Tuesday, January 20, 2015

A.A. Cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob Speaking about Christ, the Lord, and Christianity: More Examples



Speaking about Christ, the Lord, and Christianity

More Examples

 

By Ken B.

© 2015 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 


My dad (Dick B.) and I recently published an article about some of the places in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature where Bill W. mentioned "Jesus," "Christ," "the Lord," "Christian," or "Christianity." Here is a link to that article on one of my dad's blogs:

 


 

There are other examples of where A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob spoke about Christ, the Lord, or Christianity in A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature. Here, for example, is one of the things A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob said in his last major talk given at Detroit, Michigan, in December 1948:

 

Christ said, "Of Myself, I am nothing--My strength cometh from My Father in heaven." If He had to say that, how about you and me?

 

[Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975), 19; available to read FREE of charge at www.AA.org

 


 

And here is how A.A. cofounder Bill W. concluded his last major talk given on October 11, 1969, at the New York Hilton, at the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Bill's sobriety:

 

I would like to conclude with the memory of one of history's great figures with words dedicated to him that have come down through the centuries. His name was Francis:

 

Lord make me a channel of thy peace . . .

Lord grant that I may seek rather to comfort than be comforted . . .

 

[Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 36 (Item # P-53)]

 

Here's another important statement Bill W. made to Henrietta D., wife of "AA Number Three," Akron attorney Bill D, a week or two after Bill D. had come out of the hospital on July 4, 1935:

 

. . . "Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people."

 

[Source: Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed., 191; also quoted on page 83 of DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers]

 

The A.A. General Service Conference-approved book DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers contains a number of references to the Christianity in early A.A.—especially as seen in Akron (and to some extent in Cleveland). For example:

 

"Dr. Bob was a prominent man in Akron. Everybody knew him. When he stopped drinking, people asked, 'What's this not-drinking-liquor club you've got over there?' 'A Christian fellowship,' he'd reply.

 

[Source: DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers (New York: N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1980), 118]

 

And there are more.

 

In GOD's love,

 

Ken B.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Get the Set! 31 Dick B. A.A. history volumes only $224.95 with FREE Shipping to U.S. destinations through midnight, January 31, 2015



 

(Special Bargain Offer--January 2015 ONLY!)

 

 

The 31-Volume “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Recovery Reference Set”

 

$224.95 + FREE Shipping within the United States*

 


 

[* Email Ken B. (kcb00799@gmail.com) for special Shipping rates to non-U.S. destinations]

 

Are you involved with a Christian Recovery and/or 12 Step:

 

·         Group;

·         Treatment Program;

·         Sober Living Home;

·         Family Outreach;

·         Correctional Outreach;

·         Active Military and/or Veteran’s Outreach;

·         Recovery Ministry;

·         Counseling Practice; or

·         Other Outreach to alcoholics, addicts, or those impacted by alcoholism & drug addiction

 

Start 2015 off right! Add to your recovery library the fruits of Dick B.’s 25 years of research on the roles played by God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.’s astonishing success with “seemingly-hopeless,” “medically-incurable” alcoholics who thoroughly followed the early A.A. path (and many also had problems with drugs). Dick B.’s books will help you become more effective in equipping suffering newcomers with “the rest of the story” of recovery, including:

 

1.      Similarities between First Century Christianity (particularly as seen in the book of Acts) and the early Akron A.A. program;

2.      The principles and practices of A.A.’s Christian progenitors, including:

a.       The Young Men’s Christian Association;

b.      Gospel rescue missions;

c.       Christian evangelists such as Dwight L. Moody and F. B. Meyer;

d.      (Vermont) Congregationalism (including the “Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury, Vermont);

e.       The Salvation Army;

f.       The Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor; and

g.      “A First Century Christian Fellowship” (later also known as “the Oxford Group”)

3.      The original, highly-successful, “old-school,” early Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship,” program, and practices; and

4.      How practices of First Century Christianity, Christian progenitors of A.A. from the 1850’s to the early 1930’s, and early Akron A.A., can serve as “lessons learned” to enhance the effectiveness of Christian leaders and workers in today’s recovery arena by enabling them to avoid unnecessarily “reinventing the wheel” in carrying the message to those who still suffer.

 

The 31-volume “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Recovery Reference Set” will enable you to see in a whole new light the solution A.A. proposed for the problem of alcoholism:

 

There is a solution. . . .

 

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.

