Alcoholics Anonymous History And Its Initial Christian Roots
By: Dick B.
Alcoholics Anonymous History and Its Initial Christian Roots
How They've Been Forgotten; And How They Can Help Recovery
Today
By Dick B.
© 2010 Anonymous. All rights reserved
Learn About Them
I am one of the tens of thousands (probably hundreds of
thousands) of Christians who deeply appreciate the recovery from alcoholism and
addiction that Alcoholics Anonymous made possible in our lives. Many of us have
been criticized for mentioning Jesus Christ and the Bible in our talks at
meetings. But most of us know that God is our sufficiency. We pray to Him in
the name of Jesus Christ. And we recover.
Many of us who are Christians involved in A.A. do believe in
God, the accomplishments of His Son Jesus Christ, and the truth about both that
is found in the Bible. Many of us, as Christian members of Alcoholics
Anonymous, had no idea whatsoever that early A.A. was a Christian fellowship,
that its members believed in God, surrendered to Jesus Christ, and studied the
Bible on a daily basis. Many of us had no idea whatsoever that the early,
Christian-oriented A.A. claimed an overall 75% success rate among the
seemingly-hopeless, medically-incurable, alcoholics who thoroughly followed the
pioneer A.A. program. And many of us never learned that the Original Akron
program is summarized rather well in on page 131 of the A.A. General Service
Conference-approved book, DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers.
How could so many of us have been unaware of these facts?
The answer, in part, is that, as the First Edition of A.A.'s
Big Book manuscript was being written and edited in 1938 and early 1939, many
additions, omissions, and changes were made to the highly-successful Akron
Christian program Bill W. and Dr. Bob began developing in the summer of 1935.
For example, as Bill W. stated on pages 166-67 of the A.A. General Service
Conference-approved book, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age:
We [Bill W., Hank P., Ruth Hock, and John Henry Fitzhugh M.]
were still arguing about the Twelve Steps. All this time I had refused to budge
on these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in which, you
will remember, I had consistently used the word "God,"as we understood
Him." From Step Seven we deleted the expression "on our knees."
. . . Such were the final concessions to those of little or no faith; this was
the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics. [Emphasis added] and in
one place the expression "on our knees" was used. Praying to God on
one's knees was still a big affront to Henry. He argued, he begged, he
threatened. He quoted Jimmy [Jim Burwell] to back him up. . . . Though at first
I would have none of it, we finally began to talk about the possibility of
compromise. . . . In Step Two we decided to describe God as a "Power
greater than ourselves." In Steps Three and Eleven we inserted the words
"God
Bill W.'s wife Lois spoke about another major change on page
113 of her autobiography, Lois Remembers:
Finally it was agreed that the book should present a
universal spiritual program, not a specific religious one, since all drunks
were not Christian.
Such major changes to the Original Akron A.A. Christian
Fellowship program obscured the simple solution the A.A. pioneers in Akron
discovered; specifically, that a cure from alcoholism was available through
reliance on Almighty God, coming to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, and
reading and studying the Bible along with the other principles and practices of
the early days. [For the Frank Amos summary of the Original Akron A.A. Program,
and the other principles and practices of the Akron fellowship, see: Dick B.
and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Manual (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research
Publications, Inc., 2009), 44-46, 49.]
The Lesson from the First Three AAs
Early AAs knew one another. They visited one another. They
had address books with the phone numbers (if a given member had a phone) and
addresses of the other members. And they kept rosters which showed the sobriety
dates and sobriety history of the members.
The 75% overall success rate early A.A. claimed was
remarkable because it was attained by what Bill W. called the
seemingly-hopeless, medically-incurable cases who gave their all to God and
received the blessed healing and deliverance that followed. Bill W. and Dr. Bob
did indeed state that there were failures galore. But there weren't failures galore among the
real hardcore members who turned to God and gave the program everything they
had.
A very important part of the historical record is how the first
three AAs got sober in late 1934 and in 1935. When they got sober:
There was no Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous was published in
April 1939);
There were no Twelve Steps;
There were no Twelve Traditions;
There were no drunkalogs; and
There were no meetings to make, at least of the kinds
normally seen in today's A.A.
The Creator of the heavens and the earth was there. See, for
example, Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.:
•my Creator (page 13)
•My Creator (76)
•our Creator (pages
25, 68, 72, 75, 83)
•a living Creator
(page 28);
•his Creator (page
56, 80, 158)
•their loving and All
Powerful Creator (page 161)
The Great Physician, Jesus Christ, was there. See, for
example: Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W.: More on the Creator's Role in Early
A.A. (Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2006), 59ff.
The Bible (which Dr. Bob often called the Good Book) was
there. See, for example, page 13 of the A.A. General Service
Conference-approved pamphlet, The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (Item #
P-53; available for reading online at http://aa.org/pdf/products/p-53_theco-foundersofAA.pdf;
accessed 8/5/09):
At that point, our stories didn't amount to anything to
speak of. When we started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had
no Traditions.
But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in
the Good Book. To some of us older ones, the parts that we found absolutely
essential were the Sermon on the Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First
Corinthians, and the Book of James.
