Hi Joe,
Thanks for this post. I came into AA thirty-four years ago and I started writing a similar post a couple of times yesterday. My point is, you are not alone. I posted a response to someone yesterday and recieved an angry response from a third party that said something to the effect of, 'I don't care what the courts decided, the founders said so - it's in the Big Book and that settles it.' It sounded alot like, 'I don't care what proof you have, Jesus said it, it's in the Bible and that settles it.' I see the BB thumpers as the religious element in AA and a liability for a program meant to be inclusive.
Though it may sound arrogant, the fact of the matter is that I have stayed sober many times longer than any AA member had been at the time of the big books writing. Many of the original contributors had a slip after they contributed and it has been my observation that if a person slips, comes back and stays sober - that they learned something along the way...something they didn't know the first time. For the original bunch, that means they didn't know something that they probably would have put in the book this time.
Fact is, since more will be revealed and since this is a journey...if I haven't learned more after twenty, thirty or more years trudging the happy road of destiny than the founders had after four - then I'm not working a very good program.
Just one members opinion.