drug addiction, inappropriate content addiction, and lack of faith , now what?

[Ultraviolet]

i tried going to church ,etc. go to youth groups,etc. im 18 years old. im a guy. i have a prescription drug abuse addiction , though i use other drugs occassionally. this particular drug is the only one i am addicted to. its a real problem, its harmed my social life, caused unhealthy weight loss,etc. but i still want to keep on snorting the stuff. ive had this addiction for a few years. when im off it the cravings are ridiculous. i feel like (word would get this post deleted if i said it) when im not on it. my parents were really angry when they found out when they came to my dorm and started rummaging through everything.

i also have a inappropriate content addiction. yes, i know , it harms the women in it , and people say it degrades women. to be honest , i really dont care, they chose to be in it. and i find that this ridiculous feminist stuff about "it degrades women" is ridiculous. and to be honest , i do not care. so please dont use that argument. but it would be good to stop. i mean , i dont want to go to hell. i really dont. but its a hard urge to resist. though not as hard as the drug thing to resist, which is something that ive been failing at and am not even willing to attempt stopping as the very idea of stopping the drug thing makes me freak out .

And about the inappropriate content thing: church mentors just say things like "oh it degrades women, and everytime you click the link to go to the site , you have supported the degradation of women". but if i dont care about that (in fact im offended by feminism and things like "it degrades women" (but somehow doesnt degrade the men in inappropriate content) offends me , its like saying "all men are bad" , and so it actually has the opposite effect on me. and church mentors and people in general arent great at handling addiction to drugs. dumb propaganda such as "just say no", DARE, etc has made people not understand the true nature of drug addiction. the view of drug use as being a form of "escape" (which stems from the "get high on life" propaganda) is really wrong. all this wrong propaganda makes it impossible to truly help people.

also, i have lack of faith. i have always been more on the low faith side. i thought i was saved several times. i would live for god for a few months then get burned out, this past time i made it almost an entire year. but i am having trouble believing in any deity. if i say this at church, they will reccomend some book that simply uses inaccurate arguments against evolution, while not even understanding evolution. Evolution isnt even the main problem with my faith, i mean evolution happened, but that doesnt contradict christianity. what seems to contradict it is my common sense , i cant believe in afterlife ,etc. and most near death experiences are inacurrate , only a few give the true biblical account of god.. so NDEs arent evidence for God. I want to believe, but I just cant.

so what do i do. I want to get to heaven. And please dont just say pray about it. And please dont just say "say the prayer about giving your life to jesus", that prayer is the worst thing that ever happened to christianity. ive never seen a single bible verse that says that saying a prayer like that really means you are saved. im living proof of that, ive said it maybe 400 times , somestimes daily. i have a hard time actually meaning it. and my mom uses the logical contradiction "the bible is right" therefore the bible is true , which doesnt really help.

so what do i do , i just dont want to go to hell. thats my goal.

 

[tcwoods91]

Hey thanks for posting. I absolutely agree with you about the "sinners prayer." A prayer is not what saves us. It certainly can be a starting place, but it is by faith that we are saved. Faith leads to action. If you have faith, there will be action on that faith. It is not simply enough to believe in the existence of God. Satan even believes in the existence of God. That being said it is not by our works that we are saved. Faith is putting your trust in Jesus Christ. It is something that will lead you to works, but our deeds are imperfect and do not lead to salvation. It is only because of the abundant love and grace of God that He offers us the gift of salvation. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Not even one person is righteous without the blood of Jesus Christ covering their sin. Jesus did what we ourselves could not do because of our sin. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ His blood covers us and we are declared righteous before God the Father. This is how we are given salvation.

If you want to be saved, the only way is through genuine faith in Jesus Christ. It's not some prayer that you pray, or a onetime thing that you do. It is putting you trust in Him, turning away from the sin to which entangles you. But it is only through His power that you will be set free from your addictions. You can't do it on your own. Trust me, I tried and tried to break free from a inappropriate content addiction on my own. I couldn't, it is only through trusting in Jesus Christ that I have been able to be free. I am weak, and there is no good in me, outside of God's grace. We all need a Savior and Jesus is the only way! Search your heart, it's not too late. Feel free to email me at tcwoods91@gmail.com

-Regards,

Trevor

 

[Hayley.Esther]

Hey there, just a few things that may be of use to you. Firstly I know I am never going to understand what it is like for you since your the one going thought all this but I can relate to a few of the things you mentioned and it took me ages to get my head around things.

