Sobriety general

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Sobriety general Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 01:49:53 ee5d21 No.700033

>Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Proverbs 20:1

>Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

Proverbs 23:29-30

>Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow drunkenness, and to drink till the evening, to be inflamed with wine.

Isaiah 5:11

Let us have a thread in the same vein as the Nofap thread - a place for your successes, your woes, your stories and your support for abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Prayer requests are of course accepted. Intoxication is a sin, and chronic intoxication is a deadly passion that wounds our soul as well as our body, perhaps even more so.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 01:57:48 ee5d21 No.700035

As the OP, I will start. I have struggled with drugs and alcohol for most of my life. I have ceased to use drugs (but not to stop thinking about them and occasionally pining after them), but still struggle with drinking. I have been doing better - I went nearly a month without drinking before getting drunk at a family gathering, then went sixteen days before getting absolutely wasted at the bar last Friday. I haven't had a drink since.

Alcohol and drugs have made a mockery of me. I am facing two separate DWIs, one from benzodiazepines and one from alcohol. I have overdosed twice on heroin. However, worse than legal problems and health risks, these addictive substances completely separate me from God. When using or drinking, I am completely enslaved by their influence and cannot serve Christ as my Lord and my God. The only thing I can do to help myself is to pray, for I know only He can save me from these terrible vices as I am a weak-willed degenerate sinner. Please pray for me.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 03:40:52 a9920b No.700075

File: 6499a530ef35fc5⋯.jpg (80.51 KB, 632x768, 79:96, Get jolly.jpg)

> [11] All the beasts of the field shall drink: the wild asses shall expect in their thirst. [12] Over them the birds of the air shall dwell: from the midst of the rocks they shall give forth their voices. [13] Thou waterest the hills from thy upper rooms: the earth shall be filled with the fruit of thy works: [14] Bringing forth grass for cattle, and herb for the service of men. That thou mayst bring bread out of the earth: [15] And that wine may cheer the heart of man. That he may make the face cheerful with oil: and that bread may strengthen man's heart.

Psalm 103

>"And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees."

Isaiah 25

>blood of Christ

>under the species of wine

>he said: Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed. [28] God give thee the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn and wine. [29] And let peoples serve thee, and tribes worship thee: be thou lord of thy brethren, and let thy mother's children bow down before thee. Cursed be he that curseth thee: and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings.

Abraham's blessing of Isaac

Too much of any good thing is a bad thing, OP.

I used to throw myself to drugs and inebriation in despair, hopelessness and into depravity, but having a family helps, and I've only gotten drunk twice, maybe three times since my son was born a year and half ago.

That being said, I do take kratom two or three times every day, and I have an occasional drink, but I no longer have a serious desire to become intoxicated to the point of being drunk or "messed up"

I figure God gives us some of these things (plants, alcohol) as medicine so-to-speak, and I do genuinely strive to use these gifts to promote and assist my spiritual life through prayer, spiritual meditation, and spiritual conversation with my wife. That being said, it can be a fine line to walk at times, but I am definitely getting progressively better. When you're at the bottom of the barrel, it takes a good amount of time and help to climb back out.

All good things in moderation, and God's will be done.

Good luck, friend. You're gonna be fine. Have faith, and Godspeed.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 03:59:16 ee5d21 No.700083

>>700075

I knew this kind of post would come up, but I was hoping it wouldn't be the first reply.

Look, I know drinking alcohol isn't necessarily a sin. I'm not trying to shame anyone who drinks. But chronic intoxication (and a lot of people say drunkenness period) is most definitely a sin, and some of us have a real problem with that. Those of us who do, need the help of God and the solidarity of other Christians. If you can moderate your use, then you are truly blessed. But I know I cannot (aside from the Blood when partaking of the Mystical Supper). I have tried and tried to moderate my drinking to no avail. For me, one drink is too much, and 'moderation' means abstinence. I'm glad the Lord has helped you with your problem, now please just show solidarity and pray for us who still struggle with this destructive passion.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 04:50:59 47f586 No.700106

This isn't exactly the point of the thread, but I'd like to share it anyway, if I may. I've been on (((SSRI's))) since early January, and have been weening myself off of them over the past few months. They don't really make me feel any better, they just dull my thought processes and make me incapable of focusing on anything. Anyone else have experiences with antidepressants?

