Living on Borrowed Time!

On Alcoholics Anonymous

 

I have been associated with this “program” for now on 30 years. I have attended several other programs that also promote a twelve step process of recovery. Just to name a few OAE, DA, NA, etc. I understand that these entities are completely “anonymous” in their activities, and rightly so. However their process of recovery is well intended, it is lacking greatly in a complete recovery method. Recovery means: Return to an original state, or the act of regaining or saving something lost or in danger of becoming lost. Gradual healing (through rest) after sickness or injury.

 

Since the goal of any alcoholic should be total recovery, and abstinence from drinking any form of alcohol, the program does not promote total recovery. It is a program that rolls along a never ending set of rails, that goes absolutely nowhere, except to the local meetings, located all across the world.

 

They advocate self-awareness, and a reliance on a “higher power” outside of them- selves, but are reluctant to state, that it is a personal relationship with God, that is required for recovery, which takes place outside of and along with the individuals’ efforts to refrain from alcohol. The so called AA “Higher Power”, is none other than the God of the Universe who is subjugated to a secondary position, through the process of group gathering as currently practiced. In these gatherings individuals, share some of their lifes’ ordeals after constantly reminding themselves that they are alcoholics through their own introductions in the beginning of the shareing time. The sub-conscience mind after a while becomes oriented to believe that FULL recovery is elusive.

 

Recovery cannot occur in this environment, every weekly reminder of a life damaged by an individuals’ lack of self-control, called in the Bible Temperance, only reinforces failure. Can total recovery be obtained? Yes! But, only through a personal relationship with the Great Healer of ALL, that is God. Only through a complete surrender of ones “self” to God, can total healing and recovery be accomplished, and that by God alone. A man cannot walk alone through life, he/she must join together with God, to learn from Him and of Him. To be yoked with God, means to walk as He walks.

 

When one makes this decision, then God takes over, and the urge for self-destruction leaves the individual, new every day is his/her desire to learn more of God. Each day is placed in the hands of the only ONE who can keep the alcoholic from alcohol.

 

Alcoholic meaning: Addicted to alcohol, A person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually, a Dipsomaniac. A potomania cannot be overcome, if it is laid bare three out of seven days a week. It can only be overcome through surrender  daily unto God. One surrender ALONE daily, will take away, the want of alcohol, if that daily surrender is maintained hour by hour. Man does not need to remind himself every week that he is a “sinner”, he should realize that he is born into “SIN”, but there is a way out of this mess. The REAL road to recovery is to utilize the willingness to humble ones’ self in REALITY. The reality of an AA meeting is nothing more than an incessant reminder of personal sin. Get rid of the SIN, get rid of the “potomania.” The desire for Drinking Alcohol!

 

  If the Bible was utilized in all AA meetings, instead of a “Big Book”, a book loaded with stories from other alcoholics, along with other philosophical ideas, the recovery that would result from an AA meeting would be so thorough, that eventually AA meetings would be a relic of historical fact. Never again would it be needed for the once admitted spiritually recovered alcoholic.

 

   Alcoholism: Habitual intoxication; prolonged and excessive intake of alcoholic drinks leading to a breakdown in health and an addiction to alcohol such that abrupt deprivation leads to severe withdrawal symptoms. An intense persistent desire to drink alcoholic beverages to excess. Alcoholic: Characteristic of or containing alcohol.

 

   How many alcoholics in any AA meeting, contain alcohol? NONE! So the very opening address of any attendee is “My Name is ? I’m an alcoholic!” Therefore one is making the statement that he/she contains’ alcohol. If that were the case they cannot possibly be in RECOVERY. The whole foundation of alcoholics anonymous then “falls” into disrepute. It would be far better for this “program”, to utilize the Bible rather than the “Big Book”, or along with the big book, so readily used within each meeting. The same goes for ALL twelve step programs. Instead of identifying oneself with the problem, why not seek an answer to the problem, outside the program. One of the issues with AA, is that the average meeting consist of a group of people who come together in some respects, to speak of the incidents that occurred during their years of consuming alcohol. It forever keeps the issue of failure before their eyes, and within their consciences.

