Originally Posted by basiam
If your sponsor insists on your conforming your beliefs to his, yeah, probably should look for a new one. But I wouldn't prerequisite that it be the same view as your own.
I take the point that a sponsors views doesn't have to be own. I suppose not all sponsors would prerequisite a similar sort of view.
Originally Posted by aw2486
Are you open to change?
Yes i am, but i cannot force a change in my beliefs of a God, which is what seems to be required by my sponsor.
Originally Posted by tomvii
And are you sure he wants you to work HIS program or does he want you to work the program in the BB???
He wants me to have a belief in an existential God, not necessarily the God of the bible, but definately God as a person.
This has been going on a long time, it is not something recent. I haven't been able to move past step 3 for about a year now and after a long hard examine of both myself and the way he wants me to work the step i have come to the conclusion that this concept of God does not sit well with me. It makes me wonder how the other steps are going to work if i have to force myself to believe in an existential God.
I have a strong concept in a higher power, as in first of all the AA group and secondly of my own spirituality or a concept of God within. I know i can come to the program with this sort of philosophy, i have looked long and hard at it.
I need to move onto steps 4 and 5, i feel ready for this. I have worked step 3 with my concepts of a higher power, but unfortunately this concept is not acceptable to my sponsor. He insists on the step 2 words of 'came to believe' and interprets this as coming to believe in God (as in a person). He has said that an atheist cannot work the program. Although i'm not an atheist, i do not agree with this statement. There is no doubt that he wants me to believe in God as a person and has stated he cannot see how the program can be worked any other way.
It is time for me to move on to the other steps and i feel i can only do this with another sponsor. He has done so much for me which i am grateful for, i guess which is why i have struggled with the idea of getting somebody else as i have built up a confidence in him. But there are at times when i feel pushed away from the program in all honesty and want to engage in the program but feel hindered by my sponsor. I do take the point though that my sponsor doesn't have to be an agnostic, but he does have to respect what my concept of a higher power is if it's different to his.
Paul