With a brother who is an alcoholic and frequent opportunities to minister to addicts, I started attending AA meetings occasionally to learn more about the illness. Â I was sitting there and heard things like… “ever since I can remember I liked alcohol”…’I wake up and I want to drink”…”I figured I wasn’t hurting anybody”…”I was born this way”…”I am always going to be an alcoholic”…”When I drink I feel more comfortable in my own skin”… etc. Â I said to myself this sounds eerily similar to the homosexual argument besides the fact that alcoholics call alcoholism a disease. Â Alcoholics feel they have a genetic disposition that makes them more likely to drink and become addicted to drinking which is similar to homosexuals saying they did not choose this way, but that they were born this way. Â I have heard Alcoholics and Homosexuals both say that nobody would choose to be this way and wish they could be different or normal. Â Alcoholics, however, believe that alcoholism is something that can be controlled by first admitting they are an alcoholic and also submitting to a higher power. Â Paul tells us in the Bible that, “For though we walk in flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. Â For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Â We all have thoughts and desires and feelings that feel right but go against God. Â When what you feel does not line up with the Word of God…your feelings are wrong. Â “There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” Â – Proverbs 14:12 Â Going against the Word of the Lord is sin. Â Whether it is cheating on your wife because she hasn’t been paying attention to you or telling a “white lie” because you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. Â Everyone in this world could make the excuse they were born this way or that way or that it feels right because we were all born with the capacity and the desire to sin as Psalms 51:5 informs us. Â Alcoholics and Homosexuals may very well have been born with those strong desires and feelings but that doesn’t make either one right. Â Paul tells us we can “pull down strongholds” and can “cast down arguments that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” and it starts by “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. Â That means Paul isn’t saying to find ways to make your wrong feelings right, but to put your trust in the Lord and you can be delivered! Â You don’t have to live like that anymore!
Be Blessed!