Response to classmate post:
According to May (1988) "The same processes that are responsible for addiction to alcohol and narcotics are also responsible for addictions to ideas, work, relationships etc" (May, 1988, p. 3). May goes on to warn "Addiction, then, displaces and supplants God's love as the source and object of our deepest true desire" (May, 1988, p. 13).
The story of the Samaritan woman at the well in (John 4:7-29) comes to my mind as I think about the concept of recovery (redemption) and freedom from bondage (addiction) from the inside out. We notice during the encounter at the well when the Savior asks the woman for a drink to engage her she responds with contempt and suspicion as she inquires about Him not having anything to draw with. As the conversation continues the Savior informs her of the Living Water available to her, if only she would ask. When Jesus ask about her husband she admits she does not have one, and the Savior convicts her intellectually with the knowledge she has been, and is currently in bondage to unsatisfactory relationships. In recognizing her spiritual need Jesus spoke to her spirit of the Spiritual Water that will never leave her thirsty.
Jesus first reached her intellectually by telling her truths about herself. Once she recognized intellectually she needed help He was then able to reach her spiritually about her need for redemption (recovery) through the Holy Spirit who resides within her. By reaching her first intellectually and than spiritually she was changed from the inside out, and ran to testify to her neighbors about how they to could be changed.
Bibliography: May, G. G. (1988). Addiction and Grace Love and Spiritulality in the Healing of Addictions. New , NY: HarperCollins. (pp. 3, 13).