Does Alcoholics Anonymous provide help and hope to addicts, or is the constant reliance on a Higher Power, a crutch to keep the addicted from finding true solutions.
EllenBeth candidly shares her story.
Does Alcoholics Anonymous provide help and hope to addicts? Great video!!!
by whereami 15 Replies latest jw friends
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whereami
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avishai
There are other options. The Sinclair method (medical) SMART recovery..lots of options
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whereami
Exactly avishai, that's the point being made.
Have a drink on me
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OnTheWayOut
A. A. is not the only way to stay sober. I am happy that she has started something else.
Part of the reason A.A. is still around is that it is self-supportive among the members and only has the one goal.But A.A. is a mixed bag. I currently go to A.A. for atheists and agnostics, where we put aside the "higher power" part. But typical A.A. finds a bunch of people with the crutch on their higher power or on "working the steps." It's not a requirement, and I don't have a higher power, nor do I work the steps in the fashion they prescribe. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
But, yes.... the members do tend to push that God stuff. If you can't find a meeting you are comfortable with, you might have to endure that. I find that the ones who push their crutch or lean heavily on their crutch tend to need that crutch or else they would be drinking.
One thing I can say for sure. I had a problem with alcohol and now I identify more with my problem with JW's. If I go to a meetup of ex-JW's, I am dealing with my problem way more than I am at A.A.. Perhaps, for some that find it smoother sailing in some other group, their real bigger problem is being dealt with better there at A.A..
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cyberjesus
WhereamI, thanks for the video.
OTWO so this meetings just replace the word "God" for other word? I am curious. I went to an AA meeting just recently and I counted the number of times the Word GOD was mentioned in the 1:30 hr meeting, take a guess... 285 thats more times than in whole day of a district convention.
I think AA meetings work not because the steps work but because thats all we have. And the poeple there ALLL of them need to believe someone cares for them so much that if you let him help you then and trust in him then you can get help. When I went there I thought of "Sharing" and saying "I am Jesus Atheist" and go on with my story of the day... but I realized that those meetings, for those poeple, thats all that they can get.
I was not gonna burst their bubble with rational arguments against the non-evidencial-God, I just listened and realize that we as HUMANS need help. as a whole we Human race are still in a primitive stage of development.
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OnTheWayOut
The Atheist/Agnostic A.A. (called Quad A) does not "replace." You are not required to believe anything, you can even be a believer and come to these meetings. But no Lord's Prayer and no mass recitation of steps and traditions with God in them.
For some, it is belief in "someone" out there that keeps them sober. For others, the power of the group allowing them to share their successes and failures is the trick. But typical groups will typically not want to hear your rational arguments.
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cyberjesus
yeap i kept my mouth shut
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whereami
Thanks for the info OTWO. Intersting stuff.
Good luck with it.
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transhuman68
Interesting... in Australia I have never heard God mentioned... just Higher Power. Been to a lot of groups, but it's really just a fellowship here. Still woks though. We have an atheist PM, so we are all pretty godless...
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JeffT
I've been going to AA for 5 /2 years. I stopped going to church two years ago and I'm closer to God now than I was then. AA is a fellowship. If you don't want to be part of it, that's fine with us. I have not heard a number of the things she was talking about at the meetings I attend. In fact speakers at my home group frequently discuss the problems of being an atheist/agnostic AA and how it works for them anyway.