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 13:39:01 ee5d21 No.700389

>>700106

I took SSRIs for a few months when I was a teenager. I didn't notice any effects from them whatsoever so I abruptly discontinued them. The withdrawals were not very seveer, the most pronounced of them being the 'brain zaps' that people describe. At the time I wasn't familiar with the term 'brain zaps' and thus was at a loss of words for what I was experiencing; when I tried to tell people what was happening they dismissed my feelings by saying I hadn't been taking them long enough to experience any symptoms of discontinuation. I was already wary of psychiatry, and the dismissive response I received upon talking about my symptoms turned me off of it completely. Unfortunately this is when my self medication began to ramp up and I started down the road of drug addiction.

I will pray for you brother. Hopefully you won't need any medication and the grace of God will be enough to sustain you; if it turns out you do indeed need medicinal help then I would recommend MAOIs - the dietary restrictions can be tough but I hear very good things about their mental effects otherwise.

>The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a sensible person will not hesitate to use them

Wisdom of Sirach 38:4

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 13:52:21 013865 No.700390

File: 0ab22dd40da1d4f⋯.jpg (87.59 KB, 1048x436, 262:109, orals kick in.jpg)

I'm giving up steroids this week. Pray for me and my sick gains. Hope I don't lose too much.

I'm lucky I never acquired a taste for alcohol or smokes or bad drugs. But I did acquire the desire to look like a dragon ball z character as a teenager. Oh well.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 13:57:49 ee5d21 No.700392

>>700390

I said a prayer for you. Are there withdrawal symptoms from anabolic steroids?

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 14:12:36 013865 No.700396

>>700392

some get mild depression and low libido for a couple weeks, until their natural testosterone levels return to normal.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 16:34:13 65a784 No.700420

>>700390

Just know you can be strong without the roids and microballs. Look into increasing your testosterone the natural way.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 19:34:55 47f586 No.700462

>>700389

Thanks for the prayers, my friend. Expect prayers in return. I'll look into MAOI's out of curiosity if nothing else.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 19:46:42 801c74 No.700468

>>700033

I don't want to de-rail your thread OP but I am interested to hear peoples' opinion on Alcoholic Anonymous.

My mother and all her friends are super into "meetings" which they attend more than they attend church (they attend several times per week) and they are not even alcoholics themselves. My maternal grandfather was alcoholic, and for this reason my mother and aunt have attended AA meetings their entire lives. Frankly I think it is a cult.

Christanon 09/12/18 (Wed) 21:23:38 ee5d21 No.700484

>>700468

I don't mind discussing AA in this thread, and would even hesitate to call it 'mine', as it now belongs to the board and anyone who wants to share their experiences with addiction and recovery.

I've been to a few (read: two) AA meetings - they were overtly secular and mostly attended by drunks who were there by court order. While it felt good to open up with some true opinions of myself (such as the fact that I'm a dirty filthy degenerate sinner who can't control himself), it wasn't a good enough feeling to keep coming back. Like I said, it seems most people go there because they are forced to - when I worked in a liquor store I sold single shots to people on their way to AA quite often.

As for it being a cult, I can't say I agree with it. It isn't centralized in anyway, and each group is different from the other. Some are, as in my experience, full of people there by the coutr's orders. However, I have heard of others that are very familial and Christian orientate. The main advice I got from people was to keep going to different groups until you find one that works for you. They profess no unifying belief except that the Twelve Steps can work to get people sober. There is no central charismatic leader. Thus, I would say that AA itself is not a cult, but perhaps that a specific instance of it could become clique-ish and perhaps cult like.