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iQuestions Faculty, Dr. David Eckman 
 
 
Question: 
 
Why not just call addiction sin, and tell addicts to repent? 
 
Answer: 
 
Addiction is certainly sinful. Why? Because when a person becomes 
enslaved to some addictive behavior, inevitably they will harm 
themselves, they will harm other people, and they will strain their 
relationship with God Himself. It’s dangerous stuff, and it’s damaging. 
 
But it’s a little bit naïve to turn to the addict and say “repent,” because 
in our culture “repent” means “change your behavior and change your 
thinking”—but addiction is a bit more complex than that.  
 
This is why addiction is driven by a cycle: a cycle of unaddressed pain 
in the life; and, secondly, disassociation, or stepping into aloneness, 
into a non-relational life; living off of a fantasy-world is a third step, 
buying into false beliefs; and then a fourth step is a simple robotic 
step that doesn’t strain the brain at all, and then “working out” in 
some behavior. Those are the components, the simplest components 
of addictive behavior. 
 
In order for a person to repent, they have start addressing the pain in 
their life. They have to start relating in a healthy way to other people, 
themselves, and to God. They also have to reconstitute their basic 
picture of who they are.  
 
Often as not, identity issues—the instinctive picture of who we are—
has to be addressed, and then there has to be a restructuring of the 
life.  
 
 
 
The first three elements: unaddressed pain; disassociation, or stepping 
into a world of loneliness; and thirdly, a fantasy-world—they’re the big 
deals. The restructuring of the life is less important, but significant.  
 
So, when we turn to an addict and tell the addict to repent, make sure 
that we know what we’re asking that person to do. It’s an arduous, but 
doable, task. It’s a challenge worth taking, but we should not be 
simplistic about this stuff. 
 
To download a printable version of this transcript, click here.