Alcoholics Anonymous and Christianity

The anti-A.A. writers now have a full page of sites attacking A.A., trying to warn Christians away from A.A., and making A.A. Christians out as heretics. The problem is that they don't deal with Alcoholics Anonymous History. They don't deal with Alcoholics Anonymous History of A.A.'s Christian origins. They don't deal with Alcoholics Anonymous History in any way that could be equated with "Alcoholics Anonymous and Christianity."

There are two important facts to be made in addition to the facts that Alcoholics Anonymous is not Christian. It is not a part of Christianity. It is not a Christian religion. And it numbers hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world who are joined with those of other faiths and no faith in the important cause of helping the alcoholic who still suffers and enable him or her, if they choose, to do so with the help of Almighty God.And Alcoholics Anonymous History makes it clear that a great compromise was made, in 1939, with reference to God, His Son Jesus Christ, the Bible, and A.A. The compromise did not change the Christians a whit. It did not change A.A. a whit. It did open the door to those who think they can get well without God. And so they can though most Christians would tell us that this is not the point that Christians in A.A. pursue. That point, in its simplest form, is that God wants all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. There is an Adversary and many adversaries who work to steal, kill, and destroy the truth that Jesus Christ came to make available. John 3:16 and John 10:10.

The first fact is that the International Christian Recovery Coalition is a no-cost fellowship of participating worldwide Christian Recovery Leaders, Workers, and Newcomers who are joined in support of disseminating the role that God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in the origins, history, founding, original Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship and its program, and the successes achieved by those Christians then in A.A. who relied on God and got well. That same role is available today for any in A.A., N.A., Twelve Step Fellowships, Bridge Groups, Treatment programs, counselors, missions, prison and homeless outreach, and other areas where alcoholics and addicts still suffer.

International Christian Recovery Coalition has a widely visited website: www.ChristtianRecoveryCoalition.com. It has a Facebook presence. It has a blog. It has a forum. And it has many Christian Recovery Resource Centers now established worldwide. That is one fact with many facets. And this Christian Recovery Movement is growing.

The second fact is that I have published forty-two titles and almost 800 articles which will straighten out the path and mind of anyone who ventures into the anti-A.A. circle and starts whirling there. The key titles are: The Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.'s Roots in the Bible www.dickb.com/goodbook.shtml; Turning Point: A History of the Spiritual Roots and Successes of Alcoholics Anonymous www.dickb.com/Turning.shtml; The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., 2010 www.dickb.com; and The James Club and the Absolute Essentials of Early A.A. www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shml. Also Why Early A.A. Succeeded (a Bible study primer) www.dickb.com/JamesClub.shtml

If you expect to find that A.A. is a Christian organization today, you won't. If you look forward to seeing its Christian origins, the early A.A. Christian program, and the Christians who then achieved great successes, you will. If you expect us to answer the prolific anti-A.A. websites, there is no need to. They demonstrate by their content that they just don't know why any good Christian who has a problem with alcohol would be associated with A.A. today. And, as for me, the answer is that it was a very big, loving, effective help in my journey to sobriety with God's help, and in my getting back into the Bible and Christian fellowships with which I have been associated for many sober years.

Gloria Deo. Dick B.