BIBLICAL VIEW | ADDICTION (2)

1. Introduction

a) People who do not have control over what they are doing, taking or using. The brain experiences pleasure - and releases an immediate reward, leading to further and more frequent use.

2. Is there a cycle to addiction?

a) Yes, there is...

i) Fantasizing (in the movie theater of the imagination)

ii) Obsessing (I need it now)

iii) Frustration that leads to anxiety (what will I do?)

iv) Yielding to the addiction (doing it, eating it, etc.)

v) Shame (guilt and remorse)

vi) Promising to stop (I am never going to do this again)

vii) Fantasizing again ... (I just need a little more to feel better)....etc.

b) The imagination is so very powerful, isn't it?

c) There is something very seductive about false teachers and corrupt leaders.

2 Peter 2:19 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

d) They offer “freedom” from law. But they are themselves slaves to sin and destruction. We are slaves to whatever controls us

e) Who controls us?  What controls us?