Healing Addiction<\/strong><\/a>\nThursday, September 20, 2018<\/strong>\n<\/iframe><br \/>\nI\u2019ve shared some of Western Christianity\u2019s weaknesses\u2014for example, how we have over-emphasized separateness, sin, and external religious exercises. But Western Christianity has unique gifts and strengths to offer. The dynamism of Western civilization has led to what I might call the \u201csecularization\u201d of the Gospel message into many side streams and rivulets. A strong example of this might be Twelve-Step programs and many other healing and transformational experiences that have now emerged outside of the formal boundaries of Christianity. You cannot kill the Gospel or true wisdom! Living things keep taking on ever new forms of life.<\/p>\n<p>In creating Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, with typical American pragmatism, designed a program that\u00a0<em>really worked to change lives<\/em>. It is the same spirituality of imperfection that Jesus taught, Paul clarified, Francis and Clare of Assisi lived, and Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux brought to light for the modern world. <strong><em>Transformation has little to do with intelligence, willpower, or perfection. It has everything to do with honesty, humility, willingness, and surrender.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the practical (read \u201ctransformational\u201d) level, the Gospel message of Jesus and the Twelve-Step message of Bill Wilson are largely the same. <em>Addiction<\/em>\u00a0can be a metaphor for what the biblical tradition called\u00a0<em>sin<\/em>. It is quite helpful to see sin, like addiction, as a destructive <em>disease<\/em> instead of something for which we\u2019re culpable or punishable and that \u201cmakes God unhappy.\u201d If sin indeed makes God \u201cunhappy,\u201d it is because\u00a0<em>God loves us, desires<\/em>\u00a0<em>nothing more than our happiness, and wills the healing of our disease.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Pope Francis clearly understands sin in this way. Shortly after he proclaimed the Holy Year of Mercy in 2015, he was asked why humanity is so in need of mercy. He replied that in part it\u2019s due to \u201cconsidering our illness, our sins, to be incurable, things that cannot be healed or forgiven. We lack the actual concrete experience of mercy. The fragility of our era is this, too: we don\u2019t believe that there is a chance for redemption; for a hand to raise you up; for an embrace to save you, forgive you, pick you up, flood you with infinite, patient, indulgent love; to put you back on your feet. We need mercy.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n<p>Much of Jesus\u2019 work was healing, with many of his teachings illustrating the healings. Nine of Jesus\u2019 healing stories are actually exorcisms. While the term may be off-putting, the fact that there are so many exorcisms in the Gospels speaks to their importance. I believe \u201cpossession by devils\u201d refers to what we now call addiction. The \u201cpossessed\u201d person is in some sense trapped by a larger force and is powerless to do anything about it. The only cure for possession is \u201crepossession\u201d by Something Greater than the disease. This is why Bill Wilson said that a\u00a0<em>\u201c<\/em>vital spiritual experience\u201d is necessary for full recovery.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m convinced that when the great medieval spiritual teachers talked so much about <em>attachment,\u00a0<\/em>they were really talking about addiction. We are all attached and addicted in some way. At the very least, we are addicted to our compulsive dualistic patterns of thinking, to our preferred self-image, and to the usually unworkable programs for happiness we developed in childhood\u2014which then showed themselves to be inadequate or even wrong.<\/p>\n<p><b>__________________________________________________<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: text; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;\"><b><\/b>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling <\/span><\/p>\n<p>September 20, 2018<\/p>\n<p>TRY TO SEE THINGS more and more from My perspective. Let the Light of My Presence so fully fill your mind that you view the world through Me. When little things don\u2019t go as you had hoped, look to Me lightheartedly and say, \u201cOh, well.\u201d This simple discipline can protect you from being burdened with an accumulation of petty cares and frustrations. If you practice this diligently, you will make a life-changing discovery: You realize that most of the things that\u00a0worry you are not important. If you shrug them off immediately and return your focus to Me, you will walk through your days with lighter steps and a joyful heart.<\/p>\n<p>When serious problems come your way, you will have more reserves for dealing with them. You will not have squandered your energy on petty problems. You may even reach the point where you can agree with the apostle Paul that all your troubles are light and momentary compared with the eternal glory being achieved by them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PSALM 36: 9;\u00a0For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>PROVERBS 20: 24; 2;\u00a0A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>CORINTHIANS 4: 17\u2013 18; For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is\u00a0 unseen.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Western Christianity Healing Addiction Thursday, September 20, 2018 I\u2019ve shared some of Western Christianity\u2019s weaknesses\u2014for example, how we have over-emphasized separateness, sin, and external religious exercises. But Western Christianity has unique gifts and strengths to offer. The dynamism of Western civilization has led to what I might call the \u201csecularization\u201d of the Gospel message into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17269,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17264\/revisions\/17269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}