Abolishing vs. Fulfilling the Law

The Point of the Gospel

Abolishing the Law vs. Fulfilling It

Personal Thought: I’ll get back to parables next week. This just has been coming up a lot lately on Facebook posts that I’ve read. Completely my own opinion—reminder I’m not a theologian or Bible scholar.

I think the passage where Jesus says he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it is quite often a stumbling block for Christians. It’s used to justify popular beliefs even when they no longer make sense. I wonder if people forget the point. Jesus did fulfill the law whose whole purpose was to help people atone for their sins in order to have a relationship with God. Jesus was the final sacrifice and atonement for sin and enabled us to receive the Holy Spirit. Catholicism notwithstanding, we no longer need a priest to intercede for us to God or to sacrifice animals and harvest products. That’s a major change by itself.

After Jesus’ death, he came to Peter in a vision and showed him unclean foods Jews weren’t supposed to eat. He said that it wasn’t what went into a man’s mouth that made him unclean but what came out of it—obviously ungodly words. Without that concession, bringing Christianity to the gentiles would have been near to impossible. The law was abolished. Early Christians quite often compromised, something fundamentalists have forgotten.

Even before his death, Jesus said not to follow the Levitical law regarding an eye for an eye, rather if someone strikes you, turn your other cheek to him as well. Moses gave the law allowing a man to divorce his wife, but Jesus said he did so because of the Jews’ hard headedness and not to divorce except for unfaithfulness because that caused the woman to become an adulteress and anyone who married her, an adulterer. Few mention this teaching when talking about rules we should obey. On a side note, it really bothers me that no provision was made for women to divorce their husbands when they became abusive or refused to stop addictive behavior.

So Jesus did abolish—or if that seems too harsh—change some laws to better reflect the spirit of the Old Testament laws.

Other Treatments for Alcohol Abuse

History of AA

The organization began in 1935 before much was known about brain functioning. A faith-based program, one admits his helplessness against alcohol (other drugs were added later), agrees to stop drinking—period—with the help of a higher power, admits to any harm done to the self and others, and makes amends if possible. Some think Prohibition in the twenties started Americans on a path of drinking in secret and binge drinking.

 

Other Treatment Options

I read in our local paper that AA is offering a combined twelve-step program for addiction and mental health disorders.  I’d like to know what credentials the counselors have. Traditionally, AA has been against using drugs in helping to stop the abuse of alcohol. Mental disorders generally cannot be managed without both behavioral therapy and drugs to offset the chemicals going wonky in the brain. Alcohol and other drugs are used to self-medicate. Taking away the alcohol by itself will not solve the problem.

For alcohol abuse, behavioral therapies combined with drugs proven to reduce alcohol cravings and improve sleep patterns and energy have been successful. Naltrexone, approved by the FDA in 1994, is one. Yet less than one percent of people seeking treatment, according to Glaser, are informed of this option. I know of people in at least one rehab who were offered this option and did very well, no longer drinking and eventually not needing the drug.

Another option, Antabuse, causes nausea, dizziness, and other objectionable symptoms when combined with alcohol. Now that naltrexone has an inexpensive generic, pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to promote it and there is little interest in researching other possibly effective drugs—varenicline, a smoking cessation medication that has shown promise in reducing alcohol consumption; topirimate, a seizure medication; and baclofen, a muscle relaxant.

One Size Does Not Fit All

No one treatment option works for every individual. AA tends to relate failure to the individual’s inability or unwillingness to follow the program. No study has been done by AA to determine whether the failure is the individual’s or the program’s. Naltrexone at least has been around some time. I wonder if studies have been done on possible side effects of long-term use. Alcohol abuse is such a widespread, insidious problem that destroys lives and undermines families, it would truly be a shame not to explore and advertise every avenue to solve the problem and lessen its repercussions. 

Parable of the Weeds

The Point of the Gospel

Parables con’t

Weeds among the Grain

{Mark} Jesus said, “The kingdom of God can be likened to a man scattering seeds on the ground. Night and day, whether asleep or awake, the seeds sprout and grow, though he doesn’t know how. By itself, the soil first produces the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel. Ripe, he cuts it down, for the harvest has come.

Personal Thought: of course science now knows how and why the seeds sprout, though sometimes I think we forget that while we can make seed production as efficient as possible, we cannot make the seed by ourselves.

