Thanks blondie but i'm not in Australia, i'm in the UK lol
Paul
i know there's a handful here.. could you pm me to get in touch or respond to this thread.
for any who have my email or facebook listing could you contact me as i have some questions with regards to how you have worked step 3.. i am at a place now where i am wondering if aa is going to work for me anymore, 18 months in and i seem to be going around in circles on step 3 and could do with a bit of advice from those of you who can identify with this.
it's not just the god thing, it's also the idea of 'handing your will over', i just cannot conceive the idea of handing my will over to something else as i've done that for years as a jw.
Thanks blondie but i'm not in Australia, i'm in the UK lol
Paul
yep, very typical.
Paul
i know there's a handful here.. could you pm me to get in touch or respond to this thread.
for any who have my email or facebook listing could you contact me as i have some questions with regards to how you have worked step 3.. i am at a place now where i am wondering if aa is going to work for me anymore, 18 months in and i seem to be going around in circles on step 3 and could do with a bit of advice from those of you who can identify with this.
it's not just the god thing, it's also the idea of 'handing your will over', i just cannot conceive the idea of handing my will over to something else as i've done that for years as a jw.
Thanks for those links Blondie, they look good. Unfortunately there are no atheist/agnostics groups in my area.
I am at a serious crossroads OTWO, i currently have 15 months sobriety, and over 18 months of attending AA i seem to be going round and round in circles on step 3, think at times that i have it, just to be told that i haven't if i'm not willing to do the prayer. I have spoken to my sponsor about it, maybe it's time to find a new one as the job of a sponsor is to guide you through the stops, i feel as though he is stopping me by trying to enforce his program onto me.
Good for you jeeprube, i am probably like you in that i don't always attend the meetings, well for me it's more that i attend for a while try to work the program but have time periods where i find other ways to maintain sobriety and only then go when i need them.
i feel that the apostate's claims that rutherford was a drunk to be far fetched.
on the one hand, they claim that he was so drunk that the brothers at bethel shipped him to san diego to beth sarim, where he stayed drunk out of his mind, then on the other hand, they claimed that he ruled the society with an iron fist, that he was a dictator.
no drunk could have ruled the society like a dictator.
You would have to show me he was arrested a few times for drunken disorderliness before this particular gossip sticks.
I am an alcoholic and never once been arrested for drunken disorderliness.
Paul
i know there's a handful here.. could you pm me to get in touch or respond to this thread.
for any who have my email or facebook listing could you contact me as i have some questions with regards to how you have worked step 3.. i am at a place now where i am wondering if aa is going to work for me anymore, 18 months in and i seem to be going around in circles on step 3 and could do with a bit of advice from those of you who can identify with this.
it's not just the god thing, it's also the idea of 'handing your will over', i just cannot conceive the idea of handing my will over to something else as i've done that for years as a jw.
Jeeprube, i know the feeling. How's things now though? Did you find something that was of a benefit to you, better than AA?
Parakeet, I've felt the same, cringed at the God talk, but i did initially adopt the words of a God of my own understanding which the steps talk of.
OTWO, i have looked into similar lines to yourself. For me God has been a spiritual journey, rather than an existential being. I have looked into eastern philosophy, mainly Buddhism. I have read One Breath at a Time, Buddhism and the Twelve steps which has helped. I've looked a little in Taoism and may read more. I do not adopt that traditional wiew of God and over the last year spoken to many buddhist AA'ers. I have also looked into how atheists work the steps.
The main issue i'm having is the part where it says to 'hand your will over'. It's as if i'm adopting another belief system, that has some sort of control on my life. After coming out of the JW's adopting a belief system, instead of acting on my will is something that sits uneasy with me. In my view we are created or exist with a free will, so why hand it over, which seems to be the AA way.
I have a sponsor in AA who wants me to do the step 3 prayer with him before i move on, i refuse to do it. Because of this i am not doing the other steps, what's the point in working the program. I have used other things as a higher power, the group, a spiritual path, etc I have felt comfortable that i have got step 3 in the past but recently have these issues with handing my will over, also physically doing a prayer with someone is not something i feel comfortable with.
I am considering stopping AA, but at the same time wonder whether this will effect my sobriety.
Paul
i know there's a handful here.. could you pm me to get in touch or respond to this thread.
for any who have my email or facebook listing could you contact me as i have some questions with regards to how you have worked step 3.. i am at a place now where i am wondering if aa is going to work for me anymore, 18 months in and i seem to be going around in circles on step 3 and could do with a bit of advice from those of you who can identify with this.
it's not just the god thing, it's also the idea of 'handing your will over', i just cannot conceive the idea of handing my will over to something else as i've done that for years as a jw.
BTTT before i go to bed.
hey,.
this is my first post on this forum after months of reading and lurking on here.
i'm glad to be able to say that my husband and i finally sent our letter saying we want out and are wait to hear back for a potential jc meeting--that we won't be attending.. we had so many doubts it was impossible for us to continue living the lie.
Nice first post, welcome to the forum.
Paul
ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone...for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" - james 2: 24, 26
al capone vs. judge rutherford
al capone gained his power by exploiting the weaknesses of people.. judge rutherford gained his power by exploiting the weaknesses of people.
Who was Rutherford's mistress? I have googled it and nothing has come up...new one to me.
Paul
i know there's a handful here.. could you pm me to get in touch or respond to this thread.
for any who have my email or facebook listing could you contact me as i have some questions with regards to how you have worked step 3.. i am at a place now where i am wondering if aa is going to work for me anymore, 18 months in and i seem to be going around in circles on step 3 and could do with a bit of advice from those of you who can identify with this.
it's not just the god thing, it's also the idea of 'handing your will over', i just cannot conceive the idea of handing my will over to something else as i've done that for years as a jw.
I know there's a handful here.
Could you pm me to get in touch or respond to this thread. For any who have my email or facebook listing could you contact me as i have some questions with regards to how you have worked step 3.
I am at a place now where i am wondering if AA is going to work for me anymore, 18 months in and i seem to be going around in circles on step 3 and could do with a bit of advice from those of you who can identify with this. It's not just the God thing, it's also the idea of 'handing your will over', i just cannot conceive the idea of handing my will over to something else as i've done that for years as a JW. I'm at a crossroads in my sobriety and could do with speaking to some AA'ers who were JW's.
Anyone who i've never spoken to before feel free to add your thoughts also as i haven't really used this site for a while so therefore don't know who's here and who isn't.
Regards
Paul
i've already posted this on a recent thread, but just in case it gets ignored, i wanted it to have a thread of its own.
as i'm quite uncertain as to what to do.... in the area that i just moved to i have discovered that there is a jw here that i used to know.
the interesting thing about this jw is that when i knew him 20 years ago he fled my congo because a young sister spoke up and said that he had been raping her for years as a child.
Do you mean report him to the elders and cong or report him to the police?
Paul