Substance addiction has been one of the greatest scourges on society. For all time, people have had their lives slowly taken from them in this dreadfully painful way. Many have attempted to try to overcome addictions regardless of what they are to with varying degrees of success. People are addicted to all sorts of things. It can be substances like drugs, alcohol, or medications, or simply activities such as sex, gambling, shopping, or even sleep. Since addiction has been around forever, society must come to the point where we find a way to overcome addiction.
To overcome addiction, it is first necessary to understand what addiction really is and how people think about it. One article that is worth looking at is called “The Surprising Truth About Addiction,” and it is written by Staton Peele. In this article, Peele discusses that the first thing to do is to understand just how many people overcome addiction. He argues that people must link their thoughts about addiction with their thoughts about change. Many believe that they cannot overcome a serious addiction, but they do believe they can make little changes. Peele reminds the reader that more people are able to overcome addiction than are not. (Peele 46)
Peele lists six principles of change. The first is that believing change is possible is the beginning of all success. If a person is going around trying to change, all the while believing they will not achieve success, that person’s negative thoughts will eventually become a self-fulfilling prophesy. A positive mentality is a must. The second principle listed is to know that the type of treatment used is not nearly as important personal commitment to change. This one will be refuted later in this essay. The third is much like the second, claiming brief treatments will create long-term habits. Principles four, five, and six are developing life skills, using repeated efforts, and seeking improvement over perfection respectively. (Peele 46)
All that being said, looking at the real world shows that people overcoming addiction or attempting to make any kind of change most likely will not be able to do it alone. In fact, many people with addictions were the ones trying to do the right thing all by themselves. Now attention must be paid to what methodology works best. After comparing numbers and techniques, it is easy to see that faith based rehabilitation programs are more able to treat people for addiction.
In the article “Rehab Revival,” Bill Yoder paints a picture of just how successful rehabilitation programs have been when they rely on faith. Yoder is discussing rehab programs in Russia where 4 million citizens suffer from drug addictions and about 2 and a half million abuse alcohol. The Associated Russian Union of Christians of Evangelical Pentecostal Faith has allied with 350 rehabilitation centers. They have claimed that from the year 1995 to the year 2005, 12,000 people have successfully conquered their addictions. (Yoder 14) Other smaller organizations are also able to claim larger numbers of success stories. The question then is how can this be?
Yoder describes the rehab program in a way that makes it sound like it is destined for failure. Yoder says that many of the evangelical rehab programs and not able to do anything biologically. They have little access to medical knowledge or medication. The patients spend their time abiding by the fundamental tenants of the Christian faith, time spent in the Bible, prayer, confession, and fellowship. It almost sounds like this is no different than a normal church group. It is, however, yielding incredible results. The Dobry Samaryatin Baptist ministry is one that relies completely on the Bible and the power of God to help people find sobriety. They are able to report the incredible statistic that 30 percent of people that go through their Bible-based treatment have long-term success. This number is to be compared with the long-term success rate of the government clinics, claiming a mere 2 percent rate. (Yoder 14)
Clearly, the Bible is the difference. Upon examination of this, it makes a great deal of sense. The teachings of the Bible are making the difference. If the teachings of the Bible are compared with the six principles given in the article “The Surprising Truth About Addiction,” the Bible’s teachings are far more powerful in nature. In looking at the first principle, the underlying theme is that of self-efficacy. The problem with using this tactic on substance abusers is that they already have such a deeply rooted belief that they cannot do whatever is put in front of them. The Bible, however, does not tell them that they are able to clean their lives up, but instead that an infinitely powerful God is so concerned for their lives that He wants to give them the strength and the power to change. This message is able to motivate a person through the weak moments of recovery. It gives them a real hope that even as they sit in a room by themselves questioning whether or not recovery will be worth the pain involved that God is with them. This cannot be overestimated.
The second and third principles are actually not Biblical. The Bible clearly teaches that God’s way is the best way and that lives are meant to be lived together. This once again looks back to the concept of whether or not man is able to fix himself. The Bible’s answer is a clear and resounding no. It says that left to his own devices, man will fall over and over again with no ability to pick himself back up. This is a hard argument to refute seeing the great divide of rehab success statistics.
The other concepts are confirmed in the Bible. The Bible does advocate for people becoming productive and seeking for initial improvement, not necessarily initial abstinence. It also talks about repeated efforts, saying things like how people are supposed to war against their sin. This strong language paints the picture of repeated continual action.
The great success rates in these Russian rehab programs are not the only faith based success story. Right here in America, people who look to the power of the Bible are finding freedom from addictions and bad lifestyles much more often. One example of this is talked about in the article “Faith-Based Prison Rehab Bearing Fruit.” The author, Terry Phillips, talks about a group called Prison Fellowship, a group that meets with convicts during their stay in prison and afterwards. This group also relies on the Bible to make the difference. Mark Early, president of Prison Fellowship, quotes the statistic that currently in America, 66 percent of released inmates will find themselves back in prison. This is a staggering number, especially when compared with the ten percent of people who go through faith-based programs returning to prison. This incredible gap cannot be ignored. (Phillips)
In conclusion, the battle for sobriety is not one that can be won by human means. It is clear that the Bible is remarkably useful in getting people into sobriety. It is time that this society embraced this power and lived lives that accord with its teachings. The Bible should be the main source looked to by rehabilitation clinics because it has yielded the most success.
Works Cited
Peele, Stanton. “The Surprising Truth About Addiction.” Psychology Today 37 (2004): 43-46. Print.
Phillips, Terry. “Faith-Based Prison Rehab Bearing Fruit.” Focus On The Family. 28 May 2002. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. http://alpha.ncf.ca/rehab.html.
