It's actually quite simple when you realize that scripture really does speak to every human problem from Alzheimer's to zits. Kidding about the zits part.mike wrote:Signtist, I think what you had to say is very profound. I'm on the board of a ministry that publishes a magazine for prison inmates, and one of the requests I have heard that we receive frequently is help for addictions. We haven't really offered much material in the magazine about the problem. I've wondered what help an article in a magazine can give an addict anyway. But you have set me thinking about whether the problem really could be in our own minds, and that perhaps the point you are making might be helpful. Thanks for your thoughts.
What Is An Addiction?
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Signtist
Re: What Is An Addiction?
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ken_sylvania
Re: What Is An Addiction?
Well it does say about when a man looks in the mirror but can't remember five minutes later what he looks like.Signtist wrote:It's actually quite simple when you realize that scripture really does speak to every human problem from Alzheimer's to zits. Kidding about the zits part.
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Wade
Re: What Is An Addiction?
Non-organic food generally and pork almost always gives me zits...Signtist wrote:It's actually quite simple when you realize that scripture really does speak to every human problem from Alzheimer's to zits. Kidding about the zits part.mike wrote:Signtist, I think what you had to say is very profound. I'm on the board of a ministry that publishes a magazine for prison inmates, and one of the requests I have heard that we receive frequently is help for addictions. We haven't really offered much material in the magazine about the problem. I've wondered what help an article in a magazine can give an addict anyway. But you have set me thinking about whether the problem really could be in our own minds, and that perhaps the point you are making might be helpful. Thanks for your thoughts.
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RZehr
Re: What Is An Addiction?
I think it could be that in the process of abusing oneself, that the physical brain gets "rewired". This rewiring is a physical thing, not a mind thing. Then when the person wants to get clean, they now have a physically damaged brain to overcome. In this sense, it is similar to a disease in that they now have a permanent physical problem as a result of sin. This physical consequence of a damaged brain could be compared with a sexual deviant contracting a STD. The deviant or addict can change his behavior, but they then need help dealing with the damage.
Just my 2 cents.
Just my 2 cents.
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temporal1
Re: What Is An Addiction?
"What are Addictive Behaviors?"
http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/addictiveb.html
"8 Common Addictive Behaviors"
http://www.everydayhealth.com/addiction ... tions.aspx
i would immediately add a 9th common addiction: politics
MD-MN has had some interesting first-person accounts of members who have struggled with various addictive behaviors. some still battling, some feeling more in control, having left those challenges behind.
Whether alcohol/drugs/other, a common denominator is that none of these things affect all in an addictive way .. for instance, in my life, i (literally) can have any type of alcohol in my home without any thought to consuming it, for years. i don't think about it.
However, i know others, who cannot rest if they know there is alcohol of any description in the house, until they consume all of it. until it's gone, it "haunts" them in the cruelest way.
That difference is not the result of my magnificent ability to control myself!
i'm very sure of that.
i believe scriptures spoke to addictive behaviors in this passage:
Romans 14:14
http://biblehub.com/romans/14-14.htm
indicating that different people will be vulnerable to different things in different ways.
that there is something more at hand than will or self-control.
i think.
(to me) one thing Romans 14:14 speaks to is, if your friend is an alcoholic, don't offer him wine, or drink in his presence.
http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/addictiveb.html
"8 Common Addictive Behaviors"
http://www.everydayhealth.com/addiction ... tions.aspx
i would immediately add a 9th common addiction: politics
MD-MN has had some interesting first-person accounts of members who have struggled with various addictive behaviors. some still battling, some feeling more in control, having left those challenges behind.
Whether alcohol/drugs/other, a common denominator is that none of these things affect all in an addictive way .. for instance, in my life, i (literally) can have any type of alcohol in my home without any thought to consuming it, for years. i don't think about it.
However, i know others, who cannot rest if they know there is alcohol of any description in the house, until they consume all of it. until it's gone, it "haunts" them in the cruelest way.
That difference is not the result of my magnificent ability to control myself!
i'm very sure of that.
i believe scriptures spoke to addictive behaviors in this passage:
Romans 14:14
http://biblehub.com/romans/14-14.htm
indicating that different people will be vulnerable to different things in different ways.
that there is something more at hand than will or self-control.
i think.
(to me) one thing Romans 14:14 speaks to is, if your friend is an alcoholic, don't offer him wine, or drink in his presence.
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Signtist
Re: What Is An Addiction?
Absolutely agree.RZehr wrote:I think it could be that in the process of abusing oneself, that the physical brain gets "rewired". This rewiring is a physical thing, not a mind thing. Then when the person wants to get clean, they now have a physically damaged brain to overcome. In this sense, it is similar to a disease in that they now have a permanent physical problem as a result of sin. This physical consequence of a damaged brain could be compared with a sexual deviant contracting a STD. The deviant or addict can change his behavior, but they then need help dealing with the damage.
Just my 2 cents.
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Signtist
Re: What Is An Addiction?
You would certainly benefit from reading the 2 books i named as well as "Seeing With New Eyes" and "Instruments in the Redeemers Hands" Actually, just read everything the Christian Counselling and Educational Foundation has published including the Journal of Christian Counseling. You will have enough material for several years worth of articles!mike wrote: I'm on the board of a ministry that publishes a magazine for prison inmates
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gcdonner
Re: What Is An Addiction?