[Big Book, 4th ed., 25; italics and asterisk in original; Appendix II: “Spiritual Experience,” to which the asterisk refers, was not present in the first edition, first printing, of Alcoholics Anonymous published in April 1939; bolding added]

 

You will be able to share with newcomers more effectively the original message of A.A.’s “first three”—A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob, and “AA Number Three” Bill D.:

 

“Henrietta, the Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep talking about it and telling people.”

[Bill W. to the wife of “AA Number Three” in mid-July, 1935; Big Book, 4th ed., 191; bolding added]

 

Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!

[Dr. Bob, in the last line of his personal story; Big Book, 4th ed., 181]

 

That sentence [by Bill W.], “The Lord has been so wonderful to me, curing me of this terrible disease, that I just want to keep telling people about it,” has been a sort of a golden text for the A.A. program and for me.

[“AA Number Three,” Akron attorney Bill D., in his personal story; Big Book, 4th ed., 191; bolding added]

 

The “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Recovery Reference Set” will help you understand in depth why A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob, a medical doctor, already felt comfortable in late June 1935 stating to “the nurse on the receiving ward” at Akron’s City Hospital that:

 

[H]e [Dr. Bob] and a man from New York [Bill W.] had a cure for alcoholism.

[Big Book, 4th ed., 188; bolding added]

 

It’s time for this nation, its families, and its citizens, long crippled by alcoholism and drug addiction—along with the families and citizens of other nations who have been similarly handicapped—to hear A.A.’s actual solution for the problem of alcoholism. A solution that A.A. cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob began developing over the summer of 1935 in Akron, Ohio. Dr. Bob stated about this time period in 1935:

 

In early A.A. days, . . .

 

At that point, our stories didn’t amount to anything to speak of. When we [Bill W. and Dr. Bob—“the first two”] started in on Bill D. [“AA Number Three”], we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions.

 

But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book.

[From the transcript of Dr. Bob’s last major talk given at Detroit, Michigan, in December 1949, and quoted in The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (A.A. pamphlet # P-53), 13; bolding added]

 

And about this same time period, Dr. Bob also stated:

 

Bill [W.] came to live at our house and stayed for about three months. There was hardly a night that we didn’t sit up until two or three o’clock, talking. It would be hard for me to conceive that, during these nightly discussions around our kitchen table, nothing was said that influenced the writing of the Twelve Steps. We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book.

[The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, 14; bolding added]

 

The “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Recovery Reference Set” will help you understand the historical significance and modern application of statements such as these by A.A. cofounder and primary author of the Big Book, Bill W.:

 

All this time I [Bill W.] had refused to budge on these steps. I would not change a word of the original draft, in which, you will remember, I had consistently used the word “God,” . . .

[Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 166; bolding added]

 

. . . [W]e [Bill W., Hank P., Fitz, and A.A.’s first secretary, Ruth Hock—a non-alcoholic] finally began to talk about the possibility of compromise. Who first suggested the actual compromise words I do not know, . . . In Step Two we decided to describe God as a “Power greater than ourselves.” In Steps Three and Eleven we inserted the words “God as we understood Him.

 


[Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 167; italics in original; bolding added]

 

In the quest for carrying an accurate, effective message to those who still suffer, the books by Dick B. in this reference set will help you see and be able to explain simply to newcomers vitally-important points such as the differences between the original, highly-effective, early Akron A.A. program, and what Bill W. called:

 

. . . the new version of the program, now the “Twelve Steps.”

[Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162]

 

For example, in the seven-point summary of the “old-school” Akron A.A. program as it looked in late February 1938 which Frank Amos included in a report he prepared for John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the second point of the seven read:

 

“2. He must surrender himself absolutely to God, realizing that in himself there is no hope.”

[DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131]

 

Not to “a Power greater than ourselves.” Not to God “as we understood Him.” And not to “a higher Power” (as the phrase appeared on page 55 of the first printing of the first edition of the Big Book in the last sentence of chapter three, “More about Alcoholism.”) No, in the highly-successful, original Akron A.A, program, the word was “God.”—just as was the case in Bill W.’s “original draft” of the Twelve Steps, before “the final concessions [were made] to those of little or no faith.” The Being referred to by Bill W. and Dr. Bob in A.A.’s earliest days—before “the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics”—was the “Creator,” a word used 12 times on pages 1-164 of the current (4th) edition of the Big Book.

