The Truth About Addiction Most People Don’t Know

Addictions are a prevalent struggle, touching the lives of nearly everyone through a personal battle or through a loved one. They lock individuals in hard places, creating “prisoners forever locked in their hard places”. However, freedom is possible through understanding the nature of addiction from both therapeutic and theological standpoints, recognizing it as a destructive force that works contrary to divine purpose.

This guide explores the biblical view of addiction, the warning signs, and the critical steps for loved ones to set boundaries and seek help.

The Theological Definition of Addiction: The Dark Side of Worship

Theologically, addiction is fundamentally defined as “the dark side of worship”. Humanity was created to be worshipful beings, intended to pour out adoration onto God and experience appropriate honor and dignity. Addiction misdirects this innate drive.

• Destructive Surrender: Addiction is the process by which a person “actively giving ourselves over to something that is destructive and detrimental to our humanity”.
• Reverence and Ruin: The principle holds that “what we revere we reflect either to our ruin or restoration”. While turning wholly devoted to the Lord brings a “full expression of who you were always intended to be,” turning over to detrimental idols or practices destroys the self.
• The Holy Spirit’s Work: The Holy Spirit works as the “perfect artist,” engaged in the process of sanctification—chiseling away the old self, corruption, chaos, and dysfunction to reveal the beautiful human you were intended to be. Addiction works contrary to this process, seeking to emaciate and ruin a person from the inside out.

The Root of Addiction: Self-Deception and Coping Mechanisms

Addiction is deeply linked to self-deception and denial, where the individual chooses an unhealthy coping mechanism to manage internal pain.

• Medicating Internal Pain: Addiction is often an attempt to find an “external solution to my internal problem”. Individuals try to medicate internal pain, often stemming from early childhood relational problems. Snatching away the addictive substance (alcohol, drugs) without addressing the internal reality being medicated is unwise.
• Coping Mechanism: Addiction functions as a coping mechanism because “it works”. The user seeks an immediate solution to feel less disregulated and “not at ease”.
• The Brain’s Role: While the person “choose[s] the behavior,” the brain eventually “chooses the addiction,” leading to an addicted brain and a neuroplastic rut.
• The Incessant Hunger: The driver behind addiction is an “incessant hunger,” which is fundamentally the “ache for the Lord”. Addictive substances or behaviors (like food) can only reach the stomach; “it can never reach and satisfy your soul”.

Warning Signs and Biblical Contrast

The Bible clearly contrasts life driven by addiction with life driven by the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Warnings (Proverbs 23)

The author of Proverbs describes the destructive path of “those who linger over wine” as a path away from turning to the Lord for solace. When one turns to addictive tendencies, they enter a cycle where, upon waking up from the effects, they immediately “look for another drink”—highlighting the insanity of addiction.

The consequences include experiencing woe, sorrow, conflicts, complaints, and wounds for no reason. The addiction “bites like a snake and stings like a viper,” causing the eyes to see strange things and the person to say absurd things.

The Contrast (Ephesians 5)

Paul offers a clear contrast between destructive living and Spirit-filled living.

• Reckless Living: Getting “drunk with wine… leads to reckless living”. No one who drives drunk or gets a DUI believes everything is working out well.
• Spirit-Filled Life: The issue is not if you will be filled, but “what are you going to be filled with”. The solution is to “be filled with the spirit”. The Holy Spirit provides a “high that is untouchable”—holy, good, and lasting—leading to wisdom, righteousness, and clarity, unlike the short-lived “cheap highs” of addiction.

Behavioral Signs of Addiction

Addiction is recognizable through specific behaviors:

• Obsessive and Compulsive: Thoughts about the addiction are obsessive. There is a compulsion, a feeling of “I just almost cannot stop myself”.
• Continues Despite Adverse Circumstances: The behavior continues even after negative consequences, such as DUIs, deterioration in relationships, or job problems.
• Secrecy and Hiding: Addictions thrive in secrecy, often involving hiding alcohol in a glove compartment or waiting until a spouse is asleep. What is covered up will eventually be discovered.
• Denial and Self-Deception: The addicted person often engages in denial and self-deception. When confronted, they use minimization (“this isn’t that big of a deal”) or comparison (“at least I’m not X, Y, and Z”) to rationalize the behavior. The truth to them is “whatever protects the addiction”.