The 12-Step path we follow in Alcoholics Anonymous is a practical behavior changing process and can result in a positive character change within us. These Steps, if followed, will reduce our self-centered thoughts and hopefully give us some visibility in to our behavioral problems and the defects of character underlying them. Then, once uncovered, we ask God to remove them. That is, if we know God. If we have an imaginary concept of God, the removal of character defects simply becomes a self-made process of practicing principles that are spiritual in nature. It is a very effective process and once we are out of denial about our alcoholism, and our inability to manage our own life, we are at the beginning of a reliable change process that renews our mind with a whole lot of truth. That truth becomes reality, as we practice the behaviors found in spiritual principles. A spiritual principle is always at odds with our human desires, which are always blemished by self-centered attitudes. That is why we need help of the spiritual kind.
Honesty is an example. We come in to the program with major dishonesty in our belief system. Dishonesty grew as we practiced it in our self-centered way of living from birth to adulthood and became magnified in our active alcoholism. From birth? Yes. As a baby we discover quickly how to fake a false reason to cry besides soiled diapers and hunger. Self-centeredness starts very early. It’s always reinforced when some attention is given by others to our own desires – selfish or otherwise. By the time active alcoholism occurs, the ability to fake justification to drink is fully in play. Its deep within us and very complicated. Dishonesty and other flaws are deeply embedded in our belief system. However, if we understand how negative character forms, we can then learn how to unravel it. We will find it easier to reverse it if we tap in to the power of a real personal God. We cannot do it alone. Of course, the long-term results of this character-changing process depends upon the individual’s understanding or misunderstanding of God.
Bill Wilson, on page 95 in the book “As Bill Sees It” states: We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect. He added “Each man’s theology has to be his own quest, his own affair.” This statement is the reason why they opened up the A.A. program to anyone without requiring faith in the biblical understanding of God. The task was to remove the biblical language, but the published Big Book whispered otherwise. That objective was a last-minute decision, and the original manuscript was hurriedly scrubbed to reflect that objective. The book was printed in 1939 with changes to the manuscript. The story behind that is made clear by Dick B. in a talk in Huntington Beach, California in 2010. You can listen to Dick B. on the audio clip at the end of this article.
The original program which began in 1935 had its early beginnings in Christianity (The Oxford Group). This fellowship exposed the real need for a person to embrace the biblical God, who for centuries of human existence had been identified as the one who holds the real power. That power was needed to help break the addictions that alcoholics had to booze, that for many had become hopeless. The idea of help from God derived itself from the failings of people over decades to solve this issue in their own strength. Although much of the biblical material in the original manuscript was minimized before printing, many passages were left in and clearly pointed to the biblical God. Why? Because the founders knew that the real power was to be found in the biblical God and that the process itself found in the 12 Steps were based upon the Bible. That meant believing in Jesus Christ.
In the book, “The Good Book and The Big Book,” author and historian Dick B. makes it clear that the Bible had a direct impact on the Big Book and other A.A. approved literature. In the preface of this book Dick B. writes: The purpose of this particular title is, quite simply, to provide an historically accurate account of what early A.A.’s heard, studied, and borrowed from the Bible. That they did so is clear. AND: We believe this work on the Bible illustrates in detail precisely what Dr. Bob meant when he said A.A.’s got their basic ideas from a study of the Bible. Dr. Bob called the Bible the Good Book. AND: We are convinced that a knowledge of A.A.’s roots in the Bible can illuminate the pages of the Big Book, can set the stage for spiritual growth among individual A.A.’s today, and can provide aid and comfort for those who believe, as did Dr. Bob and his wife, Anne, that the Bible should be the main source book for information about God, about His Will and power and love, about prayer, and the way to deliverance.
To join the fellowship in early Akron A.A., a real surrender took place for the newcomer in a prayer session. In this session they confirmed their decision for Christ. At that time, the others prayed with him that alcohol be taken out of his life and joined him in asking that he be guided to live according to God’s Will. And it was for good reason. The Bible states that to open the door to the true forgiveness of God requires a simple act of our own will. It is through a confession of our own powerlessness to save ourselves and a personal surrender to Christ who can save us. At the exact moment that Christ comes into our heart, forgiveness for our sins occurs, and the Holy Spirit begins to live in us.
Although it is no longer practiced as part of A.A., when Christ enters a person’s heart, the immediate cleansing of their personal sin takes place and God begins to see them through the cleansing blood of Christ. The mystery of this cleansing includes all past sin and promises forgiveness for future sin. To make it personal, at the moment of salvation we are justified, given a new nature, and made holy in a positional way. But not in a worldly way. We still have the ability to make bad choices (sin) and often do. As Christians, we then begin traveling the road that requires us to work out our salvation through a cleansing process (sanctification). This process provides for real spiritual growth in this life, and a promise of perfection as we transition into the life to come. Christ removes the spiritual penalty for sin when we embrace Him. We are reborn. We have a new nature which is not compelled to sin, yet we still have beliefs in our mind that are full of error and lies which can still create problems for us. This is why our mind needs to be renewed. It is the Holy Spirit in us that helps us accomplish this renewal process.
All of this and more is covered in more detail in the book Eternal Sobriety. It is made clear biblically that we play a real role in the Christian renewal process. The bible tells us to “work out your own salvation. This phrase is from Philippians 2:12. This verse encourages believers to take responsibility for their spiritual growth and to work towards their own salvation with fear and trembling. It is important to note that this does not mean that we can earn our salvation through our own efforts, but rather that we should cooperate with God’s grace and strive to live a life that is pleasing to Him. As Christians, we are continually being made in the image of Christ with the aid of the Holy Spirit. This means that we have forming within us the character of Christ. This process then should result in our character and behavior demonstrating the traits of Jesus Christ.