 

   It would be far better to identify with God and His solution to the human problem, than to rely on a man-made program such as AA. If AA refuses to bring the Bible into their meetings, they can only be a program of drunken memories, with a false hope of total recovery. The Bible can be used in their setting, without it being a religious meeting. However the Bible should always be used with opening and closing prayer, as you are utilizing the Word of God to learn how to, allow Him to bring healing and release from the human habit of self- destruction. I would much rather identify with the Holy Scriptures in seeking healing, than to rely on the stories of other alcoholics, written and bound in the Big Book so readily used in the AA meetings.

 

   I’m NOT anti AA, but I have through personal experience come to realize that TRUE healing from alcoholism, will NOT ever be accomplished as AA is established today. Oh yes there can be an individual go to the meetings each week and NOT use alcohol, however this is, and must become a habitual pattern. Therefore, ALL any attendant can ever accomplish within AA is to be an AA junkie. Attendance is mandatory every time it is offered to any individual, IF that individual has any hope of maintaining sobriety. However, Sobriety granted by God is the ONLY true sobriety, and it can be granted ONCE and be forever effective, if the individual is serious about being healed in every area of his/her life.

 

   As each meeting is opened with the Serenity prayer, they invoke God to grant them the ability to overcome. However usually each meeting consists of a few individuals, who use profanity in their explanations, and their oratory. God will NOT be in such meetings! God is “Holy” and His very presence makes wherever He is Holy. That’s why He told Moses to remove his shoes at the burning bush, because the very presence of God made the side of the mountain where Moses stood, “Holy Ground.” Where ever God is “IS HOLY!”

 

   For AA to invoke in the beginning of their meetings the very name of God, which is the leading word of the Serenity Prayer, is simply spoken without any concept of the character of God. How then can God work upon the heart or mind, to effect healing and recovery, if the name is simply invoked without ANY idea of His presence? If His presence is in any AA meeting, it soon dissipates when the first profane word is spoken by any member therein. At the end of every meeting again, the "Father" is addressed, after the members have, during the meeting used profane language, they have shared their experiences of “SIN” or as some would rather water down as their periods of drunkenness. Satan has a way of great deception. If he can ever keep your sin before your face, how then can you my friend ever turn from it?

 

   I would be safe to say that most people who say the Lords’ prayer at the close of each meeting has no idea of what the word “Hallowed” means. If they do then their mindset during the meetings “must” be kept upon the fact of Gods’ presence within the meeting. If that is the case there should be a new RULE to the AA meeting, that PROFANITY is NOT allowed in any meeting. One cannot expect God to hear them, if they are expressing self through profanity during the meetings, when ever any attendant invokes Gods presence at the beginning of every meeting, THERE SHOULD BE NO PROFANITY. Any other meeting, as currently held and practiced is only a Satanic deception, and they keep the individual coming back again and again, with the same repetative mindset.

 

   Where is true healing? And overcoming to be found? Will there be any, of the ones’ for whom Christ died, (Christians) still attending AA meetings after they have allowed Jesus to cleanse them from sin? Will they continue to go to the AA meetings and dig up old sins that used to exist in their lives, and again recall their sin to mind each time they attend? There is NO room in any AA meeting for a born again individual. To be born again, claim to be a Christian and go to an AA meeting, and once again say I’m so in so and I’m an alcoholic, AFTER  you have been delivered by God, from such selfish acts. How many Christians have you seen in any AA meeting? Can it then, be any setting where true healing can take place? Only after an individual surrenders their problem up to God, and then relies upon Him for sobriety, can one overcome "potomania", which is the desire for alcohol.

 

   Go to your church and ask the question: How many of you attend AA? You will find very few if any. Go to an AA meeting and ask How many of you are born again Christians, you might find one or two or many who claim to be christian, however I have found that most meetings are not oriented towards a real spiritual concept of allowing God to heal them. Mostly ALL individuals who attend AA, are no more than a social gathering to air their past experiences with alcohol, and their struggles maintaining sobriety. Oh there are some positive aspects of airing ones issues, it relieves self guilt somewhat, but God can remove it entirely, but the word "God" is only spoken within these meetings, and very rarely exhibited in the personal life. That’s why most attendees are still struggling for an answer to their personal issues. Their personal issues are haunting them constantly and AA offers NO solution as it is currently practiced.

