Is Addiction the Sin of Idolatry, or is it a disease?

Always great when a person that has never struggled with something believes they understand it so much better than those that have.
Also the notion that believers should magically not struggle with addiction suggests a perfectionist belief. Which is not biblical.
Some long winded blow hard that has never experienced addiction is not going to be my source for knowledge or insight on the matter.
Go tell a heroin addict going through withdrawls in a hospital they aren't really addicted, it's just idol worship. Let me know how that goes.
Or better yet go through some addiction yourself. Addiction isn't chronic idol worship, it's a physical or psychological compulsion that is out of the addict's control.

It seems like saying an addiction is a disease might lessen the impact of someone taking it seriously to stop the addiction having an excuse it is a disease so they cannot stop, but are actually enjoying it.

And it seems like it is idolatry for they are putting their addiction above God, which the Bible says they are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.

The truth is there is no such thing as struggling with sin only not submitting to the Spirit, which many are not really trying to beat it, or they do not believe the power of the Spirit can help them overcome it.

For there are many people that make excuses for their wrong doing as if they cannot overcome the flesh.

But the Bible says those that are led of the Spirit shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, and God will not allow them to be tempted above what they can endure, so they are not tempted as hard as the world, and will give them an escape from the temptation.

That is why there is no excuse, but maybe some people do not understand this being a babe in Christ.

Maybe they think it is all up to them to overcome the addiction, for if people with addictions knew the truth that by the Spirit they can have the power to overcome the addictions why do they need people to help them when the Spirit is better at helping them overcome the addiction for that is an inside job that a human cannot affect.

So either they do not know the truth, or they do not want to actually quit.

I hope I understand you correctly, but say if I am wrong but here goes. Do you mean that like many years ago, before the pharmaceutical industry took off proper, people had a heart attack at say 60 just for example, and they didn't resuscitate them because that was their natural life span, for instance? Without the need for "artificial" needs to keep them alive? I get what you are saying. In fact, I had a similar conversation when the doctors wanted to withdraw life support from one of my elderly family. They start off saying, "everyone has to die sometime blah" then explain to you why we cant live for ever. I am not disagreeing with that at all. But I DO ask the doctors, why do all the medical world keep inventing things to keep people alive longer then? Then complain the NHS is crippled "because of the aged"? Doesn't make any sense. Is that what you mean? If I don't "get it" sorry I only had 4 hours sleep so bit fuzzy. But mostly I was referring to people in pain - its hard to take pain without pain relief and a lot of people don't intend to get hooked but they end up hooked anyways.

Correct. Which means that the new creature in Christ (who has God within) also has the power within to be set free from any and all addictions.

Christians should teach new Christians that it is God who sets them free. But they must also die to self and be alive to God. This is why the Bible speaks about mortifying or crucifying the flesh -- putting the lusts and addictions to death.

EPHESIANS 3
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

... I acknowledge sometimes it takes being in a rehab center (or even jail or prison) to get away from the drug, even if one is a believer. I have a friend that I believe wanted to quit, but he wasn't able to, until he went to a rehab facility. He was a believer before and after. He is doing well now, and it's been a year or more I think.

Idol factories! That's a good one and sounds about right. Isn't an idol something you worship though? Like people idolise their kids sometimes? Or Elvis (or even Elvis guitar?) I am not sure if addiction fits into idols. Not sure. I don't think addicts worship what they take they just cant stop when they start and many pray all day every day to get help to stop. I think also, some recovered addicts may have been put in that position to help others after they are no longer addicts as they would have way more understanding and empathy. A good example is a good example after all. Having said that, I know lot of people who worship their cars like idols.

But you cant save or help sinners if you dont hang around with any of them or have nothing to do with them? Jesus sat and ate with sinners so why cant you? In fact Jesus only came for sinners not the righteous. If you are in a hospital bed ill, you cannot insist on a Christian surgeon. Or maybe you can in the US but in the UK you are lucky to see a surgeon at all there is such a waiting list, let alone question his faith.

Luke 5:32 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Mark 2:17 17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Did your friend, as a believer in rehab, admit he was powerless over his disease/addiction? Some are unaware that the purpose of the 12 step program has been -from the very start- to help people establish and maintain a personal relationship with the One True God. The AA preamble, which includes a recitation of the twelve steps, read at the opening of many meetings including every single one I have ever attended over the last thirty years where I live, includes the line: "There is One Who has all power. That One is God. May you find Him now." It is from chapter 5 of the AA Big Book

RARELY HAVE WE SEEN a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided that you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it - then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought that we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

Remember that we deal with alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power - that One is God. May you find Him now.

