In my last post (here) I waded into the question about how Christ-followers might make use of the word “addiction” or if we even should. Today I am taking a closer look at a specific dilemma many of us face around that sticky word, but first let me back up the bus a little.
Twelve Step groups are well known for calling on its adherents to “admit their powerlessness” when it comes to the addictions that grip them. Overeaters Anonymous states in its first step that “we admitted we were powerless over food—that our lives had become unmanageable”. There is a strong assertion here that until you confess that you are a hopeless food addict through and through and that you do not actually have the power to change your own life, you will be forever bound by the chains of your food addiction.
The paradoxical promise offered is that if you utter this confession of helplessness and sincerely mean it, some sort of mystical process happens that grants you the needed strength to recover. Purportedly, this strength comes from the “Higher Power” of your own understanding. I will save my critique of these two steps and the 10 other that accompany them for another time, except to say that they presuppose a certain set of beliefs and/or doctrines about the nature of free will, as well as how God works in our lives.
But what is really being asked of us here when we admit our helplessness over food? And what mystical, magical, or perhaps spiritual process is at work that would empower us to shed the shackles of our addiction?
It sounds like Twelve Step groups are asking people to believe that they do not have freedom of choice or the freedom within ourselves to change our path. If so, this puts Christians in an awkward dilemma. Either:
- Accept this (unbiblical) belief to unlock the magical powers of change
- Affirm a biblical belief (that God has given us free will and allows us to make choices) and stay stuck
Neither of these choices is a good one. And this dilemma really doesn’t make any sense logically if you sit and think about it. After all, if I am powerless to change then how can I even make the choice to adopt this belief in the first place? I’m afraid that for most, this idea is mystical; that is, it’s not fully rooted in truth.
I submit that generally speaking, the Twelve Steps are based more on the ideas and opinions of men rather than on the truths of Scripture. And because of this there is nothing miraculous about these steps. Yet that doesn’t mean that Twelve Step ideas are completely wrong- just partly. Let’s open our bibles and find out what God has to say about our ability make food choices and change the path we are on. I think you will find the Word of God a better weapon to wield.
It is biblical to be stuck
It can be tempting to think that we are trapped when we look back on the trail of messy food-choice carnage behind us. In fact, the bible confirms that we can be trapped by our own sin. This is why Paul was in agony.
So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me
Romans 7:21-23
Yet if we are really honest, a gun is never placed to our heads. We chose to eat what we do, just as Paul chose to sin, even when he knew better. The better question is why have we been trapped? James offers some insight:
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
James 1:13-14
James offers an insight that is crucial to embrace: when it comes to sin, we are both perpetrator AND victim. In other words, we have made our bed and now we must lie in it. We have gotten ourselves into this trouble, and I think when it comes to food we can all admit that. Few of us started out life as food-worshippers, though some of us came from less than ideal food environments. No, we cultivated our addiction to food over the years and decades and gave the Prowling Lion permission to slowly place his paws around our throats. Look at the next part:
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
James 1:15
Gluttony, debauchery, and the like are just like sexual immorality in this way. We lusted after our lover. We had the one night stand. Now something grows inside us that we cannot stop. We could have taken a different path. We could have avoided the door of her house (Proverbs 5:8), but we were enticed by the taste of her honey lips.
Yet tragically, “in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to Sheol” (v. 4-5). We were like a bird caught in a net. A monkey with his hand in a trap. We have met the lion at the end of the road. We are a cautionary tale.
So congratulations, you are a member of the sinful human race! So rather than admitting that we are powerless, let us rather affirm that we made our choices in all our power and with full agency. As fully empowered people we took what we wanted, we ate what we desired. We chose the chips, the cake, the giant portions, the late-night sugar binges. We chose them and ate them. We decided. Like Eve, we saw that the forbidden fruit was pleasing to the eye so we ate it.
It’s also biblical to get “unstuck”
The good news is that we can change. The past is in the past and we can walk a new path. The same choices that led us into this mess can be reversed. We cannot reverse the consequences, but we can stop digging the hole we’re in.
The way to get unstuck is by “repentance”.
I know, the word “repentance” sounds really old-fashioned and guilt-riddled. The English word we use today and read in our bibles is actually an unfortunate relic that passed through Latin before reaching our ears and therefore incorrectly suggests that we “do penance” and feel sorry about our sin. In fact, that is not what the word means at all.
“Repentance” is translated from the original Greek word, “metanoia”, which is not so much “feel sorry about” so much as “change the way you see the universe”. When many of us hear the word repent we hear an invitation to feel shame and guilt- that we are worthless and bad so we’d better keep things locked down. This conjures images of embittered old church ladies, impoverished religion, and a suppressed existence.
Yet this was not the intent of Scripture! Rather, the call to repentance is an exhilarating invitation to see the universe through renewed eyes. It’s not locked down, but expansive. It is an invitation to step onto a new path; into a much larger existence of a new self, aligned with God and His Kingdom. It is transformation into a new creature with a new destiny, not on the path toward the lion that will eat us but the Lion of Judah who is making everything new.
So I contend there is a third option. The choice between a belief that we’re hopelessly choice-less or a belief that we choose our sin and are therefore hopelessly guilty represents a false dichotomy. It’s false because both are hopeless. It’s false because God defines your future by hope if you will walk the path he has set before you. The third option is to relentlessly pursue the repentant path; not a path of guilt and shame that leads to further cycles of sin and eventual destruction, but a path of mind change and renewal that allows you to see the world through God’s eyes and that leads to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10).
So I don’t call myself an addict. This is a term for the world. It was created by those not on the path and whose destiny I do not share because of God’s grace. I admit that I have been held down by the scourge of compulsive eating in the past and that further challenges lie ahead. Yet “addict” is not my identity. No, I am a disciple of Jesus on the royal road to a renewed heaven and earth. I have a hope and a future because I am not on the path of the Prowling Lion, but of the Lion of Judah. And this is a path that carries me up above my everyday struggle with food. My stomach is not my destiny because my heart is destined to live with God forever.
So SO GOOD!!