 

Ever wondered about the “novel idea” Bill W. seemed to put in the mouth of his old Burr and Burton Seminary schoolmate and “sponsor” Ebby T.: “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” [Big Book, 1st ed., 21-22; 4th ed., 12]. The “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Reference Set” will give you a perspective for understanding:

 

1.      The four paragraphs in which that question occurs—beginning with the words “Despite the living example of my friend . . .” and ending with the words “Of course I would!” (Big Book, 1st ed., 21-22; 4th ed., 12)—did not appear in what primary author Bill W. called “a prepublication copy of the text and some of the stories” (better known as “the Multilith Edition” and “the Original Manuscript.”). This fact may be verified easily by a quick visit to www.Silkworth.net where a transcript of the “Original Manuscript” is available for viewing. (See: http://mcaf.ee/znw4y; accessed 1/13/2015.)

2.      That odious question, “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” was part of four paragraphs written in by hand and included at the last moment in the document Bill W. called “the printer’s copy of the book.” (Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 169). The first words of the four-paragraph insertion (i.e., “Despite the living example of my friend . . .”) begin on the back of the Title Page and end with an abbreviated version of the words “Of course I would!” on the front side of a piece of paper inserted between the typed Title Page and the typed Foreword. In this case, another “committee of four” was at work. This time, the “committee” was composed of Bill W., Hank P., Ruth Hock, and Dorothy S. (then-wife of Dr. Bob’s sponsee Clarence S.). [See: The Book That Started It All: The Original Working Manuscript of Alcoholics Anonymous (Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 2010), 23-27, 38. (Dick B. and Ken B. contributed some of the historical material included in this book.)]

 

So, would you like to learn more about “A First Century Christian Fellowship” (as the group was named when it was founded by Lutheran minister Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman in the autumn of 1922, and as it was still also known during the time in which Bill W. and Dr. Bob were members of it)? Would you like to know why John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and several associates likened early A.A.—particularly in Akron—to First Century Christianity? Would you like to learn the story of Bill W.’s inviting Episcopal minister Rev. Sam Shoemaker to write the 12 Steps?

 


 

The retail list prices for the 31 volumes in the “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Recovery Reference Set,” taken together, come to about $750.00. For the remainder of the month of January 2015 ONLY, we are lowering the already-heavily-discounted price of our ongoing special ($249.00 + FREE Shipping to U.S. destinations) to only

 

$224.95 (plus FREE Shipping to U.S. destinations*)

(Please email Ken B. at kcb00799@gmail.com for Shipping charges to non-U.S. destinations)

 

And, if you decide to acquire the “Dick B. A.A. History and Christian Recovery Reference Set” during the month of January 2015, please send us an email message to kcb00799@gmail.com and ask about the following materials by Dick B. and Ken B. that will complement the reference set:

 

·         A video walk-through of Dick B.’s reference library in which he picks out numerous materials in the library, and speaks about and/or reads from those materials.

·         The forthcoming video class and optional guidebook titled “Bill W., Dr. Bob, and the Cure of Alcoholism: The Rest of the Story” by Dick B. and Ken B.

·         More than 600 photographs of the Vermont background of Bill’s and Dr. Bob’s lives.

·         Free interviews and discussions on the “Christian Recovery Radio with Dick B.” show.

 


 

Gloria Deo

Thursday, January 8, 2015

A.A. Cofounder Bill W.’s 1943 Affirmation of His Born Again Status: His Inscription “Yours in Christ”


A.A. Cofounder Bill W.'s 1943 Affirmation of His Born Again Status:

His Inscription “Yours in Christ”

 

By Dick B., with Ken B.
© 2014, 2015 Anonymous. All rights reserved

 

Born again

 

Bill Wilson said in his autobiography:

 

For sure, I’d been born again.

[Bill W., My First 40 Years (Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 2000), 147.

For more examples of this language, see Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 110 (http://www.dickb.com/theconversionofbillw.shtml)]

 

After Ebby’s visit to Bill prior to Bill’s decision for Christ at Calvary Mission, Bill Wilson wrote of Ebby:

 

The man was transformed; there was no denying he had been reborn.

[“Bill Wilson’s Original Manuscript,” see lines 935-942, an unpublished manuscript located at Bill and Lois Wilson’s home called “Stepping Stones” in New York.

For more on this, see, for example: Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., xv, 47. 49]

 

After Bill Wilson made his own decision for Christ at the rail at Calvary Mission in New York about December 7, 1934, he told his wife Lois about his experience that evening. Speaking of Bill’s experience at Calvary Mission in a speech she gave in Texas, Lois stated:

 

And he [Bill W.] went up, and really, in very great sincerity, did hand over his life to Christ.

[“Lois Remembers: Searcy, Ebby, Bill & Early Days.” Recorded in Dallas, Texas, June 29, 1973, Moore, OK: Sooner Cassette, Side 1.

