The Door Knob!!!…Really?
In the last 90 days I have spent a lot of time in what they call "the rooms" of Alcoholics Anonymous. I truly believe that God led me to these rooms, so I want to start by saying that I'm in no way knocking this incredible program. AA has been a HUGE tool God has used to save and completely change my life. I will not be using anybody's name or any specific stories because those things are rightly supposed to stay in the rooms. AA should remain a safe place for people to share their experiences, worries, and thoughts with other alcoholics and addicts. That being said, there are some things I have noticed in the 100+ meetings I have attended in the last 90 days that make me chuckle.
First, I will give you a little background on how AA works. For those of you who don't know, AA is a spiritual program. It is a common misconception by Christians that AA is a completely secular program. This is not true. Bill Wilson, the man who started Alcoholics Anonymous along with Dr. Bob Smith, and wrote most of the literature including a book called Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book), was a Christian. He refers to AA as spiritual kindergarten. Most people who join this program are agnostic at best when they first walk through the door. When we are active in our disease we are worshipping at the alter of alcohol, drugs or both. There is no room for God when we are already worshipping false gods all day and all night. A lot of Christians could take lessons on devotion from a drunk or a junkie. An alcoholic or addict never leaves the church of their false gods. So, needless to say, when most people reach a point in their life desperate enough to walk into an AA meeting they are reluctant to believe in the existence of God. Also, most active addicts and alcoholics will say "all of those Christians are a bunch of hypocrites and I don't want to be associated with religion."
Because of this, AA starts people off simple. They start by getting you to admit that you are powerless over alcohol and your life has become unmanageable. This step is pretty easy for most people because they wouldn't be sitting in a room full of sober drunks if they didn't realize they had a problem. Most people have done so many horrible, stupid things while they were drunk or high that they have isolated themselves from everybody they ever cared about. As much as they may have wanted to fix these relationships, their false gods were the center of their life so they couldn't. That is pretty much the definition of an unmanageable life.
After you have admitted that you are powerless over alcohol and your life has become unmanageable, things get tricky. Next, they want you to come to believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity. "WHAT?!?…I see what you are doing. That sounds a lot like you are talking about God. And, you want me to say I'm crazy on top of that?"
"Well, you just admitted you were powerless in the first step. Therefore, if you are powerless, pretty much everything else in the world had more power than you. That doorknob over there has more power than you do", they say.
"Okay, that makes sense somehow, but what about that crazy talk about me being crazy? "
"Well, did you not keep drinking and using knowing that these things always end badly? That is kinda crazy if you think about it."
"You're Right!"
"I know! And, guess what? You have just knocked out the first two of these twelve steps in one conversation."
Step three is to make a decision to turn your will and our lives over to God as you understand Him. We are not asking you to convert to Christianity and head downtown to First Baptist Church, although if that is what you feel called to do, by all means head to church. What we are asking is for you to is give power over your life to your higher power however you may understand that higher power. You have already admitted that you have no power, so obviously the last person you want having control over your life is you. This is a lot easier to get people who very recently didn't believe in God at all to do than trying to force what you believe on them. In my experience, telling people how they are wrong and you are right is a good way to get them not to want to talk to you at all.
BOOM! In the first three steps of this program, a person who most likely had major resentments against religion and the idea of God, is now able to start believing. They call these the most important three steps in the whole program. Without these first three, there really is no way to honestly get through the last nine. God now has something He can work with. Bill Wilson was a smart man. Once God takes over and you start seeing results in your life, the believing comes more and more naturally.
I think a lot of Christians could learn from this when it comes to evangelism. We live in a world where a lot of people have huge resentments against Christianity because inevitably at some point in their life there has been some Christian who has told them all of the reasons they are going to Hell instead of simply loving them, praying for them, and telling them about all of the amazing things God has done for them. More flies with honey and all that.
Since most of the newcomers still have major resentments against the idea of religion, people are encouraged to only say higher power or God when they are sharing in a meeting. The primary purpose of AA is to get people who are still out there suffering to keep coming back and to work the program. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution. Because of this, anybody (no matter what they do or don't believe) is welcome in the rooms. I completely agree with how this is done. I have seen it work and I believe that God is cool with it. I am convinced that in the last 80 years, AA has been more instrumental in converting lost people to Christianity, without ever saying the name Jesus than any denomination of Christianity has. If people can't except that there is a God, they are never coming through the doors of your church. Don't get me wrong, I do go to church and I think that people do need church to know who Christ is and develop a relationship with Him and other Christians.
Now, here is what I find humorous. As I said before, in these meetings, we try to use the term higher power or God. Inevitably when people are sharing their experience, strength and hope, they will slip up and reveal their understanding of God. When this happens, if that person says Buddha or Mohammad or Ganesh or The goddess of the Earth or "the universe" or even the door knob, nobody in the room blinks an eye. But, if you say the name of Jesus, there are always people in the room who will cringe and shoot you a look like you just slapped their grandma. It is somehow acceptable to mention any other understanding of God, no matter how ridiculous it might sound, but not Christianity. In AA we are taught to get on our knees every morning and ask our higher power to keep us sober that day. We are taught to get on our knees and thank our higher power for keeping us sober every night. In my opinion, it is the guy who is asking the door knob to keep him sober that should be receiving some weird looks, not the guy talking to Jesus. I make no apologies for my faith to anybody. If somebody wants to pray to "the universe" to keep them sober and it works for them, more power to them. I choose to pray to the One Who Created the Universe.
This has just been something I have picked up on during this 90 day adventure I have been on. I have seen this program work to help a lot of people achieve sobriety. I have also met people who came into this program 20 years ago, who were atheists, who are now Deacons at their church. God can and will step in and change hearts and minds if we let him. All we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. I pray that everybody has had a wonderful week. I will give you another glimpse into my life and my random thoughts next week. Love Y'all!!!
