, then addicts have no hope but to run to Jesus for forgiveness,
cleansing, and power.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 197-198.
The
knowledge of God [must become] our most important goal. After all, if the root of our problem
with addiction is a problem of worship, then we need to learn who should be the
true object of that worship. As this idea takes hold of your heart, you will
find that you feel more at home in a good church than in an AA fellowship. You will
draw strength and wisdom from sermons, find encouragement in corporate singing,
be spiritually fed in communion, and search the Bible for the living God. You
will come to know more about the God who is bigger than you ever thought:
bigger in justice, in power, and in love. You will see how His greatness works
in your behalf. One problem with AA is that the “God as you understand Him to
be” is never large enough.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 199.
One of the
problems [with the] disease model [is that it] doesn’t really let anyone get to
the heart of the matter. The addictive substance can be dangerous, but our
hearts are more so. When we examine our hearts, we find is that the greatest
danger is that we are hooked on ourselves.
If I am an alcoholic, my ultimate idol is not the bottle. It is I. I idolize myself. My desires are of first importance. My cravings rule – cravings
for popularity, freedom from pain, revenge, or freedom from frustrations at
home or work. Addiction is self-worship. This means that even if I give up
alcohol, unless I deal head on with my biggest problem, I will never truly find
freedom. I will just find something else to serve my desires.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 197.
What about
cravings? The Bible understands them well. It refers to them as temptations.
The Bible recognizes that people with years of sobriety often still struggle
with huge temptations. Sometimes this is just a normal part of the slow process
of change. Sometimes it is simply a consequence of being reminded of something
we once loved. But at other times it can be a result of mentally cherishing and
nurturing the addiction while physically abstaining from it. Instead of asking
God for a desire to hate sin at its roots, some people cling to the pleasant
memories associated with their addiction. They remember that they once had a
potent escape, whereas now they experience the pain of facing daily problems.
Edward T. Welch
Blame
in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 196.
Whiskey and
beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.... The saloon is
the sum of all villainies. It is worse than war or pestilence. It is the crime of
crimes. It is parent of crimes and the mother of sins. It is the appalling
source of misery and crime in the land and the principal cause of crime. It is
the source of three-fourths of the taxes to support that crime. And to license
such an incarnate fiend of hell is the dirtiest, low-down, damnable business on
top of this old earth.
Booze Sermon, www.Billysunday.org.