Firstly the drug and inappropriate content thing are both damaging to you. Never mind about what it does to woman, like you said they made that choice and while I am a strong believer that anyone caught up in that has a set of issues of their own to deal with, I am not going to use the argument that its degrading to them. The argument I am going to use though is it is degrading to you and it damages you. That is why you need to stop.

Jesus is not out to spoil are fun so if you honestly believe that you need to stop because He wants you to then that tells me two things. Firstly you are saved or else you wouldn't care enough to even think about stopping let alone post this thread!

Secondly it tells me that a little part of you does want to stop. Then you have to ask yourself why? You say that you don't really see what the big deal is but can you not see the damage it is doing to you? My guess is that your feeling pretty frustrated right now because it partly feels good but partly feels like "what am I doing?!" There is a shame that comes with inappropriate content that you can't shake as long as you continue to view it, that eats away slowly inside.

Jesus can and will set you free but it requires your turning away from it. Here's the hard part though, temptation will always be there but Jesus promises to over come the world in us if we let him. If you want to talk more about this then feel free to pm me.

Now in regards to the drug thing..been there done that. It's hard to kick the habit but it can be done. The fact your freaking out because you can't imagine life without it is completely normal. Every drug addict goes through that phase. Trust me you can kick the habit but your going to need help. Again if you want to talk about this feel free to pm me.

Finally the lack of faith thing, given what your going through its normal to feel that, every believer has that at times, especially if your one to live by logic and factual evidence instead of taking things at fact value. The best thing you can do with that and it aint easy is decide your going to believe in Jesus and tell your brain to shut up! Don't get lost in theory and ideals its worst thing you can do if your already confused with your faith, just use the little you have. Faith as small as a mustard seed can move mounties. Use what you have and let God take care of the rest. Not trying to offend you here so if I do I am sorry but this is honestly the best advice I can offer. Take care and if you want to talk about anything feel free to pm me your not alone in this. Take it easy!

 

[Lem29]

If you want to be saved, the only way is through genuine faith in Jesus Christ.

That's a great reply, Trevor. But it didn't sound to me like hte OP wanted to be saved. Sounded like he wanted to continue his current lifestyle, but just without the fear of going to hell. Is wanting to avoid hell the same as wanting to be saved? Maybe. Interesting question, though...

Lem

 

[exalius]

also, i have lack of faith. i have always been more on the low faith side. i thought i was saved several times. i would live for god for a few months then get burned out, this past time i made it almost an entire year. but i am having trouble believing in any deity. if i say this at church, they will reccomend some book that simply uses inaccurate arguments against evolution, while not even understanding evolution. Evolution isnt even the main problem with my faith, i mean evolution happened, but that doesnt contradict christianity. what seems to contradict it is my common sense , i cant believe in afterlife ,etc. and most near death experiences are inacurrate , only a few give the true biblical account of god.. so NDEs arent evidence for God. I want to believe, but I just cant.

I haven't had problems with drugs, I struggle with inappropriate contentography as well. However, I have had more than my fair share of faith battles. Possibly because (like you, it seems) I tend to think about things, theorise and need evidence to back up my beliefs. I've done a fair amount of reading into this area to try and counter the theories that I've been hearing around me to prove God's existence.

1) Life cannot come from non-life (the Law of Biogenesis states that life can only come from previously existing life). If you believe the evolution model (not theory) then first life must've come from non-life. Without God, it contradicts this scientific law.

2) There is intelligent design in the universe. Even reading that sentence you are using you're own intelligent design to form an opinion about it. Intelligence cannot come from non-intelligence (which is why there are no works of literature from rocks or trees).

3) All effects that have a beginning need a cause. You see this post, you know that someone wrote it. Look at a building, you know there was/is a builder. Life (and the universe) is an effect (has an end/beginning), therefore it needs a cause: God.

4) There is a universal morale law: everyone knows that murder is evil. We all know that theft is wrong. This universal morale code is above people (which is why it is universal), and therefore there must be a moral law-giver who is also above people: God.

Any questions, want more, or if you have issues with what I wrote above, just drop me a pm.

God bless.

 

[hedrick]

Thanks for sharing your feelings. I'm sure you realize that everything you're feeling is pretty common, particularly for your age group, but really for all ages. Others in the age group for this forum can probably describe their own experiences.

But if you're looking for suggestions, you'll need to think a bit more about where you want to go. You describe a number of different situations, some of which are probably more serious than others. The responses are likely to be very different.

