Originally Posted by
Jules714 
The BB does talk about staying sober 24 hours at a time in the story of patient #3. The patient is asked if he can stay sober for 24 hours. He says he can. They say to do that and repeat essentially. Just for today & one day at a time are huge AA slogans/sayings. It may not say "don't drink" outright but this point is implied.
Jules
Hi Jules,
The program is contained in the first 164 pages. The stories are the stories and they get changed around with each new edition. The former is the successful path to recovery that the founding members took, the latter is the stories of how 43 alcoholics recovered from their malady (3rd edition).
There are three parts to AA. The program (recovery) the traditions (service) and the fellowship (unity). The fellowship is not the program and the slogans that get bandied about, while some are helpful, are not the program. As I mentioned, exactly as you describe with AA number 3, staying sober one day at a time is useful for the newly sober, to get through the first few days while they find their feet in the program. That is the context in the story.
Good points Jules and thanks for raising them.