ColoradoRocky

It's very difficult for me to believe that you don't need or feel there's any value in the First Step, the Fourth Step, the Tenth Step, and the 12th Step.

No one I have ever met or ever heard of with a problem with alcohol can stay away from a drink without the First Step.

A certain amount of self-examination, and I'm NOT talking about dredging up the past, cannot possibly be a bad thing; adapt the Fourth Step to your needs.

Also, I find it unwise and counter-productive to try to get through life without at least trying to exercise daily honesty about my daily activities required by the Tenth Step, including admitting when I'm wrong....which does happen; shocking, but it does happen. People can believe or not believe anything they want about God, but I think we all agree none of us is God. At least I sure as hell ain't God.

I suppose you could stay away from drinking without ever putting yourself in the service of others as suggested in the 12th Step, but why would anyone want to live like that in the first place? One of the best things you can do for overall health, even, maybe ESPECIALLY, for people early on, is to engage in service to others, no matter how small or insignificant it seems, like just making coffee for the group, for instance.

I'm not a believer. But I decided very early on that it was more important for me to quit drinking (and stay quit) than refuse to take advantage of what the Alcoholics Anonymous program has to offer.

Having said all that, I think it's wonderful when people continue to go to meetings and make connections even if they struggle with the religious slant of the program.

Maybe find a healthy open-minded atheist for a sponsor; God knows* there's plenty of them in the program!



*That's just an expression, you know!!!

p.s. I'm perfectly aware that this discussion was started six or seven months ago, long before I got here, and I have no idea what happened to the original poster, but I'm assuming the discussion is still worth having.