I have been STRUGGLING with this a few years now. I am a born again Christian, who has been led to believe that I "suffer" from this "disease" of alcoholism..... The more I study The Bible, the more I'm led to believe it is not a disease at all, but a work of the flesh. I am coming more & more to believe that what is really needed is for me to truly repent from dead works of the flesh & take the hand of Christ & be led in the way to everlasting life.
One of the first posts which I prepared for this blog -- Errors of Alcoholics Anonymous -- focused on debunking the hollow, awful, and evil-distorted lie that alcoholism, or any other perversion/addiction.
I hope that Capnklump reads this post, too, when he has a chance.
I realized earlier that alcohol addiction is a work of the flesh. I reported on this truth when I was reading Galatians.
What I did not yet learn was that even though we have this flesh on us, this self-life principle which longs to do wrong and yet try to make itself right, this flesh has been condemned, and the sin which emanates from our flesh can no longer bring us into condemnation:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Romans 8:1-4)
There is no condemnation in Christ. None. Even when we sin (action). I accept that. Even when I fail in my actions, fine.
But when it came to upset feelings or resentments, I would still get hung up.
And the biggest issue that would take me down: this ugly little voice inside of me that would badger me with "What are you doing to do when this person or that person makes you mad? What are you going to do about it?"
That is the voice of the enemy.
Not only have our sins been paid for, but the sin in our flesh has been condemned, as well:
"3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"
We still have sin in our flesh. Not just works of the flesh, but the sin in our flesh is still there.
But it is condemned, and in Christ we are dead to sin:
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 8-11)
Dead to sin means dead to the condemnation of sin. We will still have sinful tendencies in our bodies and our minds, and we will still fall short, but every sin has been paid for forever in Christ. There is no need or value in our confessing our sins or going through the motions of doing good works to pay for what we have done.
We have received a perfected, purged conscience in Christ Jesus!
While at the time I revealed that alcoholism is a sin of the flesh, not a disease from which we can never be cured (which kind of begs the question -- why call it a disease in the first place?).
The issue for us, then, is not to get rid of the sinful feelings, nor to ignore them, but to recognize that all our sins have been paid for. The bad feelings, the bad thoughts -- have been paid for! They have been condemned in the body of Jesus, so that we can stop condemning ourselves:
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2: 24)
Notice that when we are dead to sins, we live in righteousness, and those sins were all paid for in Jesus' body, not His spirit.
The sin in our flesh, including alcoholism and drug addictions, or even sexual perversions, have all been paid for. To the degree, however, that we try to control those perversions, as long as we think that we can do something, or that we can control it in our own efforts, we are setting ourselves up for more failure, frustration, depression, destined to wonder and wander in the wilderness of our flesh.
I realized earlier that alcohol addiction is a work of the flesh. I reported on this truth when I was reading Galatians.
What I did not yet learn was that even though we have this flesh on us, this self-life principle which longs to do wrong and yet try to make itself right, this flesh has been condemned, and the sin which emanates from our flesh can no longer bring us into condemnation:
"1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. " (Romans 8:1-4)
There is no condemnation in Christ. None. Even when we sin (action). I accept that. Even when I fail in my actions, fine.
But when it came to upset feelings or resentments, I would still get hung up.
And the biggest issue that would take me down: this ugly little voice inside of me that would badger me with "What are you doing to do when this person or that person makes you mad? What are you going to do about it?"
That is the voice of the enemy.
Not only have our sins been paid for, but the sin in our flesh has been condemned, as well:
"3For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:"
We still have sin in our flesh. Not just works of the flesh, but the sin in our flesh is still there.
But it is condemned, and in Christ we are dead to sin:
"8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6: 8-11)
Dead to sin means dead to the condemnation of sin. We will still have sinful tendencies in our bodies and our minds, and we will still fall short, but every sin has been paid for forever in Christ. There is no need or value in our confessing our sins or going through the motions of doing good works to pay for what we have done.
We have received a perfected, purged conscience in Christ Jesus!
While at the time I revealed that alcoholism is a sin of the flesh, not a disease from which we can never be cured (which kind of begs the question -- why call it a disease in the first place?).
The issue for us, then, is not to get rid of the sinful feelings, nor to ignore them, but to recognize that all our sins have been paid for. The bad feelings, the bad thoughts -- have been paid for! They have been condemned in the body of Jesus, so that we can stop condemning ourselves:
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2: 24)
Notice that when we are dead to sins, we live in righteousness, and those sins were all paid for in Jesus' body, not His spirit.
The sin in our flesh, including alcoholism and drug addictions, or even sexual perversions, have all been paid for. To the degree, however, that we try to control those perversions, as long as we think that we can do something, or that we can control it in our own efforts, we are setting ourselves up for more failure, frustration, depression, destined to wonder and wander in the wilderness of our flesh.