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

1 We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - 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 alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.

I really dont think you understand the complete lifestyle of a drug addict. It seems your just viewing a Situation you have no understanding of. I dont expect you too.
Hi there the reason why we shouldn't yoke with unbelievers is because they can lead us away from God. We might think we can lead them to God and save them, but they can lead us back to the devil through their hate for God, righteous living etc. So we may think that we can influence them, but we dont realize that they are influencing us. It's harder to pull someone up from a table, than to pull them down. So many Christians are deceived into thinking they cant be influenced by the ungodly. Some have entered marriages because of this as well.

And Christ was perfect so he couldn't be influenced by others to sin.

Did you have a previous addiction and are you now clean? Because if you are saying programs work without even being in them, then you have no understanding whether or not they work. Many people i met in these programs never got clean. Just because they work you or others it doesn't mean they are the solution for everyone. One size doesn't fit all. And this is not because someone doesnt give themselves to a man made program encouraged by psychological teachings- (saying abusing substances isnt a sin but a mental illness).

Did you have a previous addiction and are you now clean? Because if you are saying programs work without even being in them, then you have no understanding whether or not they work. Many people i met in these programs never got clean. Just because they work you or others it doesn't mean they are the solution for everyone. One size doesn't fit all. And this is not because someone doesnt give themselves to a man made program encouraged by psychological teachings- (saying abusing substances isnt a sin but a mental illness).

"I really dont think you understand the complete lifestyle of a drug addict. It seems your just viewing a Situation you have no understanding of. I dont expect you too."

Oh yeah? Well on that comment, you know a thousand nothings.

No more is the question, DID YOU HAVE A PREVIOUS ADDICTION AND ARE YOU NOW CLEAN? Otherwise what do you know? That programme has STEPS. Know what STEPs are?

No more is the question, DID YOU HAVE A PREVIOUS ADDICTION AND ARE YOU NOW CLEAN? Otherwise what do you know? That programme has STEPS. Know what STEPs are?

Sorry not sure how the top part of that message got there. Only read the part about not yoking with unbelievers. The other part was in a different message but added to this one. That's weird. Sorry for the confusion.

And many of the underlying issues for drug use are mental illness, the mental health system cant help because I have been in that system and other family members are on psychiatric medication. So underlying causes cant be healed through psychiatry. This is my opinion, through my own experience and my view of others I know in the mental health system. Some wounds take longer to heal and I believe we need God to help us. I am not saying some medications dont help people but through my own experience i haven't seen that. I think support is obviously important for people, but a program shouldn't be relied on more than Jesus. Because if programs didnt exist what would people do?. What if God existed only without a program.

No problem Nat 2019. My point only was that its not an "overnight" thing - even when you have seen the light (as Paul did).

“For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7.19)

That can also sound like an addict in a nutshell. A train wreck, a sinner, a wretch but the good news is that Paul realizes that the good he wants to do is what he is not doing…and he keeps on doing it! The good news here is the fact that he understands that it’s wrong. This is strong evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in him, convicting him of his sin.


I say to you, many addicts KNOW they cannot stop but still want to. These are not laughing in your face saying “so what”? These have no hope until they are convicted of their sin in the first place in their heart.


So the guy you saw “singing at the train station” is no different. At least he is trying. Otherwise you are judging Paul and pointing out his sin as if you have none yourself, when he freely admits “he does what he does not want to do!” How do you know that guy you judged isn't full of remorse and that's why he goes back to the Church time and time again? At least he is trying. Not everyone can overcome their sin overnight - it takes steps on a journey. Even for Paul. Even for people on the AA programme.

Did you have a previous addiction and are you now clean? Because if you are saying programs work without even being in them, then you have no understanding whether or not they work.

Many people i met in these programs never got clean. Just because they work you or others it doesn't mean they are the solution for everyone. One size doesn't fit all.

And this is not because someone doesnt give themselves to a man made program encouraged by psychological teachings- (saying abusing substances isnt a sin but a mental illness).

HeyJude I never said that message to judge the man, but I was saying how AA doesnt keep some people clean, because i sat down and spoke to the man. And that verse in Roman's doesn't say Paul is the worst of Sinners. He "was" the worst of sinners and the rest of it says-

Romans 7:15-25 New International Version (NIV)
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

After Paul's says-
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So Paul is actually delivered thanks to Christ. Not a Sinner without hope or deliverance.