I received a message with a question about the sin vs disease definition of addiction... controversy, for lack of a better word. An organization I will not name here claims that they will not enter the debate on the issue, because however addiction is defined, Jesus is the answer! But, in their statement of beliefs, the same group states:
we believe the Bible says alcohol and drug addiction are sin, not disease.
Therefore, the facts of sin and separation from God are dealt with as
the roots of all addiction problems.
The question posed to me was,
as an addiction minister how would you address it?
This is an easy thing to answer. In a way it is a non-issue, or an issue of semantics that distracts from the real issues. This is a difficult thing to answer. It is a sensitive subject, perhaps even a trigger of pain and hurt in many that can cause them not to be able to hear and receive what you are saying if you say it in a way that shuts them down. This may seem contradictory, but it isn't. The answer is that they are right...and they are wrong....and it doesn't matter. I would pray that you, Dear Reader, would try to give me until the end of this to react or respond further. I say respond further, because I doubt many read the opening without thinking that they think it is sin, or that it is disease or something. We tend to react quickly and decisively to statements such as these. Basically, I am asking that you hear me out before turning me off or clicking the button to move on or close this down.
The truth is, that with the exception of one word, I agree with the statement of belief above, with qualifiers. The first qualifier is that we define terms. This is important, because the truth is that I can't say that I agree with this group, because I do not know that I know how they are defining the word sin. I do know that I completely disagree with a lot of what they support, endorse and proclaim, which is why I will not name them. But I don't know for sure how they define sin, and it's important. We can not assume.
If I say I love you, you may think you know what I mean. I may think you'll understand me. We all think we know what love is, and we are most likely English speakers and readers. But it is not always so clear cut. If I say that I love you, and I mean that
I care for your needs and condition, that I am concerned about you, that I am committed to helping you and desire the best for you, even at the expense of my own comfort and security because you are a fellow human being who is loved, treasured, and valued of God, that you are important and valuable to me, but what you hear is
I think you're really amazing and attractive and I want a romantic relationship with you, then we have a major problem. There is only one person I love in a romantic way, and that is my awesome, amazing and beautiful wife. At the same time, if you think my statement makes you no more valuable to me than a sports team because you have heard me say
I love the Dallas Stars, then we also have a problem, because people are more important than sports, or pizza or that TV show I love. You get my point. There are different ways to define love, and it's important when the word is used that both giver and receiver are on the same page. The same is true of the word sin.
The word sin has been used to beat people up and condemn them by the religious for so long that many, even Christians, recoil and flinch and close off when the word is used.
Sin may be as complicated to define as love, and just as dangerous because we all think we know what it means when we hear it, and yet it could mean something different to the person using the word. I will state my simplified definition of sin so that you know where I am coming from when I use it. Sin is
that, anything and everything, which separates us from our Creator.
Now that is very basic. We could delve into the nuances for days on end and never completely exhaust the issue, but it will suffice.
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology states the following:
The vast terminology, within its biblical contexts, suggests that sin has three aspects: disobedience to or breach of law, violation of relationships with people, and rebellion against God, which is the most basic concept.
This is one sentence from a very long exposition on sin in
Baker's. If you desire to go deeper, you can read the entry in its entirety
here. But let us look at this as it stands for a moment. First, my simple definition. That which separates us from God. Are we separated by God when in the chains of our addiction. Recovery literature would say, yes.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?
Well, that's exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. That means we have written a book which we believe to be spiritual as well as moral. And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God. Here difficulty arises with agnostics. Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship. But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored.
- Alcoholics Anonymous p. 45
We may be more comfortable with the idea or terms like character defects over the word sin, but the point of the book and the program of recovery is to connect us to our Creator, a power greater than ourselves. The reason we need to find and connect with Daddy is because we have been separated from Him. Even if we are in bondage as believers, we still have not submitted control of our will and lives to Him in the area of bondage, which causes distance and separation in the day to day, even if not in eternity. We must increase our conscious contact with the Spirit of God within us and surrender to Him in order to find and maintain freedom in the area of addiction.
If we continue in our addiction, we are outside the will of God, because He loves us and cares for us, and it is not His will for us to destroy ourselves or others. He desires the best for us, which we can never have while in captivity. We can not be outside His will and close to Him at the same moment, so at that moment, there is separation and therefore, by that definition, sin.
But what about
Baker's? Well, let's look at it open minded and honestly.
1.
Disobedience to or breach of law. What is the law of God? Jesus said all the law is summed up in love God and love others. We know that when addiction rules our life and is active, we are selfish and self-centered. We are not living in love, either for God or others or even ourselves. We are not treating ourselves and others as though they have value, but we use others and try to ignore God. This is not love. It is a violation of the law of love.
