Jubileesong
09-26-2004, 02:12 PM
I, too, have had to deal with some addictions in life. I don't believe there is a "one-size-fits-all" answer to them. However, for many people, I do believe - as I've said in other places in this forum - that there are reasons behind the development of an addiction. I saw someone below post on "religious addiction". There is certainly a difference between "religion" and "Christianity" - or, at least, there should be...
I think it's always important to ask ourselves why we do what we do. What benefit do we get? For me, the "religious addiction" part of my history was there to keep me feeling safe in a way. I hated it too...so it's sort of counter-intuitive. One would think if you hate doing something, you wouldn't do it. But, it's all about heirarchy, I think. The "lesser of two evils" kind of thing. What would you prefer? Feeling lousy every day - or feeling like you're going to go to hell? I would think most people would take the former over the latter...so we do our religious deeds to keep us from feeling like we're losing points with God - and therefore paving our way to hell.
Above all, truth is important. However, most of us have trained ourselves to believe AND act on lies...it's built into us now and part of our subconcious - and it takes time to retrain. Find the truth about your addiction - the "counter" to it if you will...and tell yourself about it every day until your feelings and actions catch up. The first time you do something that doesn't seem religious to you - you might feel guilty...but tell yourself the truth! "I'm a child of God. God loves me for me. I might make mistakes, but I am not cast out. I am safe and it is ok for me to be me!!!" You might not believe it at first - but don't let that discourage you!!
:0)
Hannah
I think it's always important to ask ourselves why we do what we do. What benefit do we get? For me, the "religious addiction" part of my history was there to keep me feeling safe in a way. I hated it too...so it's sort of counter-intuitive. One would think if you hate doing something, you wouldn't do it. But, it's all about heirarchy, I think. The "lesser of two evils" kind of thing. What would you prefer? Feeling lousy every day - or feeling like you're going to go to hell? I would think most people would take the former over the latter...so we do our religious deeds to keep us from feeling like we're losing points with God - and therefore paving our way to hell.
Above all, truth is important. However, most of us have trained ourselves to believe AND act on lies...it's built into us now and part of our subconcious - and it takes time to retrain. Find the truth about your addiction - the "counter" to it if you will...and tell yourself about it every day until your feelings and actions catch up. The first time you do something that doesn't seem religious to you - you might feel guilty...but tell yourself the truth! "I'm a child of God. God loves me for me. I might make mistakes, but I am not cast out. I am safe and it is ok for me to be me!!!" You might not believe it at first - but don't let that discourage you!!
:0)
Hannah