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of the risen Christ to those in the darkness of unbelief (1 Pet 2:9). 3) The image of God imprinted upon all humans has many aspects, of which rationality and temperance are included. Any substance that insults the image of God in humans inhibiting them from exerting their full God-given authority for rationality and temperance is sinful when taken in the act of pleasure without conscience. This caveat preserves Paul’s recommendation to Timothy to use wine for his frequent ailments (1 Tim 5:23). There is much more to the debate but from this perspective the choice to use drugs and alcohol is sinful for the believer. From this sinful choice begins the process that leads to addiction. The New Testament outlines the development of temptation through sin to death. This is helpful in discussing addiction as a process beginning with sinful choices. James writes each person is tempted to sin when lured by his own desires. These desires “conceive” and “give birth” to sin. Sin, in turn, grows up and gives birth to death (Jas 1:14-15). Kurt Richardson portrays this initial temptation as a deformed desire rooted completely in selfish motives that powerfully draws the sinner toward the forbidden activity.9 This description mirrors the beginning of the deadly spiral that ends in addiction. Cornelius Plantinga labels the initial bait of substance abuse as an idolatrous longing of the heart for wholeness, fulfillment, and a final good filled with transcendence, pleasure, or the escape of pain.10 The addict is moved by a selfishness that leads him or her to make a choice to fulfill the temptation. In the language of James, this conception of sin is like a baby in the womb that will undergo the process of development until birth. Plantinga charts this dynamic growth in the language of addiction as follows: 1) The repetition of pleasurable behavior becomes habit-forming. 2) There are unpleasantries after such behavior such as withdrawals and guilt. 3) Vows to moderate or quit are followed by distress. 4) The attempt to ease this distress will culminate in a rehearsal of steps one through three. 5) The personal and professional life
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Kurt A. Richardson, James, vol. 36 of The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman,
1997), 81. Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 130. 10