Can a higher power cure the disease of addiction?
I have free will and a belief in a power greater than I since working through those 12 steps.
My free will can get me in trouble or it can help me live life.
My higher power won't take away my free will....
My free will can get me in trouble or it can help me live life.
My higher power won't take away my free will....
To ask HP to have all desire to use removed permanently would be to remove what is human in us. The process of addiction is intertwined with the human desire to avoid pain. The process of healing requires that we face those things which have caused us pain and reach a point of peace or truce with them.
What you are asking for is a get out of jail free card, this request comes from exactly the same place as your addiction did. There are no shortcuts to spiritual growth, and HP cannot or will not grant them.
"Why not ask God to be cured? Why would a HP deny us freedom from our addiction w/o a tall list of actions we must take on a daily basis. If our HP has power, why not just pray to end all of this insanity and be a normie. "
I can ask to be cured. but that doesn't mean my God will cure me. why? IDK.
but I am free from addiction/alcoholism today. it is because of the actions I have done. I didn't do them actions because God wanted me to. I did them because I wanted to- because I was sick of being the man I was and without the actions I would still be a miserable, useless,worthless,hateful, hurtful, self centered egomaniac with low self esteem.
without the footwork, I wouldn't be free from the insanity.
sittin in the garage all day aint gonna make me a car.
I can want a house built. can have all the supplies sittin there in the yard. aint nothing gonna happen until I get into action. of course I could get other people to do it,but the results wouldn't be the same as if I did the work myself.
I can ask to be cured. but that doesn't mean my God will cure me. why? IDK.
but I am free from addiction/alcoholism today. it is because of the actions I have done. I didn't do them actions because God wanted me to. I did them because I wanted to- because I was sick of being the man I was and without the actions I would still be a miserable, useless,worthless,hateful, hurtful, self centered egomaniac with low self esteem.
without the footwork, I wouldn't be free from the insanity.
sittin in the garage all day aint gonna make me a car.
I can want a house built. can have all the supplies sittin there in the yard. aint nothing gonna happen until I get into action. of course I could get other people to do it,but the results wouldn't be the same as if I did the work myself.
Saved By Grace
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Oop North, Furtlin' me Ferrets
Posts: 410
From what I'm hearing, only the individual can take the necessary steps to break out of their active addiction. Our HP will help us manage it on a daily basis and will not abandon us. But he/she/it will not allow us to ever drink successfully again and I find it fascinating how we end up having to sponsor others, attend meetings, and keep spiritually fit otherwise we will die either quickly or slowly. I guess asking God to restore me to someone who no longer needs to manage his alcoholism like diabetes would be like asking God for a million bucks. My HP won't reverse that line I crossed years ago in my youth when all my friends drank and I thought I could quit anytime I want.
My prayer would be something like this:
"Dear higher power, you have seen the way my mind relentlessly promotes having a drink. God you have seen how I have over the years become an alcoholic because I have been unable to say no too myself and my brain which seems to want a drink morning, noon, and night. God, I believe that you are all powerful, and I know for you to remove my desire for drinking would be extremely easy for you. If you gave me freedom from the bondage of my disease, do you not see the amazing life that I would be able to live from here on out? How my mind would be free to think about hobbies, relationships, animals, etc. You have seen me suffer for so long, please intervene and take away that dysfunctional part in my brain that day after day whispers to me that a drink/drug would improve whatever situation I am in. Surely you did not create me to suffer, and believe me, having a brain that is out to kill me and harm my loved ones, is suffering. I am tired of this disease, and I wish to have the burden of addiction permanently removed from me. -Amen
Its sad how nothing in life is free, as soon as the addict/alcoholic said this prayer they (in my opinion) would be drinking/using within a day or less and then end up in jail or rehab where they would be taught to believe in a higher power. Sadly ironic. And I can't tell you how many homeless men and women I've met walking downtown who know so much about the Bible yet live in slavery.
