Alcoholics Anonymous - Christian influence

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AA meetings begin with a prayer to God and end with the Lords Prayer. This is great but the “seek the higher power of your choise” statements in their literature and in meetings really gets to me. It denies the reality of the Christian God being prayed to.

What do you think about an orgainzation with this inconsistent message about God?

Chuck
 
Alcoholics Anonymous is completely compatible with Catholicism. the inclusive “higher power” wording is simply an appeal for each alcoholic to seek the help of God, as they best know him. Nothing contrary to the faith.

And this isn’t Modernism either. Read the following:

“AA: The Catholic Connection”
 
AA claims to be a “spiritual” program, not a religious program. It’s roots are in the Christian Oxford groups of the 1930’s but the founders of AA did not want to “scare” alcoholics off with talk of Christian God, so they took a lot of those references to God out.

For me, AA was there at a time in my life when I needed it and was too ashamed of myself to go to church for help. It was a stepping stone for me, and I attended AA meetings for many years until I became involved with the church. I am grateful it was there when I needed it, but I wouldn’t go back to it now. Too many “higher powers” for my taste, and I firmly believe it was our Lord who took away my desire to drink, not AA. And Christ does not lie. He does not take a bad thing like that away and give it back later. Interesting topic to post–thanx and God bless!😃
 
all 12-step programs (except the very recent ones which have taken the steps from older programs) have Christian beginnings. AA wanted to help alcoholics of all faiths and therefore didn’t want the be tied directly to Christianity per se, but they still demand an aknowledgement of a “higher power” and this usually leads to an aknowledgement of God.
 
I recently heard on “Morning Air” via RElevant Radio that AA was started by Catholics’.
 
Read the article I linked to above. It appears that while Catholics did not actually found the organization, they were very crucial to its early development and popularization.
 
I’m a substance abuse counselor by trade a recovering addict for 11 years.

AA and related programs are Christian inspired but the impression that they ‘don’t want to scare alcoholics away’ is accurate. Frequently alcoholics come from dysfunctional home environment where religion was either completely absent or used as a weapon against members of the family. The 12 Steps address the spiritual aspects of the disease of alcoholicism - the rampant self-centeredness characteristic of alcoholic behavior and thinking. If it wasn’t for AA, I wouldn’t be here. The gentle spirituality of AA opened me to God
Read the article I linked to above. It appears that while Catholics did not actually found the organization, they were very crucial to its early development and popularization
Click to expand...
True, additionally one of the premire speakers for AA in treatment centers for the last 40 years was Father Joesph Martin, a recovering alcoholic Priest.

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DominvsVobiscvm:
Alcoholics Anonymous is completely compatible with Catholicism. the inclusive “higher power” wording is simply an appeal for each alcoholic to seek the help of God, as they best know him. Nothing contrary to the faith.

And this isn’t Modernism either. Read the following:

“AA: The Catholic Connection”
Click to expand...
I think this is a very interesting article–thank you for including this link in your post.

It is AA that actually inspired me to come back home to the Church and finally get confirmed! The Twelve Steps felt so familiar to me, and opened me up to have the spiritual awakening I so desperately needed as a recovering alcoholic.

During my active alcoholism I had been very anti-Catholic for a number of years. I think this was so just because Catholicism required something of me (imagine that!) and I didn’t want to feel beholden to anyone or anything–I didn’t want anything to interfere with my drinking!

When I was “sick and tired of being sick and tired” of my drinking problem an amazing thing happened: Divine Intervention! An angel of a man telephoned me one evening to tell me he had quit drinking. I knew him from work and he had never called me before until that evening. Though I was very inebriated and high on drugs when he called I was completely captured by his announcement that he quit drinking and stayed sober by attending AA meetings.

The next morning I woke up and I haven’t had a drink since then! That was sixteen years ago. I have never seen this angel of a man ever again!

A week and a half later I attended my first AA meeting and heard the Twelve Steps for the first time. They spoke directly to my heart and I knew they were true. And I instantly saw God’s presence in them.

It took me ten years of sobriety before I came back home to Catholicism, and that happened as mysteriously as my initial sobriety began. For some reason on Christmas Eve 1996 I felt called out of the blue (!) to attend Midnight Mass with my then 15 year old son. We went and I was completely transformed. I started attending Mass again, though without receiving. I needed to be confirmed so I enrolled in the RCIA program, though I was already baptized. I did a general Confession and was confirmed at Easter 1998. Finally home again!

While reading AA literature I came to realize how close the Twelve Steps are to ideas in our Catechism. It made perfect sense to me! And when an AA member realizes how anti-religion many alcoholics are when they come in to AA it is comforting to know that AA is a *spiritual *program as opposed to a religious one. Many people find (or remember) God in AA because of this, and many Catholics finally come home because they have spiritual awakenings in AA, coming to realize that by God’s power alone are they sober at all!

I thank God and Our Lord every day for my recovery from alcoholism, and for AA teaching me a new way of living one day at a time.

:amen:
 
AA is also what brought me back to Christianity. I woke up one day and knew I had two choices, put a gun to my head or get help. I went to a rehab facility that was heavily focused on the AA program. When I got out I began getting back into church. I was raised Southern Baptist. I’ve always known I had a call to the ministry. I kept feeling that I was called to be a priest. I finally decided to look into Catholicism so I could say I did so. Once I proved it was wrong, I’d then decide which protestant demonitation to join. Needless to say. Six months after beginning my search, I became Catholic. That was Memorial Day weekend. I seriously doubt that I would have ended up in the church without AA. I might have been dead. Sometime people can be very anti-religion and anti-church, but overall the program is a good program. As someone made reference to earlier, it meets people where they are. If anyone wants to find out about the Christian influence on the founding of the program, a book entitled Dr. Bob and The Good Old Timers is a very good place to look.
 
Thanks and God’s greatest blessings to all you sober alcoholics and addicts who’ve posted here. A dear former family member is currently in a half-way house, has not had a drink in 2 1/2 months. I’m kind of holding my breath, waiting to see if it “sticks” this time, not very hopeful, I’m afraid – too much of the same-old-same-old showing up. Oh, well, he’s in God’s hands.

The thing I immediately noticed about the 12 Steps is how powerfully related to spiritual principles. You can pretty much divide the 12 into groups of 3 and come up with :Recognition (of the problem, just as a christian must recognize their sinfulness)/Repentance, Reconciliation, Restitution, Renewal.

Although the new guys in the program start “working the program” one Step at a time, in sequential order, with time it seems they are doing all 12 simultaneously, constantly – just as we are doing with our Christian walk.

And many who enter the program either as atheists or hostile to God do find Him, truly, in the process.

And I cannot recommend AlAnon highly enough – it is the companion program for the spouses and family members of alcoholics/addicts. We also work the 12 Steps for ourselves in pursuing our own particular recovery.

Both are great programs – although as with any such endeavor, some groups are better than others. You just have to visit a few locally until you find the one that “clicks” for you (my favorite group is in a town about 30 miles from here and I go up there whenever I’m able, although there are meetings every night of the week in this county). Even a less than optimal group can benefit the alcoholic, if he wants to be sober badly enough.
 
AA is awesome, and saved my life! Thanks to AA and the Lord I have sixteen years sober! AA brought me back to the Church, too. AA is the only program I know of that actually works for alcoholics like me.

And yes, Alanon is excellent for family members of alcoholics, and for alcoholics as well. Alanon has helped me immensely. Thank God for the Twelve Step programs!
 
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