Drug addiction is considered serious by Christians and non-Christians alike. It can really mess up your life. We can't make you stop. You have to get to the point where you're ready to do so. If you are, there are people who can help. There's also a substance abuse forum here, where you would be more likely to find support. But I'd find professional help. For a young adult it's often available through school, though there are other sources.

inappropriate content can be an addiction, but frankly it's probably not your highest priority issue now, unless it gets to the point where you realize it's affecting your relationship with other people. Note that this isn't just a feminist issue. First, it degrades men, too. And for me, the real problem isn't that it "degrades women", but that it tends to affect the way you think about them, and can make it more difficult to have the kinds of relationships I hope you want. I think that's what Jesus was looking at in Mat 5:18. The point isn't to stop guys from admiring women, but to make people reflect honestly about how they think about women and how their approach is likely to affect their relationships. But some churches take an overly legalistic view on this, in my view.

My comments on faith are similar. Do you actually see anything attractive about having faith? Do you admire the way Christians around you live? Do you like what you know about Jesus? That's typically what motivates people to start down the path of faith. There are churches whose way of life frankly would repel me. I can't tell whether you're in one of those or not, but some of the danger signs appear in your posting. If you think Jesus is a good guy, and you think you might want to have faith in him, but you're repelled by the Christians you know, you should consider looking at another group of Christians. I can't be more specific, because I don't know your current church, or what groups exist around you. If you're in a fairly legalistic, conservative group, there are a number of options. These include mellower conservatives and liberals.

I'm a liberal myself. I believe in following evidence, and not giving tradition (either traditional theology or traditional morals) as a high a priority as the people you probably know. I still think Jesus died for us, and that we come to know him through Scripture. So I'm not the kind of liberal that goes off the deep end. You might consider getting to know some of the "mainline" churches. What I think you're groping for sounds to me like it's in that direction, but again, there are more relaxed evangelical churches that you might like as well.

If you don't have any real faith yet, finding a community (whether a formal church or not) that you recognize as showing you a loving God is probably the highest priority. But even one individual that you find an attractive model would be a starting point. Either that or coming to meet God personally, e.g. through reading Scripture. But all the evidence I've seen suggests that Christianity is normally "caught" from other Christians.

Further discussion will be a lot more useful if you think about things and tell us what kinds of changes you'd like to make, or at least are open to considering. It would be a starting point just to think about what (or who) you'd like to be like. What you do care about? [I should also note that this sort of thing is a lot better in person. Can you find someone you like and trust to talk to?]

 

[KyleFleming]

Pray, Pray, Pray.
Read.
Ask for forgiveness and guidance.
Pray, Pray, Pray.
Read.
Ask for forgiveness and guidance.
This is not going to be a one day, or even one month revelation.
Its a battle.
The only way you can fight these struggles and demons is through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Bible has the key to both of those.
Fellowship with other believers.

 

[help_the_lord]

inappropriate content addiction = you had a bad childhood whether you were abused neglected talked down to ignored or whatever things with your parents were not good. You used inappropriate content as an escape as a means to self medicate your problems. Despite its actual ability to cure your problems you've found that it's acted as a temporary coping mechanism that has done wonders to alleviate the pain for short periods. Now with your mind programed to find coping mechanisms to temporarily relieve internal pain you've turned to drugs as another temporary escape to avoid dealing with pent up sadness and frustration. You’re sad about your past whether it be directly related to your parents or other outside forces and you have found the best way to completely block it out is to use, whether it be inappropriate contentography or drugs. The first step you need to take is think of every person who has hurt you through your childhood think of every instance that really stained you and make a conscious decision to forgive them. This is not going to cure your addictions magically however it is going to remove a large amount of the pain you’re trying to control. This is a serious process though and will not all be accomplished overnight it may take weeks to completely flush out any pent up pain. Next or in unison with this it's also imperative to forgive yourself... you feel guilty that you couldn't do certain things to help situations throughout your past and instead of accepting that they were out of your control or just bad decisions that you can't go back on your now choosing to hold yourself accountable over and over, whether it be subconsciously or intentionally. Forgive yourself, let that stuff go no use in holding grudges with yourself over stuff that can by no means be fixed or changed by your grief. Next after you've dealt with the grief to the point where you feel comfortable dealing with the individual addictions, seek group mediation. It will be amazing to you how much less burdensome your problems will feel after thorough confession and discussion, you will find many people who empathize with you and who have overcome the same grief and challenges you have. At the point it's going to feel like a great weight has been lifted off your shoulders and you'll feel it easier to take an objective look at the addictions themselves, any remaining underlying causes and finally eliminate them at the roots. I believe somewhere in this process after faithful prayer for assistance from God you will notice that a great deal of help will be pouring out to you from directions you never expected. People who you would never of thought would be there to aid and support you through this difficult process will come out of the woodwork to make things easier. When it's all said and done you will discredit God at first and cut him out of the picture saying you've done it alone, only to find you feel empty and turn back to his loving council. Please don't think this is me trying to be a prophet it's more a mixture of personal experience and extra personal experiences. As for God's existence he's very real, I was skeptical like yourself and after constant prayers asking for signs I received more than I can even recount. Good luck on your endeavors and God bless you.

