Recovery Is a Daily Process
with a Highly-Successful Model Program:
The Daily, First Century “Christian
Fellowship” of Early A.A. in Akron
By Dick B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Some may think:
·
A treatment period (30 days to 3 years) will do
it!
·
Church attendance and involvement will do it!
·
Residential living and fellowship will do it!
·
Intervention, detox, and counseling will do it!
·
A one-day-a-week program and meeting will do it!
·
Medical treatment, psychotherapy, self-improvement,
and/or mutual support groups will do it!
·
Paying for a church program will do it!
·
All of the above ignore the problem of sin!
·
Many “spiritual” recovery ideas produce cults!
·
Any program with “religious” aspects will fail!
·
Anyone who tries the foregoing can’t be a
Christian!
·
Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step
Fellowship programs lead Christians and others to destruction.
What Do You Think?
Will Alcoholics Anonymous Do It?
Today, the answers are varied and diverse. They are often based
on lack of information and/or on religious and other prejudices. They are often
based on a worldwide revolving “membership” wallowing in meetings, seeking
sexual relationships, vulgarity, speculative advice, and receiving subjective
opinions. Many don’t realize that their doubts, their fears, their failures,
and their lethargy are a poor substitute for a history that has been lost, a
Christian fellowship that is frequently disdained, and a strong secular trend
that can be erased by reliance on God. And they are fostered often by strong
opposition to anything religious, substitution of idols for God, ignorance of
the success factors that put A.A. on the map, and lack of belief in the power
of God. They can be countered by an understanding of the importance of coming
to God through His Son Jesus Christ, and dispelling the “myths” about the
Bible.
Did Alcoholics Anonymous Do It?
The answer is yes. But when it did, it was a very different,
daily, Bible-based, home and family-oriented, “Christian fellowship” whose
activities much resembled those of the First Century Christians as set forth in
the Book of Acts.
Early A.A. claimed an overall 75% success rate, based
largely on the results of Akron A.A.’s “Christian fellowship”—as A.A. cofounder
Dr. Bob called it. And early Cleveland A.A., founded by Dr. Bob’s sponsee,
Clarence Snyder, on May 11, 1939, had a documented 93% success rate with no
relapses! The Cleveland A.A. Fellowship was based on the newly-published Big
Book and its 12 Steps, the Four Absolutes, the Bible, and “most of the old
program (for which, please see DR. BOB
and the Good Oldtimers, 131). And it grew from one group to 30 groups in a
year.
Across America, early AAs themselves, newspapers, magazines,
books, and interviews proclaimed that numerous former, “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically
incurable” drunks had been cured by the power of God.
Can You Do It Today the “Old-School A.A.” Way?
and
Can You “Pass It On” to the Alcoholic Who Still Suffers?
Here we need not say too much what the A.A. of today offers.
It often offers daily fellowship activities. It is present in a huge number of
nations and regions. Its meetings can be found in substantial numbers in most
American cities. And it tends to offer 24 hour availability. All free.
It costs nothing. It demands a great deal. Its
Twelfth-stepping zealots do work for free. It abounds with support and love and
optimism and hope. Its basic ideas came from the Bible. Its solution is based
on establishment of a relationship with God. Its suggestion is the pursuit of a
relationship with God, getting well, and then helping others get straightened
out by the same means.
A.A. specifically offers a code of love and tolerance. Its
cofounder Dr. Bob said that its program, when simmered to its essence, was
about love and service. Both founders said that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
contained its underlying spiritual philosophy. And it refers, in one way or
another, to Almighty God, and strongly suggests burning into the mind of a
newcomer that he can get well, regardless of anyone, if he trusts in God,
cleans house, and works with others.
It is far from perfect. Its imperfect Fellowship, flawed
members, and disregard of its daily program arouse some understandable
criticism. But our thesis insists that you can be saved, get well, and live a
new life in Christ if you wish. The best conditions for someone traveling the
A.A. path today are that you learn how “old-school” A.A. really carried out its
Christian principles and practices; learn of the Christian origins of those
practices; learn how many Christians are still involved in A.A. today; and
learn that A.A.’s own history, its own past, its own freedoms, and its own “Conference-approved”
literature make application of “old-school” Christian A.A. likely to provide a
winning result today.
But your success may certainly require training, learning,
belief, commitment, and disciplined effort.
The International Christian Recovery Coalition
Participation in the International Christian Recovery
Coalition is free. It is informal, worldwide, and composed of Christian
recovery leaders, workers, newcomers, and the public. It issues no rules,
circulates no requirements, and fosters no sect or denomination.
It maintains a Web site (www.ChristianRecoveryCoalition).
And it seeks to have its fellowship participants disseminate the role that God,
His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible have played in recovery and can play today.
Its worldwide number of participants come, in large part,
from those have been long recovered from alcoholism and/or addiction and/or
other life controlling problems. They love and respect the A.A. that enabled
their sobriety. They don’t want to abandon it. Most fit the description of
being “Bible-friendly, Recovery-friendly, A.A.-friendly, Newcomer-friendly, and
Friendly-friendly.” Their motto is “We Christians in the Recovery Arena are not
alone.”
Our “Stick with the Winners” Meetings Are a Major Focus for 2012
We hope you will check out our Web site, blogs, forums, news
announcements, www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com
Web site, Christian Recovery Resource Centers, and the many meetings and
conferences that are now available. In fact, several major ones occur in Orange
County, California, May 14 -21, 2012. Welcome aboard!
Dick B., Executive Director
The International Christian Recovery Coalition
PO Box 837
Kihei, HI 96753-0837
Dick B.’s main Web site: www.DickB.com
Email: DickB@DickB.com
Tel.: (808) 874-4876
Stick with the Winners!
Gloria
Deo
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