 

    Christians who have allowed God to remove their sin, will NOT keep bringing up "the sin" God so efficiently removed, by paying the price of and for it on the cross. I do not know of any Christian who has surrendered their lives to Christ, who would continue to attend AA meetings and continue to bring out the very sin he/she was forgiven, when God himself says that:

 

Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

 

   So for any AA member who claims that they are a believing Christian, and still every week recall their “sin”, once committed under the influence, are defying the very God who washed them away by His own Blood, and even forgets them. We are NOT to allow ourselves to be conscience of them even. So the very fact that each AA meeting has everyone recalling their condition of the past, by stating that they are “alcoholics”, cannot be of God. It is a deception of man to think that any man made program, can give them complete freedom from the sin of alcoholism.

 

   Have you ever wondered about the statistics of AA? How many who have ever attended the AA program, who actually was healed by AA? Or while attending AA maybe they did find God in His true state, and then gave their lives to God who then brought about complete freedom from the urge to use strong drink, but was attributed to AA?

 

   You will never know the success of AA because of their “anonymity.” It was designed this way in order to be a secret program, where what was spoken there would stay there. I agree with the privacy of the group, however because of this privacy, the anonymity of the group, there can NEVER be a full disclosure of it’s true success. Is it really AA, or is it God who is discovered and found to the point of surrender, and a personal walk with God that effects the healing and freedom from alcohol?

 

  Why take the long way around to healing and freedom? When AA first began it was a program of “hope” for those who were NOT religious. The “higher power” motif was a cheap way of introducing the power of God to individuals who had rather meet and speak their issues, without being looked at as a “bible thumper.” I have news for you, if you do not find God as He is in the Bible within AA, you are only prolonging your ability to be granted complete freedom, through true spiritual healing. THUS this article!

 

   Every AA meeting should be using both the Bible in it’s entirety, and the Big book to a limited extent. I mean by that, that if the big book uses in any of its writing profanity, that part of the book should be redacted, when using the Holy Word of God. Remember God is HOLY, and His presence makes wherever He is, a holy gathering.

 

  When any person, in any meeting, whether it be an AA meeting, or just a meeting on the street, gets offended. It’s either because something was spoken to the individual in the negative, either about the individual, or too the individual that was hurtful or derogatory about him, or someone else in whom that person holds in high esteem. Amends can either be sought, or feelings can be fostered in the negative, until hatred is born by one or the other or by both, until it destroys one or both of them, temporarily or permanently. In such cases “healing” cannot occur. Someone has to humble themselves in order to bring about reconciliation.

 

   The same is true with someone who is dying from alcoholism. Either humility is brought into the equation, and self-introspection is sought after, and a solution is sought, or the individual will die, spiritually first then eventually physical death without hope. For someone who is dying from alcohol addiction, the ONLY alternative is to seek “life”, without alcohol. The best way to do this is to realize that, you as an individual, must look for an answer to your problem. Most alcoholics who are trying to change their lives seek out AA, because that’s what they think will bring them a chance, and a hope for life, free from the burden of inebriation. There is ANOTHER way!   

 

   It's not within most people to seek out their answer, from seeking after God. They don’t want to change everything in their lives that displeases’ God, they only want a solution to their drinking problem, and then go about their lives with the status quo, concerning other issues that could cause them to “fall off the wagon.” However, God wants more of us than, that ONE issue of alcoholism. Jesus didn’t give His life on the cross, just for that one sin of drunkenness. He gave His life for ALL the “sin” that so easily besets us.

 

   So for the alcoholic to seek release from his/her addiction alone, as though it were the only issue needing attention, without surrendering all the other baggage in their life, is only a partial release from pain and anguish, and eventually will fail. Years may go by, sobriety may be maintained through the AA, but real release can only be found in God. Not just now but for all time!

 

   I speak from experience, I too am an X-alcoholic, but I too am a Christian, and for me to attend AA meetings, and to each time voice that I am an alcoholic, is only speaking again of my previous, grievous sin against myself and my God. If I am to NOT to be conscience of them (my drunken daze) as Hebrews 10:2 speaks. Then I am bringing again to my memory and to the forefront my sin, ever reminding myself of something that NO longer exist, because God has forgiven me of that sin, and did cast them away from me to the depths of the sea. So how can a true believer be a member of the AA program and continue to RECALL sin? 

