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AA

Discussion in 'Polls Forum' started by Salty, May 28, 2007.

?
  1. YES

    10 vote(s)
    50.0%
  2. NO

    7 vote(s)
    35.0%
  3. Not sure

    2 vote(s)
    10.0%
  4. Other

    1 vote(s)
    5.0%
  1. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    AA says you can never be fully recovered from alcholic.
    Do you agree?
     
  2. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    SR (saltys regulation) 101 when voting "other" you must explain your vote:BangHead:
     
  3. Baptist Believer

    Baptist Believer Well-Known Member
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    I believe that a person's personality, background and makeup determine whether or not they are an alcoholic (have a weakness and desire for intoxicants). I am convinced that people can, through discipline and reformation of character, have tremendous victory over intoxicants, and may not even desire them under normal circumstances. However, in times of trouble, spiritual/moral rebellion, lax living, or personal crisis, the same old weaknesses are likely to reappear.

    I am fully convinced that Christ makes all things new (as we cooperate with Him and follow Him in discipleship), but simply "getting saved" does not cure alcoholism.

    While there are testimonies of persons who drank to excess that walked away and never had the desire for it again, I'm convinced that they were simply drunks who indulged in alcohol for recreational/spiritual reasons because of personal misery. Those who are truly alcoholics, in my non-professional opinion, are those who have a deep physical and emotional dependency to intoxicants of all types. Like homosexuality, I'm convinced there is both an innate/genetic issue as well as an issue of nuture and experience. While that is no excuse to live in sin, I believe some people have great burdens to bear in areas where others do not.

    For instance, I have never had the slightest interest in intoxicants (although I grew up around tremendous quantities of drugs and alcohol) nor sexual interest in anyone of my own gender. However, I have a tendency to overeat and also heterosexual desires toward those who are not my wife. I know that if I start down a path of eating for reasons other than nutrition, I am very likely to overeat. I am also convinced that if I indulge in a fantasy life regarding those women who are not my wife, I am likely to fall into sin when the opportunity to act according to those fantasies presents itself. That's why sin has to be first dealt with in the thought life. If we condition our character toward ungodliness through mental exercises (fantasy and imagination), we shouldn't be surprised if we reject everything we claim to hold dear when the opportunity to sin presents itself. Like an Olympic athlete visualizing himself running the race, we should also train our minds to godliness by working out responses to and resolve against temptation long before we have to face it -- if we linger when tempted, we are likely to succomb, like Eve before the forbidden fruit.
     
  4. faithgirl46

    faithgirl46 Active Member
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    You hear that alcoholism isn't curable when the experts talk. I voted I am not sure. I should have known better All things are possible to him who believes in the Lord. I forget the exact way the passage goes.
     
  5. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    I hope my post is not confusing.

    I voted "no" because of the word, "recovered" in the question. Recovery implies medical healing.

    I do not believe that medical treatments or AA can heal one from alcoholism. With that being said, medical treatments and AA can be of valuable assistance in helping one live with alcoholism. There are alcoholics who have successfully been on the wagon for years, yet they still go to AA meeting and seek occassional medical advice and help because they know that they are just one drink away from falling off the wagon and falling back into drunkeness.

    And by the way, I do not believe that being drunk means that you are an alcoholic. Lots of people did stupid things as teenagers and college students, but it never took them into the bondage of alcoholism.

    Alcoholism has a two-fold make-up. Alcoholism is a disease and the behavior that leads to the disease is a sin.

    I believe that an alcoholic can be fully recovered, that is healed, never having the desire again and never struggling again. And that's only through Jesus Christ, the Great Physician.
     
  6. Tom Bryant

    Tom Bryant Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the wise response. I have used AA in my own life. And have found they are a help. They don't claim to heal, only to help.

    Because of what Jesus has done in my life, I have recovered. But just as someone might be prone to gossiping or depression or over-eating, I know that the only way I am able to stay away from drinking is depending only on Jesus.
     
  7. His Blood Spoke My Name

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    John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

    My Lord doesn't lie. If He saves you, you are no longer the alcoholic you once were. The world will lie and say you are still addicted, but God's Word says otherwise.
     
  8. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    I believe that God doesn't lie either.

    When we are saved.......we are saved to the uttermost and many people who are saved are set free from a whole lot of things.

    But freedom from sin and being healed by God doesn't mean that you don't pay the consequences of your actions.

    A smoker who is saved and set free from smoking by God may still pay the consequence of cancer. And a sexually immoral person who is saved and set free from sexual deviancy make still pay the consequence of HIV.

    And a person in bondage to alcohol may be saved and set free from the sin of drinking by God, but they may still pay the price of the toll it took on their body if they have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism.

    They (genuine alcoholics, not just social drinkers) may never take another drink because God has indeed set them free and taken away their desire for it, but their bodies may still pay the price of the physiological craving of it (occasionally get the "shakes", nauseau.....).

    There is a genuine difference, you know. Every Christian who is also a recovering alcoholic knows that and so do Christians who have these people in their circle of friends and family.

    And, I believe that God can heal their bodies of the genetic craving just as He can of the sinful desire.

    All people who consume alcohol are not necessarily alcoholics.
    All alcoholics do not necessary consume alcohol anymore.....but they are still alcoholics and always will be. Even if they never take another drink as long as they live.
     
    #8 Scarlett O., May 28, 2007
    Last edited: May 28, 2007
  9. His Blood Spoke My Name

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    We do pay consequences for ours past sins in the body. But we have no right to continue calling ourselves thieves, killers, drunkards, etc., once the Lord has saved us. We have been set free from the bondage of sin. No longer held captive by sin, although we still sin from time to time.

    But as we walk in the newness of life when we are Christ's, we are no longer the old man.
     
  10. Tentmaker

    Tentmaker <img src=/tentmaker.gif>
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    Yes, just like everything else in our walk with Christ - by faith.
     
  11. SaggyWoman

    SaggyWoman Active Member

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    I can never fully recover from wanting Pepsi.
     
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