 

[Anihilus]

"so what do i do. I want to get to heaven. And please dont just say pray about it. And please dont just say "say the prayer about giving your life to jesus", that prayer is the worst thing that ever happened to christianity. ive never seen a single bible verse that says that saying a prayer like that really means you are saved. im living proof of that, ive said it maybe 400 times , somestimes daily. i have a hard time actually meaning it. and my mom uses the logical contradiction "the bible is right" therefore the bible is true , which doesnt really help.

so what do i do , i just dont want to go to hell. thats my goal."


You can go to church, read your bible and pray everyday, be baptized and still go to hell in the end. You can be very religious and not have been born again, and I know because I have been there. I was a slave to inappropriate contentography for years and I was going to go to hell for it even though I thought I was saved and on my way to heaven. I tried and tried to stop in my own strength but always failed.

When I finally gave up and cried out to Christ to save me he did instantly. The chains were gone and I was set free. The Bible became a new book to me, prayer became a delight, my sin no longer had dominion over me and God was disciplining me as a father. The grip that inappropriate contentography had on me for years was broken.

You have to understand that you are a slave to your sin, that is why you cannot stop the inappropriate contentography and drugs, it has such a hold of your affections and will that you DON'T want to let it go, even though you know it is going to send you to hell. And even if you do manage to get rid of drugs and inappropriate contentography, unless you truly get saved and are born again, you will just trade those sins for other ones.

"Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." John 8:34

But thankfully Christ came to set prisioners free.

"if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

The solution is a short one. You need to repent, turn from your sins, or you will go to hell.

for "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:3

You must be born again. Go to Christ and give your life to Him. He won't cast you out if you go to Him.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f8-vhKHdfA&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WZK6cqgh8U&feature=relmfu

 

[cedward1]

(I know this forum is for ages 17-23, but I don't think I'm too far out of the demographic to post. If I am, feel free to delete my response.)

Anihilus, you say that sin has such a hold on us that we don't want to give it up, and we can't. But you go on to say that the way we escape is to repent. Otherwise we go to Hell. How are you defining repentance? And how do we do this if we don't want to and can't give up our sin? I am hoping it is something that results from our trusting in Christ, and not something we must do before seeking salvation. Otherwise, I for one am doomed.

Or is the way to repent to be born again by going to Christ and giving our lives to Him?

 

[NaturallyGone]

hey, i suffer with a inappropriate content addiction as well. but one thign that helps: I have a girl i care about a lot in my life, and whenever i'm tempted to go on one of the sites, i think about whether doing that is somethign I would do if she were watching. it helps me not do it (most of the time).

 

[Anihilus]

(I know this forum is for ages 17-23, but I don't think I'm too far out of the demographic to post. If I am, feel free to delete my response.)

Anihilus, you say that sin has such a hold on us that we don't want to give it up, and we can't. But you go on to say that the way we escape is to repent. Otherwise we go to Hell. How are you defining repentance? And how do we do this if we don't want to and can't give up our sin? I am hoping it is something that results from our trusting in Christ, and not something we must do before seeking salvation. Otherwise, I for one am doomed.

Or is the way to repent to be born again by going to Christ and giving our lives to Him?

You can easily turn repentance into a work to save yourself. That is not what I am saying. You must turn from your sin if you wish to be saved, that is what the scriptures plainly teach but it is not some pre-salvation work. True faith and repentance are intermingled and I am not going to try and define which order they must occur in.

For myself, I was a slave of inappropriate contentography, I repented of my efforts to clean myself up and stop in my own strength when I fell down on my knees in despair and told the Lord I was done trying and that if He wanted it out of my life He would have to do it. He took it away and broke the chains, I didn't have to do anything but give up.

If anybody wants to be free from their sin all they have to do is go to Christ and ask Him, not holding anything back. Trust in Christ and He will set you free is the answer.

 

[Lindseyk]

i can relate to you on alot of things. Addictions and such.
Let me just tell you that it is my faith that helped me.
Im not going to say god "saved" me or anything, but he really helped me find peace in myself, which was my problem.

