Article January 8, 1996 Issue

Healing addiction

Robert A. Johnson

What is the root cause of addiction, and how can it be overcome? Those are questions I had to deal with earlier in my life. For fourteen years I had smoked cigarettes.

My addiction began in high school. Movie and newspaper images made smoking seem manly and glamorous. At that time public discussion of whether smoking was dangerous was not widespread. Neither did it dawn on me that smoking, or for that matter any addiction, is a violation of the commandment to have only one God and not to bow down to a second power. I was smoking two to three packs of cigarettes each day. Each time I tried to stop, I wound up smoking more.

When I took up the study of Christian Science, I soon realized that nothing is incurable. I saw that Christ Jesus' words (Mark 10:27) "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible" had practical meaning in my life. Earlier efforts to get rid of the tobacco habit had failed because they were based on willpower. I knew now that by putting my trust in God and understanding my indestructible relation to Him, I could be healed and protected from future addictive temptations.

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