A.A. Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob Speaking about Christ, the Lord, and Christianity: More Examples

A.A. Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob

Speaking about Christ, the Lord, and Christianity

More Examples

 

By Ken B.

© 2015 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

My dad (Dick B.) and I recently published an article about some of the places in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature where Bill W. mentioned "Jesus," "Christ," "the Lord," "Christian," or "Christianity." Here is a link to that article on one of my dad's blogs:

 

http://mcaf.ee/46mrt

 

There are other examples of where A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob spoke about Christ, the Lord, or Christianity in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature. Here, for example, is one of the things A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob said in his last major talk given at Detroit, Michigan, in December 1948:

 

Christ said, "Of Myself, I am nothing--My strength cometh from My Father in heaven." If He had to say that, how about you and me?

 

[Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975), 19; available to read FREE of charge at www.AA.org: 

 

http://mcaf.ee/62m4a

 

And here is how A.A. cofounder Bill W. concluded his last major talk given on October 11, 1969, at the New York Hilton, at the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Bill's sobriety:

 

I would like to conclude with the memory of one of history's great figures with words dedicated to him that have come down through the centuries. His name was Francis:

 

Lord make me a channel of thy peace . . .

Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort than be comforted . . .

 

[Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 36 (Item # P-53)]

 

Here's another important statement Bill W. made to Henrietta D., wife of "AA Number Three," Akron attorney Bill D, a week or two after Bill D. had come out of the hospital on July 4, 1935:

 

. . . "Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people."

 

[Source: Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191; also quoted on page 83 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers]

 

The A.A. General Service Conference-approved book DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers contains a number of references to the Christianity in early A.A.—especially as seen in Akron (and to some extent in Cleveland). For example:

 

"Dr. Bob was a prominent man in Akron. Everybody knew him. When he stopped drinking, people asked, 'What's this not-drinking-liquor club you've got over there?' 'A Christian fellowship,' he'd reply.

 

[Source: DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (New York: N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980), 118]

 

And there are more.

 

In GOD's love,

 

Ken B.