While I believe centering in God and the way of Jesus can be a source of strength to overcome addiction, I think it is simplistic and unkind to cast addiction as merely a matter of personal weakness or lack of faith in God.

First, addiction is an illness that needs medical and mental health intervention.

Second, lots of people beat addiction who have no such faith.

Third, so much of our current addiction issues – i.e., the opiod crisis – was cultivated by the completely legal pharmeceutical industry and their highly predatory practices. They whave been legal pushers who created opiods more addictive than heroine or crack. Their – again, legal – practices were at least as calculated as the tabacco industry's, but have been more destructive to families, communities, and society as a whole.

Addiction is a complex illness and the causes are not just in the hands of the addict. There's an interpersonal and societal set of dichotomies at play that must be addressed to truly come to grips with the problems of addiction.