Is AA Biblical?

[wmc1982]

I'm thinking of starting to go to something like AA if my church doesn't have a recovery ministry. They talk about a higher power a lot and I was wondering if anyone knows more about it. Thanks.

Will

 

[PrairieGurl]

I'm thinking of starting to go to something like AA if my church doesn't have a recovery ministry. They talk about a higher power a lot and I was wondering if anyone knows more about it. Thanks.

Will

Hey Will,I guess I should of read both your posts before I answered one. Regarding AA being Biblical...there is nothing specifically in Gods Word regarding AA, perse.The "higher power" they talk about has been changed to include "as you see the higher power as being" due to the fact they want to reach more people. When Bill W. started AA...God was the "higher power".I have been a member of AA for a month (yes sober for 23 days, but I went to AA before that because that is what they are there for. There was never any judgement from the AA members, just friendliness, understanding, and encouragement.)My motto is GOD 1ST, FAMILY & FRIENDS 2ND, AND MY NEW FRIENDS AT AA. (people who understand where I am at and can encourage me because they HAVE been where I am at!Many AA members DO believe in the ONE TRUE GOD! I attend these meetings to find encouragement and to be with people who truely understand this disease. It is NOT my ALL IN ALL, only God can be that in my life!I hope this helps you Will.Know where you're at,Wendy

 

[Ruth~]

AA is a good place to go as well as other recovery places. They say prayers at meetings and believe in a higher power as Want to Be said. There is lots of good fellowship and even coffee and donuts. lol. You can meet a lot of people who are in the same boat and stay sober with the help of god, them and AA.

 

[justanobserver]

I'm thinking of starting to go to something like AA if my church doesn't have a recovery ministry. They talk about a higher power a lot and I was wondering if anyone knows more about it. Thanks.

Will

I so commend you for taking that initiative - there are so few churches that really have or offer anything close to a ministry for the alcoholic/addict, at least in my area.

Higher Power in AA is a (for lack of better explanation) generic/general term for God/Jesus/whatever works for you. If your not a christian, then your higher power is whatever you want it to be for you, not someone else in the meeting. If your a christian, then your Higher Power is God/Jesus for you, not for anyone else in the meeting.

Its a term that means what it means to the individual person.

But again, I wish you well with this desire of yours. It is a much needed ministry. trust me - I have found out thru much very bitter experience that not all churches accept us rcovering alcoholics.

 

[If Not For Grace]

The term is "God of your understanding."

AA Bills itself not as a religious program but as a spiritual one.

Step 1 is admitted we were powerless..
Step 2 is came to believe in a power greater than ourselves

Step 3 is made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him...

THE 12 Steps are a path to God.

They have slogans that include:

"let go and let God"
"Think"
"First things First"
"Let it Begin with Me"

They use affirmations and a buddy program called sponsorship. Go to AA meetings (open ones) and learn about them and there is a movie staring James Garner and James Wood that is really good called Bill W, you might want to see.

AA is good stuff--that's why the courts are trying to jump on it but they got one more saying "yougottawanto" and that's the key.

 

[wmc1982]

thanks everyone for the comments. i just got back from another meeting and got a white chip. i plan on keep going, a lot of good people there and they all seem to actually be real christians.

 

[UberLutheran]

Speaking as one of the people from "the room on the other side of the hall" (Al-Anon), the 12 Step Programs are spiritual, but not specifically religious. This makes it possible for Christians, non-Christians, and even non-believers to find that "something" which is greater than themselves which helps make recovery possible.

The Steps are simple, but they are not easy. It took me well over a year for me to figure out that I was powerless over alcohol in my parents, my relatives, and my partner and that it was my life that was umanageable and completely out of control, and that I was doing crazy stuff trying to control other peoples' drinking. Part of my own story is actually telling the police I was my partner (who had several outstanding warrants) when they came to arrest him, and I went to jail on his behalf so I wouldn't have to face the humiliation of my family of origin finding out he had ended up in jail! (Ever try to explain that to a judge?)

Fortunately, I don't live like that anymore.

I got my life back — one that I could actually use — in Al-Anon and I know many people for whom the same thing has happened in AA.

Here's one other thing, pertinent to my family, which I find scary and has been a great impetus for me to do whatever it takes to recover: alcoholics in my extended family tend to die of alcohol-related complications; but the untreated codependents tend to die from cancer in their 50s. Well, I'm 52 and I'd like to be around for awhile longer!

 

[HannahE]

I think a lot of AA is biblical but the main thing that i dont like about it(even though i attended it for a while) is that they call you a recovering alcoholic which still speaks that name "alcoholic" over you. The bible said that CHrist blood washes us completely free as soon as we ask forgiveness and no name is above His name and i believe calling yourself an alcoholic after you have asked God to cleanse you and heal you is like putting that name above His name He gives you which is chosen, loved, anointed, forgiven, etc...
But it is a great group to get support and to relate to other people going through the same issues. Just make sure it doesnt blind you from the COMPLETE freedom that is in CHrist.
Love In Him,
hannah

 

[PrairieGurl]

Hey Will!

I agree with the post above and the one above that also!
A couple hours ago...I just came back from my home group AA meeting. It's a little different up here with chips, Alcohol free B-days and such...but the 12 steps are the same.
I left the meeting feeling alot better than I did when I walked into it. BUT...Jesus is my best Friend...and for me personally...He is first! The fellowship of AA is an added blessing. Others that have been where I am and can encourage me, and some who are "younger" than me who I can encourage

Keep us posted!
s & s
Wendy

 

[LoG]

thanks everyone for the comments. i just got back from another meeting and got a white chip. i plan on keep going, a lot of good people there and they all seem to actually be real christians.

Way to go wmc!!

but the untreated codependents tend to die from cancer in their 50s. Well, I'm 52 and I'd like to be around for awhile longer!

Thanks for sharing that Uber. I did know codependents have a higher chance of suicide but didn't realize that they also had higher chance of cancer. Does make sense though since I knew that internalized anger does often lead to cancer and codependents have that in spades. (I am in both programs)

I think a lot of AA is biblical but the main thing that i dont like about it(even though i attended it for a while) is that they call you a recovering alcoholic which still speaks that name "alcoholic" over you.

Hi HannahE. Alcoholics suffer from the disease of alcoholism, like diabetics suffer from the disease of diabetes. The disease is not a sin.
I am washed in the blood of Christ but my body still reacts abnormally when I consume alcohol. Like a diabetic has to stay from certain foods if they are to live well, an alcoholic needs to stay away from alcohol to do the same. The addictive/sin nature within us, tends to forget or minimize the disease we have. The diabetic has a doctor and medical test results to remind him to stay on the straight and narrow. An alcoholic who forgets about his/her disease however is like the "fool returning to his folly"

I am an alcoholic who by the grace and blood of Christ has been relieved of the mental obsession to drink. By the experience of those who have relapsed, I know the physical component of my disease lies dormant within me. As long as I don't pick up that first drink I will not trigger the disease and re-experience the phenomenon of craving. That is something I need to remember even more as the time since my last drunk fades into history.

 

[If Not For Grace]

that they call you a recovering alcoholic which still speaks that name "alcoholic" over you.

I think I get where you are coming from with this, but then again isn't that like us still calling ourselves sinners instead of forgiven?

 

[Carey]

Acan be a stepping stone to increasing some peoples desire to want to learn the true word of God.

Similarly Some Church's increase peoples desire to
want to learn about the word of God by avoiding certain topics in sermons. For example many Churches won't teavh or preach prophecy.
God bless,
carey