I recently read, in a book about sexual addiction called “Freedom Fight,” about several related and fascinating experiments. In the first experiment, researchers put a rat alone in a cage with two bottles. One had normal water, the other morphine-drugged water. The rat invariably chose the morphine water, and drank until it became addicted and eventually died. The experiment purported to show that addictions are primarily chemically-driven. Later, another experimenter thought that maybe the rats became addicted because they were bored and isolated. So, the experimenter constructed “Rat Park,” an environment with lots of activities and other rats. The rats in Rat Park were still given access to the drugged water, but routinely chose regular water. They found that rats in Rat Park rarely used drugged water, none used it compulsively, and none overdosed. Researchers then added another level to the experiment. They placed rats in isolated cages for almost two months, allowing them to become addicted to the drugged water. Then, the isolated, addicted rats were placed in Rat Park. Eventually the addicted rats gave up the drugs completely and remained drug-free. The takeaway from the experiments is that addiction is best fought in community, and cannot be overcome in isolation. Someone else has put it that the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but relational connection and intimacy. We can’t simply stop addictions and patterns of sin. Rather, we must replace them with God-honoring and life-giving habits, that involve the worship of God and love of others. We must replace isolating sin with worship and connection. God was on to something when He noted that it is not good for man to be alone.