 

   Mic 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

 

   Mic 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the the depths of the sea. depths of the sea.

 

    Satan has his control over the AA program. He keeps Gods children in deception through this program. He has mixed just enough truth with error, to make the program appear as something great. Many have died without salvation, because they have clung onto a program that indeed, did keep them sober, but did it wash them from the sin that allows them to have their name written in the “Book of Life before they died?” What good does it do to be sober without God? Will we stand before God in the judgment “just sober”, or will we stand completely clean, with Christ life attributed to us, through obedience to His word. If a good man “sober” still dies without God, what good has his life been? Being sober ALONE is not sufficient to enter in, there must be a complete cleansing, everything must be surrendered to God, not just our addiction to alcohol.

            I would like to write a book for ALL to read, and publish this paper within, but because of the anonymity of AA, I CAN NOT! I am going to request permission from the main headquarters to write a book, because everyone in AA needs to realize what is happening within the program.

 

   In conclusion: I have discovered that the common jest of the twelve steps utilized within Alcoholic Anonymous, is a derivative of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola the founder of the Society of Jesus, better know as the (Jesuits.)

 

Spiritual Exercises

   According to St Ignatius, the purpose of the Exercises is "to conquer oneself and to regulate one's life in such a way that no decision is made under the influence of any inordinate attachment." In other words, the Exercises are intended, in Ignatius' view, to give the exercitant (the person undertaking them) a greater degree of freedom from his or her own likes, dislikes, comforts, wants, needs, drives, appetites and passions that they may choose based solely on what they discern God's will is for them. Peter Hans Kolvenbach, former Superior General of the Jesuits, said that the Exercises "try to unite two apparently incompatible realities: exercises and spiritual." It invites to "unlimited generosity" in contemplating God, yet going down to the level of many details.

 

Spiritual viewpoint

   Ignatius identified the various motives that lead a person to choose one course of action over another as "spirits". The main aim of the Exercises is the development of "discernment" (discretio), the ability to discern between good and evil spirits. A good "spirit" can bring love, joy, peace, but also desolation, to bring one to re-examine one's life. An evil spirit usually brings confusion, and doubt, but may also prompt contentment to discourage change. The human soul is continually drawn in two directions: both drawn towards goodness, and at the same time tempted towards sinfulness.

 

   According to theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar, "choice" is the center of the Exercises, and directed to a self-abandonment to God, in choosing God's choice. The Exercises “have as their purpose the conquest of self and the regulation of one’s life in such a way that no decision is made under the influence of any inordinate attachment.”

At the heart of Ignatian thought "discernment", while on the one hand being an act of mysticism, can also be understood as a method of subjective ethical thought. The Exercises emphasize the role of one's own "discernment" in deciding what is the path to glorify God (the right path). "Discernment" attempts to make a direct connection between the individual's thought and action and the Grace of God. Discernment is thereby an action which emphasizes the mystical experience of the believer. This aspect of the Spiritual Exercises is very much typical of the mystical trend in Catholic thought and practice which both preceded the reformation, beginning with the first 12 Apostles, and lived on within elements of counter-reformation Catholicism.

 

General principles

   Ignatian spirituality can be, and has been, described as a spirituality of finding God's will for better decision making. According to Hans Urs Von Balthasar, "choice" is the center of the Exercises. Their immediate objective was the question of the choice of a state of life.

 

   The Ignatian process of making good decisions acknowledges that decisions are often between two goods, understanding that the better good, or 'the more' (lat. magis), is what we instinctively want, and what God wants for us. 'In all things, to love and to serve' (Español: 'en todo amar y servir' ) was a motto of St Ignatius, who wanted to 'be like St Francis and St Dominic', though better.

 

Self-awareness: Ignatius recommends the twice-daily examen (examination). This is a guided method of prayerfully reviewing the events of the day, to awaken one's inner sensitivity to one's own actions, desires, and spiritual state, through each moment reviewed. The goals are to see where God is challenging the person to change and to growth, where God is calling the person to deeper reflection (especially apt when discerning if one has a Jesuit vocation in life), to where sinful or imperfect attitudes or blind spots are found. The general examen, often at the end of the day, is, as the name implies, a general review. The particular examen, often in the middle of the day, focuses on a particular fault—identified by the person—to be worked upon in the course of some days or weeks.

