A friend of mine is a recovering alcoholic, and I have heard her speak of it as her "disease", and she has even likened it to cancer (which I privately took offense to).  I have even attended an AA meeting with her to show my support as a friend.  My question is: is it correct to call it a "disease"?  It doesn't seem like a disease to me since you cannot use willpower to conquer cancer or Parkinson's disease.  Also, I noticed that during my visit to the AA meeting, I got the feeling that AA was a substitute for religion for many of the people there… including my friend who is Catholic (she told me that she felt AA took the place of going to church).  It felt very cult-y, and the books they used were bound to look like Bibles, and they read from it as we might read from the Bible in church... I don't know your level of familiarity with this organization, but is it opposed to God's teachings?

Sincerely, Friend Of An AA Member

Dear Friend Of An AA Member,

This topic is one where it becomes very easy to wander into opinions and conjecture.  We will restrict our answer to purely the Bible’s view on the subject.  Is it wrong to think of alcoholism as a disease?  No.  All sinful behavior is a disease that infects our lives and kills us (Rom 6:23, Jas 1:15).  Some sin is so pervasive that it cannot be handled or escaped alone.  That is why it is so important that christians bear one another’s burdens and strengthen each other (Gal 6:1-2).  We also need to realize that certain things like alcohol, smoking, drugs, etc. create a physiological reaction that makes it even more difficult to recover and escape from the sin.  Jesus Himself said that there are times where the spirit of a man is willing to change but the flesh is weak (Mk 14:38).  The weakness of the flesh does not excuse the sin, but it does amplify the burden of removing the addiction.

Alcoholics Anonymous is not inherently opposed to God.  Many, many christians have used AA meetings as a helping hand to recover from addiction.  AA does not profess to be a source of religious knowledge; in fact, they are very careful to remain ambiguous in the area of religion.  Having said that, AA has been used as a replacement for attending church.  But that is nothing new… people use family vacations, fishing trips, television, music, clubs, and any number of other things as replacements for serving God.  That is a problem with the individual person, not a problem with the organization.  Every individual has a responsibility to not forsake the assembly of christians (Heb 10:25).  There is never a replacement for attending church services.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week All the New Testament in a year

Please explain what the Bible means, in layman’s terms, in Matthew 11: 12. Thank you; this scripture is very vague to me and confusing as to what its meaning could be.

Sincerely, Inquiring Mind

Dear Inquiring Mind,

Matt 11:12 is a statement by Jesus addressing what people were trying to do to the kingdom. The kingdom is the church (Col 1:13). We need a little bit of context in order to understand this verse. For four hundred years, the Jews had been anxiously awaiting any prophecy from God. Before John the Baptist, the Jews hadn’t had any prophecy or word from God since the book of Malachi was written. These four hundred years are often called the “Years of Silence”. The last thing that they had been told was to wait for Elijah to come, and after that the kingdom of the Messiah would appear (Mal 4:5).

When John the Baptist arrived, he was the ‘Elijah’ that they were suppose to wait for (Matt 11:13-14). The Jews began to stir with great excitement because they knew the kingdom was near. They thought that the kingdom of heaven would be a military power to save them from Rome – but they were wrong (Jhn 18:36). Because of their misunderstanding, they kept trying to force the kingdom into being. They wanted to be a powerful nation again and throw off the oppression of the Roman government. So they did whatever they could to violently force the kingdom into being. For example, the Jews tried to force Jesus to be a king (Jhn 6:15). This is the violence that Jesus is referring to in Matt 11:12. The Jews didn’t recognize that the kingdom was His church, and because of this misunderstanding, they were attempting to forcibly speed up the formation of the Messiah’s kingdom. That is the violence Jesus referred to in Matt 11:12.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week All the New Testament in a year

What does the Bible teach us about what is to come after death; specifically, do we know our ultimate fate immediately, or do we have to wait until the Day of Judgement?  What happens until then?  Also, can our loved ones watch over us such as is commonly believed? And will we know one another in Heaven?  I have heard "all of life's questions are answered in death"; is this true?  Will we even care about "life's questions" once we are gone from this world?

Sincerely, Looking Ahead

Dear Looking Ahead,

The Day of Judgement will only happen once, and then all of mankind will be divided between heaven and hell (Rev 20:12-15). However, until that time, all the dead will wait in Hades. Hades (also known as Sheol) is the place of the dead, both the good dead and the bad dead. The word ‘Hades’ literally means ‘the unseen place’.

Within Hades, there are two areas where people wait for the final judgment. All of the faithful who die wait in the good part of Hades called ‘Paradise’ (2 Cor 12:4, Lk 23:43). All of the wicked who die wait in a part of Hades known only as ‘torments’ (Lk 16:23). We cannot say with entire certainty whether people can look down on the affairs of Earth while in Hades, but the story of the rich man and Lazarus implies that they can’t. When the rich man died, he was in the ‘torments’ of Hades. He then began to inquire about his brothers in a way that leads us to believe he couldn’t see what was going on in their lives (Lk 16:27-31).

We will definitely know one another in heaven. In fact, if the transfiguration is any indication, we will know everyone in heaven, not just those we have known in this life. When Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of Olives, both Moses and Elijah appeared and talked to Christ (Lk 9:30). The remarkable thing is that Peter recognized both of those men even though they had been dead for many centuries (Lk 9:32-33).

As far as “all of life’s questions” being answered, all we are told is that every tear will be wiped away (Rev 21:4) and pain shall be done away with. Will we know everything? I have no idea. But, we will know what we need to understand, and we will be at peace with the light that God’s presence provides (Rev 22:5).