{Matthew} Jesus began to speak to them only in parables. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted grain seeds in the field, but his enemy spread weeds among the wheat. Both grew up together. The man’s servants asked who could have done such a thing, and the owner said, ‘An enemy did this.’ They asked if they should pull up the weeds, but fearing they would also pull up the wheat, he said, ‘Let them grow together. At the harvest, the harvesters shall bind the weeds together and burn them then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable. He said, “The planter is the Son of Man, the good seed, the sons of the kingdom, and the field, the world. The weeds are sons of the evil one, the enemy who planted the weeds. The harvest is the end of the age when the Son of Man will send his angels to rid his kingdom of everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will be thrown into the fiery furnace. Then the righteous will shine as bright as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

The Mustard Seed {Matthew, Mark, and Luke}

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is also like a mustard seed. Though the smallest of seeds, it grows into the largest of garden plants to become a tree where the birds come to perch in its branches.”

{Matthew and Luke} “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast mixed into a large amount of flour to leaven all the dough.”     

AA--Other Options

Alcoholics Anonymous—Other Options

See The Atlantic magazine, “The False Gospel of Alcoholics Anonymous” by Gabrielle Glaser

My parents were very occasional social drinkers. There friends were not. I saw so many of the families I grew up with split apart by alcohol, their kids left with drinking and family problems of their own. I wonder if this information would have helped them.

AA’s Philosophy

Alcoholics Anonymous teaches that drinking alcohol in excess is a disease that progressively spirals into worse and worse bouts of drinking until one hits rock bottom and seeks treatment, which Ms. Glaser equates to giving a diabetic insulin after he goes into a coma. The only treatment they recommend is the twelve-step program, which is primarily abstinence coupled with faith and prayer to recognize the problem and get help from a higher power to deal with it—a one-size-fits-all approach. One drink will lead to bingeing and set you back to the very beginning of recovery.

Since membership is obviously anonymous and no records are tracked, their claim of a seventy-five percent success rate is impossible to substantiate. Other studies suggest a far less rate. Success stories abound. People for whom the program didn’t work, other than celebrities, are seldom heard from. It is known that none of AA’s precepts have been scientifically backed. Most treatment providers, often recovering addicts, have no other training and no other education beyond a high-school diploma or GED.

Alcohol Addiction as a Symptom of Other Afflictions

Six states require a bachelor’s degree, and one, Vermont, requires a master’s degree to be a treatment counselor. No national guidelines exist. Rehab centers can hire people who struggled with addiction themselves rather than more educated—higher paid—doctors and mental health professionals. No other areas of medicine or counseling allow this.

The problem: people with alcohol problems have a higher-than-normal rate of mental-health issues that AA is not equipped to deal with, yet many rehab treatments consists solely of AA meetings. A certain percent of members attend meetings under court order, usually for driving under the influence and may or may not have a severe disorder. Still, all are treated exactly the same and the ability to learn to become moderate drinkers with therapy is disavowed.

Next week—how America’s treatment philosophy evolved and other treatment options.

Jesus' Parables

The Point of the Gospel

Parables

{Luke} Jesus traveled to towns and villages proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The disciples traveled with him as well as some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene), released from seven demons; Joanna, wife of Cuza and Herod’s house manager; Suzanna and many others, all helping support Jesus with their own money.

{Matthew and Mark} Such large crowds gathered around Jesus that he got into a boat to teach them in parables.

The Sower of Seeds {Matthew, Mark, and Luke}

Jesus said, “A farmer planted his seeds by scattering them on tilled land. Some fell on the walkway and the birds ate it. Some fell on rocky, shallow soil and sprouted quickly. But the sun burned the plants because they had insufficient root systems. Seeds that fell in the thorns were overgrown by them. The seeds that reached good ground produced a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown. If you have ears, hear this.”

The disciples asked why he spoke in parables, and he answered, “You have received knowledge of the kingdom of heaven, not these people. Those who have will be given more and have plenty. Those who do not, even what they have will be taken away. The prophecy of Isaiah (6:9, 10) is fulfilled: ‘You will hear but never understand, see but never comprehend. For these people have become insensitive, barely hearing or seeing. If they opened ears and eyes, they might understand, change their direction, and be healed.’

“Blessed are you for seeing and hearing. Truthfully, many prophets and righteous men yearned to but did not see and hear what you have. The parable means that when one doesn’t understand the message about the kingdom, Satan snatches away what was sown in his heart, the seed on the walkway. The seed in rocky soil is the man who joyously hears the word but, having no root, quickly lets it go during trouble or persecution from non-believers. The seed in the thorns is the man who allows worries and materialism to overshadow the word, and he doesn’t mature. But the seed on good ground is the man who hears and understands. By persevering, he produces a crop, yielding more than what was sown.”