I am thinking about leaving AA...

[atonement511]

Its by no means the only, or the best. I would be interested in seeing the same. Did you look into s.o.s.?

 

[rturner76]

Instead of just saying that I am anti-AA, could someone please cite where I said anything that is disproved by documented evidence? I am thankful for anyone who gets sober, without or without AA. My only issue is that it's irresponsible to insist that AA is the only way to recover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effectiveness_of_Alcoholics_Anonymous

Sobriety of AA members[edit]
According to AA World Services about 40% of AA members sober for less than a year will remain another year. About 80% of those sober less than five years will remain sober and active in the fellowship another year. About 90% of the members sober five years or more will remain sober and active in the fellowship another year, however the survey states that this information does not predict the number that will remain sober, and those who remain sober but not in the fellowship cannot be calculated. These figures have been repeated within a few percentage points using the same calculations since 1974.[14] While AA has continued to publish member surveys, they have not published any parallel commentary or analysis of the surveys since 1990.[7]

AA works Yoder you have proven that yourself. Many people get stagnant in the program. Going to a crappy meeting? Find another one that isn't. There's only about 9 billion meetings out there for every demographic and level of sobriety. Got a crappy sponsor? Get another one. There is only 87 trillion people that are willing and probably at least half are decent sponsors. God got you sober but you are going to take your will back and keep yourself sober from here right? Our self will gets us drunk. God's will keeps us sober. You can do God's will no matter what you're program is you are right about that. The system is more than just one principle. The main one of course is doing God's will, you already said that but there are two more things that make it work.1) Dealing with the wreckage of your past i.e. resentments and you got a big one with your former sponsor 2) Being of service and showing others how to work this program. Oh yeah to keep it you have yo give it away. If you find a better meeting, make peace with your resentments by getting them down on paper, help a drunk stay sober and I will all but guarantee you will find fulfillment in AA again. Not telling you what to do at all. You are a big boy. Just making a suggestion like the Big Book is just a simple book of suggestions Think about the question. Your will or God's will?

 

[dgiharris]

Instead of just saying that I am anti-AA, could someone please cite where I said anything that is disproved by documented evidence? I am thankful for anyone who gets sober, without or without AA. My only issue is that it's irresponsible to insist that AA is the only way to recover.

Where do you keep getting this "only AA" argument??? Who in this thread is saying that AA is the "only" way to get sober?

The problem that I have with the entire spirit of your posts is that it feels like you have an inability to look at the entirety of AA or how AA helps the masses. Instead, you are focusing on the problems or the negatives and ignoring all the positives. You are also taking a selfish ego centric stance which is little more than "Hey guys, I'm awesome and don't need AA, you all should be awesome like me and ditch AA too..."

I mean, seriously man, AA is a 100% free program and support structure that provides help 24 hours a day 7 days a week for free. I feel as if you don't understand the enormity of that. Can you name me any other program on the planet that has this feature? Any other program that provides free counseling and mentoring 24/7 for free??? I feel as though I'm arguing with someone who doesn't understand deductive logic and how basic statistics applies to logic and reasoning...

As for your "cite where I said anything that is disproved by documented evidence..." Look. Lets say I'm an alcoholic and I stumble across this thread and your posts. Are you posts going to help me or hurt me? Are your posts going to steer me to a 100% free program that provides me support 24/7 or are your posts more likely to dissuade me from AA and make me think I need to find my own way of dealing with my alcoholism?

In a nutshell, I feel your posts on this subject are harmful and not helpful. It feels personal, like you have a bone to pick with AA and someone within your AA organization hurt you or hurt your feelings somehow.

I've volunteered for AA, been to meetings, and I feel that AA is an incredible support system that saves lives. No, it's not perfect, but for what it does, and the fact that it is free and available 24/7 in basically every single city on the planet.... I mean, come'on man, how is this even an argument????

 

[Colter]

It seems that few people who come to AA follow the original instructions. Generally speaking AA has evolved into something else. My old sponsor taught me that 5 years is often when dry people decide to leave, thinking it doesn't work because the truth is, they never actually worked the program. They thought going to meetings and talking about it was the program. Bud had a saying "do you want to get well, or do you just want to talk about it."

On their way out the door to join the even higher statistical failure demographic, they rip everyone as negative, listing their grudges when they themselves became "restless, irritable and discontent" because they were still untreated. While complaining about meetings, they didn't bring any positive experience of having followed the instructions to give hope to others. On the net the term "X-a's" evolved to describe these prodigal sons who leave....but come back to recovery forums on the net to rip the former fellowship that loved and helped them.

The commonality among X-a's is projecting their own issues onto others, they still have an alcoholic mind. Adiction is one of the few diseases wherin it's cheif characteristic is to tell one that they don't have it.

"lt is easy to let up on the program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee-Thy will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will."​

 

[Colter]

Instead of just saying that I am anti-AA, could someone please cite where I said anything that is disproved by documented evidence? I am thankful for anyone who gets sober, without or without AA. My only issue is that it's irresponsible to insist that AA is the only way to recover.

Dealing with the real problem is the only way to solve it. The problem is dreadful and fatal, the solution is quite difficult because it forces us to face things about ourselves (beyond drinking) that are outside of our comfort zone. Let's not kid ourselves, people who leave aa don't really go anywhere to address the real problem.

But the final thing to go in the guy who is determined to leave is their hearing, they can't hear us anymore. Our contentions are proof of our cultic mind control tactics.