My prayer would be something like this:
"Dear higher power, you have seen the way my mind relentlessly promotes having a drink. God you have seen how I have over the years become an alcoholic because I have been unable to say no too myself and my brain which seems to want a drink morning, noon, and night. God, I believe that you are all powerful, and I know for you to remove my desire for drinking would be extremely easy for you. If you gave me freedom from the bondage of my disease, do you not see the amazing life that I would be able to live from here on out? How my mind would be free to think about hobbies, relationships, animals, etc. You have seen me suffer for so long, please intervene and take away that dysfunctional part in my brain that day after day whispers to me that a drink/drug would improve whatever situation I am in. Surely you did not create me to suffer, and believe me, having a brain that is out to kill me and harm my loved ones, is suffering. I am tired of this disease, and I wish to have the burden of addiction permanently removed from me. -Amen
Its sad how nothing in life is free, as soon as the addict/alcoholic said this prayer they (in my opinion) would be drinking/using within a day or less and then end up in jail or rehab where they would be taught to believe in a higher power. Sadly ironic. And I can't tell you how many homeless men and women I've met walking downtown who know so much about the Bible yet live in slavery.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Posts: 215
Have a listen to this and see if that doesn't open a crack in your armour.
We were all once like you. Bill W and Doctor Bob included.
Earl H. - AA Speaker - "The Path to Freedom": Earl H. - AA Speaker - "The Path to Freedom" - YouTube
We were all once like you. Bill W and Doctor Bob included.
Earl H. - AA Speaker - "The Path to Freedom": Earl H. - AA Speaker - "The Path to Freedom" - YouTube
There's No Place Like Home
At the end of 'The Wizard Of Oz', 'Dorothy' discovers that she alone always had the power to return Home to Kansas. No one could achieve that for her.
There's various Threads here this Weekend stating, in effect, that a Person alone can't do what needs to be done to achieve Sobriety. I think most all of us can, just as Dorothy always had the innate power to achieve her desired Goal.
People survive Car Crashes down Canyons, and the wait to be rescued. There is the Fellow who cut off his own Arm to free himself from being pinned by a Rock in Utah while alone and incommunicado. Humans can prevail in all sorts of situations as daunting as quitting Drinking/Drugging.
Given the examples above, it stands to reason that we can succeed at permanent Sobriety if we believe in ourselves. I don't find this premise unrealistic. It happens every day, and has for Millennia.
There's various Threads here this Weekend stating, in effect, that a Person alone can't do what needs to be done to achieve Sobriety. I think most all of us can, just as Dorothy always had the innate power to achieve her desired Goal.
People survive Car Crashes down Canyons, and the wait to be rescued. There is the Fellow who cut off his own Arm to free himself from being pinned by a Rock in Utah while alone and incommunicado. Humans can prevail in all sorts of situations as daunting as quitting Drinking/Drugging.
Given the examples above, it stands to reason that we can succeed at permanent Sobriety if we believe in ourselves. I don't find this premise unrealistic. It happens every day, and has for Millennia.
If there were a God and he was omnipotent of course he could instantly cure you of alcoholism. He could do anything. That he doesn't perhaps is telling. Either he can't. Or he won't. Both seem rather poor to me for something you are calling God. Personally I don't think there is much I can do to cause a God to do anything. Any God I can conceive of isn't a magical favor dispenser. I think God is at least as deaf to me, like he is to the children that are being raped and murdered all over this world at this exact second. If he isn't going to save them why would he care about some drunk killing himself with booze?
Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Posts: 215
If there were a God and he was omnipotent of course he could instantly cure you of alcoholism. He could do anything. That he doesn't perhaps is telling. Either he can't. Or he won't. Both seem rather poor to me for something you are calling God. Personally I don't think there is much I can do to cause a God to do anything. Any God I can conceive of isn't a magical favor dispenser. I think God is at least as deaf to me, like he is to the children that are being raped and murdered all over this world at this exact second. If he isn't going to save them why would he care about some drunk killing himself with booze?
I've been to many an AA meeting and know what they are talking about. I love the support and comfort their and the fellowship if you would. However, you do know, regardless of a spritual awareness or higher power so to speak ultimately you are the one that quits drinking. So can a higher power stop you from drinking, I don't know, ask yourself the question can you acting as a higher power stop yourself from drinking? IF the answer is yes, therein lies your answer. Hasn't always been true for this guy, buy more and more I am allowing myself to act as my higher power and stop me. So in other words yes Virginia there is a a Santa Clause, if you believe.
I have a relationship with my Higher Power but one thing my God has never and will never do is slap a drink out of my hands. It does give me tools to stay sober but I have to do the leg work.
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