It’s Not Fair I Had To Go Through This Disease.

The death of Matthew Perry on October 28, 2023, was tragic and brought real grief to many.  It ought to be considered tragic not because of his popularity but because Matthew Perry was a human being created in God’s image. Although tarnished in us all, this imago Deo is what made him a person of dignity, value and honour.  His death is a tragic loss.   He starred on TV’s popular show Friends. Matthew Perry, the Emmy-nominated actor died at 54.  Perry's 10 seasons on Friends made him one of Hollywood's most recognizable actors, starring opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a friend group in New York City.

On the CBC National, October 29, 2023, a video clip of Perry being interviewed by __ was shown in part.  It can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/vrZsyBhmMro?si=yUhRity3Wu3clmHC.  It was in this interview that Perry left his saddest legacy.  It was in this interview that mental health as social condition was given its greatest setback.  This is not a condemnation of Perry, for he simply parroted what our culture teaches. Much of my concerns can be heard approximately at 29:25:00 minutes in the interview.

He talks about going into Rehab and says, “I was placed in some kind of spiritual guys office and we talked a little bit and as we were done talking he turned around . . . And said ‘just remember it’s not your fault’ . . . and I said ‘what do you mean it’s not my fault, I’m the one who’s doing it what do you mean’?  And he saved my life because I then knew that it wasn’t my fault that I it was that I wasn’t weaker.  It wasn’t my will that was screwed up. It was that I have this disease  and I need to get help . . .  It’s not fair.  It’s not fair that I had to go through this disease while the other five didn’t.” (Emphasis mine.)

The most pervasive and culturally acceptable paradigm to view addiction is to view it through the lens of a disease model.  The backstory to Perry’s condition was that as a 14 year old, he and several of his friends drank excessively.  His alcoholism and drug abuse continued but theirs didn’t.  His conclusion: they didn’t have the disease.  He did.  By his own story, the disease model gave him something to hang his hat on. But here’s the problem: the disease model didn’t heal the disease.  The other problem in his story is that the disease model proves it to be unfair and ultimately created a mentality of victimhood.  He was dealt a bad hand and he got the disease.

This blog is not to be dismissive of Matthew Perry. I felt nothing but compassion for him as I learned his story. He truly was a victim — but not of drugs and alcohol.  He was a victim of a health system that views non-organic crises as diseases rather than sicknesses of the soul.  Full disclosure, I am no expert in this field of discussion and I admit that the secular literature supporting the “disease model” is enormous.  My only claim is my view that the Bible is the inerrant authority and sufficient authority of matters of the soul.  My expertise is questionable. My God is irrefutable. 

The Bible describes the soul of human beings as broken.  It is malfunctioning.  The word ‘futile’ describes its ability, meaning that it cannot do what it was intended to do. The Bible is also clear that the cause of the soul’s condition is sin or stated otherwise rebellion from God.  Where the problem is “non-organic” or “a matter of the soul” the remedy can only be found in the Creator of the human soul.  Genesis 2:7 (ESV): “. . . then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”  That word “creature” in the ESV is from the Hebrew word translated into English to be “living being” or soul.

The Bible doesn’t avoid the matter of alcoholism or addiction.  Note:

Proverbs 23:29–32 (ESV): “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.”

Without addressing matters of the soul it is impossible to resolve non-organic problems. Proverbial wisdom from the Scriptures remind us that issues of the soul determine vitality of life. We read in Proverbs 4:23 (ESV): “Keep your heart [= soul] with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Again, I have nothing but sadness and compassion for Matthew Perry.  His story is a stark reminder that those who are afflicted non-organic horrors should seek the only true Physician of the soul. There are specific matters of human suffering that cannot be resolved by determination, discipline, doctors or drugs.  Matters of soul-sickness can only be healed through the Great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV): “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’”

The Sad Outcome of the "Law-approach" to Righteousness!

Galatians 5:19–21 (NIV),

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

This is not Paul's first reference to the flesh.  “Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh . . . You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love . . .  So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” (Galatians 3:3; 5:13 and 5:16–17, NIV)  

When the Galatians were trusting in keeping the Law they were living by the flesh.  Instead faith in Christ meant living by the Spirit.  The flesh and the Spirit war against one another.  Law-keeping for salvation is fleshly.  And we read here that fleshly behavior does not produce righteousness.  In fact it produces quite the opposite.  "“Flesh” sometimes refers to the physiological frame of man, as distinguished from the immaterial aspect of man, which is variously called “spirit” or “soul” (cf. Acts 2:17). More frequently the N.T. employs the term to designate the sinful tendencies that exist in man, most of which are related to bodily appetites and ambitions." [1] The interesting thing is that Paul says that these things are "obvious" or "plain".  He uses the word φανερός [fan·er·os/] which means to be plainly recognised or known. [2]

This is the irony: seeking to be justified by the Law actually produces more lawlessness. Paul wrote elsewhere: “But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.” (Romans 7:8–9, NIV). "Not only does the law reveal sin, but it provokes it as well. Law does not cause sin, but sin takes occasion by the commandment." [3]

"Paul doth not recite all the works of the flesh, but useth a certain number for a number uncertain . . . First, he reckoneth up the kinds of lusts, as adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness, &c . . . All the highest religions, the holiness and most fervent devotions of those which do reject Christ the Mediator, and worship God without his Word and commandment, are [nothing else but plain] idolatry . . . Paul reckoneth witchcraft among the works of the flesh, which notwithstanding, as all men know, is not a work of fleshly lust or lechery, but a kind of idolatry. For witchcraft covenanteth with the devils: superstition or idolatry covenanteth with God, albeit not with the true God, but with a counterfeit God . . . Heresies, that is to say, sects . . . Paul doth not say that to eat and drink be works of the flesh, but to be drunken and to surfeit . . .." [4]

“. . . and the like." Infers again, that this list is representative on exhaustive.   Then Paul goes on to warn:  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:21, NIV).  "This is a very hard and a terrible saying, but yet very necessary against false Christians and careless hypocrites, which brag of the Gospel, of faith and of the Spirit, and yet in all security they perform the works of the flesh." [5]  "The present participle (Gk. prassontes, translated here as “do”) refers to those who “make a practice of doing” such things, as a pattern of life. Their outward conduct indicates their inward spiritual status: that they are not born of God, do not have the Holy Spirit within, and are not God’s true children." [6]

Father, the fact that these sins are obvious does not make this topic any more acceptable. What is not obvious is the deceitful and pervasive culture of my flesh.  My flesh actually loves to be law-abiding. I take such pride in that.  It makes me better than others.  Sadly, looking at these sins actually incites something in me that wants them.  I see that in such reality when I decided I do not want to eat something.  How I long for it even more.  Help me Father, today to apply what I know is true: to kill sin by the Spirit and not the Law.  The Law-approach to righteousness just produces more unrighteousness.  Your grace, through Your Spirit is my only hope.  Grant me the will and the ability to do Your good pleasure today, not by works of the law, but to live by the Spirit.  Amen!

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1.  Believer’s Study Bible. 1991 (W. A. Criswell, P. Patterson, E. R. Clendenen, D. L. Akin, M. Chamberlin, D. K. Patterson & J. Pogue, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (Ga 5:13). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

2. Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

3. KJV Bible Commentary. 1994 (E. E. Hindson & W. M. Kroll, Ed.) (2235). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

4. Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

5. Luther, M. (1997). Commentary on Galatians (Ga 5:21). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. 

6. Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (2254). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.