It all started when i went to this "ONE" church service.
The music was beautiful, the sermon was amazing.
It just helped me alot.
From then out i searched for ways to grow stronger in my faith.

Such as reading one psalms a day.
since that is my favorite book in the bible and everything.

so hang in there, it does get better.

 

[elizabeth451]

ok i can't relate to personally being addicted to anything, but my father was (and maybe still is) addicted to inappropriate content and that broke up his 15 year marriage with three kids, so ive seen some of the effects of this kind of addiction. However, one story that I found inspirational was how my grandfather quit smoking. He was praying for God to take his addiction away and he heard God say "when you give it to me, i will take it away." so he did and he never even had the desire to smoke after that.

not sure how much this will help but its just a thought

 

[Anihilus]

However, one story that I found inspirational was how my grandfather quit smoking. He was praying for God to take his addiction away and he heard God say "when you give it to me, i will take it away." so he did and he never even had the desire to smoke after that.

not sure how much this will help but its just a thought

I think your story is very helpful because it speaks to the heart of the issue. The bible teaches that men are slaves to sin and that deep down they love their sin and hate the light. They don't want to let go of their sin.

"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:19-20

Men have to forsake their sin and when they do, Jesus Christ, the Savior of men, will give them freedom. Those who are holding on to it and don't want to let it go and refuse to acknowledge it for what it is will remain slaves to it and will ultimately go to hell because they chose to love the darkness rather than the light.

"He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." Proverbs 28:13

God is so merciful that even if somebody sees they love their sin and that they don't want to let it go all they have to do is go to Christ anyways and He wont cast them out but will rather help them let it go.

If somebody want's freedom what they need to do is go to Christ and give their life to Him. He came to set the captives free.

"THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED," Luke 4:18

You can try all you want to to free yourself and clean yourself up but it won't work. Somebody else has to set you free and the only one who can do that is the Son of God Himself. And if He sets you free you will be free indeed.

"So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

 

[tyler123]

Are you me, OP? I'm also having problems with prescription addiction and abuse, lust, falling away, ect. Feelsbadman.jpg All I can do is pray about it I guess.

 

[tyler123]

Crap, and sorry for saying just pray about it, but that's literally all I can do personally I have 0 strength for anything.

 

[Jeneshisu]

This thread is rather old.. I feel sad that I wasn't around to see it sooner.

 

[Chany]

I understand how you feel.

I never had a drug problem, so I can't properly relate to it without being preachy, but have you ever considered the fact that your drug use is an escape, not from daily life, but rather from the pain caused by other problems? If it isn't, what is it?

I too have a inappropriate content problem. Actually, though, I think you do care about it, otherwise you wouldn't even bring it up or recognize it as a problem. It just doesn't degrade women; it degrades humanity to the level of animals and makes sexuality nothing more than a game. You, like me, have probably done so much inappropriate content that you often feel sedated. I consider inappropriate content as a drug; it has the same effects on the mind. Our feelings of apathy toward it stem from the continual use from it. However, we both seem to recognize what it really does.

The lack of faith issue is what apologetics is for. I used to be an atheist, so I know how you feel. Apologetics changed my life. Please look into it.

First off, consider that you may be suffering from depression due to the tremendous amounts of pain and suffering you experience. Find a good psychologist to see if you have depression and if you do, get treatment.

Find yourself a trusted ex-drug abuser to talk about your problems with, as they understand better than anyone else.

Although it pains us, we need to talk about our inappropriate content addiction to someone in our lives so that they can restrict our internet habits, because the current establishment does not like to acknowledge our problem as valid and real.

The lack of faith issue is probably the most independent one. Although we can help you in your journey for truth and faith, the initial step must be yours. Obviously, as you found out, youth groups are mostly filled with overly-protected Jesus freaks who can't comprehend atheists and most churches are filled with nothing more than the self-righteous sheep who like ignoring their problems. As such, you should look elsewhere, beginning with this site and a few of its members that are good in apologetics.

Also, my parents are also sheep who pretend like there is nothing wrong with their circular Bible theory. Those prayer also get really annoying, too. Talk to them about it, and if they give you the same routine and continue to ignore your problems, show them this thread to enlighten them.

I hope to dear God you read this.

 

[EternalFire]

Go to Freedom from habitual sin: Overeating, inappropriate contentography, Smoking, Drinking it will help with everyone of your problems, I promise. I'm proof, I had a problem with inappropriate content, and I'm a girl, and the site is helping me big time. Check it out.