I'm not sure if this perspective has been implied in the posts above, but...
There is a chemical imbalance that takes place with addiction to anything, from coffee to cocaine and everything in between. That imbalance can be passed on to offspring making them susceptible to addiction. It all does begin with sin, whether in the first generation or the 10th. The first step in healing is repentance and then the imbalances can be dealt with according to their symptoms.
Alcohol is sin when used in excess and it does alter normal behavior as a result, which is why Paul exhorts to "be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit." It is a matter of choice which kind of spirit[Spirit] you want to be filled with.
Simply attempting to abstain without the Helper, is a fools errand and human history verifies this fact. It most often does take time to cleanse the system, though God chooses to miraculously heal according to his wisdom and knowledge.
The admonition to flee temptation is not without reason.
To simply tell someone to come clean is heartless and ignorant. To walk beside someone while they overcome and help them on the path to wholeness is our duty.
AA has a good reason for their meetings. Addicts need accountability, but let's not be as vain as they are and never be able to confess that "I am healed". To continue to call oneself a "recovering addict" is to predispose oneself to failure.
There is complete deliverance in Christ.
Even Jesus used methods in his healings, not all were instantaneous.
Think about it.
There is a chemical imbalance that takes place with addiction to anything, from coffee to cocaine and everything in between. That imbalance can be passed on to offspring making them susceptible to addiction. It all does begin with sin, whether in the first generation or the 10th. The first step in healing is repentance and then the imbalances can be dealt with according to their symptoms.
Alcohol is sin when used in excess and it does alter normal behavior as a result, which is why Paul exhorts to "be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit." It is a matter of choice which kind of spirit[Spirit] you want to be filled with.
Simply attempting to abstain without the Helper, is a fools errand and human history verifies this fact. It most often does take time to cleanse the system, though God chooses to miraculously heal according to his wisdom and knowledge.
The admonition to flee temptation is not without reason.
To simply tell someone to come clean is heartless and ignorant. To walk beside someone while they overcome and help them on the path to wholeness is our duty.
AA has a good reason for their meetings. Addicts need accountability, but let's not be as vain as they are and never be able to confess that "I am healed". To continue to call oneself a "recovering addict" is to predispose oneself to failure.
There is complete deliverance in Christ.
Even Jesus used methods in his healings, not all were instantaneous.
Think about it.
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temporal1
Re: What Is An Addiction?
good insights, george.gcdonner wrote:I'm not sure if this perspective has been implied in the posts above, but...
There is a chemical imbalance that takes place with addiction to anything, from coffee to cocaine and everything in between.
That imbalance can be passed on to offspring making them susceptible to addiction.
It all does begin with sin, whether in the first generation or the 10th.
The first step in healing is repentance and then the imbalances can be dealt with according to their symptoms.
Alcohol is sin when used in excess and it does alter normal behavior as a result, which is why Paul exhorts to "be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit."
It is a matter of choice which kind of spirit[Spirit] you want to be filled with.
Simply attempting to abstain without the Helper, is a fools errand and human history verifies this fact.
It most often does take time to cleanse the system, though God chooses to miraculously heal according to his wisdom and knowledge.
The admonition to flee temptation is not without reason.
To simply tell someone to come clean is heartless and ignorant.
To walk beside someone while they overcome and help them on the path to wholeness is our duty.
AA has a good reason for their meetings. Addicts need accountability, but let's not be as vain as they are and never be able to confess that "I am healed".
To continue to call oneself a "recovering addict" is to predispose oneself to failure.
There is complete deliverance in Christ.
Even Jesus used methods in his healings, not all were instantaneous.
Think about it.
you are "filling out" some points mentioned, adding more.
i have also been thinking of the mustard seed
(and how that important, beautiful, humbling, parable is sometimes inadvertantly, or, unfairly, misused:)
Matthew 17:20
http://biblehub.com/matthew/17-20.htm
(i believe) a number of MN members are involved in "hands-on" response to different "results"
(i.e., real people struggling with addictions, or suffering from others' addictions.)
it seems most people are impacted in some way. acknowledged, or not, there is a broad ripple effect.
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gcdonner
Re: What Is An Addiction?
Sin or disease never affects only one person, just as divorce does not just affect the husband/wife or any other behavior you can imagine. Addiction is one of those areas where it clearly demonstrates the biblical principle of the sins of the fathers being manifest to the 3rd & 4th generation (and beyond). The imbalances of life are passed on from one generation to the next, whether by chemicals imbalance, spiritual imbalance, emotional imbalance (which again can be caused by chemical imbalances) or whatever.temporal1 wrote:(i believe) a number of MN members are involved in "hands-on" response to different "results"
(i.e., real people struggling with addictions, or suffering from others' addictions.)
it seems most people are impacted in some way. acknowledged, or not, there is a broad ripple effect.
The solution is not just "renouncing" as some have taught, but in repenting, asking God for deliverance, seeking help from others and being accountable. We are complex beings and there are no simple, methodical, "one solution fits all" remedies, especially to those outside of Christ. Those of us in Christ need to cling to Him and ALL the resources He has given us for full redemption.
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