Originally Posted by
Tatsy 
Leanabeana, please be aware of your previous experience of groups. Please keep your eyes wide open. I used to be in AA and I wish you to know, that when you join, it's for life. AA tells us if we don't keep attending meetings and passing on the word to new folks, via service or sponsorship (Step 12 of the progrm) then you'll 'go back out and drink'.
Obviously that's not correct (Sober Recovery is chock full of folks who've stopped drinking without AA) but nonetheless, it's the party line. I'm only passing on my experience. I do hope this post isn't censored and deleted.
Usually when someone puts a disclaimer at the end of their post saying "I hope this doesn't get deleted" they already know they are pushing it. How about you share your experience and not speak for the entire AA organization. There is no "party line" in AA. The Big Book even states the following before they lay out the 12 steps:
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
AA does NOT "tell us" anything about how many meetings we should attend (maybe some individuals in AA have opinions on meetings but not AA as a whole. And yes AA suggests working with others will help you stay sober, but nowhere does it say you will drink again if you don't.
As far as AA being "for life", is there some cure for alcoholism I'm unaware of? Alcoholism is chronic, meaning if you are an alcoholic now you will be an alcoholic for life. My personal experience has been that every time I stopped treating my alcoholism for long enough I got drunk again.
I have never believed that AA is the only way to get sober and any program that helps an alcoholic stay sober is a good one IMO. But to come into this thread and use "scare tactics" on someone because you have an issue with AA is...well...unfortunate. And I would say the same thing if this were happening in a thread about RR, SMART, or any other program that helps people get sober.