Clean And Sober Not Dead Seperator

Let’s ask Bill W.

How do medicine and religion differ in their approach to the alcoholic?

Bill’s Answer

They differ in one respect. When the doctor has shown the alcoholic the underlying difficulties and has prescribed a program of readjustment, he says to him, “Now that you understand what is required for recovery, you should no longer depend on me. You must depend on yourself. You go do it.”

Clearly, then, the objective of the doctor is to make the patient self-sufficient and largely, if not wholly, dependent upon himself.

Religion does not attempt this. It says that faith in self is not enough, even for a non-alcoholic. The clergyman says that we shall have to find and depend upon a Higher Power – God. He advises prayer and frankly recommends an attitude of unwavering reliance upon Him who presides over all. By this means we discover strength much beyond our own resources.

So, the main difference seems to add up to this: Medicine says, know yourself, be strong and you will be able to face life. Religion says, know thyself, ask God for power, and you will become truly free.

In Alcoholics Anonymous the new person may try either method. He sometimes eliminates “the spiritual angle” from the Twelve Steps to recovery and wholly relies upon honesty, tolerance and working with others. But it is interesting to note that faith always comes to those who try this simple approach with an open mind – and in the meantime they stay sober.

If, however, the spiritual content of the Twelve Steps is actively denied, they can seldom remain dry. That is our A.A. experience. We stress the spiritual simply because thousands of us have found we can’t do without it. (N.Y. State 3. Med., Vol. 44, Aug. 15, 1944)

Let’s ask Bill some more questions.
1 – The Disease Concept
2 – Mental Obsession
3 – How Does AA Work?
4 – A Continued Existence
5 – Early AA 12th Step
6 – What Happened to Ebby?
7 – Oxford Group Info
8 – Agnostics & God
9 – Medicine, Religion & AA
10 – Origins of the Traditions
11 – Still More Traditions Info
12 – General Service Conference
13 – AA & Other Agencies
14 – The 12 Concepts
15 – Remembering Our Early Friends
16 – Are Alcoholics “Different?”
17 – Is It All Bill Wilson’s Experience?
18 – “A Rapid Growth Problem?”
19 – Bill Wilson’s Spiritual Experience
20 – Early AA		 21 – Meet AA #3
22 – More Big Book Info
23 – St. Ignatius & The Steps
24 – Father Dowling’s Influence
25 – More on the Traditions
26 – GSO Financing
27 – AA Government?
28 – Drug Addicts & AA
29 – Right of Appeal
30 – Are Alcoholics “Neurotic?”
31 – What is Alcoholism?
32 – Is AA a Religion?
33 – What Is AA’s Success Rate?
34 – Carl Jung’s Contribution
35 – Ebby’s Message to Bill
36 – Clergy & AA
37 – AA and the Community
38 – Short GSO History
39 – The Rockefeller Connection
40 – The Three Legacies
41 – Drunks in AA Meetings?
 

 



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