ALCOHOLISM
Background
Habitual use of alcohol often results in addiction. The drinker's inadequacies, faults, and problems become intensified, and often personality changes result. Though feeling confident when under the influence of alcohol, he or she is often immature, insecure, and afflicted by guilt and depression. The alcoholic does not feel good about himself or herself and cannot face the addiction and the problems it creates; so he or she denies the problem and is dishonest in covering it up and in blaming it on family members, parents, work supervisors, or the "bad breaks" of life. This deviousness and denial leads to a masquerade in life that at times assumes almost comic, though actually tragic, overtones.
Alcoholics desperately need help. Alcoholics Anonymous maintains that until alcoholics hit rock bottom, admitting their life is out of control, there is little hope of any change. Admitting that there is a problem is the first step on the road to recovery.
There is hope for the alcoholic: God is able to deliver from this as well as any other addiction.
Billy Graham writes: "The Bible teaches that there is deliverance from the things that come upon the world . . . not by chemicals, but by Christ, bringing the mind and heart into harmony with God through submission to His will and accepting His forgiveness. . . . In Christ alone there is deliverance from man's tortured thoughts and freedom from the sordid habits which are destroying so many people. Why does the Bible so clearly denounce drunkenness? Because it is an enemy of human life. Anything that is against a person's welfare, God is against."
Helping Strategy
1. If the inquirer is drunk or "high," any help you try to offer will be futile, a conversation with the alcohol and not with the person; it could even be counterproductive for the alcoholic. Arrange a meeting or have him or her telephone the following day when he or she is sober. If the person appears to be out of control, get him or her to a detox center. In some cases, you might ask if there is someone else available to take the person to a center.