2. Violation of relationships with people. Well, I think that's covered above. We are users, manipulators and damagers of others. I have never met anyone in recovery walking free of former addiction who claims that they didn't hurt anyone or violate anyone but themselves, although many of us felt that way when starting the journey to freedom because of the self deception that goes hand in hand with addiction.
3. Rebellion against God.
You don't reign in my life, at least not in this area, God, I do. I'm going to run my own life. I am going to do what I want to do. These are all rebellion against the rightful place of the Lord of all Creation. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous puts it this way, we must surrender our will and our lives to His care, and we must quit playing God. We must cease our rebellion against His will and control of us. In recovery jargon.
there is a God, I am not Him, and neither are you. Take off your God suit. It doesn't fit.
I think I have shown how addiction is sin without being condemning. I want to state very clearly that God loves you as you are, not as you should be. He doesn't require you to stop sinning to come into relationship with Him. In fact, it is impossible to do so, because without Him, we are slaves to sin, we are powerless to control our self, as well as the symptom manifesting as addiction.It doesn't mean you're evil or worthless. It means you need Daddy. It doesn't mean you need to clean up your act, because you can't, but it means you need the work of Jesus to make you new and clean. It doesn't mean you need to try harder and be more moral. It means you need the Spirit to empower you and transform you.
But that doesn't close the issue. The word I don't agree with in the statement of belief that started all of this is
not. Disease is defined as
a disorder of structure or function in a living organism that adversely affects the host, and has symptoms and signs that indicate the presence of the disease. With that definition, there can be no doubt that addiction is a disease It is outside the designed order of being. It is not how we were created, so it both effects our structure, our health - mind, body and spirit, as well as our function. There is a definite adverse effect, and there are symptoms and signs that show it to be there. For that matter, with that definition, it is clear that all sin is a sign of spiritual disease.
But really, it doesn't matter. It is semantics that distract. I don't care how you define what is wrong with me. Just tell me how to cure it, how to make it better. Here the opening is right.
However it is defined, Jesus is the answer. Let's focus on solution rather than quibble over classification. I don't need a diagnosis. I need a cure.
My wife has an auto-immune disease. We honestly don't know what it is. Some doctors have said Lupus. Others have said MS. Still others have said they don't know other than that there is clearly an auto-immune issue. I don't care. It doesn't matter what label to put on it. The only question that matters to me is
can you help her? All she cares about is getting well, or at least better. The treatment for Lupus and MS are so similar and also so individual that it's a moot point. Whichever one is the diagnosis, doctors start basically at the same place and then tweak treatment to work for the individual. The label really only matters to the insurance companies. which, by the way, is true about addiction as well. No one said, let's not do anything until we can figure out exactly what box in which to put your problem. No, they all said we'll worry about it later, for now let's start treatment. And she is dong better.
Does it matter if addiction is a disease or not, or exactly what kind of disease, if we have a treatment and it works? What disease do you have? I don't know what it was, but I have recovered! Does it matter if it is sin if we have been brought into relationship with Daddy and been given the power to live free of it? No. What matters is treatment.
Call it what you will. Spiritual sickness, a disease, a result of character defects, a symptom of sin or just plain sin. We can argue over semantics while people see the fight and steer clear, only to die in their sin or their disease. The point is they died while we had the solution they couldn't find because we were more concerned with what to call it than giving them the solution. And I truly believe that all of Heaven weeps and Daddy's heart breaks every time it happens.
Are you in bondage to addiction of any kind or struggling with a habitual sin or habitual character defect or just have an area in your life that produces pain and damage rather than life, love, peace and joy? I don't care which of those, or what combination of those, you are dealing with. I don't care what you call them or how you define them. I know the solution. I have the cure. And it's free.
Daddy loves you as you are, not as you should be. No matter who you are, where you come from, what you have done, are doing or will do. Regardless of what has been done, is being done or will be done to you. Daddy loves you. You matter to Him. Jesus has already carried your hurt, shame and guilt. He has paid the price to make you clean and set you free. The Spirit is calling
come, and I will make my home in you, have fellowship and relationship with you, make you new and give you power to do what you could never do before...be whole, have a life worth living and love, truly and unselfishly. You don't have to change your life. You don't have to fix anything or clean up your act. You don't have to earn it or deserve it. In fact you can't. But you can have it. All you have to do is accept the work that Jesus has done on your behalf and give the Spirit control to lead, guide and direct you, and let Daddy sit on the throne where He belongs instead of trying to run your own life, rule your own roost, live according to your own will. The solution is that simple. It worked for me. Just call me a forgiven and cured spiritually diseased sinner, who is not yet totally made whole and still shows symptoms of sin, but is getting better every day and has put together a decent string or days where the symptoms of addiction have not shown, by the power of the Spirit who made me free and is doing the restoration work on the project of my life.
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