Christ and Alcoholics Anonymous
February 10, 2008
Most AA’s know little of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. Most Christians even less.
The popular notion among Christians is that Alcoholics Anonymous is not a Christian program. I wont argue that. Its currently not.
However, that doesn’t mean that at one time the teachings of Jesus didn’t occupy a prominent place. They clearly did. But organizations change over time and not always for the better. Just as Americans become better Americans when they understand their marvelous heritage, so do AA’s become better AA’s when they understand AA’s Christian roots. Dick B. does a pretty thorough job of filling in the missing blanks www.dickb.com
Has Christ been deliberately taken out of AA literature? Many modern AA's don't even know that he was. The current watered down 4th edition of AA's Big Book makes no reference of him except briefly in Bills Story..So for those who are ignorant of AA's Christian roots a good place to start is to read the conference approved "Dr.Bob and the Good Old-timers".
There are many good Christian testimonies in the First Edition. Some from people who got sober and stayed sober all their lives. They weren't "slippers". Some will say that was the reason. Certainly people like Clarence S. whose story "Home Brewmeister"appeared in the AA Big Book for over 60 years were not deleted because of their lack of sobriety or commitment to AA.I talked to an AA lady the other day about this. She was a longtime 20+ years member of AA and her response was "They found out it didn't work".
So I shot off an e-mail to AA historian Dick B. (www.dickb.com) to find out if it was true. His response:
“Dear Ted:
That baloney about the Bible didn't work shows how few people have read our accurate history and have just swallowed the idea that the Oxford Group didn't work, Dr. Bob's efforts didn't work, the Bible didn't work, the Creator didn't work, Jesus Christ didn't work, but radiators and light bulbs did. The proof is in the facts, not the prejudices. Anyone who cares to can read any of my twenty-five published titles and find accurate documentation that puts the lie to the lady's speculations.I cannot tell you why Bill deleted the stories of Bible reading and Christian testimony. I can say that Lois claimed there was an "agreement" that A.A. should be "universalized" because not all AA's were Christians. I can tell you that Bill (AA's Co-founder) never ever accurately told the A.A. story about the Bible, the Oxford Group, Sam Shoemaker, Anne Smith, Quiet Time, or the Christian literature AA's read. In fact the original program, as reported by Frank Amos, just vanished with Bill's pen in the Big Book. Moreover, there was the famous dispute in Ruth Hock's office where "God as we understood Him" was introduced into the Steps, where Fitz Mayo remonstrated, and where soon over 400 pages were tossed out and which (according to Ruth's account to Bill Pittman) contained mostly Christian and Biblical materials. There may be your complete answer” *******************************************************************
I would like to add a little something to Dick B. statement.
“We war not with flesh and blood but spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Connect the dots.
