AA and the issue of God

digderidoo

Further to my apprehensions regarding the AA and the mention of God in there meetings. I attended a meeting on Monday night and shared my feelings within the group.

I spoke and told everyone of my JW past, being critical of the way i was brought up. This is the first time i have been openly critical about the organistion with people, except with other x jws, may be for fear of being labelled an 'apostate'. I must admit i felt as though i released some anger i have towards the society, anger that has built up for approximately 12, 13 years since i left the organisation.

I realise i am the kind of person who dwells on matters that concern me, which inevitably eats away at me and in turn i get wound up.

Many there do have a belief in God and this has proved to help them with their addiction, so i dont want to take that away from anyone. However, for me the mere mention of God triggers the anger that i thought i had dealt with towards the way i was brought up.

The feeling i get from previous posts and pms is that AA meetings in the US, particularly in the South, are more religious based than meetings in the UK or elsewhere. In the UK when God is mentioned people are looked at as being a bit freakish. One only has to look at the way politicians try to evade the issue here in the UK to see how a deep belief in God can be interpretated. Tony Blair being the prime example, whereas in the US politicians will speak openly about their belief in God.

Althought the meetings do mention God, particularly at the end with the serenity prayer, there is not an emphasis on it. Learning from other peoples experience is the key for me at the moment, so therefore i will put the God issue to one side as the importent thing for me is to remain sober.

BurnTheShips

Hi didgeridoo.

Years ago I helped a friend with a heroin addiction that was in NA and I earned a "coin" from him as a tribute for that year (which I retain in his memory since his passing from AIDS) What I learned from him part of the program (IIRC which is the same as AA) is that you must realize that you are powerless against your addiction and that you must commit yourself to a Higher Power of your choosing for strength.

I hope you make your peace with God--and with yourself also.

Sincerely,

Burn

OnTheWayOut

"God" can be said by others and you can hear it as "G.O.D."

One acronym is Good Orderly Direction. You can skip the serenity prayer and just
hold hands (if that's what your group does) and appreciate the strength of the group.

Also, note the 12 steps and the Humanist alternative:

http://silkworth.net/magazine_newspaper/humanist_jul_aug_1987.html

THE TWELVE STEPS

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol… that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure then or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we under-stood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

THE HUMANIST ALTERNATIVE

1. We accept the fact that all our efforts to stop drinking have failed. 2. We believe that we must turn elsewhere for help. 3. We turn to our fellow men and women, particularly those who have struggled with the same problem. 4. We have made a list of the situations in which we are most likely to drink. 5. We ask our friends to help us avoid these situations. 6. We are ready to accept the help they give us. 7. We earnestly hope that they will help. 8. We have made a list of the persons we have harmed and to whom we hope to make amends. 9. We shall do all we can to make amends, in any way that will not cause further harm. 10. We will continue to make such lists and revise them as needed. 11. We appreciate what our friends have done and are doing to help us. 12. We, in turn, are ready to help others who may come to us in the same way.

B.F. Skinner, 1972 Humanist of the Year, continues his research and writing at Harvard University.

(Source: The Humanist, July/August, 1987)

JK666

Paul,

It sounds like AA in the UK is more balanced than it is in some parts of the US. The Jesus Freaks have an off-putting effect on many newcomers that have been burned by religion as we have. If you read Bill's Story (Chapter 1 in the big book) he was not thrilled with religion either. That is why they came up with "your own concept of God." Religion should be far removed from an AA meeting.

As for the issues you mentioned in the meeting, many people in AA will not be able to relate. Things that are a big deal to us, they just don't understand. A big help for me is that I was able to meet a friend in AA that was brought up in a JW family, although he never became one himself. He understood all of my issues, and helped me reason on them. Maybe you can use some of us on JWD for the same purpose.

Much luck and love,

John

digderidoo

Thanks for your comments that humanist alternative looks interesting.

John, what you say about people in the AA cannot really relate, I did find this on Monday. One or two comments were to keep it simple and dont dwell on it. Whereas when you have been brought up the way we have it is hard not to dwell on the God or higher power thing. One person could relate, who is an atheist and had similar issues to begin with himself.

I do find people on this board as a support who can relate to these matters. But for now i am glad i have mentioned it in the group as i am not the kind of person who can open up straight away.

I have to go off line in a while so will check on posts tomorrow.

On another point i am in the local library on the net at the moment, while waiting for my slot i have stumbled across Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, so will make a good read as i have heard so much about it but have never read it.

Paul

Burger Time

It's pretty well known AA was a religious institution (of sorts) to begin with. They only stopped being so pro christian when a persons sued the government for forcing them to go to AA and claiming that it was in violation of church and state. Then Jesus and God go replaced by Pets and doorknobs.

JeffT

so therefore i will put the God issue to one side as the importent thing for me is to remain sober.

I have a friend in AA who's been sober about 5 years. He still has the God thing on the back burner, and it may be there for the rest of his life. A lot of AA's do. The main thing is working on your program, getting your head cleared out so you can think about it. When I got to my 4th step JW's (both the religion itself and whole bunch of individuals) showed up bigtime. It is a great way to get a bunch of the crap out of your system.

Dogaradodya

Excuse me but I'm just dropping this bomb so I can be a Jedi in 100 days and be able to start Star Wars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aoUxKfHS9I

thom

I went to AA for a short time in Kentucky and I remember one woman there who said her god was herself. The lack of reaction from anyone indicated to me that god wasn't a big part of it (in that particular group anyway).

AA and the issue of God

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