Americans are addicted to almost anything now days. Americans are addicted to food and the
obesity rate just seems to be skyrocketing.
They are obsessed with their social image. Forty-eight percent of Americans have some
sort of social account and they check it constantly. This has also lead to an addiction to
technology. The rise of smart phones is
making it easier to access the internet no matter where a person is. Americans are addicted to coffee. To a normal America, you cannot get enough
caffeine. Americans are also obsessed
with crime shows. They are addicted to
illicit sex and immorality runs rampant.
Because of such behaviors abortion is at an all time high. There are those addicted to drugs, pain
killers, gambling, and the list goes on.
In short, Americans are addicted to almost any thing and simply put: American have little if any
self-control. The reason why people
struggle with addictions is because they cannot control their appetites. So what is the cure for such addictions and
how can someone gain more self-control?
The answer is Religion.
It can be said that self-control is the master virtue. With it one can obtain all the other virtues.[1] In their book Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Poloutzian
and Park discuss three main elements of self-control. The first element is there needs to be an
ultimate standard. Each person needs to
know what to do. Secondly, each person
needs to monitor his own behavior. The
individual needs to know how he is doing in relation to the standard. And thirdly, the person needs to have the
will power and the ability to change to that standard (pg. 414-415). Now there
have been many papers done exploring the effect of the religion on the human
psyche to help and individual gain self-control (see McCullough and Willoughby2009). There have even been studies done
on people to see if these papers are true (see Rounding et. al. 1012). They have found that religion does help
someone gain self-control. Why is this? Poloutzian and Park speak about this
also. First off, religion gives a
standard for one to follow after.
Secondly, it provides motivation.
Every religion gives plenty of reason why the striving for the ultimate
standard is good- the most basic is G(g)od wants him to. Third, religions have times and ways for
people to monitor their growth in self-control.
Fourth and maybe the most important one, is religion can help a person
monitor his desire for vices (418-425). So by this religion can help one curb
their desire for vices and give them self-control; however, this will not help
an individual in the long wrong. It will merely curb their appetites. Ultimately the issue is a heart motive that
needs to change.
Christians view evil as being a deprivation of the
good. Augustine said that evil is a provatio boni. This means evil does not possess its own
essence. It is merely the privation of
good; similar to the color black. Black
is not a real color but the absence of color, so evil is the absence of good. However, Augustine expands on this idea in
Confessions. In it he says evil can also
be the abuse of evil. Taking this view,
everything is good in and of itself, but becomes evil when it is abused.[2]
What man seeks for is joy. He tries to
find it in all the temporal pleasures around him and by doing so he abuses them
and turns them into vices. Kiekegaard
believed every soul longed for God but most men tried to fill this longing in
other worldly things (Four Upbuilding
Discourses). Likewise, Augustine
said, "Almighty God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are
restless till they find their rest in you" (Confessions book 1 chapter 1).
So true joy and happiness is found in God and what he has done for us
through Christ on the cross. We do not
need to seek joy in other things outside of Christ, but it is who and what
Christ has done for us that satisfies man.
And it is only until a person realizes this can he truly have
self-control. For without the ultimate
form of joy in their life, they will seek out joy in other things. So while religion in general can give a form
of self-control, it is only Christianity that can give true joy that leads to
everlasting contentment which will produce ultimate self-control. The heart will have what it longs for- Christ- and it will not longer have to seek it out in temporal objects.
[1] See Roy F. Baumeister and Julie Juola Exline “Virtue,
Personality, and Social Relations: Self-Control as the Moral Muscle” in Journal of Personality, 1999.
[2] Cf.
C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity. Macmillan Publishing, 1978. Pgs. 49-54.
I enjoyed this blog. One thing I kept thinking was the idea of delayed gratification. I've heard it said that with maturity and wisdom comes the ability to delay gratification. The points of addiction to technology are pertinent because it shows how society no longer bases success on knowledge, but on the availability of information. It seems that nobody knows anything anymore, they just look it up when the information is needed. Along with this comes the inability to see the big picture. Society has been reduced to a here and now focus and a desire for immediate results and gratification. America, as a whole, focuses on what makes one feel good now (various addictions) instead of searching for and clinging to things to help their future be productive (increased knowledge, spirituality, and quality relationships).
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of truth to how you indirectly put self-control and addiction at opposing poles on the spectrum. It is true that addictions prevail in our society, from food addiction and drug addiction to the lesser known addictions of approval and perfectionism. As humans we are created in the perfect image of God. However, because of the sin that persists in today's world, in most cases we struggle with misplaced identity. We have a misplaced identity if it's any less than viewing ourselves as created in the image of God. This misplaced identity is a source for addiction. Instead of viewing ourselves as created in the image of God, the identity we carry for ourselves is often times distorted, which can easily lead to one of many forms of addiction. Our identity is destroyed, and as a result the beliefs we have about ourselves are flawed and inaccurate. We turn to alcohol, drugs, food, perfectionistic ways, all to cover or ignore what we perceive as a flawed image. How great would it be if we started realizing our true identity in Christ and living, as John 10:10 say, "to the fullest"!
ReplyDeleteGood thought Christine, but I do not think we get addicted to things merely because our identity is lost or altered. We all act because we want to. There is a sense in which our idea of joy is what leads us to act. I do not go and get a glass of water unless I desire to. So the reason why people get addicted to things is because they have a desire to.
DeleteNow sometimes this can be because of a misplaced identity that has caused a wrong view for the source of joy, but it ultimately goes back to joy. "Where am I going to get happiness from" asks everyone. If they think it will not be in God then they will not be seeking God, but instead seek anything else. And if they think they have found the source of all happiness then they will stay with it. Hence you get addictions. The alcoholic drinks every night because he thinks that will make him happy. The sex addict will sleep with a different girl tonight because he thinks it will make him happy. We need to change our thought process about what brings happiness and see that joy is ultimately found in God. Here is a link to a helpful video I hope you watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W8TZYwEXNE