Facts are still facts even if they are ignored…..The Big
Book says there is ONE who has all power that One is God may you find Him
know….Let us ponder what ONE God they understood shall we…
Big Book Page 9…But he did no ranting. In a matter of
fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to
suspend his commitment. They had told of a simple religious idea and a
practical program of action. That was two months ago and the result was
self-evident. It worked!
Big Book Page 11To Christ I conceded the certainty of a
great man, not too closely followed by those who claimed Him….
Page 11 Big Book…hat floored me. It began to look as
though religious people were right after all. Here was something at work in a
human heart which had done the impossible. My ideas about miracles were drastically
revised right then.
Big Book page 12…The real significance of my experience
in the Cathedral burst upon me. For a brief moment, I had needed and wanted
God. There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me – and He came. Big
Book Page 13…My friend promised when these things were
done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have
the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Big Book Page
14…Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of
self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who
presides over us all.
Bible James 1:17
New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or
shadow of turning.
Big Book Page My friend had emphasized the absolute
necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. Particularly was
it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me. Faith without works
was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for the alcoholic!
Bible James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is
dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Big Book Page 17…The tremendous fact for every one of us
is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can
absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious
action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from
alcoholism.
Alcoholics Anonymous Pamphlet P53 Page 13 But we were
convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. To some of us
older ones, the parts that we found absolutely essential were the Sermon on the
Mount, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, and the Book of James.
Alcoholics Anonymous Pamphlet P53 Page 30 Finally, there
was some kind of hearing on it among the self-appointed elders. I remember how
perfectly Bob put it to them. He reminded us that most of us were practicing
Christians. Then he asked, “What would the Master have thought? Would He have
kept this man away?” He had them cold! The man came in, was a prodigious
worker, and was one of our most respected people.
Big Book Page 19….Of necessity there will have to be
discussion of matters medical, psychiatric, social, and religious.
Big Book Page 24 & 25..These stark and ugly facts
have been confirmed by legions of alcoholics throughout history. But for the
grace of God, there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations.
Big Book Page 25…The great fact is just this, and nothing
less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have
revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward
God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty
that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed
miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could
never do by ourselves. If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe
there is no middle-of-the-road solution.
Big Book page 27 & 28…Upon hearing this, our friend
was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church
member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor’s telling him that
while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell
the necessary vital spiritual experience.Here was the terrible dilemma in which
our friend found himself when he had the extraordinary experience, which as we
have already told you, made him a free man. We, in our turn, sought the same
escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy
reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God.
Big Book Page 44…To one who feels he is an atheist or
agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means
disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be
doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always
easy alternatives to face.
We know how he feels. We have shared his honest doubt and
prejudice. Some of us have been violently anti-religious. To others, the word
“God” brought up a particular idea of Him with which someone had tried to
impress them during childhood. Perhaps we rejected this particular conception
because it seemed inadequate. With that rejection we imagined we had abandoned
the God idea entirely.
Big Book page 47 and 48….That was great news to us, for
we had assumed we could not make use of spiritual principles unless we accepted
many things on faith which seemed difficult to believe. When people presented
us with spiritual approaches, how frequently did we all say, “I wish I had what
that man has. I’m sure it would work if I could only believe as he believes.
But I cannot accept as surely true the many articles of faith which are so
plain to him.” So it was comforting to learn that we could commence at a
simpler level. Besides a seeming inability to accept much on faith we often
found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning
prejudice. Many of us have been so touchy that even casual reference to
spiritual things made us bristle with antagonism. This sort of thinking had to
be abandoned. Though some of us resisted, we found no great difficulty in
casting aside such feelings. Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became
as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions.
Big Book Page 50…Instead of regarding ourselves as
intelligent agents, spearheads of God’s ever advancing Creation, we agnostics
and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word,
the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us,
wasn’t it?
We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay
aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that whatever
the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose
and direction to millions. People of faith have a logical idea of what life is
all about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. We used
to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when
we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races,
colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and
usefulness which we should have sought ourselves.
When we saw others solve their problems by a simple
reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of
God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.
Page 53 Big Book…When we became alcoholics, crushed by a
self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face
the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either
is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be?
Big Book page 55 Yet we had been seeing another kind of
flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, people who rose above their
problems. They said God made these things possible, and we only smiled. We had
seen spiritual release, but liked to tell ourselves it wasn’t true.
Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in
every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured
by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it
is there.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part
of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we
had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were.
We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only
there that He may be found. It was so with us.
We can only clear the ground a bit. If our testimony
helps sweep away prejudice, enables you to think honestly, encourages you to
search diligently within yourself, then, if you wish, you can join us on the
Broad Highway. With this attitude you cannot fail. The consciousness of your
belief is sure to come to you.
In this book you will read the experience of a man who
thought he was an atheist. His story is so interesting that some of it should
be told now. His change of heart was dramatic, convincing, and moving.
Big Book page 56….Our friend was a minister’s son. He
attended church school, where he became rebellious at what he thought an
overdose of religious education. For years thereafter he was dogged by trouble
and frustration. Business failure, insanity, fatal illness, suicide – these
calamities in his immediate family embittered and depressed him. Post-war
disillusionment, ever more serious alcoholism, impending mental and physical
collapse, brought him to the point of self-destruction.
One night, when confined in a hospital, he was approached
by an alcoholic who had known a spiritual experience. Our friend’s gorge rose
as he bitterly cried out: “If there is a God, He certainly hasn’t done anything
for me!” But later, alone in his room, he asked himself this question: “Is it
possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?” While pondering
the answer he felt as though he lived in hell. Then, like a thunderbolt, a
great thought came. It crowded out all else:
“Who are you to say there is no God?”
This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his
knees. In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of
God. It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great
tide at flood. The barriers he had built through the years were swept away. He
stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love. He had stepped from bridge to
shore. For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his
Creator.
Thus was our friend’s cornerstone fixed in place. No
later vicissitude has shaken it. His alcoholic problem was taken away. That
very night, years ago, it disappeared.
Page 63 Big Book……..We were reborn.
I could go on and on…..
We can take a few phrases and quotes and play symantics.
Looking at that facts, history and if we the reader is truly seeking, studying
and following the directions in the Big Book,,,,,you will get saved by the Lord
and be free from alcohol…yes…but also be totally free for eternity…I can dig
it!
Doug Nunes
Director of Recovery Ministries
Calvary Church of Los Gatos
408-497-0391=
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