(excerpt, Eternal Sobriety, Chapter 8, The Helper, Page 186,187) The Holy Spirit, which lives and operates in the Christian, will produce the “fruit of the Spirit.” This fruit denotes the character God expects of His people. It comes with the Holy Spirit and is reflective of the nature of Christ. We are to allow the Holy Spirit to develop the different manifestations of this fruit to full maturity. The Holy Spirit will grow this fruit within us and will help us put to death our self-centeredness. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the characteristics of this fruit that grows within our new nature. What a pleasant contrast they provide to the previous list. It says: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Individuals sin when they give in to temptations. The book of James was a favorite of early A.A. for a lot of reasons. One was the understanding of how we can so easily lose our sobriety. James 1:13 -15 explains: When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. One of the biggest fears most alcoholics face is having a slip, that is, drinking again. James is clear that what needs to be removed from us is desire. Desire is elusive and comes and goes depending upon our spiritual condition. It is in the mind where desire is initiated, and it is always preceded by thoughts and those originate out of our individual beliefs. There are many things we do in A.A. that are helpful to curb our desire to drink, but without a change in our beliefs, we will always be at risk. This is a major reason why we need spiritual help. We need to change our beliefs in order to change our thoughts, in order to remove our old ideas. The right beliefs (ideas) produce good behavior and good consequences. This process is difficult without God, as our own nature rebels against change.
As Christians, we have this needed power that works within us to help us grow spiritually. I am speaking of the Holy Spirit whose main function is to instill truth in us. This is a process that is referred to as sanctification, which means to make holy. From the positional aspect of our salvation, God sees us through the righteousness and holiness of Christ. However, the reality of our walk in this life is that we still have the ability to display bad character. In other words, to sin. Sanctification then, is the process of removing the error, lies, thoughts and actions, which cause us to sin. And as said, it is a process we participate in by renewing the mind. It is truth that sets us free from defects and that truth becomes real in our beliefs as we practice that truth. We need power to accomplish that, and our inside helper provides that power. The truth that we need is God’s truth which is biblical truth.
(excerpt from the book Eternal Sobriety) Many in the program stay away from reading the Bible because they think it means becoming religious. This is a lie of the highest order. Buying in to that lie will only obstruct understanding the truth about God and His Will. If we fail to seek the truth from His book, we will remain susceptible to the confusion and misinformation about God and His Will that exists in the world. Our natural tendency is to look for Him only in the events and experiences of our life – usually only in times of great need. Experience is a part of the growth process, but truth is needed in us to illuminate the trail that leads to His Will. Our participation is to gain knowledge about the truth of God and practice spiritual principles. As we do, our walk will derive the experiences that we need for change. God does not just rely on us trying to understand our experiences without His help. Our own distorted belief system will darken the results.
He documented His Will for us to read. It is in the Bible, but we need an encounter with it to know that. We would remain forever in darkness and confusion if it were not for His combination of truth and principles – and the beliefs that we develop from them. Romans 12:2 (NLT) says: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s Will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
However, this wonderful inside help of godly, spiritual growth is not available to one who does not have God’s Spirit living within them. This is the case for many in Alcoholics Anonymous. The opening up of AA and the fellowship has resulted in many people becoming sober without the biblical God and His inside help. Of course, they do benefit because many of the lies and errors they bring in to the program will get exposed to truth, and beliefs will change. The general truth about alcoholism and how best to live life to achieve sobriety, will happen if they practice the Steps. But the sin nature in the unbeliever is still inside them. Human nature wants to sin, and it is a very powerful negative principle to overcome.
Relying on our own strength to overcome sin will not work. It did not work for alcoholism, nor will it work for the removal of defects. And relying on an imaginary self-created force outside of us to magically remove our propensity to sin is useless. That includes the desire to drink alcohol. Going to meetings, working with others, reading the Big Book, and sponsoring others, are only aids to sobriety. The problem is that eventually these actions will at some point not be enough to prevent us from drinking. The evidence of this is found in the number of people in Alcoholics Anonymous who do not attain long-term sobriety. Lack of power is a major dilemma for us alcoholics and we are clearly told to seek and find the biblical God. This was briefly discussed in the two previous articles titled; What is the Best Kept Secret in A.A.? and Building Character – As God Sees It – Identifying the Real Power in A.A.
Let’s examine the most important example that the Big Book says about God. See Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 4, We Agnostics, Page 56. Read this carefully.
In this book you will read the experience of a man who thought he was an atheist. His story is so interesting that some of it should be told now. His change of heart was dramatic, convincing, and moving. Our friend was a minister’s son. He attended church school, where he became rebellious at what he thought an overdose of religious education. For years thereafter he was dogged by trouble and frustration. Business failure, insanity, fatal illness, suicide- these calamities in his immediate family embittered and depressed him. Post-war disillusionment, ever more serious alcoholism, impending mental and physical collapse, brought him to the point of self-destruction.
One night, when confined in a hospital, he was approached by an alcoholic who had known a spiritual experience. Our friend’s gorge rose as he bitterly cried out: “If there is a God, He certainly hasn’t done anything for me!” But later, alone in his room, he asked himself this question: “Is it possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?” While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell. Then, like a thunderbolt, a great thought came. It crowded out all else:
“Who are you to say there is no God?”
This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his knees. In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of God. It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great tide at flood. The barriers he had built through the years were swept away. He stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love. He had stepped from bridge to shore. For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator.
Oh yes, when you are saved, you get to live forever. Sobriety alone does not give you that promise. My prayer is that this promise of companionship with our Creator, in this world and in the next, will be your own experience.
Click the following link: Dick B. on the Big Book manuscript change.
https://www.eternalsobriety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DickBclip.mp3