For more on this, see, for example: Dick B. The Conversion of Bill W., 61]

 

Lois Wilson wrote in her autobiography:

 

Although my joy and faith in his rebirth continued, I missed his companionship.

[(L.B.W.), Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (New York: Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., 1979), 98.

For more on this, see, for example: Dick B., The Conversion of Bill W., 114]

 

Even author Mel B., the man who dubs himself a casual historian, concluded:

 

His [Bill W.’s] was clearly a kind of “born again” experience, . . .

[Mel B., New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Miracle (Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 1991), 88]

 

In John 3:7 (KJV), Jesus said to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

 

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

 

In 1 Peter 1:23 (KJV), the Apostle Peter wrote:

 

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

 

In Christ

 

In January 13, 1943, Bill Wilson signed his full name “Bill Wilson” in an inscription in a first edition Big Book he gave to his friend, Dr. Jesse M. Bader. A photo of the inscription was sent to me (Dick B.) by Ken R. I have it in my archives and have shown it at A.A. History conferences. You may see a picture of the page in Alcoholics Anonymous on which Bill Wilson wrote the inscription including “Yours in Christ” to Dr. Bader, as published by PBA Galleries in conjunction with the auction of this book [Sale 389: Rare Books & Manuscripts (#389) 09/25/2008 1:00 PM PDT], here:

 

http://mcaf.ee/ql4yt [accessed 1/2/2015]

 

Ken R. also posted the following message on the web:


“I just purchased a First Edition, Third printing Big Book inscribed on the front free endpaper,

 

“To my friend Dr. Jesse M. Bader,
            Yours in Christ, Bill Wilson, 1/13/43.”

Jesse Moren Bader (1886-1963) was a noted evangelist, ecumenist and global leader. He
founded the global, ecumenical, World Communion Sunday which was launched on October 6, 1940 and continues on the first Sunday in October each year.

This is the first time I've ever seen Bill W. inscribe anything "Yours in Christ" and it's also notable that he signed his full name. He apparently stopped signing his full last name about the time the Traditions were coming out.

Sincerely,
Ken R.”

 

And here is the detailed information PBA Galleries provided about this particular copy of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in conjunction with the auction:

 

PBA Galleries (Auctioneers & Appraisers)

 

Sale 389: Rare Books & Manuscripts (#389) 09/25/2008  1:00 PM PDT CLOSED!

 

Lot 3 of 145:

Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than Six Thousand Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism

 

Lot closed – Sale Price: $13,200

 

Heading:         (Alcoholics Anonymous)

Author:            [Wilson, William (Bill W.)]

Place:               New York

Publisher:        Works Publishing Co.

Date:               1942

Description:     viii, [2], 400 pp. 9x6, original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, original jacket. First Edition, Third printing. Presentation copy inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To my friend Dr. Jesse M. Bader, Yours in Christ, Bill Wilson, 1/13/43." Jesse Moren Bader (1886-1963) was a noted evangelist, ecumenist and global leader. He founded the global, ecumenical, World Communion Sunday which was launched on October 6, 1940 and continues on the first Sunday in October each year. There were 5000 copies of this third printing published in June, 1942.

Lot Amendments

Condition:

Jacket chipped and worn, lacking top 2½" of spine strip and some of adjacent front panel, repairs on verso; volume spine head bumped, shelf wear, darkening along front endpaper gutter, else very good in good jacket.

 

Item number:197329

 


 

Shortened link: http://mcaf.ee/ql4yt [accessed 1/2/2015]

 

 

Some Examples of the Phrase “in Christ” in the King James Version of the Bible

 

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV), the Apostle Paul wrote:

 

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. [emphasis added]

 

In Romans 8:1 (KJV), the Apostle Paul wrote:

 

There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [emphasis added]

 

Here are a couple of other examples of this phrase:

 

2 Corinthians 2:17 (KJV): “in the sight of God speak we in Christ” [emphasis added]

 

1 Peter 5:14 (KJV): “Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen” [emphasis added]

 

Appendix

Additional Examples of Verses in the King James Version

in Which the Phrase “In Christ” Occurs

 

Rom 16:7: Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

 

1 Cor 1:2: Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

 

1 Cor 1:30: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

 

1 Cor 3:1:  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

 

2 Cor 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

 

Gal 1:22: And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

 

Eph 1:1: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

 

Phil 1:1: Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

 

Phil 4:21: Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you.

 

Col 1:2: To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1 Thess 2:14: For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:

 

1 Thess 4:16: For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 

1 Pet 5:14: Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

Gloria Deo