What is an Addiction Really?!

An Addiction is a Vice.

A Vice is anything we primarily use to seek happiness outside of a close friendship with The Divine.  How so?

The only way we can achieve True Happiness is from receiving, believing, and living Love/Truth/Virtues. And the only original source of Love/Truth/Virtues, is He Who IS Love/Truth/Virtues. Love/Truth/Virtues is the Divine Persons of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.

An addiction/vice is something we "think" we need to be "happy" (aka Peace, Contentment, Joy, and Fulfillment), that is NOT Love/Truth/Virtues Himself, because we are trying to fill our souls with what does not satisfy. We are ignorant of Who Love/Truth/Virtues+Peace+Joy really Is. We are "looking for Love [& Truth/Virtues+Peace+Joy+Fulfillment] in all the wrong places".

Addiction/Vice is anything we primarily use to try to make ourselves emotionally feel better and try to stop emotionally feeling bad that is NOT God (Love/Truth/Virtues+Peace+Joy), including anything we primarily use to entertain ourselves that is NOT from God and NOT about God.  This is why all addictions/vices are "bad coping".

All addictions/vices are sins. Sins are the absence of Truth/Love/Virtues and harm us and others.

Addiction/vice is anything we choose primarily over God or in place of God.  This makes any addiction/vice the sin of idolatry.  

If we do not 100% blame ourselves for our addictions and are not 100% sorry for wanting and choosing our addictions we will never become healed of them.

People with addictions who refuse to work with Jesus the Christ to become Healed and learn Truth, lie about themselves and blame their addictions, feelings, and sins on everything else but themselves.

The only things that cause anyone's addictions is their own free will to choose to be selfish and NOT want Truth. Blaming anyone or anything else that did or did not happen to them is a lie. We need to stop looking for scapegoats to blame, including physical ailments for our prideful selfishness, and stop enabling others to selfishly use others and blame as well.

We are all addicted to something(s). If it's not something material and external such as some type of: media, food, alcohol, a drug, smoking, sexual behaviors, spending, working, hobby, etc, we are addicted to blaming (blaming: feelings, bad choices, other sins, etc), to selfish using, and to pride of not wanting to recognize and accept the Truth.

The age that we begin an addiction/vice is the age that we stop psychologically maturing, because it is the age that we began the idolatry of rejecting God; Truth+Love+Virtues, by replacing wanting and needing Him with something or someone else.  Growing in God's Truth+Love+Virtues are how we increase in maturity.  Therefore using addictions/vices makes us immature.  For example, if I began an addiction/vice at the age of eight, even if I am now forty years old, if I am still using the addiction/vice, even occasionally, I still have the emotional/relational maturity level of an eight year old.

Even if we stopped using, misusing, or abusing (as the case may be) a material / physical addiction/vice, but either replaced it with another, and/or we never properly repented to Christ Jesus of our desire/wanting the addiction/vice, and therefore never received interior healing from Christ Jesus for our desire/wanting it,...we are still primarily wanting something or someone either primary to God or in place of God; i.e. committing idolatry, and as a result still blocking/rejecting God's Truth+Love+Virtues and still failing to grow in emotional/relational maturity. 

Any habitual sin be it interior intellectual sin or exterior physical sin is an addiction/vice and vice versa.  We choose to be addicted to our habitual sins; meaning we want to be choosing them; even when consciously we know it's wrong or wish we didn't desire it.  

There IS Lasting Healing of all addiction/vice/habitual sin, if we are willing to be truly sorry to our Lord Jesus for WANTING it, and ask Him for healing and to give us His Grace, Virtues, Truth, and Love to replace it...and doing so every single time the desire/temptation occurs again, while accepting the temporary "suffering" of saying "no" to ourselves; i.e. not giving into the desire/temptation...until one day we wake up and we are completely free and at peace.

Where to start?

Pray: "Jesus I'm sorry I don't want to know what my addictions are, please heal me, fill me with Your graces and virtues to want to know my addictions, and show me Your Truth about what my addictions are and how to cooperate with You Healing them, Thank you."

Pray: Jesus I'm sorry I don't want to stop my addictions, please heal me, fill me with Your graces and virtues, show me Your Truth, and give me Your desire to want to stop choosing my addictions, Thank You."

Pray: Jesus please show me which spiritual addictions I suffer from and help me be truly sorry for them (pride, selfishness, fear, gluttony, envy, jealousy, resentment, lust, sloth, anger, greed, lying, trying to control others, etc.)

Pray Daily: Jesus please help me feel Your Love for me.

Pray Daily: Jesus show me how you want me to pray to You, what questions You want me to ask You, and what Truths You want me to know.

God Loves you and wants you to feel Loved!