Roots of Addictive Behavior
A Faulty Belief system
Free Hearts Uganda is an addiction treatment and rehabilitation center. We specialize in substance abuse disorder, especially alcoholism, marijuana, nicotin, and other habitual manners. We are a team of professionals that are dedicated to render awhole human restoration program: spriritually, emotionally, physically...
The team, in the following writings will be giving an expose on a variety of approaches that substance abuse growth thrive. We are now going to look at the root cause of addictive behaviour based on a faulty belief system.
The purpose of this writing is to discuss how faulty belief systems can cause addictive behaviours.
Arnold Washington, and Donna Bound, describe this problem perfectly in their book ‘Willpower’s Not Enough: Recovering from Addictions of Every Kind’:
Part of having an addictive “dis-ease” means that we hold certain contradictory beliefs that set the stage for inner conflict and struggle – such as believing simultaneously that we are not enough and that we should be perfect.” [Thus] …A faulty belief system lies at the root of addiction. This belief system… embraces the idea that it is possible to be perfect, that the world should be limitless, that our image is more important than who we really are, that we are not enough, and that externals (people, drugs, and other things outside of ourselves) hold the “magic” solutions to life’s problems. Our behaviors are just the symptom. The real problem is what's going on inside of us (Gallagher, 2011).
A faulty belief system is a lifestyle resulting from wrong thoughts and actions learnt and developed in an attempt to meet and support our addictive needs to avoid being hurt or replacing a loss. It is viewing life through natural senses and not through God’s perspective. It can also be known as a faulty mind set. And our relationship with God must hold a right mindset of who He is, not of what our minds think He is.
Every person who had suffered from an addiction, personal problem or failure and blamed God has had without exception, a faulty belief system. That’s not so difficult to understand, really. When our perception of God and His way is distorted, the result will be a distorted view of the self and life.
We ought to often ask ourselves, “Why do we walk in addictive behavior?” At an early age, it seems as though we represent the epitome of success: we mostly have beautiful families, large and growing prospective, and recognition from peers... Yet what appears as security and confidence could be a deep seated core of unbelief and insecurities. It is “I won’t trust it if I cannot understand it”. In the midst of our daily activities and religion, we would express a belief in all the cardinal truths of Christianity. We show a sincere belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the power of the blood, the Holy Spirit, and the sovereignty of God, but yet afterwards we begin to realize that even though we had expressed and applied many of the basic truths of scripture, deep down, a part of us did not really believe that God could meet all our deepest longings. This unbelief results in a distortion of reality. The apostle Paul says, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. “(Rom. 1:25).
Often we put on a brave face of “have it all under control” in public, but addictive behavior flash through our minds and we still suppress them. We either through compartmentalizing, or rationalizing reason like this: (“it isn’t really as bad as others’ behavior” or, “it isn’t God’s best, but I will change in time”), by this therefore we continue to live in bondage and defeat.
Should we be surprised that since the purpose of Jesus was to show us the Father (John 14:7-8), Satan would also present himself as the father of lies? We can be sure that our faulty belief system is based on a scheme that is diabolic and deceitful. Recovering from addictive behavior involves standing against these schemes of lies and replacing them with the truth in Jesus. “Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (Eph. 6:11).
The cycle of self blame and a faulty belief system goes round and round and causes such a spin that truth thoughts have trouble getting through. The truth is foggy and skewed and it gets blocked out. To make matters worse, controllers and abusers like to keep us in that spin so that we never realize that we are valuable intelligent and worthy individuals. If we realize that we are valuable, worthy and intelligent, they might lose their grip on us and therefore lose control of us. This includes any kind of control we might be under (Ouimet 2002). .
Our faulty belief systems may fall into several categories. The researcher will only list the most common ones and the accompanying distortions:
1, A Faulty Belief Systems about God.
Since our belief system about God is at the core of everything and influences all other belief systems, Christian counseling must attempt to show more thoroughly Satan’s schemes of trying to distort our relationship with God. Satan does not usually begin with a blatant lie, but a subtle suggestion. He may offer a mug of lies with a bucket of truth to start with. In the beginning, (Gen. 3: 1-7) we find Satan’s strategies are the same schemes used today.
Notice the progression of the devils scheme below:
The strategy of speculations:
If Satan can cause us to speculate, that is, doubt God’s word- then the process of deception and addiction has begun. The very first words from Satan’s mouth were, “Has God said?” if one is convinced that there are no standards or absolutes about morals and ethics, then one is left to oneself to be one’s own god. The strategy of speculation involves leaving out part of the word, adding to the word and changing the word. Satan left out part of God’s word when he said, “indeed has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” The truth is that God said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).
Eve continued in speculation on God’s word as she responded to Satan, saying, “from the fruit of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said,’ you shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die’” (Gen. 2:2-3). The pattern of deception continued by adding to the word “or touches it“. If we focus on rules and restraints instead on God’s grace of protection, our sensual and natural senses will be only strengthened, for the law strengthens sin.
The final type of speculation is to change the word in this example from “you shall surely die” to “lest you die.” To add our own interpretation is sure destruction, as the Apostle Paul warns those who twist the scriptures to their own detriment. Throughout the Christian community are segments of those who are making these very same mistakes of speculation. Even though the scriptures warn of specific sins and consequences, people are led down the same road of deception as Eve was in the garden where she tried to defend the lifestyles of greed, immorality, pride, etc, all of which are addiction by taking scripture out of context, interpreting it apart from the light of other scriptures.
The strategy of lies.
Even though speculation is an entrance to the whole system of lies, Satan’s schemes continue a direct assault against the very knowledge of God himself. “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden.” This lie suggests that if man and woman could not eat from any or every tree of the garden, then our basic needs could not be satisfied. If these needs were not met while growing up, may be, it is because God wouldn’t, or couldn’t, meet our needs, or worse, may be God isn’t. The motive of this lie is to create an unbelief in God as our Father and to keep us from exposing the one who sabotages, kills, steals, and murders: Satan, the father of lies.
Dr. Chris Kigezo holds doctorate in addiction treatment and rehabilitation with a special bias in Christian counseling and Cognitive behavior therapy.
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email. chriskigezo@gmail.com