Sometime after we come into the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, we are introduced to the idea that we have an emptiness inside us sometimes described as a “God-sized hole,” and the pursuit of something to fill the hole becomes the beginning point of recovery for many. That idea came from a famous quote from a very brilliant man who lived in the seventeenth century. His source was likely an understanding of the many bible scriptures which he studied.
His name was Blaise Pascal and he was a French mathematician, physicist, religious philosopher, and master of prose. He laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, formulated what came to be known as Pascal’s principle of pressure, and propagated a religious doctrine that taught the experience of God through the heart rather than through reason. This in essence describes the underlying primary principles that determine which path an individual may take in his recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. One principle is the more common path of being obedient to the metaphysical beliefs of the world system and the other is a godly path where we become obedient to God’s will. One path is fellowship with the group where the other is fellowship with the spirit. One path is world-centered, and the other path is God-centered. One path leads to sobriety with only an imagined god and the other path leads to the God of the bible and His son Jesus Christ. The original program in early AA was based upon a belief in Christ. When that belief is missing, any idea of a personal God giving us power is counterfeit.
The counterfeit path is based on moral psychology, which is the path of moral identity development, or how people integrate moral ideals with the development of their own character. One does not need a personal God to follow this path. The AA program deviates slightly in that the belief that some higher power outside themselves will change them. In the Chapter to the Agnostic, we find this ” If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.” This leads into the need for power from something outside ourselves. It defines the need for a personal God. The original path in early AA was based upon the biblical God who promises to live within us and provide that power.
As many of us do in Alcoholics Anonymous, Pascal also struggled to know the truth about God and pursued that quest vigorously. Finally, he had a spiritual experience, a breakthrough about the reality of God and the way to find Him. He stated that he had a “night of fire,” an intense spiritual experience on November 23, 1654, which, for him, was the beginning of a new way of life. It was after this encounter that the “God hole” understanding was realized as a truth in him. Here is the quote often subscribed to Pascal.
“There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”
Although many in our fellowship recall the “God hole” statement, there are very few who understand that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can truly find God. A fact that is overlooked in today’s travels in AA circles. But that was not an overlooked fact in Bill Wilson’s recovery path and other recovering individuals in the fledgling beginnings of AA during the period from 1935 to 1939. Ebby Thatcher, had brought the message to Bill Wilson, that sobriety could be found if one surrendered to God and accepted His son Jesus Christ as their Savior. It had happened to him and Bill, although skeptical, wanted what he had. Just a few days before Bill went into his final stay at Towns Hospital, he had drunkenly gone forward to the alter at Calvary Mission and testified to his belief in Christ. It is a fact that Bill Wilson was sensing his desperate need for filling the God-Hole in his heart. Bill W. was not conceptualizing a generic god when he had his own bright light spiritual experience in Towns Hospital as he had the inspirational thought “So this is the God of the preachers!” The only preaching going on in those days was about the need for belief in Jesus Christ.
Later when Bill Wilson found himself in need of talking to another alcoholic in Akron, Ohio, the path He had begun his sobriety journey on, took a major step forward with his encounter with Dr. Bob. That led to Bill Wilson staying in Akron for several months and the initial beginnings of AA began sprouting up as both of AA’s founders were on a path that included Bible Study and Jesus Christ. Bill’s involvement with Christianity was not unknown to him, even prior to his white light experience. One should read the article “Building Character – As God Sees It – Does Your Higher Power Have Power” on this website. Both in New York prior to the Akron visit and during his time with Dr. Bob, Oxford group meetings were being attended, and biblical Christian principles were being studied and practiced as a way of life. This is the primary and true God path that was offered to drunks over the next few years up to the publication of the book Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939.
History about AA has come a long way since the Big Book was written. We know that at the last minute before the Big Book was published there was an effort to sanitize it to prevent the program from being a religious program to being a moral psychology program. That resulted in today’s belief and common statement by people in recovery that AA is a spiritual program and not a religious program. This resulted in the Big Book references and the 12-Steps themselves to be changed from God to “God, as we understood Him.” That and other changes in the original manuscript opened the door to the moral psychology path. Many see this as a good thing and opened the door to embracing so called “spirituality” rather than “religion.” But what has occurred over the years is a counterfeit path along with the original godly path within AA itself. But the counterfeit path is easy to follow, the godly path, not so. It is a choice.
The godly path is hinted at in the statement in the Big Book on page 87 which states “Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer.” That’s a strong message to personally get on the original path our founders practiced. God’s biblical path, as originally practiced, opens the door to eternal life while the counterfeit moral psychology path does not. But the counterfeit does provide a path that will yield sobriety even though a misunderstanding of God exists. The godly path also gives one eternal life. We can know which path we are truly on by understanding about what is means to “to be born again.” This expression is found in the Big Book but is misinterpreted as one follows the moral psychology path commonly taken in AA. That path leaves out Christ.
The rest of this article is understanding what the Bible means by the words of Christ when he said to a prominent Jewish leader in John 3:1-3 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. ” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The original biblical path lays out the true journey by understanding God’s intent to rebirth us and grows us in the Christian way. That is from the mouth of Jesus where he says “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. This is one of the most exclusive statements that Jesus ever made.
In this verse, Jesus is telling us how we can find eternal life and clearly dispelling other counterfeit approaches. It clearly advises us not to follow the counterfeit path found in in AA. Following Jesus is the path of the real and true journey identified by the early AA founders. This path leads to the promise of salvation, which can only be accomplished by God, and not by anything we do. We are indeed powerless. All we can do is to surrender to God, but only by confessing our need for Jesus Christ. Salvation consists of the biblical truths of justification, regeneration, sanctification, and finally glorification. We examine the Christian definitions of these terms. below.
Salvation
Justification
Regeneration
Sanctification
Glorification
We have included a YouTube video link to explain these in detail. It provides a detailed explanation of the original godly path should you be on it. You can contrast yourself and your own personal growth to see if you are on the original AA path or on the moral psychology path, which of course, doesn’t require belief in Jesus Christ. They both can give you sobriety but only one that gives you eternal life.
The following additional links provides some very solid information that will add value to understanding the difference between the moral psychology approach to sobriety and the original biblically oriented approach to sobriety.
Big Book History #21: from Religious to Spiritual – A Historical Evolution (1934-1941)
Once again taking a slightly broader look at A.A. history than what was presented in his book, “Writing the Big Book: The Creation of A.A.”, William Schaberg takes on what he considers to be the most fallacious myth regarding early A.A. history – namely that when Bill Wilson left Towns Hospital after his ‘white light’ experience, he was already preaching a very liberal version of A.A.’s approach to spirituality based on William James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience” and Ebby Thacher’s suggestion that he ‘choose his own conception of God’.
Yes, there are two myths that can mislead you to not see the need for the biblical God on a personal basis.
The following links provide substance to that history.
Hadley’s Spiritual Experience – ETERNAL SOBRIETY