 

Spiritual direction: Meditation and contemplation, and for instance the aforementioned examen, are best guided, Ignatius says, by an experienced person. Jesuits, and those following Ignatian spirituality, meet with their spiritual director (traditionally a priest, though in recent years many laypersons have undertaken this role) on a regular basis (weekly or monthly) to discuss the fruits of their prayer life and be offered guidance. Ignatius sees the director as someone who can rein in impulsiveness or excesses, goad the complacent, and keep people honest with themselves. If the director is a priest, spiritual direction may or may not be connected with the Sacrament of Penance. Ignatius counseled frequent use of sacrament and while some directors see them as integrally linked, others hold them to be two separate relationships.

 

Examen of Consciousness: The Examen of Consciousness is a simple prayer directed toward developing a spiritual sensitivity to the special ways God approaches, invites, and calls. Ignatius recommends that the examen be done at least twice, and suggests five points of prayer:

• Recalling that one is in the holy presence of God

• Thanking God for all the blessings one has received

• Examining how one has lived his day

• Asking God for forgiveness

• Resolution and offering a prayer of hopeful recommitment

•  

   It is important, however, that the person feels free to structure the Examen in a way that is most helpful to him. There is no right way to do it; nor is there a need to go through all of the five points each time. A person might, for instance, find himself spending the entire time on only one or two points. The basic rule is: Go wherever God draws you. And this touches upon an important point: the Examen of Consciousness is primarily a time of prayer; it is a "being with God." It focuses on one's consciousness of God, not necessarily one's conscience regarding sins and mistakes.

 

Discernment: Discernment is rooted in the understanding that God is ever at work in one's life, "inviting, directing, guiding and drawing" one "into the fullness of life." Its central action is reflection on the ordinary events of one's life. It presupposes an ability to reflect on the ordinary events of one's life, a habit of personal prayer, self-knowledge, knowledge of one's deepest desires and openness to God's direction and guidance. Discernment is a prayerful 'pondering' or 'mulling over' the choices a person wishes to consider. In his discernment, the person's focus should be on a quiet attentiveness to God and sensing rather than thinking. His goal is to understand the choices in his heart: to see them, as it were, as God might see them. In one sense, there is no limit to how long he might wish to continue in this. Discernment is a repetitive process, yet as the person continues, some choices should of their own accord fall by the wayside while others should gain clarity and focus. It is a process that should move inexorably toward a decision.

 

Service and humility: Ignatius emphasized the active expression of God's love in life and the need to be self-forgetful in humility. Part of Jesuit formation is the undertaking of service specifically to the poor and sick in the most humble ways: Ignatius wanted Jesuits in training to serve part of their time as novices and in tertianship (see Formation below) as the equivalent of orderlies in hospitals, for instance, emptying bed pans and washing patients, to learn humility and loving service. Jesuit educational institutions often adopt mottoes and mission statements that include the idea of making students "men for others", and the like. Jesuit missions have generally included medical clinics, schools and agricultural development projects as ways to serve the poor or needy while preaching the Gospel.

 

                                                                                 From the "BIG BOOK" of Alcoholics Anonymous

Spiritual Experience

    The terms “spiritual experience” and “spiritual awakening” are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many different forms.
    Yet it is true that our first printing gave many readers the impression that these personality changes, or religious experiences, must be in the nature of sudden and spectacular upheavals. Happily for everyone, this conclusion is erroneous. In the first few chapters a number of sudden revolutionary changes are described. Though it was not our intention to create such an impression, many alcoholics have nevertheless concluded that in order to recover they must acquire an immediate and overwhelming “God-consciousness” followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook.
    Among our rapidly growing membership of thousands of alcoholics such transformations, though frequent, are by no means the rule. Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the “educational variety” because they develop slowly over a period of time. Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself. He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone. What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self discipline. With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.
    Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience. Our more religious members call it “God-consciousness.”
    Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.
    We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.
    “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”