The 1 thing keeping your sin on life support

[Michie]

If there’s one thing you can say about America, it’s that most of us are addicts.

According to a U.S. News and World Report article, two-thirds of Americans admit to having some form of addiction, with that number most likely being higher. Addiction ensnares people no matter who they are or where they live with the U.S. News article expert saying, “I think what we're seeing in this is that it's not isolated … It's pretty surprising to think about how pervasive of a problem it is in the U.S ... There isn't a typical person with addiction problems. It seems like it's affecting families regardless of their race and ethnicity, regardless of their income and regardless of where they live”.

Addictions take many forms. You have the common substance-related ones like alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc., and then a long list of non-substance addictions such as pornography, internet/social media, gambling, work, shopping, sex, food, and exercise.

What’s common about these addictions is their commanding, compulsive nature. To use a double negative, people describe how they “can’t not do” .

Is that you? Are there destructive habits that you “can’t not do”?

If so, barring the physical aspect that can occur with some addictions, the Bible says that what you have is a spiritual battle with sin and that any compulsion can almost always be traced back to one thing. Kill it and you kill your addiction.

A right desire vs. an ‘overdesire’

Continued below.

The 1 thing keeping your sin on life support

Is that you Are there destructive habits that you can t not do

www.christianpost.com

 

[fide]

There were 34 "reads" on this thread, and no responses when I began this response. The number of posters looking at it shows me that some people really do want to stop doing something or somethings, but find it very difficult if not impossible to do so! Such powerful desires are truly problematic - they are "addictions" - they are compulsions - they are actually modern "idols", though most folks today would not use such uncool language to talk about them.

In a phrase, using more modern religious language, such "overdesires" are in fact pointing deep within the soul to disordered self-love. We are our own worst enemies. Our disordered love of self is our deepest and most powerful enemy of ourself. This irrational self-love is, in other words, our secret and most-beloved idol and enemy of God.

The question that God wants us to ask, concerning this reality, is, "Then what am I to do?"

 

[mourningdove~]

In a phrase, using more modern religious language, such "overdesires" are in fact pointing deep within the soul to disordered self-love. We are our own worst enemies. Our disordered love of self is our deepest and most powerful enemy of ourself. This irrational self-love is, in other words, our secret and most-beloved idol and enemy of God.

The question that God wants us to ask, concerning this reality, is, "Then what am I to do?"

I don't think my answer will by anything near to what you will be lead to share, but here would be my response:

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous can be useful in overcoming probably most any addiction.
I already had faith in God, when He gave me the gift of AA's 12 Steps.
And they worked/work for me.

The 12 Steps:

1. We admitted we were powerless over (fill in the name of the addiction) — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to (other addicts), and to practice these principles in all our affairs.


Working the 12 Steps gets one to admit their powerlessness over the addiction, place their trust in God for deliverance while continuing to address issues of sin in one's life, moving continually into deeper fellowship with God, the fruit of which is peace, serenity, and a desire to be of service to others.

Working the 12 steps is a way to find deliverance from the bondage to self.

The two founders of AA were not Catholic, but Bill Wilson was attracted to Catholicism, had a Catholic priest (Fr. Ed Dowling) as his spiritual sponsor, and even wrote to Fulton Sheen:

Library : The Catholic Contribution to the 12-Step Movement

The Catholic Contribution to the 12-Step Movement Robert Aufill explains how Catholicism influenced the 12-Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Wilson, the founder of AA, had a deep attraction to the Catholic faith, and even corresponded with Bishop Fulton Sheen. In the early days of AA, a...

www.catholicculture.org

(Whew! That was sure a mouthful from me! lol)

... But I just couldn't resist sharing what I know has worked for me and many others. I do look forward to reading what the Lord gives you to share on the subject!

(And if you are personally opposed to the 12 Step approach, no problem. I know some Christians who are, and I still call them 'friend'! lol )

P.S.
There is also now a specifically Catholic 12 Step recovery program. Looks good, though I've had no experience with it:

Twelve Steps & Prayers - Catholic in Recovery

catholicinrecovery.com

 

[fide]

I have no criticism, only praise for the 12-step program of AA. I am certain that God inspired the two men who began it. The first step, to realize that one's life had become unmanageable, and the only - only - step next had to be to hand it over to God - the Higher Power - even if they have no idea who or what that Power is. That step is what Jesus preached - Repent and believe the Good News. That Good News is that there is a God who seeks to empower you to a life of freedom from an existence of bondage to sin that is working death in your soul. Hope in that! Believe in Him! Follow Him to Life.

I have known, in my family, someone whose life was saved by AA. I attended meetings with this person on his/her anniversaries, and I was blessed and impressed with the power of the honesty of the members there. Our churches should be so filled with such honesty! The admission one to another "My name is ___ and I'm an alcoholic" struch me deeply. The penitential rite of the Mass:

I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters
that I have sinned through my own fault – we strike our breast –
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us,
forgive us our sins,
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

This is such a truth - but we rush through it too quickly (as we do all the prayers of the Mass). Do we mean what we are saying? Does anyone feel the truth of it in their hearts, when they say it? Have they ever hit bottom, as the drunk so often has as a prerequisite for finally submitting himself to the program that can save him? So many of us Catholics maybe say the words "I have sinned" in the rite, but believe inside "but I'm a good person and so I'm OK with God...." No, the drunk is made for sobriety, and the sinner is made for holiness. And God wants to help us get to Him, writing sometimes straight lines with zigzagged paths.

A 12-step programs for any addiction is a great first step, on the path to salvation in Jesus Christ.