In Mark 7:15 Jesus said, “Nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.” If Jesus is right in this passage, why are so many families and churches characterized by a “barriers” approach to preventing “defilement?” That is, telling people how bad it is for them to drink this, eat that, or go there, making a rule against it, and then trying to make them good rule-followers.
Granted, Galatians 6:7 reminds us of the Law of the Harvest. “A man reaps what he sows.” However, this healthy teaching can be quite unhealthy without the balanced approach that Scripture provides as a whole. Identifying the problems and ignoring education on healthy lifestyle decisions represents such an inadequate view of health. Just because a person avoids or stops using chemicals and goes out for football or band does not mean he or she is a healthy person. Attending a worship assembly instead of the local bar is not the same as health either. Yet so much of the effort put forth in families and churches is toward extinguishing one behavior and rewarding another.
Jesus’ statement confronts all of our efforts to solve or prevent problems by avoiding something that doesn’t have the power to cause the problem in the first place. What a waste of time! This approach urges us to define health in terms of outside behavior instead of inside fullness. It provides no help or support once a person has broken through the barrier. It simply does not address the cause of the problem.
So what is the cause? Environment? Environment can contribute to the problem, but it is not the cause. Poor choices? People’s poor choices contribute to the problem. So does lack of healthy past and present relationships. Shame contributes, as does ignorance, self-righteousness, dishonesty, and denial. But what is the cause?
At first glance, my answer to that question might seem so “religious” as to be of no use at all. This is hardly the case. The truth is that this concept, which we have too long seen as purely theological, has many very practical ramifications in our lives. I believe that at the heart of all harmful dependencies is the issue of idolatry. A grasp of this concept is essential as a foundation for understanding the processes of chemical dependency and codependency, or any unhealthy dependencies.
Remember the account of the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis? It tells of God’s creation of Adam and Eve. God was their source and sustainer. He placed them in relationships (with Himself and each other) and in an environment in which all of their needs were met. This is much of what I believe God meant when He said, “This is very good.” There was a tree in the garden which was off-limits. Even to touch it meant death. Genesis 2:17 says, “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” They ate and they died.
There have been volumes of books written and thousands of sermons preached about what occurred that fateful moment when Adam and Eve ate from the tree. At a Christian Counselors’ conference I attended in Atlanta Drs. John Townsend and Henry Cloud summarized it well from their book, How People Grow. God’s original design included an unbroken relationship with Him and among men. When man colluded with Satan this design was turned upside down. No longer does man’s nature acquiesce to the God of heaven and earth. Now man’s nature says, “I will judge life. I’m the source. I’m independent.” This is idolatry. It is worshipping at the throne of self. What did man get when he disobeyed God? “You shall surely die,” warned God. And it was so. But getting death is not getting anything; it is losing something. Death literally means separation. Man was separated from eternal life in the Garden of Eden.
Understanding death and life is not really so difficult. It is like darkness and light. Darkness is not the opposite of light; it is the absence of light. The way to be in the light is not by trying hard not to be dark. It is by coming into or turning on a light. Death is not the opposite of life; it is the absence of life. The way to have life is not by trying hard not to be dead. It is by coming to what can give life.
“I have come that they may have life” (John 10:10); “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48); “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25); and “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Why did Jesus come offering life? Because we did not have it!! Romans 5:12 says that “death came to all men, because all sinned.” To argue whether we are dead because Adam sinned or because we sin misses the point. The point is that we lack life.
Excerpted from Idolatry of Addiction by Eric Greer.
