Success in recovery?

[Healed_IHS]

Good morning, Family

I attended a Celebrate Recovery meeting the other night. I do love this group. They mentioned, however, that without Christ your recovery won't be succesful. I have serious doubts about that though. There are successful people in recovery that are of every faith. Part of the criteria, for me personally, of being successful is being able to be closer to God as a result of my sobriety. In that sense, I would consider what was said correct. But something about what was said doesn't seem to be correct. Thoughts?

 

[MarkSB]

Was just thinking about this question myself tonight, as the topic had popped up in treatment/ group tonight. One of the group members expressed that he didn't like AA because they preached God too much. The facilitator stated that all groups were not like that, only the ones where there were "old-timers" who had 20-30 years of sobriety under thier belts.

It made me smile because it reminded me of the AA group I used to attend when I had sobered up 5 years ago. It was filled with old-timers, (guys ranging from 40-70+ years old; and I was only 22) That group was so cool because God was at its center, and his presense there was strong. God was a regular topic of conversation and was the center of recovery, things like prayer, forgiveness, and being honest about immoral thoughts were openly discussed and taken seriously.

I have looked for statistics comparing faith-based AODA treatment vs. non-faith based treatment programs because I had wanted to do a paper on it last semester; but I was unable to find any numbers on the topic because it doesn't seem like anybody really does too much research on the subject, or keeps track of people's progress after they leave these programs.

Speaking from what I have heard and seen, if all the "old timers" are the ones who are still sober and going to meetings after 20+ years, that certainly makes a statement - we have Christ to hold us accountable, give us strength, and give us hope. Some may be able to do it on their own, but I'm not one of them.

 

[UnitynLove]

Christ can heal someone from their addiction but sometimes a person's soul is destroyed because of their years of addiction to that certain drug. One thing that group meetings can't do is heal the soul.

 

[Healed_IHS]

All of this is true, and I for one, find meaning in being sober as it has to do with my recovery. However, there are some who do stay sober without Christ.

 

[LoG]

God is patient. Many will start out in recovery with a vague concept of who God is but over the years will come to Christ specifically. God can and does heal those who don't initially acknowledge Jesus in my experience.

Remember too that wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He will be among them. Even if the rest are not specifically Christians.
God sees the heart and knows that some have been badly hurt by how Christ and biblical interpretations was preached by some. It takes time and spiritual healing for them to come to see that the God of the bible is a loving God.

 

[notwrapped]

I agree with some of the comments but I think We need to keep in mind acknowledging that a "Higher Power" can help restore us to sanity doesn't mean God for everyone.I choose God as My higher power but have met many who do not and have done fine.For some the group or fellowship itself sustains them.Whatever keeps them flying right is fine with me.I personally "detoxed" more times than I care to count and I even had brief stints of abstainance in the past but until I gave it up to Jesus and surrendered "My will" I had little success.I quit for many reasons ..Wife,kids,Job.etc So when one of the aformentioned [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]ed me off or let me down ..Well there was my excuse to restart.. But when I gave it up to Jesus I found that I was able to maintain.. We make a pretty good tag-team.


P.S Just the opinion of another "Oldtimer" **poke**

 

[leftoverture]

However, there are some who do stay sober without Christ.

Very true. But. . .what does it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his soul? Satan is very cunning. He lets people think their undefined higher power is keeping them sober and so their life is just fine. All the while they remain on a road straight to hell. There are lots of ways to get sober, but only Christ can save us; getting and keeping us sober and providing the atonement for our sins that will get us in to heaven. Remember Paul's words. . .if there is no resurrection we might as well eat, drink and be merry. . .for tomorrow we die. But with Christ. . .we have life. . . and that is much more than just being sober.

Don't be fooled. . .only Christ can save us. . .and that actually has little to do with sobriety. . .

 

[LoG]

AA won't keep you out of hell or get you into heaven but it will keep you sober long enough to figure out which way you want to go.

 

[leftoverture]

AA won't keep you out of hell or get you into heaven but it will keep you sober long enough to figure out which way you want to go.

Amen!!!

 

[Healed_IHS]

True, but a buddhist wouldn't care about being saved, yet even they can stay sober.

 

[leftoverture]

True, but a buddhist wouldn't care about being saved, yet even they can stay sober.

That's the point. . .a Buddhist who doesn't repent and turn to Jesus will go to hell. So being sober will be of no profit in the end.

Being saved is much more valuable than being sober. . .

 

[notwrapped]

I see from the posts made so far in this thread that all of us are "Christian" and "Men" SO..... Let me say this fellas I think we are defending our Savior while at the same time,in my opinion,straying from the point of the OP.I think we need to look at this two fold
1.As a grateful recovering alcoholic I am happy to see the the AA program serve to help ANY addict stay clean first and foremost.The steps are critical for success and initially ,especially in the beginning, MUST be worked in order:
(1)We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable.
(2) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
THEN
(3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Now as I said "Two-fold"
Now once your mind begins to clear then you can see that you are SOBER but not SAVED. I have spoken to many people who, after they sober up, find that they have an enormous void in their lives that needs to be filled.They have to learn how to live sober.They find that all the answers they thought they were finding in the bottle were only lies (Myself included) NOW my fellow men of faith is when I explain about the Rock that I stand on ,That rock is Jesus Christ. As I made clear in my first post in the thread I have always been a Christian and I detoxed
many times,had short times of abstaining from boos BUT until I surrendered my will and allowed Jesus to save me,to strengthen and sustain me, I continued to fail.

So to sum up I think that especially as Christian Recovering Addicts we need to be happy that an addict gets clean with whatever higher power he uses.One step at a time! Then we need to get him to surrender his will and get saved.Can an addict stay clean without Christ?NOT THIS ONE!


BTW one of the best books I've ever read is an AA publication called "I Came to Believe" actually its the process that happened to me...........

First ..I came
Then ..I came to
Then ...I Came to Believe !

Blessings to All,
Larry