Tuesday, March 08, 2011

A.A. is not a Christian Fellowship - Not Today

A.A. is not a Christian Fellowship. And anyone who reads the Fourth Edition of the A.A. basic text, or attends meetings, or learns how it changed in 1939 needs no confirmation.

In fact, however, there are a few, seemingly well-financed anti-A.A. Christian writers who turn the picture around. They claim A.A. is not Christian. They claim--completely erroneously--that A.A.'s founders were not Christians. They claim that the Bible forbids Christians from belonging to the A.A. Society. And they totally ignore the fact that the early A.A. Christian Fellowship, founded in Akron in 1935, was not only Christian, but insisted that all newcomers accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. This was a direct result of Bill Wilson's own decision for Christ at Calvary Mission, just before he got sober, and his calling on Jesus Christ, the Great Physician for the cure that his doctor, William D. Silkworth had assured him Jesus Christ could bring about. It was also the result of the fact that all three of the first three AAs (Bill W., Dr. Bob, and Bill Dotson) all had studied the Bible extensively, believed in God, and had received solid Christian upbringing. Dr. Bob and Bill Dotson had long been Christians when A.A. was founded. And all three of the first AAs got sober simply by calling on God for help - when there were no Twelve Steps, no Twelve Traditions, no Big Books to read, no drunkalogs, and no meetings. They relied on the promises in the Bible they all knew.

The great compromise that took A.A. out of the Christian category did not occur until just before its Big Book first went to press in 1939. At that time, 400 pages of manuscript materials containing Christian and biblical discussions were tossed out. The Twelve Step language was modified to delete God in order to pacify the few atheists and agnostics who were denying God or believed mention of Him might impeded Big Book sales.

What's the situation today? (1) Our own experience is that there is an onrushing movement among Christians inside and outside of A.A. to learn and apply the biblical principles upon which A.A. was founded (See Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed. www.dickb.com/Christian-Recov-Guide.shtml. (2) There are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Christians in A.A. who are intimidated by the pressure of others to prevent them from
mentioning God or Jesus Christ, studying the Bible, or even studying the very Christian literature that early AAs read--on the urging of their co-founder Dr. Bob and his wife. (3) When Bill Wilson agreed to the compromise in 1939, he left the door wide open to Christian members and application of the program by Christians. Thus the word "God" was mentioned in one form or another (including Creator, Maker, Father, Father of Lights, Heavenly Father) some 400 times. Favorite expressions from the Bible--favored in early A.A.--were quoted without attribution (faith without works is dead; Thy will be done; Love thy neighbor as thyself; Good Samaritan). And A.A.'s own General Service-Conference-approved books published many years later in the 1980's mentioned the Bible roots and particularly the study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the Book of James, and 1 Corinthians 13.

So what's the picture today? A.A. is no longer a Christian Fellowship. It welcomes Christians, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, unbelievers, and those who believe in nothing at all. By all observations, Christians are predominant in the number of present-day AAs--particularly those who espouse Roman Catholicism. The history of early A.A.'s Christian origins and original Christian fellowship is sweeping the recovery community in a way which no longer
seemed likely. Thousands of Christians in A.A. are applying biblical and Christian principles in a way consistent with A.A.'s basic text and doing so with knowledge of their Christian heritage.
www.dickb.com
Gloria Deo

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