For everything that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ostentation of living, is not of the Father, but is of the world
First Epistle of John 2: 16, Concordant New Testament
It's the mainstream church solution to almost every addiction of problem that we might face. It starts with the admission of the problem, and then moves into the twelve-step phase. While in the midst of my own addiction to pornography, I was encouraged quite strongly by a pastor to enroll myself in one of these twelve-step programs. Only there under the church guidance, I was told, would I find freedom from my addiction. Well, not surprisingly, I was lied to. For even as I labored in the twelve-steps of mainstream church doctrine, my affliction continued. In the confines of the church, I felt like a condemned sinner. The separation theology of the church was never more prevalent than in the twelve-step process. Despite the efforts of my accountability partner, I could never get over the feeling that God was disappointed with me. The truth of the love that He had for me was rarely mentioned. I was a sinner, and I needed to recognize that reality. At the end of my twelve-steps, I was none the more released from my addiction than I had been when I began. Why was God keeping me in this state? Wasn't He happy with me? Over time, I've found discovered that the whole idea behind the twelve-step process was wrong. That guilt and condemnation were never intended to produce a change in someone. My own release from my addiction did not come until I had come to the realization of who I was as a person. I'm not speaking of the man everyone sees every day, but who I am inside. For this is my true identity. The words spoken by the apostle Paul were what introduced me to this realization. It is Paul who speaks to his own knowing of Christ Jesus in within him {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}. Wait, Christ within a sinner like me? Those mainstream church theologies continued to haunt me as I struggled with my new-found revelation. How could God be within a sinner? I had been brought up to believe that God was holy, and that sinful man could never reach His level of closeness. The best I could hope for is to somehow "Be like" Jesus. But Paul never speaks of being like Jesus. What his evangel does proclaim is that our life is in Him {Paul to the Romans 6:8}. It is this evangel which eventually accomplished what those twelve-steps could never do.
Now the God of all grace, Who calls you into His eonian glory in Christ, while briefly suffering, He will be adjusting, establishing, firming, founding you
Peter to the Dispersion (1) 5: 10, Concordant New Testament
The story has been told more than a few times. About the night that I found myself about to enter once again into one of the numerous strip clubs to be found in Portland. Of how at that moment I was suddenly introduced as who I really was, and it wasn't the guy who had been frequenting these places. No, the man I really am is one who is indwelled with the spirit of Christ. My life is in Him {Johns Account 14:20}. This is a knowing that I was never taught in the twelve-step process. For the church based addiction recovery focuses on the external presumption of who we are (The sinner). The truth of the evangel spoken by Paul assures us that this is NOT who we are. This is not our true identity. If I had known this revelation sooner in life, I would have had zero need for those twelve-steps to nowhere. I think of the apostle Paul and his own conversion on that road to Damascus. Paul speaks to that day in his life as "When it delights God" to unveil Christ Jesus in him {Paul to the Galatians 1:15-16}. Indeed, when my own time came, the Father revealed His Son in me. Of course, all of those years of mainstream church preaching made it difficult to unpack what the Lord was revealing in me. We do well to remember that upon his come to Jesus moment, Paul did not immediately begin his ministry. After his revelation, Paul went away to spend at least two years in Arabia {Paul to the Galatians 1:17}. We can only assume that he has his own unpacking to do. The truth that I have come to know is that I am not the sinner which the church has proclaimed. Nor is my life separated from God. Who I am is His son {First Epistle of John 3:1}.
~Scott~