A.A. Number One, Bill W., learned from Dr. Silkworth that Jesus
Christ could cure him. Bill learned from his old drinking friend Ebby Thacher
that Ebby had been to the altar at Calvary Rescue Mission, and been reborn,
causing Ebby to tell Bill that God had done for him (Ebby) what Ebby could not
do for himself. Bill then went to Calvary Church itself. He heard Ebby give
testimony from the pulpit; and Bill decided that he too needed help and needed
the same help that Ebby had received. Bill then went to the altar at Calvary
Rescue Mission, made a decision for Christ, wrote that he had been born again
for sure, and then decided to seek the help of the Great Physician, Jesus
Christ. Deeply depressed and despairing, Bill proceeded drunk to Towns Hospital
where he was greeted by Dr. Silkworth. At Towns Hospital, Bill cried out for
help, had a dramatic spiritual "white light" experience, perceived
that he had been in the presence of the God of the Scriptures (as Bill wrote on
page 284 of The Language of the Heart), and never drank again. Bill proclaimed
he never again doubted the existence of God. And his message became: "The
Lord has cured me of this terrible disease, and I just want to keep talking
about it and telling people." (Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191) No Big
Book. No Twelve Steps. No Twelve Traditions. No drunkalogs. No meetings. Just
the power and love of God that Bill had sought and relied upon.
A.A. Number Two, Dr. Bob S.,--a Christian since his youth in
St. Johnsbury, Vermont--prayed for deliverance on the rug at the home of T.
Henry Williams in Akron. Miraculously, help showed up quite soon in the form of
a visit of Bill W. to Akron. Henrietta Seiberling declared Bill's visit to be
"Manna from Heaven." Bill soon moved in with Dr. Bob and his wife,
studied the Bible with them, and nursed Dr. Bob back from one, brief and last
binge. Dr. Bob never drank again thereafter and told the nurse at City Hospital
that he and Bill had found a cure for alcoholism. No Big Book. No Twelve Steps.
No Twelve Traditions. No drunkalogs. No meetings. Just the power and love of
God that Dr. Bob had sought and relied upon. Dr. Bob closed his story in the
Big Book with these words:
Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!
Bill W. and Dr. Bob sought out another drunk to help. They
found A.A. Number Three, the hospitalized Akron attorney Bill D., also a
Christian. After Bill D. heard what Bill W. and Dr. Bob had to share, Bill D.
decided to entrust his life to God's care. Shortly, when Bill W. and Dr. Bob
returned to the hospital, Bill D. told them what had happened. Bill D. then
left the hospital a free man and never drank again. He had been told to find
other drunks to help; and he did so. No Big Book. No Twelve Steps. No Twelve
Traditions. No drunkalogs. No meetings. Just the power and love of God that
Bill D. had sought and relied upon. Bill D. found himself echoing Bill W.'s
statement on page 191 of the Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous:
The Lord has cured me of this terrible disease, and I just
want to keep talking about it and telling people.
Bill D. called Bill W.'s statement the golden text of A.A.
for him and for others.
What These Three Stories Show Us Today
Three men! The first three AAs. All healed by the power of
God never to drink again!
What they did is scarcely known by AAs and recovery workers
today. I know, for I have spoken and written about it in front of audiences all
over the United States and in Canadain person, in books, in articles, in
emails, in phone calls, and on radio and television. Yet that is the message
they seem hungry to hear.
These first three AAs recovered by the power of God. Because
of their experience, other seemingly-hopeless, medically-incurable alcoholics,
who thoroughly followed the early Akron A.A. Christian Fellowship program path,
were able to recover by the power of God. But what I especially hope you, the
reader, will take away from this discussion is that what was done in 1935 and
the next three years can be done and is being done today.
Benefitting Today from the Lessons Learned by A.A. Pioneers
I'm a proponent of A.A. I recovered immediately when I
entered the rooms of A.A. in 1986 and have never relapsed since. I have had
complete release from alcoholism and addiction. I credit the support I received
in A.A., the work I did in learning the program of recovery in the Steps and
helping others to take those Steps, and the complete dedication I had to the
A.A. way. But I have never for one moment doubted that God must ultimately
receive the credit just as He received the credit from the mouths of the first
three AAs Bill W., Dr. Bob S., and Bill D.
When a Christian in A.A. is buffeted with intemperate
remarks from others about the Creator of the heavens and the earth, His Son
Jesus Christ, the Bible, his faith, or his church, he needs to stand solid on
the real recovery factor that is available in A.A. today, just as it was
available in the Christian Fellowship founded in Akron in 1935. A.A. was founded on statements such as this:
God could and would if He were sought. He can. He will. He does. And He is
available to every drunk or addict who wants to seek and obey Him. That was
proved in 1935. It is being proved today among those Christians in recovery who
choose to avail themselves of His help. And His help, the help of the Creator
of the heavens and the earth, stands at the ready awaiting a call from those
who believe. Those in prisons, jails, mental wards, hospitals, A.A., N.A.,
other Twelve Step Fellowships, the Armed Forces, veterans facilities, homeless
shelters, treatment programs, rehabs, detoxes, and counseling offices.
Anywhere! Anywhere at all!
Dick B.: PO Box 837, Kihei, HI 96753-0837; (808) 874-4876 ; Email: DickB@DickB.com;
www.DickB.com
Gloria Deo
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