Actually, thenameiso....... "We Agnostics" isn't step 3, it's step 2. Step 3 begins on page 60, in the middle of the page where it reads, "Being convinced (of the A, B, C;s), we were at Step 3...." Basically, just about everything prior to page 60 is step 1 and 2. Of those pages, there are 59 #'d pages + 30 Roman Numerals ....or about 80 pages. Of those 80, all of them up to p44 (We Agnostics) deal with Step 1.
That bit out of the way, I only find "Creator" used once in We Agnostics, on p56....but it's used two or three times in previous chapters. Bill (and the first 100 who contributed to the book) spoke about THEIR experience with THEIR Higher Power, and their experience may be different than yours.
When you look at Step 2, it says CAME TO BELIEVE that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Came to believe tells me that it's a process...an ongoing process....not necessarily something you or anyone is going to get completely, right away. Being open...and willing....
to the process is the key. Page 44 drives the point home with, "...some of us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we were not true alcoholics. But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life - or else." They didn't say "find a Christian way of life," a "Muslim way of life," a "Buddhist way of life," nor do they mention anything about Religion.....they're simply say a
spiritual way of life. You're free to choose what that looks like. Whether your HP is God or not it up to you. Whether your HP is The Creator or not is up to you.
In the United States (where the book was written), the majority of the ppl are Christians (or something close to being a Christian). Just on the percentages, most ppl you run into who are "spiritual" will tend to fall into one of the Christian faiths (or something similar to a Christian faith) . That was true of Bill, Bob and the first 100, so that's what went into the book. And don't forget, the book came out in 1939. By then, Bill had about 5 yrs in sobriety, Dr Bob had 4+/-. Their "experience" with and understanding of their HP changed over those years (ref. Dr Bob and the Good Oldtimers and AA Comes of Age) as it did for the first 100.....as it has for me in my 3+years...and as I'm sure it will for you when you put some years under your belt.
And keep in mind, "God" is a pretty roomy term..... IMO, Allah, Jesus, God, Jehovah, the Great Cosmic Force, etc..... they're all different "names" for the same thing. Lots of folks view the term "God" as a Christian name.....but it doesn't have to be that way. To me, we're all praying to the same dude....regardless of what we call Him/Her/It.
And again.....the steps don't instruct you to "understand who/what God is." That's simply not possible..especially when you're first tackling the subject. The steps will bring you to your own personal experience with a HP of your own understanding. You'll come to that understanding by working the steps and surrendering to the process of the steps. And like I said above, your understanding of your HP will likely change over time just like mine has.
Don't stress out over whether "your understanding" is complete now....or whether it's "right" or not. The main thing is that we realize that, if nothing else, WE are not the highest power......a good dose of alcoholism should be enough to convince us that we're certainly not more powerful than booze......and a solid inventory in step 4 will teach your infinitely more about what power you have and don't have.
Pages 44-45 hit a little harder where they warn that "a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were (not) sufficient to overcome alcoholism. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient, they failed utterly.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a powerby which we could life and it had to be a
Power greater than ourselves."
Hope that helps....